Library News & Events2018-09-27T15:54:30-05:00

Board Accepting Applications for Upcoming Trustee Vacancy

Fondulac District Library’s Board of Trustees is looking for a civic-minded and motivated individual to serve as a Library Trustee and to participate in the continued growth of the library. Interested candidates must reside within the boundaries of Fondulac Public Library District and should have a strong interest in serving on an active board that represents the residents thereof.

Current Trustees will fill an upcoming vacancy by appointment. The appointed Trustee will serve under the appointment through May 2025, which is the remainder of the term. The seat then will be elected as a regular, full-term seat by ballot in the April 1, 2025, Consolidated General Election. A regular, full term of a Library Trustee is six years. More information about the library’s Board of Trustees, including membership, meetings, minutes, and more, can be found at https://fondulaclibrary.org/about-us/trustees.  A description of the Trustee role follows on this page.

Individuals interested in appointment by the Board to the upcoming vacancy should submit the application information in writing to Genna Buhr, Library Director, 400 Richland Street, East Peoria, Illinois, 61611, or genna@fondulaclibrary.org.

Applications will be accepted until the seat is filled. All applications will be forwarded to the Board for review. The Board will initially review applications at their May 22 meeting. Please have applications submitted by May 18 for review at that meeting.

Please contact Genna Buhr, Library Director, at 309-699-3917 x1121 or genna@fondulaclibrary.org with questions.

Trustee Application Information

First and Last Name

Residential Street Address, City, State, Zip Code

Phone Number

Email Address

Please tell us something about your interest in public libraries, specifically Fondulac District Library.

What do you envision your role of the library trustee/board member to be?

Do you have any experience serving on boards, committees, or commissions? If so, please describe.

If you have had board experience in the past, what did you enjoy about it? What did you like the least?

What strengths can you bring to the Fondulac District Library Board of Trustees?

Based on your knowledge of libraries or your impressions of what might be challenging to libraries in the 21st century, what do you see as being possible issues of concern to libraries and librarians in changing times? Challenges and issues can be positive…not necessarily negative.

Based on your knowledge of Fondulac District Library and the population it serves, what specific challenges and opportunities do you see for the library, now and in the future?

Board of Trustees Member Description

Fondulac District Library is governed by a board of seven publicly-elected district residents. Trustees serve six-year terms without compensation and are members of the official policy-making body of the Library.

Library Trustee Responsibilities Include:

  1. Fulfill the Freedom of Information Act and Open Meetings Act requirements as defined by the Illinois Statutes.
  2. Financial oversight, including adopting a tax levy and annual budget that meets the financial needs of the Library.
  3. Hire a qualified Library Director and provide ongoing evaluation for the director.
  4. Adopt formal policies that govern the Library.
  5. Participate in strategic process to determine Library direction and priorities.
  6. Advocate for the Library in the community and with elected officials.
  7. Prepare for, regularly attend, and actively participate in board and committee meetings; review and comment on minutes and reports.
  8. File a Statement of Economic Interest as required by the Illinois Governmental Ethics Act.
  9. Know the community and its library needs; keep current on library matters, standards, and trends; and support staff and director in carrying out library services.
  10. Participate in the Library’s outreach and fundraising events as needed.
  11. Volunteer for and willingly accept assignments and complete them thoroughly and on time.
  12. Know local and state laws and library legislation in the Illinois and federal governments.
  13. Get to know other committee members and build a collegial working relationship that contributes to consensus.
May 2nd, 2023|

#FDL: Gear up for Gardening Season

If you’re feeling inspired by the change in seasons, check out these newer books about planting flowers, vegetables, and caring for house plants.

Veg Out: A Stress-Free Guide to Creating Your First Vegetable Garden by Heather Rodino

Gardening expert Heather Rodino teaches the basics of growing your own vegetables, such as how to choose the right plants for a climate and guarding the crop from hungry critters. Included are 30 profiles of beginner-friendly vegetables and herbs with detailed instructions on where to grow, when to harvest, as well as their sunlight, watering, and soil needs.

The Creative Vegetable Gardener by Kelly Smith Trimble

With The Creative Vegetable Gardener, lifestyle editor and master gardener Kelly Smith Trimble encourages readers to widen their focus, be playful, and imagine a vegetable garden that reflects their own unique aesthetic and offers a meditative sanctuary as well as a source of fresh, homegrown food.

