Monday, February 19, 2018

What to Read Next: Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward Edition

Sing, Unburied, Sing is a beautifully written, heartbreaking story of an African-American family in Mississippi. We've added the title to our Book Club section, so there are multiple copies available for your discussion group. If you're looking for books to read after you've finished Sing, Unburied, Sing, you might like one of these. Click on the title to place a hold on a book in the catalog.


Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
Jojo is thirteen years old and trying to understand what it means to be a man. His mother, Leonie, is in constant conflict with herself and those around her. She is black and her children’s father is white. Embattled in ways that reflect the brutal reality of her circumstances, she wants to be a better mother, but can’t put her children above her own needs, especially her drug use. 

When the children’s father is released from prison, Leonie packs her kids and a friend into her car and drives north to the heart of Mississippi and Parchman Farm, the State Penitentiary. At Parchman, there is another boy, the ghost of a dead inmate who carries all of the ugly history of the South with him in his wandering. He too has something to teach Jojo about fathers and sons, about legacies, about violence, about love.



WHAT TO READ NEXT: 

Beloved by Toni Morrison
Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. 

Sethe was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. Her new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. 





An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crime Celestial knows he didn’t commit. Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself bereft and unmoored, taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend, and best man at their wedding. As Roy’s time in prison passes, she is unable to hold on to the love that has been her center. After five years, Roy’s conviction is suddenly overturned, and he returns to Atlanta ready to resume their life together.

The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis
In 1923, fifteen-year-old Hattie Shepherd flees Georgia and settles in Philadelphia, hoping for a chance at a better life. Instead, she marries a man who will bring her nothing but disappointment and watches helplessly as her firstborn twins succumb to an illness a few pennies could have prevented.  Hattie gives birth to nine more children whom she raises with grit and mettle and not an ounce of the tenderness they crave.  She vows to prepare them for the calamitous difficulty they are sure to face in their later lives, to meet a world that will not love them, a world that will not be kind. Captured here in twelve luminous narrative threads, their lives tell the story of a mother’s monumental courage and the journey of a nation.

A Kind of Freedom by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
Evelyn is a Creole woman who comes of age in New Orleans at the height of World War Two. Her family inhabits the upper echelon of Black society and when she falls for no-name Renard, she is forced to choose between her life of privilege and the man she loves.

In 1982, Evelyn’s daughter, Jackie, is a frazzled single mother grappling with her absent husband’s drug addiction. Just as she comes to terms with his abandoning the family, he returns, ready to resume their old life. Jackie must decide if the promise of her husband is worth the near certainty he’ll leave again.

Jackie’s son, T.C., loves the creative process of growing marijuana more than the weed itself. He finds something hypnotic about training the seedlings, testing the levels, trimming the leaves, drying the buds. He was a square before Hurricane Katrina, but the New Orleans he knew didn’t survive the storm, and in its wake he was changed too. Now, fresh out of a four-month stint for possession with the intent to distribute, he decides to start over—until an old friend convinces him to stake his new beginning on one last deal.

For Evelyn, Jim Crow is an ongoing reality, and in its wake new threats spring up to haunt her descendants. A Kind of Freedom is an urgent novel that explores the legacy of racial disparity in the South through a poignant and redemptive family history.




Thursday, February 15, 2018

Resources for Job Seekers at Lake Forest Library


Lake Forest Library strives to offer something for everyone at all ages and life stages. Traversing the job market is no exception. With your library card you can access books, magazines, newspapers, continuing education opportunities, online database subscriptions and assistance from librarians. Read on to learn more about what the library can do for you.

Library books and periodicals
The library offers books for checkout on resumes, cover letters, interviewing, career transitions, and job searching online. Or, search the library catalog for a specific computer program, a technology, or a skill.

In addition to books, the library subscribes to newspapers and magazines, both in print and digital. Read the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Economist, Crain’s Chicago Business, Lake County News Sun, Chicago Tribune, Daily Herald, and more through the library.

Throughout the year, the library offers technology one-on-one sessions and small group classes teaching skills such as Microsoft Office and basic computer use. The library also offers presentations from experts on a variety of topics and welcomes topical suggestions from the community! Checkout our list of upcoming events including Microsoft Excel classes here.

Interested in learning about finance? How about a new language? Or, maybe you need a resume review? The library’s online databases might just be the ticket for your needs. 
 
