Philo Public Library District Blog

2008-08-15T16:20:00.023-05:00

Camp Clover

Offered by the U of I Extension Service. Lead by Jamie Kleiss and included 5 helpers and 18 children.

Many activities included science, crafts,

nutrition and of course games.

It was a Fun time for all!!!

2008-07-25T16:22:00.009-05:00

"Get In The Game, Read!" was our Summer Library Program, July 2008. A fun time was had by all. Games were played, crafts were created, and books were read.

2008-06-17T18:39:00.002-05:00

"Walk In My Shoes"

Learning about the aging process with hands on activities. These children learned that simple tasks become more difficult as you age.

2008-06-17T18:28:00.002-05:00

"Read with a Dog" gave our children a chance to read to a furry friend. All participating dogs are certified therapy dogs.

2007-07-13T09:51:00.001-05:00

Philo Library Goes Online as Cindy Clennon Checks Out First Book.

Miss Jill's preschool summer reading program.

Miss Sue's wild and crazy coke volcano at her summer reading program.

Philo Library Friend's Garden Walk

Thanks to Miss H. Abbott for this Blog entry and the great photos!

2007-04-14T15:13:00.000-05:00

Local Student’s Art On New Philo Library Cards

When the Philo Library Board recently decided to order new plastic library cards with bar codes attached, in order to become fully automated, they had hoped to include a picture of the library building on each card. Unfortunately the professionals they contacted, besides being costly, could not perform the work within the time frame required.
Luckily, Will Jones, a 3rd grade student at Unity East, stepped forward and offered to help. Will drew a number of pictures of the library, the Board selected one, and now each new library card includes a picture of the library by Will Jones!
The Board wishes to thank Will for his assistance and for the wonderful accomplishment. Rather than just handing out library cards with plain (boring) lettering, each permanent card will be more personalized with a bit of local art.

We are hoping that July 9, 2007 will be The DAY we become fully automated within the Lincoln Trail Libraries System. Watch for details as we plan to celebrate going on-line.
There are forms for people to fill out, beginning April 18th, to receive the new plastic Library Cards with bar codes built into them and the picture by Will. Please Note: Lincoln Trails suggests that patrons with Philo library cards that already have a bar code from another automated library, wait until the latter part of May before filling out the paperwork to receive their new Philo Library card.

2006-12-19T22:38:00.000-06:00

Mayor Ushers In Holiday Season!

Philo Mayor Craig Eckert brought
smiles to the gathered faces as he and his erstwhile assistants successfully lit the lights on the Village Christmas tree during the Village Tree Trimming activities on Saturday, December 2nd.

Jean McCormick, in her seasonal red and white hat, led the gathering in singing carols.

Susan Hale was assisted by Jackie Clark, Betty Armstrong, Barb Kleiss, and a host of other volunteers in offering local children a chance to make holiday decorations during the Ornament Workshop prior to the tree trimming.

Margaret Khachaturian has a notebook on display at the library showing the colorful history of past Village Tree activities.

The pictures below give glimpses of some of the fun on Dec. 2nd (& leading up to it).

From the Library staff:

Happy Holidays

and a MERRY CHRISTMAS

To All!

2006-12-13T20:49:00.000-06:00

Thanksgiving Preparations at the Library

Susan Hale and Mary Jones lead the hard working kids through "Crafts at the Library" in order to put together some great holiday decorations.

2006-09-28T23:17:00.000-05:00

Larry Kanfer Photographic Artist Speaks At Philo Library!

There was an overflow crowd at the library on September 14th to hear Mr. Kanfer speak on "The Magnificance of Every Day." His photos, many from the local region, enthralled the audience (on a projector graciously provided for the evening by the Lincoln Trail Libraries System). More information regarding Larry's work is available at his web site: www.kanfer.com.

Click on the pictures to increase their size.

2006-08-31T11:10:00.000-05:00

LOCAL AUTHOR VISITS LIBRARY!

To the left are pictured Alvin Decker and Beverly Norenberg. He's about to inscribe a copy of his latest book. The library also wants to say "Thanks" to Christine Walsh, from the "County Star" paper, for sharing the photo with us.