Holistic Homesteading: A Guide to a Sustainable and Regenerative Lifestyle by Roxanne Ahern 

Ahern’s book guides new and seasoned homesteaders in improving personal and environmental health. The Happy Holistic Homestead is geared toward people who are interested in pursuing intentional lifestyles and organic farming methods. It is both for those who have access to land and those who are interested in retrofitting urban and suburban lifestyles and landscapes to shift towards sustainability. Learn about permaculture design, holistic nutrition, and sustainable farming in rural and urban settings.

100 Plants to Feed the Birds: Turn Your Home Garden into a Healthy Bird Habitat  by Laura Erickson

The growing group of bird enthusiasts who enjoy feeding and watching their feathered friends  will learn how they can expand their activity and help address the pressing issue of habitat loss. Readers will learn about plants they can add to their gardens and cultivate, such as early-season pussy willow and late-season asters, as well as wild plants to refrain from weeding out, like jewelweed and goldenrod.

The Unkillables: 40 Resilient House Plants for New Plant Parents by Jo Lambell

In The Unkillables, Jo Lambell shares her houseplant knowledge so that even the biggest plant serial killers can have an abundant indoor garden.

-Annotations from the publishers

#FDL is an update on all things Fondulac District Library and books.

April 28th, 2023|

FDL Reads: The Door of No Return

 

The Door of No Return by Kwame Alexander The Door of No Return: Alexander, Kwame: 9780316441865: Amazon.com: Books

Reviewed by: Chelsea Bunton, Youth Services Assistant

Genre: Historical Fiction

Suggested Age: Middle School (6th-8th grade)

What is this book about? Kofi is a young boy living in the Asante kingdom of Africa around the year 1860. The story follows his daily life, learning the “Queen’s” English at school, swimming with his friends, and getting embarrassed in front of his crush, Ama. As with his other middle grade novels, Alexander uses verse-poetry to tell the story, interspersed with free-written chapter beginnings to set the tone of each section. The author states that he wanted to tell an African history story that started from the beginning, not the “middle,” which he considers to be slavery. The book accomplishes that as we follow a young boy living a rich culture before ultimately being captured. Kofi’s story is one of vibrant lifestyle, heartbreak, and the harrowing journey of a young boy who feels very real and easy to connect with.

My Review: “…until the lions tell their side of the story, the tale of the hunt will always celebrate the hunter…”

This book was a very compelling tale of the life lived BEFORE slavery. I agree with the author, that too often historical accounts focus on slavery when there is so much rich history that happened before. Especially in this case, where we get to see an individual’s life before captivity- it is humanizing, heartbreaking, and engrossing. I actually wasn’t sure if this was a story leading to slavery throughout much of the book- and I think that was the correct assumption as it is simply a vignette into a culture and a story of a boy coming of age. I enjoyed the writing style as well- books written in verse are a nice break from prose every once in a while. It is nice to move through the pages quickly, while still feeling like you are absorbing and perceiving the right things. This was a quick read that feels essential to a comprehensive understanding of lives lived before enslavement.

Three Words That Describe This Book: Poignant, Authentic, Passionate

Give This a Try if You LikeStamped (For Kids): Racism, Antiracism, and You by: Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi, Books written in verse (like The Crossover or The One and Only Ivan), Stella by Starlight by: Sharon M. Draper, It’s Trevor Noah: Born a Crime by: Trevor Noah

Rating: 5/5

Find it at the library!

FDL Reads

 

April 27th, 2023|

FDL Reads: African Town

African Town by Irene Latham and Charles Waters

Reviewed by: Melissa Friedlund, Reference Specialist

Genre: Historical Fiction

Suggested Age: Teen, Adult

What is the book about? In 1860, the importation of enslaved people into the United States had been illegal for decades. However, that year 110 men, women, and children were bought and smuggled from Africa to Alabama. They were hidden in swampland and secretly divided up to work on plantations. After the Civil War, these newly-freed people established a community of their own: Africatown, USA (near Mobile, Alabama). Originally hoping to buy passage back to their homelands, they created a unique society for that time and place, the South in the late 19th century. This book tells their story in fourteen distinct voices, including that of the ship they sailed on through the Middle Passage, the Clotilda.

My Review: I listened to the audiobook version of this book and found it to be very engaging and informative. These people who remembered their lives in Africa and knew who their ancestral people were had a unique frame of reference when it comes to slavery and the post-Civil War era in the United States. I liked how the different perspectives were examined and portrayed throughout the story. Since this is historical fiction, there are some parts of the story that were altered for a more cohesive narrative. Those changes are detailed in an appendix at the end, which I found to be a very conscientious choice for the authors to make.

