Launched "Heroes at Your Library" teen reading discussion group
CHICAGO – The DeKalb Public Library has been named the winner of the 2007 Lawrence W. Towner Award for their project "Heroes At Your Local Library." Steven Torres-Roman, a librarian at the DPL, is the project director.
"Heroes at Your Library" is a year-long reading and discussion group for teens. Not a typical reading series, "Heroes" will feature an important graphic novel each month, as well as promote discussion. The novels will consider the theme of the meaning of heroes in society and culture. A library staff person with an expertise in graphic novels will facilitate the reading and discussion.
The Towner Award was created in 1985 by the Illinois Humanities Council Board of Directors in memory of a past chairman, Lawrence W. Towner. It was instituted to encourage "risk-taking in the development and execution of a public humanities project." It is more appropriate to recognize such qualities at the beginning of the project when the risk was undertaken, rather than after its completion.
Previous winners of the Towner Award include Free Street Programs for its project "Facing Extremism;" Center for Working Class Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago for the "Chicago Labor and Working-Class History Map;" Beyondmedia Education for their "Women in Prison" project; Video Machete for "Global Youth Project;" the Rockford Art Museum for the Hager Collection of African-American Contemporary Folk Art; the University of Chicago for its project "Trading Fours: Jazz and its Milieu;" the Chicago Historical Society for its project "A House Divided;" and the Illinois State Museum for its floating exhibit "Harvesting the River."
For more information about "Heroes at Your Library," please contact Steven Torres-Roman at the DeKalb Public Library, (815) 756-9568. Further information about the Illinois Humanities Council may be obtained by visiting www.prairie.org or calling 312.422.5580.
The Illinois Humanities Council is a nonprofit educational organization [501 (c) 3] dedicated to fostering a culture in which the humanities are a vital part of the lives of individuals and communities. Organized in 1973 as the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the IHC creates programs and funds organizations that promote greater understanding of, appreciation for, and involvement in the humanities by all Illinoisans, regardless of their economic resources, cultural background, or geographic location. The IHC is supported by state, federal, and private funds.
D A R E T O K N O W
# # #