Your public library is here to connect you with books, online resources, and learning experiences that celebrate Arab American history and culture all year long. On this page, you can: Browse suggested fiction and nonfiction titles for adults, teens, and kids, all hand-selected by our librarians. Find information about an upcoming display in the Main … Read more
Browse our Latinx media suggestions from Oak Park Public Library’s Spanish Conversation Hour facilitators: Nora, Jeanine, and Beronica! Mira nuestras sugerencias de medios Latinx, de los facilitadores del Conversación en Español: Nora, Jeanine, y Beronica! Books & movies/Libros y peliculas Join us/Acompañenos Spanish Conversation Hour is open conversation with other Spanish speakers. All levels are … Read more
Our annual event has gone virtual! This year, library staff members recorded videos and wrote stories to share their holiday traditions and memories with you, plus fun books, crafts, games, videos, and more for families to explore. Plus, share your hopes and wishes for 2021 and look for them in a window art installation facing … Read more
By Children’s Librarian Shelley Harris This weekend is bursting with holidays to celebrate! Saturday’s Halloween is followed by Sunday’s Dia de Muertos, Day of the Dead, and your public library is ready. We’re offering two Halloween dance party storytimes, one at 10 am for all ages and a Supported one at 11 am for kids … Read more
In 2017, the Village of Oak Park Board of Trustees approved a proclamation declaring the second Monday in October Indigenous Peoples’ Day. This day recognizes that Native peoples were the first inhabitants of North America and celebrates their history, traditions, and stories. We acknowledge that Oak Park is situated on the ancestral land of the … Read more
By Collection Management Librarian Kathy Sexton We acknowledge that Oak Park is situated on the ancestral land of the Bodewamiadkiwen (Potawatomi), Myaamia (Miami), Oceti Sakowin, Kiikaapoi (Kickapoo), and Peoria. We honor them and thank them for their stewardship of this land. In 2017, the Village of Oak Park Board of Trustees approved a proclamation declaring … Read more
Pictured above: Detail of Maíz Flor Serpiente/ Flower Maize Serpent commissioned digital art work by the Indigenous Design Collection, 2015. (Smithsonian Latino Center) A celebration of Hispanic Americans, this commemorative month (held September 15-October 15) honors “the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and … Read more
Celebrating Juneteenth Today is Juneteenth, the holiday celebrating the end of slavery in the United States. It marks June 19, 1865, the day when enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, were finally told that the Civil War had ended and they were free—two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation … Read more
‘I am passionate about multicultural education’ Juanta Griffin, a longtime Oak Park resident and arts educator, is the library’s new Multicultural Learning Coordinator. In this role, she explores and shares learning from the library’s Multicultural Collection, which is curated to help our community explore cultures and build empathy. “I am passionate about multicultural education not … Read more
Pictured above: Cherry trees along the Tidal Basin with Japanese Lantern placed in the park in 1954. Washington, D.C. Carol M. Highsmith;, photographer, [between 1980 and 2006]. (Library of Congress) A celebration of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States, this commemorative month pays “tribute to the generations of Asian and Pacific Islanders who … Read more