 Three Words That Describe This Book: Poignant, Heartbreaking, Compelling

Give This a Try if You LikeBarracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston, Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 edited by Ibram X. Kendi, The Last Slave Ship by Ben Raines

Rating: 5/5

Find it at the library!

FDL Reads

April 19th, 2023|

FDL Reads: The Marriage Portrait

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell

Reviewed by: Beth Weimer, Communications Specialist

Genre: Historical/Literary Fiction

Suggested Age: Adults

What is the Book About?: In a Florentine gallery, there still hangs a small but intense oil painting of a young girl, the duchess Lucrezia de’Medici, painted by Bronzino in the 1550s… Lucrezia enjoys a sheltered childhood within the walls of the Palazzo Vecchio, but when she is 15, Lucrezia’s sister Maria dies suddenly, and Lucrezia is married off to the broody Alfonso II d’Este, Duke of Ferrara, in her sister’s stead. Lucrezia is a free spirit ensnared in a web of palatial politics and power, and within a year, the young duchess is also dead – perhaps murdered by her duke. The mystery surrounding her death during the heart of the Italian Renaissance is said to be the inspiration for Robert Browning’s poem “My Last Duchess,” and Maggie O’Farrell’s novel breathes new life into the mythology of her fate.

My Review: For me, this is peak historical fiction. Maybe I just encountered it at precisely the right time, but O’Farrell’s writing is so luxurious and intimate, full of fierce emotion and fascinating minutiae. Maybe it was partially due to the audiobook narrator’s (Genevieve Gaunt) voice, but listening to this story put a serious spell on me. The author deftly adds layers of life, mystery, and a twist ending to the few basic facts actually known of Lucrezia, and the use of the portrait and painting (and hints of the underpainting) as the vehicle for the story is masterful. The depth of O’Farrell’s imagination is breathtaking, and pulling out of the story, you can’t help but wonder if Lucrezia’s reality was more fraught, mundane, or a thousand shades in between. I loved it so much, I immediately had to read Hamnet, which has been on my list but never a priority. Hamnet is equally lush and magical, the astonishing story of Shakespeare’s wife, Agnes, and family (he himself is never named), but the death of a child makes it much heavier reading. Both novels are highly recommended.

Three Words That Describe This Book: Vivid, Alluring, Compelling

Give This a Try if You Like… Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell, Matrix by Lauren Groff, Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

Rating: 5/5

Find it at the library!

FDL Reads

April 13th, 2023|

Central Illinois Reads

FDL is proud to partner with Bradley University, Chillicothe Public Library, Dunlap Public Library District, Methodist College, Morton Public Library, Neighborhood House, Pekin Public Library, and Peoria Public Library to celebrate every individual’s Freedom to Read!

With the marked increase in book challenges nationwide, Peoria Public Library invited Central Illinois libraries to come together to encourage everyone to exercise their intellectual “Freedom to Read” what they choose.

April 11 through October 7 (Banned Books Week), local libraries will host events to empower you to stand against censorship, including programs with nationally known authors whose books have been banned, screenings of films based on banned books, discussions with librarians who are pushing back against intolerance, exclusion, and censorship, and more.
Please join us in celebrating each person’s Freedom to Read. Get a library card. Read outside your comfort zone. Unite against book bans.

Learn more at peoriapubliclibrary.org/central-illinois-reads/.



Upcoming Central Illinois Reads Events:

Tuesday, September 12 — Central Illinois Reads Presents: Talking About Trauma

6 p.m. — Methodist College, 7600 N. Academic Dr.

As part of our Central Illinois Reads’ exploration of intellectual freedom, we’ve discovered that many of the books challenged and censored deal with trauma of some sort. Our keynote speaker, Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Speak, found her book near the top of censorship lists because it dealt with teen sexual assault and suicidal ideation.

Almost everyone has experienced some type of trauma. Yet, talking about trauma is often still taboo.
In order to become a more trauma informed and, hopefully, trauma engaged community, we need to normalize the discussion of trauma.

This symposium will feature several speakers who will discuss different types of traumas, such as childhood trauma and systemic trauma, from different perspectives, such as professionals in healthcare and human services and as a parent.

Please join us for this important conversation.

Free and open to all. Refreshments provided.

April 11th, 2023|
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