!Welcome
At the St. Joseph Township- Swearingen Memorial Library, you will find big city library services provided with a small town friendliness.
Check out the Related Links tab for important community information!
The library has a weekly email newsletter! If you would like to sign up for our newsletter, go to the "Wowbrary" link on the left and follow the instructions.
The newsletters come out every Saturday. It announces new materials added during the week as well as upcoming events happening at the library.
Now it's easy to manage multiple accounts, keep track of checkouts and due dates, and renew items from your mobile device using the SHARE Mobile Library, the St. Joseph Township-Swearingen Memorial Library's new app! Search for books, DVDs, video games, audiobooks, e-books, and more. Find it now in the Apple App store or Google Play Store.
#SHAREMobileLibrary
Brought to you by the St. Joseph Township-Swearingen Memorial Library and the SHARE library consortium, a division of Illinois Heartland Library System.
Welcome Jason Reynolds, #1 New York Times bestselling author, advocate, mentor, and 2020-2022 National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. The recipient of a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, a Carnegie Medal, an NAACP Image Award, and multiple Coretta Scott King honors, Reynolds' beloved and award-winning titles include Stamped (with Ibram X. Kendi), Stuntboy, theTrack series (Ghost, Patina, Sunny, and Lu), Miles Morales, All American Boys (with Brendan Kiely), When I Was the Greatest, The Boy in the Black Suit, Look Both Ways, Ain't Burned All the Bright, and Long Way Down. He has appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Late Night with Seth Meyers, CBS Sunday Morning, and more.
The short documentary “Dear, Dreamer” is a lyrical portrait of Reynolds’ life and work as a rising literary star, as well as a testament to shared experiences and the power of seeing yourself in books. In his podcast, My Mother Made Me, he and his mother, Isabell, explore their shared history and what they’re teaching each other.
Reynolds lives in Washington, DC, where he is on faculty at Lesley University, for the Writing for Young People MFA Program. You can find his ramblings at JasonWritesBooks.com
Register here: [https://bit.ly/ILP_JasonReynolds]
Join Chef Art Smith to learn about his culinary journey and bring some culinary inspiration into your holiday season. A two-time James Beard Foundation award winner, Smith believes “The art of cooking, the act of feeding people, is the most engaging, most memorable way to connect with people.”
Smith began his career at the Florida Culinary Institute and honed his skills working with top chefs in France before finding himself in Chicago. Here he served as Oprah Winfrey’s personal chef for a decade and opened his first critically-acclaimed restaurant, Table Fifty-Two, known for its modern Southern dishes and locally sourced ingredients.
Smith is also a prolific cookbook author and TV personality, sharing his passion for Southern cuisine. He has appeared on Top Chef, Top Chef Duels, Top Chef Masters, Iron Chef America, The Today Show, Good Morning America, Entertainment Tonight, BBQ Pitmasters, The Oprah Winfrey Show and more.
Named Chicagoan of the Year by Chicago Magazine and Humanitarian of the Year by the James Beard Foundation, both in 2007, Smith is currently Executive Chef andCo-Owner with restaurants in Chicago, Orlando, Atlanta and Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Common Threads, a non-profit organization teaching low-income children to cook wholesome and affordable meals.
Smith will be joined in conversation by Monica Eng, award-winning Chicago journalist and co-host of food podcast "Chewing" w/ Louisa Chu.
Register at: https://bit.ly/ILP_ArtSmith
ILP is committed to inclusion and accessibility. To request accommodations, please email illinoislibrariespresent@gmail.com.The library joined the Illinois Libraries Present (ILP), a statewide collaboration among public libraries offering premier events. ILP is funded in part by a grant awarded by the Illinois State Library, a department of the Office of Secretary of State, using funds provided by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). ILP is committed to inclusion and accessibility. To request accommodations, please email illinoislibrariespresent@gmail.com. The library is excited to be a part of ILP.