Local author, and artist, Alvin Decker stopped by the Philo Library twice for book signings in August. He was here Saturday August 5th and again Friday August 11th. His newst book, "Farm Tales" has just been published!

"Farm Tales" reminds us of how life used to be, even though some of our children don't seem to believe there was a time before air conditioning. The book tells a variety of stories, including one about an actual two-story outhouse (and where one should avoid sitting while utilizing it).

His book also lets us know that a young man's promise of indoor running water was one of the reasons that Ethel Schum considered marrying Alvin, many decades ago. You can ask Alvin about that, or checkout a copy of his book from the library and reminisce about the way things really were not so long ago.

Alvin Decker has another 3 books also available at the library, or at any good bookstore. Those are entitled: "Born in the Illinois Cornfields"; "Life Down on the Farm"; and "Bev - a Farm Girl Comes of Age". He has also painted the artwork on the covers of his books.

2006-07-28T16:21:00.000-05:00

Summer Reading Programs!

There was a great turnout for this years' activities. We're posting a number of photos from the "Pre-School," the "Kids-Cookin," and the "Crafts" programs to give some flavor of what the youngsters did this summer. We want to thank all who assisted with the summer reading programs and especially Christine Walsh from the County Star paper for providing many of the photographs.

2006-06-30T15:22:00.000-05:00

The Story of How Philo Became
the Center of the Universe

Margaret Miles Khachaturian, from "Our Village History, Philo 1875-2000"

It was Thanksgiving of 1969 and the Narbey Khachaturian family was in India where Professor Khachaturian was serving as a consultant to the U.S. Agency for International Development, for the advancement of the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur.

Teenagers Greg and Jon were attending the American International School in New Delhi and had brought a friend, Bill Stollberg, home for the holiday. Mary and Steve were living at home on the IIT campus. We took Bill to Bitur, a place by the Ganges River that was of significance to the Indian people.

It was so significant, in fact, that there was a small shrine-like area that sheltered a plaque that read "Bitur - The Center of the Universe."

"Oh, that is not true," the boys told their friend. "PHILO is the center of the universe!"

It became a family joke and years later Bill came to Philo to visit because he said he had to see this center of the universe for himself.

When Steve Khachaturian was introducing himself to his WLRW audience, he said he was Stevie Jay from Philo, the Center of the Universe. The comment then became a beyond-family joke and when Steve began his talk show on radio station WDWS, he referred more frequently to Philo as the Center and more of the story was told.

It seems that at Bitur seventeen years earlier, Greg had quickly figured that if you drilled a hole through the globe you would come out in Philo. Jon further opined that indeed, it would come up right under the water tower.

When the Philo Village Board voted to have this geographical news painted ON the water tower, Steve was so surprised that he impulsively said, on the air, that he would broadcast a program from the top of the tower. When the day came, people brought lawn chairs and were sitting along the sidewalk on the east side of the bank as Steve climbed the ladder.

It was on June 7, 1987 and the area was in a state of severe drought. Steve had been up there for only half an hour when it began to rain, necessitating his descent, for which he was very glad. Since that was the only time it rained that whole month, people were suggesting he go up there again, an idea he enthusiastically vetoed.

In 1992, the Philo's Woman's Club had shirts and caps made with Center of the Universe declaration. The committee for the Celebration 2000 quasquicentennial followed through by having a logo designed by Paul Buhnerkemper to be printed on dozens of celebration souvenirs.

There have been books published proclaiming this amazing fact, including one by CBS correspondent Bill Geist. He suggests that the residents claim that Philo is the Center of the Universe-- but they're just kidding.

PPLD wishes to thank Margaret for permission to reprint the above article.

And one postscript: we have come across one University of Illinois astronomer who has published work indicating Philo Illinois as the center of the universe. Here is a link to his online presentation (look near the end, under his Universe section): www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/glpa/update99.html . So maybe its not all just kidding.

2006-05-04T14:57:00.000-05:00

Kids Activities at the Library!

