New Catalog Arrives Tuesday, March 1, 2011

This coming Tuesday Lake Forest Library will bring up our new library catalog called BiblioCommons. It not only allows you to search, renew and reserve materials but you can also create and share book lists and reviews with other readers. The link to connect to this new service will be displayed on our homepage http://www.lakeforestlibrary.org/. Just click on “catalog” and follow the steps listed below.

1. The first time you log in you will need to create an account. Type in your 14-digit library card number (no spaces). Then enter your password. The default is “patron.” If you created a different password in the old catalog you should enter that instead.

2. Now you are ready to create your account. You will be asked to enter your birth date. This is not required but if you choose not to enter it some features of the catalog will be limited.

3. Create a username. This can be used instead of your library card number to log in. Also, this username will be listed on any content you add to the system.

4. Change your password. Again, this is optional but changing your password will increase your privacy.

5. Enter your email address. This is also optional, but if you forget your password you can request that it be sent to you in an email if you've registered.

Please remember to read the privacy section under MY LFL and select the privacy settings that you prefer.

The Civil War:  Looking Back
150 Years

This year as our country looks back 150 years to the beginning of the Civil War, the library will periodically highlight here some Civil War resources, especially those relating to area events on the topic. 

Tommorow night at Lake Forest College, the Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Historical Society and the college are sponsoring a lecture, Lake County in the Civil War: Front Line to Home Front, by Diana Dretske of the Lake County Discovery Museum.  You can read more about this event at either of these links:  Lake Forest - Lake Bluff Historical Society or Lake Forest College. 

Here are some titles from our collection on our state or region during the Civil War.

Illinois in the Civil War by Victor Hicken (University of Illinois Press, 1966) - It begins with a summary of Illinois and the War in 1861, then follows Illinois' involvement campaign by campaign, and concludes with a chapter on Confederate prisons and the return home.

A History of Lake County Illinois by John J. Halsey (Roy S. Bates, 1912) - Chapter VI, "Through Centennial Year," covers the Civil War period.

Lake Forest Illinois History and Reminiscenses 1861-1961 by Edward Arpee; Supplement by Susan Dart (Lake Forest-Lake Bluff istorical Society, 1991) - Chapter VI of this book covers Lake Forest history during the Civil War and Reconstruction, 1860-1870.

On to Atlanta: The Civil War Diaries of John Hill Ferguson, Illinois Tenth Regiment of Volunteers by John Hill Ferguson (University of Nebraska Press, 2001) - This selection of Ferguson's diaries covers 1864-65 when his regiment moved through the Carolinas and Georgia under General Sherman.

The Past and Present of Lake County, Illinois (Le Baron & Co., 1877) - This history includes the chapter Lake County War History and Record by Charles A. Partridge.  That chapter includes Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery rosters.

The Prairie State: A Documentary History of Illinois, Vol. 2 Civil War to the Present Robert P. Sutton, editor (Eerdmans Pub., 1976) - The first chapter of this volume has a selection of letters and diaries from Illinois soldiers.

The Story of the Fifty-Fifth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry in the civil War 1861-1865 by a Committee of the Regiment (W.J. Coulter, 19987) - This history includes an appendix with company rosters and brief company histories.

Book Discussion with Judy Levin-Thursday, February 17

This month Judy Levin will lead a discussion of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, one of the top non-fiction books of 2010. Join us Thursday, February 17 at 12:30pm in the Programming Room downstairs.

This book is the product of 10 years of research and writing. Skloot weaves together Henrietta Lack’s biography and her family history, with broader issues surrounding the history of medical experimentation on African Americans, the rising field of bioethics, and our legal rights to determine who we are. Skloot also tells the story of her own research and her attempts to connect with Henrietta’s family, especially Lack's youngest daughter Deborah.

Henrietta Lacks was a young African American woman undergoing cancer treatment in 1951 at Baltimore’s John Hopkins Hospital. While she was hospitalized doctors collected tissue samples without her knowledge. After her death these became the basis of the first immortal cell line, known as HeLa.

Today HeLa is one of the most commonly used cell lines in laboratories around the world.  Research projects using HeLa have resulted in the polio vaccine and treatments for AIDS. Yet despite the multimillion-dollar industry that was launched by her cells her family never shared in the profits.

We promise that once you begin reading this book you’ll find it is impossible to put down. Sometimes true life is stranger than fiction.

Book Discussion-Thursday, February 3

Elise Barack will lead a discussion of February -- the popular, well-received novel  by Lisa Moore, a Canadian author who won a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for her first novel, Alligator.  We will meet at 7:15 pm on Thursday, February 3 in the library's Programming Room downstairs.

February has been described as a quiet, evocative novel that offers a philosophical examination of key human experiences—death, grief, survival, life. It was on the long list for the 2010 Man Booker prize.

On February 15th, 1982 the Ocean Ranger, a semi-submersible oil rig touted as unsinkable and able to drill in dangerous areas, sunk off the coast of Newfoundland in what is considered the worst offshore drilling accident in Canadian history. All 84 crew members died. This is the backdrop for Lisa Moore’s novel which tells the story of one widow, Helen O’Mara, who is left behind with four young children.

The narrative moves back and forth in time; much as we revisit the past in our memories while living in the present and hoping for the future. We learn of Helen’s courtship and marriage, the horrifying details of her husband’s death, and her struggles to raise her children and build her dressmaking business. The story opens in 2008 with Helen enrolled in a yoga class, worrying about her grown son who is expecting his first child, the product of a brief affair. Helen has never come to terms with her husband’s death, and the tragedy of over 20 years ago continues to resound through her family’s life.

For more information on the author's life and works visit:    http://cwip.artmob.ca/contributors/lisa-moore

Please plan to join us for what promises to be an interesting discussion.