Posted by eileen on August 6, 2010
Are you a high school student starting to think about college? Are you a parent looking to plan ahead for your child’s college education? WPL has some great FREE workshops coming up to help you out.
Monday, August 16 at 2pm
Accepted: Getting Into Your First Choice School presented by Kaplan
This seminar is designed to help you discover the ins and outs of college admissions. You will learn what admissions officers want to see in applicants and get tips for college success. Register online now.
Thursday, August 19 at 3pm
College Application Essay Workshop presented by Kaplan
This one-hour workshop is designed to show students and parents what college admissions officers want to see in an essay. The workshop will examine the types of topics students will encounter, cover the four steps to writing a winning essay, and critique a sample admissions essay. Register online now.
Tuesday, October 26 at 7pm
Start Early, Start Smart: College Major and Career Planning Seminar presented by Career Vision
For parents and their high school and college age students
Is it really possible that students can identify potential career directions and college majors while still in high school? You bet! Learn what you need to know before choosing a college and how identifying a college major and career direction can build a student’s motivation and confidence, but also reduce college expenses. Receive information and find resources to guide the student and take the stress out of making these important decisions. Each family/student will receive a complimentary copy of Career Vision’s award-winning parent guide, Getting Started: Talking with Your Child about Career Choices. Register online beginning September 24.
A great place to start when planning for college is on WPL’s College and Financial Aid page. Find links to government resources and review sites.
Posted by eileen on July 23, 2010
Before school starts again, take advantage of our Museum Adventure Pass program! This program is sponsored by Macy’s and allows free admission or discounts to 17 Chicago area attractions. Popular attractions include Brookfield Zoo, Cantigny Park, Kohl Children’s Museum, Chicago Botanic Garden, and Morton Arboretum.
For more information stop by or call the Children’s Department at 630-868-7540.
See a full list of participating attractions
Read the Museum Adventure Pass Press Release
Posted by eileen on July 19, 2010
Join us on Tuesday night at 7pm for an evening with Jazz Spectrum, held on the library’s West Plaza. In the event of bad weather, the concert will be held inside the library. The library has some outdoor seating available, but feel free to bring your own chairs and blankets.
Jazz Spectrum is an energetic, jazz-influenced vocal quartet backed by four swinging musicians, playing updated versions of hits by the vocal groups of the ’40s and ’50s. Listen to lush ballads, Doo Wop, and lightning fast vocalese style lyrics.
Posted by eileen on May 26, 2010
There are many ways to celebrate Memorial Day. USA.gov‘s Memorial Day site has links to great information about the origins of Memorial Day and the National Moment of Remembrance. Also, find tips for your weekend festivities in articles like, Barbecue Food Safety and Boating Safety.
Looking for some recipes to try out this weekend? Check out Betty Crocker’s Celebrate!: A Year-Round Guide to Holiday Food and Fun.
Looking for something to do? Check out Triblocal.com‘s calendar of local events. Click on your county on the left side of the page and then your city. Triblocal’s Wheaton site
Posted by eileen on April 13, 2010
Have things to get rid of? Head to Wheaton’s Recycling Extravaganza on Saturday, April 17. It is held in the parking lot at Liberty Drive and Carlton Avenue from 9am to 1pm.
Accepted items include:
Books
Scrap metal
Eye glasses
Keys
Hearing aids
Worn American flags
Cell phones
Bicycles in working order
Computers and computer accessories
TVs, VCRs, DVD players
Phones, fax machines
Small household appliances
Please do NOT bring:
Refrigerators
Air Conditioners
Batteries
For more information, please call the Environmental Improvement Commission at 630-690-1237 or 630-653-8877.
Check out some unique ways items have been recycled at DwellSmart. One of our favorites is the computer circuit board turned into a picture frame!
Posted by eileen on April 9, 2010
Join us on Tuesday, April 20 for a pre-concert lecture about the upcoming New Philharmonic program, Passionate Piano Strings. Learn about Tanya Bannister, the featured pianist, as well as information about the musical pieces. Tickets are not necessary and the program begins at 7pm in the library’s Lower Level Large Meeting Room.
