What's New at RAILS

Rockford has some of the most popular attractions in Explore More Illinois, RAILS' online cultural and recreational pass program for Illinois libraries. Share the first of our Explore More Illinois travel videos with your patrons! The video highlights attractions like Anderson Japanese Gardens, Discovery Center Museum, Rockford Art Museum, and Volcano Falls Adventure Park. It's perfect to share on your social media accounts or on digital signage. We plan on creating new travel videos regularly for you to share with your patrons.

Please contact Jessica Barnes, RAILS' Special Projects Librarian, at jessica.barnes@railslibraries.info or 630.734.5181 if you have questions about the video or about how your library can join Explore More Illinois.

Explore More Illinois, RAILS' online cultural and recreational pass program for Illinois libraries, welcomes its newest attraction, the Gateway Grizzlies! The Gateway Grizzlies are a professional baseball team based in the St. Louis suburb of Sauget, IL. They are a member of the West Division of the Frontier League, a partner league of Major League Baseball. Since 2002, GCS Credit Union Ballpark has been the team's home.

The Gateway Grizzlies is offering half-off tickets. Explore More Illinois users can access and reserve passes from any of our attractions on their participating library's website.

Please visit the Explore More Illinois website for a list of current attractions. For more information, please contact Jessica Barnes or 630.734.5181.

The Reaching Across Illinois Libraries System (RAILS) announced that 20 projects have been selected to receive My Library Is… Grants for School Libraries. The total amount funded for these projects is $78,232.80.

These grants provide an opportunity for libraries to focus on projects that help tell the library story and that increase visibility and support in schools. This year, there was a special focus on asking libraries to develop projects that incorporate principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) and to clearly demonstrate the impact these projects will have on their diverse student populations, teachers, parents, and administrators.

RAILS received 30 total applications. The following projects were chosen from those 30:

Dan Bostrom, RAILS Member Engagement Manager talks with Juanita Harrell, Law Library Manager at DuPage County Law Library. Juanita discusses how the library serves a wide audience including litigants, attorneys, judges, and the general public. This library has a unique mission to help everyone navigate the complex language and process of the law.

Debbie Baaske, acting Member Engagement Manager talks with Colby Maddox, Manager of the Resource Center at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. The collection houses over 25,000 commercial and archival recordings, videos, books, photos, documents and periodicals. The main users of the Resource Center are the teachers, administrators, and students of the school. The resource center is normally open to the public for browsing.