Fresh Start

This week the library is hosting our Fresh Start @ Your Library guided tours (every day at 2:00pm and 7:00pm through Thursday), and we really got things going this morning with our free all-access coverage of the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States.

It was standing room only during the inaugural events, with approximately 75 members of the community watching our TV screen and enjoying complimentary coffee and cookies.

Watching this historic moment with so many people, most of whom I don’t know, was amazing. The energy and anticipation was huge, and found its way out when Barack Obama was announced as he walked onto the platform — the room erupted into applause. Applause again when Biden took his oath of office. And when Obama took his oath of office, many in the room stood up to witness history being made. We clapped, we cried, we cheered, and we all left energized by the moment and by the message in Obama’s inaugural address. It was a joyful morning.

A family stands at the singing of the National Anthem at the close of the inauguration

– Katherine Keyes

A Note from the Director

There is nothing like sitting down with a good book during a cold winter day and my goodness, we have had plenty of those. DVDs are mighty fine during these cold days and nights too. All of these are free for the citizens of DeKalb through your tax dollars. Come on in and enjoy our beautiful building and check out some warming books and movies.

Big Read Programs are a hit!

At the public reading on Tuesday, October 14th, Representative Bob Pritchard started things off with the first selection. We had over 70 readers at this exciting event, all sharing the love of Harper Lee’s writing by reading it aloud.

On Wednesday, October 22nd Dr. Brad Bond gave his presentation “Of Mockingbirds and Other Birds: Sex, Race and Violence in Truth and Fiction” to an enthusiastic crowd.

Thanks again to Jenny Swanson Photography for her gift of time and energy to bring us these photographs. You can see more Big Read pictures at the library’s Flickr page, with more photos coming soon!

Cancellation – Film Festival

The Big Read in DeKalb County regrets to announce the CANCELLATION of the Film Festival. The festival was scheduled to show short films this coming Sunday, October 19th; due to low registration numbers, we must cancel this event. Thank you for your interest.

Please look for more upcoming events on our events page!

Keynote Address

On Monday, October 6th we had Charles Shields, author of the biography Mockingbird of Harper Lee, present The Big Read keynote address. You can see more pictures at our Big Read Flickr page.

Charles Shields speaks with contributors to The Big Read in DeKalb County at the donor’s reception, which was held at the NIU Barsema Alumni & Visitor’s Center Castle Library.

Charles Shields presents his keynote address.

Special thanks to Jenny Swanson Photography for the generous donation of time and photographs for our Big Read effort!

Public Reading of To Kill a Mockingbird

Tonight is the public reading of selections from To Kill a Mockingbird at Kishwaukee College in Malta.

The reading will take place in the Dining Room of the Conference Center, and is open to everyone. Our readers will read a brief selection from the book (about 1 page’s worth of text) and will receive their assignments as they arrive. If you are reading, please arrive between 6:30 and 6:50pm!

For more information, please contact Kathy or Dee at DeKalb Public Library, 815-756-9568.

Mock Trial pictures are up!

Thanks to photographer Jenny Swanson, we have some amazing photos of our kickoff event, the mock trial held at the DeKalb County Courthouse in Sycamore.

Here are just a few. You can see more at our Flickr page.

And thanks to Morningstar Media, we have a video of the presentation. We are working on getting that up on this blog as quickly as possible!

We had a winner!

Our kickoff event was spectacular!

We had over 130 people inside the 3rd-floor courtroom at the beautiful, historic DeKalb County Courthouse on Monday night for the reading of the trial scene from To Kill a Mockingbird. A first-rate cast of area attorneys volunteered their time and energy to put on a stirring show for the audience. Despite the number of people present, you could hear a pin drop during Atticus Finch’s final remarks. It was a very moving performance by all of our volunteers — thank you!

Thanks to our media partners, you can read additional articles in the Daily Chronicle and in the Northern Star, and we’re working on getting the presentation broadcast on Channel 14, our local access cable channel, so watch for more information!

Coming up in the next few days:
Wednesday, October 1st – The Big Read Film Festival starts! Ask questions and register at the DeKalb Public Library, or check out our last post for more information.

Thursday, October 2nd, 7:00pm – Our first book discussion of The Big Read, and it’s for young adults! This group will meet at the DeKalb Public Library and is for teens only, please.

Friday, October 3rd, 6:30pm – We’ll show the movie “To Kill a Mockingbird” at the Egyptian Theater on 2nd Street in DeKalb, with a preview clip of discussion points from Dr. Jeffery Chown of Northern Illinois University. In English. FREE copies of the book are given away!

Sunday, October 5th, 2:00pm – Se esta mostrando la pelicula “To Kill a Mockingbird” en el Teatro Egipcio de DeKalb (en ingles con subtitulos en espanol). Estan disponibles copias GRATIS del libro!

Sunday, October 5th, 7:00pm – A Big Readers’ Theater presentation of selections from the play “To Kill a Mockingbird” by the Stagecoach Players on 5th Street in DeKalb. FREE copies of the book and refreshments will be available!

For more information on these or any other events, you can check out our Events Page or contact library director Dee Coover or public relations coordinator Kathy Keyes at 815-756-9568. Remember: all our events are FREE TO EVERYONE!

The Big Read Film Festival

What’s black and white and read all over?

Hmmm. Some jokes just don’t transition well from the spoken word to the written word.

In the same way, some experiences aren’t easy to express in written words or even in spoken words. Sometimes a picture is better.

The Big Read Film Festival is a chance for filmmakers to participate in the community-wide discussion about To Kill a Mockingbird and show us a different perspective.

You can make a supershort movie based on the themes in To Kill a Mockingbird. Here’s how to do it:

1. Register at the DeKalb Public Library — it’s free to register, but you do have to get the informational packet — beginning on Wednesday, October 1st at 9:00am (library closes at 9:00pm).
2. Following the guidelines in the packet, make your movie.  Make it big, make it small, show us what you can do — the biggest requirement is that the movie stay under 2 minutes.
3. Turn in your film absolutely no later than 5:00pm on Friday, October 17th.
4. Come to the viewing on Sunday, October 19th at 2:00pm at the DeKalb High School Auditorium.  Cheer on your video or those of your friends.  Participate in a discussion.  Feel all literary.

If you’ve got something to say with video, we want to hear it!

Dressing Up For The Big Read

The DeKalb Public Library is dressed up for The Big Read!

Pick up your free copy of To Kill a Mockingbird at any of our upcoming events. We’ll kick things off with a big first week, including two Readers’ Theater interpretations of the book’s trial scene, two showings of the film, a book discussion for teens, and our keynote address by Charles Shields, biographer of Harper Lee and author of Mockingbird.

Are you interested in hosting your own book discussion? Let us know and we’ll provide you with books for your group! Stop in the library and ask for Dee or Kathy.