If you would like to attend the Passionate Piano Strings concert at the McAninch Arts Center at College of DuPage, more information is available from the MAC’s website.
Posted by eileen on March 26, 2010
Did you miss some of the recent newspaper articles about WPL?
Cuts could lead to Friday closures for Wheaton library – Daily Herald, March 18, 2010
Residents rally around Wheaton library – Daily Herald, March 2, 2010
Confused about the library’s budget issues? Take a look at the State of the Wheaton Library brochure.
Posted by eileen on March 11, 2010
Who Do You Think You Are? premiered last Friday on NBC. According to the show’s
About page, “Viewers are invited to take an up-close and personal look inside the family history of some of today’s most beloved and iconic celebrities with NBC’s
Who Do You Think You Are? Starring in the new alternative series are Matthew Broderick, Lisa Kudrow, Spike Lee, Sarah Jessica Parker, Susan Sarandon, Brooke Shields and Emmitt Smith. Ancestry.com is NBC’s official partner on the series.”
After (and prior to) the first episode, which featured Sarah Jessica Parker, one can find many
reviews through a simple Google search. Some of these reviews are less than favorable. For example,
Mary McNamara of the LA Times says, “And though Parker does her best to appear moved and humbled by the difficult and even tragic lives of her ancestors, the show is all about her, after all, forcing the uncomfortable question: If everything happens for a reason, did all this American drama occur to ensure the existence of ‘Sex and the City,’ or even worse, ‘Did You Hear About the Morgans?’” Ha!
Other mentions of the show are positive.
Paula Stuart-Warren, author of the blog
Paula’s Genealogical Eclectica focuses on the good things about the show. She says, “While they can’t show each step of the research I am thrilled that they are showing a variety of records, both online and off. Visits to libraries, specific localities, historical societies, museums are shown. The starting point of talking with family and looking at home sources is represented in the visit with her mother. The audience gets to see Ancestry.com, census, newspaper articles, maps, old letters, original court records, and that not all is online.”
In many cases, the search for one’s ancestors is not an easy one. It can be time-consuming and at times addicting (at least for me). Whether
Who Do You Think You Are? is a successful endeavor for NBC or not, I hope it brings to light the fact there are many
tools to help find one’s roots as close as his/her public library.
WPL happens to have a
Genealogy Collection with many many sources. Our
Reference Desk is staffed with degreed librarians who are more than happy to help you get started on the search for your ancestors. As noted above, Ancestry.com has partnered with NBC to create the series. WPL (and many other libraries, for those of you outside the area) subscribes to the full Ancestry.com database. This means the census records, local histories, draft records, and indexes one would pay for through Ancestry.com are available for FREE if you use
Ancestry inside the library. Stop in and take a look. Representatives from the
DuPage Genealogical Society are available to answer questions every Thursday night from 7-9pm at the library.
Posted by eileen on February 26, 2010
Whether you’re a family history first-timer, or an old hand at genealogy, our latest series of classes can keep you on the right track. Sponsored by the
DuPage County Genealogical Society, the five-class series is held on Mondays, March 8-April 5 from 6:30-8:30pm at Wheaton Public Library.
The cost for the series is $30 for members of the Society, and $40 for non-members. Individual classes are $10 each. All classes focus on American sources. See class descriptions below. Registration forms are available at the Reference Desk or
print it here.
March 8 – Building a Firm Foundation – Need a starting point? This class will have some answers. Tips on interviewing relatives and what can be found at home will be discussed. Other topics include discerning quality sources and using correspondence effectively.
March 15 – For the Record – Find out what records such as birth, death, probate, cemetery, and marriage may hold for your family tree. Learn how to organize information from records using forms and computer programs.
March 22 – A Sensational Source – Widely available and useful, find out what the Federal Census records and associated indices offer. Discussion will also include an overview of other federal records.
March 29 – All the News That’s Fit to Print – There’s more than news in the newspaper and obituaries are featured. The class will also discuss various types of libraries and what genealogical resources you might find at each.
April 5 – Full Circle – How and where to find real sources on the web, including images and text. Problem solving, the research cycle, and field trip hints are also discussed.
