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Thursday, March 14, 2013
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Library fundraising going online Website will go live after City Council votes on $7.5 million in bonds By DAVE THOMAS dthomas@shawmedia.com DeKALB – People will be able to donate online to the DeKalb Public Library’s expansion campaign through a website
that will go live after March 25. That’s one day after the DeKalb City Council is expected to vote on borrowing $7.5 million to help the library get a state construction grant worth $8.5
million. Library Director Dee Coover said she was optimistic about the campaign’s progress so far. “Things are coming together very, very well,” Coover said. Library officials need
to have $15.5 million in the bank by June 30 so they can take advantage of the state grant to help pay for a 46,000-square foot expansion to the library at 309 Oak St. To that end, library of-
ficials have petitioned the DeKalb City Council for help, consulted local foundations, and hired a media group to create a fundraising website. Library officials got a full demonstration of the website at their
Essential, not expendable
Wednesday night meeting. People can donate through the website, where they also can set the frequency of their donations.
Dee Coover DeKalb Public Library director
See LIBRARY BOARD, page A4
Argentina’s Bergoglio selected new pontiff 76-year-old is first pope elected from the Americas By NICOLE WINFIELD
At a glance
The Associated Press
Erik Anderson – For the Daily Chronicle
Librarian Deb Kreutziger checks out a book for juniors, Matt Baker (right) and Ryan Lindsey (left) on Wednesday in the library at Sycamore High School in Sycamore. After Kreutziger checks out the book, she will physically process of three new books to put on the library shelves.
School libraries look to change perception By JEFF ENGELHARDT jengelhardt@shawmedia.com DeKALB – There are hundreds of teachers to serve the thousands of students in DeKalb and Sycamore school districts. There are two certified, trained librarians. As school districts across the state look for cuts anywhere they can be found, school libraries have been a common target as state law requires districts to employ only one trained librarian. State law requires that librarians be a certified teacher who holds a master’s degree in library sciences. Districts can then choose to staff each building’s library with a full-time employee, paraprofessionals or no one at all, which Leslie Berg experienced firsthand. Berg, certified librarian for DeKalb School District 428, said before she came to DeKalb in 2012 she served at Rockford School District
205, where there was a mass layoff of library employees, leaving some buildings with libraries in operation only a few days a week. And even as the only certified librarian in DeKalb schools, Berg said it was refreshing to see a desire from district leadership to support its libraries even though financial circumstances make it difficult. “DeKalb has a great focus on the future,” Berg said. “As a district, that vision is there, but it’s going to take time.” Aside from Berg’s role at DeKalb High School, all other district libraries are staffed by paraprofessionals who Berg called well-qualified to operate a library. But budget cuts have made it difficult for many of those buildings to keep up with technology and basic resources. Lynette French, who heads the library at Clinton
VATICAN CITY – Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina was elected pope Wednesday, becoming the first pontiff from the Americas and the first from outside Europe in more than a millennium. He chose the name Francis, associating himself with the humble 13th-century Italian preacher who lived a life of poverty. Looking stunned, Francis shyly waved to the crowd of more than 100,000 people who packed a rain-soaked St. Peter’s Square for the announcement, marveling that the cardinals needed to look to “the end of the earth” to find a bishop of Rome. In choosing a 76-year-old pope, the cardinals clearly decided that they didn’t need a vigorous, young pope who would reign for decades but rather a seasoned, popular and humble pastor who would draw followers to the faith and help rebuild a church stained by scandal. The cardinal electors overcame deep divisions about the future of the church to select the 266th pontiff in a remarkably fast, five-ballot conclave. Francis asked for prayers for himself, and for retired
See POPE, page A4 Erik Anderson – For the Daily Chronicle
Librarian Deb Kreutziger organizes books and puts new books on the shelves in the library Wednesday at Sycamore High School in Sycamore.
Voice your opinion Which of the following is most important for local school libraries? • After-school hours • Certified, trained librarians • Student reading assistance • More paraprofessionals Vote online at Daily-Chronicle.com.
See LIBRARIES, page A3
AP photo
“DeKalb has a great focus on the future. As a district, that vision is there, but it’s going to take time.”
Pope Francis speaks Wednesday from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, who chose the name of Francis, is the 266th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church.
Leslie Berg, certified librarian for DeKalb School District 428
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In a lifetime of teaching and leading priests in Latin America, which has the largest share of the world’s Catholics, the longtime archbishop from Buenos Aires has shown a keen political sensibility as well as the kind of self-effacing humility that fellow cardinals value highly, according to his official biographer, Sergio Rubin.
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