Learning & Fun in Chicago

Got up around 5:45 am, gather in the hotel lobby around 7:00 and went to a nearby restaurant for delicious breakfast and it was supplemented by program reflection and dialogue. Our director Clara Chu shared an action plan document with the aim of making us SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable/Action Oriented, Realistic/Relevant and Time-bound). the document itself is a ‘SMART’ one. We were also bombarded with SMART questions for action plans, at that moment my mind seemed blank for a while then gradually thinking process has started to shine the bulb in my head. so some vague ideas are roaming around and I am hopeful that by the end of this program I will be able to come-up with a SMART idea at least.

Our second destination of the day was little Italy Public Library, which is a beautiful facility for the people of the town where it has replaced the former housing scheme with a new housing facility with this fantastic library where librarians are very much engaged with the community with a blend of traditional and modern library services ranging from circulation of books to 3D printing facility & youmedia initiative where users are engaged with modern multimedia tools. a corner of library has a beautiful program of story telling to early year kids.

following the visit of Little Italy Public library we had a nice Italian & Japanese lunch. and headed to another mind blowing facility “Harold Washington Branch Chicago Public Library” a 10 story huge facility opened in 1991. This library is designed by Thomas Beeby and the project was financed 144$ million. for more details click here.

CPL-6june1`7

Michael Peters, Division Chief gave us a comprehensive guided tour of the library and I was astonished to see how much information he has about different stages of the development of the library. here is a point to note that this library is not an old library it has opened in 1991. the 9th floor of the building is a perfect place for events and its making a good amount of money as well. the library tour was so interesting that we could not manage to visit the apple store which was on our agenda, instead we visited another treasure of Chicago, the ‘Art Institvte Chicago’ where we witnessed fantastic art exhibitions and I was amazed to see the posters of 1918-1919 which were announcements to attract the public to use the train at that time. We ended around 9:00 pm with some visits to nearby shopping centers.

June 7, 2019 was dedicated to Upshot Marketing, ALA headquarters and run back to Champaign.

Liz Aviles at Upshot inspired us by example that how a Librarian can do exemplary work in different settings from library by setting periorities, being strategic, flexible, branding, and above all being a competitive advantage.

Michael Dowling & his team at ALA headquarters shared lot of resources, talked about ACRL and other initiatives of ALA, and showcased lot of information about international and professional cooperation, collaboration for learning. ALA also granted complimentary membership to all Associates. We ended our Chicago visit by having a river side walk to hotel and reached back to Newman Hall around 7pm.

ALA Library

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