Seven Wonders of the Reading World

Positively Ellinwood Street is no longer a rookie. 2010 is our second major league season, and last year we wrote exactly 99 thoughtful, amusing, timely, and reflective posts about books, libraries, movies, gardening, romance, music, authors, pets and other signs of the times. Although we've had several guest columnists, the heart of this blog is the lovely and talented Readers' Services staff.

To lead off our sophomore season and our 100th blog post, I'd like to introduce to you, fresh from another great year on the third floor of the Des Plaines Public Library, The Seven Wonders of the Reading World! Down front, from left to right: Cathy, Lynne, Linda and Jo. In the back row, from left to right: Laura, Joel and David. Smile, everyone! These folks work really, really hard. They select almost all of the materials (books, movies, music, graphic novels, Playaways) on the third floor. They create displays and posters and bookmarks and contests. They constantly think about our collections to make sure we have what the community really wants (like a new Romance section or downloadable audiobooks). They lead stimulating book discussions. They deliver books to home bound patrons and assisted living communities. They repair thousands of damaged DVDs every year. They write for this blog and the Blog of Awesome, they arrange teen and adult programs, they teach thousands of patrons how to use the catalog, they place thousands of holds. They help lost kids find their parents - and vice versa. And of course, they're super friendly and helpful.

But one of the most important - and certainly one of the most fun things - they do is to talk about books to people who use the library, whether that means at the desk or in these blog entries. So please, stop in or comment as often as you like.

They just read a great book, and they'd love to tell you about it.