Tutor.com can connect you with local tutors who are experts in searching for jobs online, resume and cover letter writing, interviewing, and Microsoft Office products. Or, submit your resume to be reviewed and a Tutor.com expert will get back to you within 24 hours.
Search Indeed.com for jobs within ReferenceUSA and access company information at the same time.
First, search for a job using a title keyword and a location. Click on the job title to be directed to the job listing on Indeed.com in a new internet browser tab. Click on the company name from the search results list to learn more about the company, such as contact info, additional available jobs, executive names, sales volume, competitors, nearby companies and number of employees.
Sorkins specializes in company information in Missouri, eastern Kansas, and Illinois. Search by region, zip code, company name, or industry, and limit by number of employees or sales volume. Company profiles include contact information, products, industry codes, and executive information.
Choose companies from the search results list that you would like to work for and then download the data to an excel spreadsheet. Or, visit the website listed in the profile to see if there are any jobs available.
Continue your education and gain additional skills in your field of choice. Brush up on your business skills, improve your computer literacy, or take the first steps toward a possible career. Lynda.com offers online learn-at-your-own-pace classes from experts. Choose videos that interest you or follow a learning path and earn certificates upon completion. 

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Resources for Local and Small Business at the Library

Libraries today are not just for books or for kids. The Lake Forest Library strives to meet the needs of the entire community, ages zero to 101. Included in that group are entrepreneurs and business owners. Let’s take a look at some the resources available to the financial and business population.
 Use Morningstar, Value Line Research Center, or Standard and Poors NetAdvantage to look up investments, find guidance, read commentary, and get company information. 

Company information can also be found in ReferenceUSA, which includes a map-based searching feature.

Start by visiting http://www.lakeforestlibrary.org/online-databases online-databases to find the alphabetical list of all the library’s databases.

 Try finding a useful book using one of these “hot topics” saved library catalog searches:
Personal Finance             
Leadership
Motivation


Learn about how to provide excellent customer service, improve your time management, get weekly tips on using Microsoft Office, and much more at your own pace with Lynda.com.
Or, keep up with the library’s seasonal newsletter of program offerings. Basic level technology classes are offered throughout the year. Another great resource is GCF Learn Free's online technology training.
The library subscribes to the print editions of Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Chicago Tribune, Crain’s Chicago Business, Fast Company, Entrepreneur, Worth, Chicago Sun-Times, Investor’s Business Daily, the New York Times, and more. 
Additionally, search ProQuest Newspapers, Regional Business News, NewsBank Databases, Business Source Elite or EBSCO Masterfile Premier to find  current information.
Use RB Digital to read magazines such as the Economist, Forbes, Kiplinger’s, Mental Floss, and Robb Report on your laptop or on the go with the RB Digital mobile app.  View a quick how-to video on using RB Digital on our YouTube channel.
 
Or, check out eBook and digital audiobooks from the library using Hoopla or Libby to read or listen to on the go and in your spare time. How-to videos on these are available on our YouTube channel as well.

Monday, January 22, 2018

What to Watch Next: The Crown Edition

If you loved the new Netflix show, The Crown, as much as we did, we recommend you try one of these movies and TV shows next. Click on the title to place a hold in our catalog.


The Crown:

Based on an award-winning play ("The Audience") by showrunner Peter Morgan, this lavish, Netflix-original drama chronicles the life of Queen Elizabeth II from the 1940s to modern times. The series begins with an inside look at the early reign of the queen, who ascended the throne at age 25 after the death of her father, King George VI. As the decades pass, personal intrigues, romances, and political rivalries are revealed that played a big role in events that shaped the later years of the 20th century.

 

What to Watch Next:

Victoria (TV Series) 
This eight-part drama features an all-star cast including Jenna Coleman as a young Queen Victoria and Tom Hughes as Prince Albert. The monarch's life is chronicled as the story begins with the death of King William IV in 1837, her accession to the throne at the tender age of 18 and her relationships with the influential forces around her. With the advice of the prime minister Lord Melbourne and the support of her husband Prince Albert the young queen flourishes and establishes herself in her newfound role. 

The King's Speech (Movie)
England's Prince Albert (Colin Firth) must ascend the throne as King George VI, but he has a speech impediment. Knowing that the country needs her husband to be able to communicate effectively, Elizabeth hires Lionel Logue, an Australian actor and speech therapist, to help him overcome his stammer. An extraordinary friendship develops between the two men, as Logue uses unconventional means to teach the monarch how to speak with confidence. 

Wolf Hall (TV Series)
Starring Damian Lewis, Mark Rylance and Claire Foy, this series is a six-part adaptation of Hilary Mantel's novels "Wolf Hall" and "Bring Up the Bodies." The historical drama follows the story of Thomas Cromwell through his rise in social hierarchy. From his humble beginnings as a blacksmith's son, Cromwell becomes King Henry VIII's chief minister. The episodes chronicle his life as he deals with the power struggles of the Tudor Court and a king who has difficulty producing a male heir.

A Place to Call Home (TV Series)
An Australian television drama set in rural New South Wales in the period following the Second World War. It follows Sarah Adams, who has returned to Australia after twenty years abroad to start a new life and ends up clashing with wealthy matriarch Elizabeth Bligh

The Queen (Movie) 
Following the death of Princess Diana in an auto accident, Great Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Tony Blair struggle to reach a compromise in how the royal family should publicly respond to the tragedy. In the balance is the family's need for privacy and the public's demand for an outward show of mourning.