Susan Hale and the library want to say a word of thanks to Betty & Alberta, the Extension Ladies, for another great set of fun activities at the Philo Public Library District these past 4 months!

Generally they would lead the kids in activities, as shown in the picture above. And that's Extension Lady Betty Armstrong at the far end.

And then the Extension Ladies would finish up by having the kids help create their own healthy (relatively) snacks!

As you can see in the picture to the right, the children weren't shy about subjecting their creations to rigorus "quality control" tests.

Librarian Jillann is shown to the left with some of her friends taking part in one of the Friday Morning Activities she led this past semester.

Jill and Sue are making plans for this year's upcoming Summer Reading Program, which will be starting in June 2006.

2006-04-13T19:39:00.000-05:00

ARTISTS AMONG US!

During March and April 2006, the Philo Public Library District sponsored a Bookmark Contest. Local students created bookmarks, utilizing their own ideas and creative talents.

From over one hundred entries, judges examined each (without knowing the names of any of the artists) and selected one winner from each grade level, 1st through 8th.

Pictured above are the 4 winners from St. Thomas School. From the left they are: Hannah Abbott, 7th grade; Tyler Cain, 1st grade; (Don Thorsen, Library Director;) Megan James, 4th grade; and Rachel Cunningham, 8th grade.

Pictured above are the 4 winners from Unity East School. From the left they are: McKayla Olson, 5th grade; Will Jones, 2nd grade; (librarian;) Ryan Miller, 3rd grade; and Kenna Mae Reiss, 6th grade.

Each winner was presented with a gift certificate good at the Pages For All Ages Bookstore.

The library wishes to thank the schools and each and every student that participated and submitted a work of art. Because of the high number of quality entries, our judges had a difficult time in making their final selections. Therefore we want to encourage all of the artists among us to keep up the good work!

The library has reproduced copies of the winning bookmarks, stop by and pick up your favorite.
Below are the 8 winning bookmarks: (you can click any picture to make it bigger)

2006-04-03T23:33:00.000-05:00

The PHILO LIBRARY, PAST & PRESENT.

This, the Philo Public Library District Blog's first posting, is being composed in early April, 2006. We are attempting to link it to the library's new web site located at : www.prairienet.org/ppld.

Some wordsmith once said that the past is a foreign country. By which I thought they meant that it is hard to understand, and somehow different. But in a sense if we can't try to remember where we and our institutions came from, then we'll lose part of who and what we are.

So, we will begin with a tip of our hat to the far sighted folks who worked to create the Philo Library initially, and to those hard working folks who have kept it alive and well for the past 44 years!

The following is a brief history of the Philo Library:

The Philo Public Library District had its beginnings in January 1962 as a project of the Philo Woman's Club. It opened in a small rented store with donated books and volunteer staff.

In the fall of 1962 a tax referendum gave the library a tax base, and the Philo Township Public Library was created. In 1971 the library moved to larger rented quarters with 18 open hours per week. By January 1979 hours had been increased to 44 per week with the librarian present 30 hours per week and assistants 14 hours.

In August of 1989 the library was forced to close when its building was sold. While a new site and building were being sought, the library operated 27 hours per week from a stationary bookmobile with only current materials available.

The Philo Township Library became the Philo Public Library District by referendum in 1990. On July 1, 1992 the library opened in a temporary leased facility while the search for a permanent site continued.

On September 28, 1996 ground was broken for a new 4,000 square foot building, built with an Illinois State Library Live and Learn Grant and a bond issue voted by the citizens. The first permanent home of the Philo Public Library District opened on July 31, 1997 and was dedicated on September 27, 1997. It is now open 42 hours per week during the school year. Services and materials now available are books, magazines, videos, DVDs, audio books, CDs, reference, computers, computer-searching, microfilm and microfiche readers, fax, and copy machine.

As the library that has faithfully served "the center of the universe" (for a photo that "clearly" shows the painting on Philo's watertower, visit - www.philipbrewer.net/Journal/2005/2005-04-16.php), we would like to hear your rememberances and comments about people and efforts connected with the Philo Public Library.