Towanda District Library

 301 S Taylor St
 Towanda, IL 61776
 309-728-2176
 Fax: 309-728-2139
 Email:
  towandalib@yahoo.com

     Photograph of the Towanda District Library

Hours:
 Monday:       10a - 7p
 Tuesday: 
      1p - 7p
 Wednesday:
 10a - 7p
 Thursday:  
    1p - 5p
 Friday:   
        1p - 5p
 Saturday: 
   10a - 3p
 

 Renew books online or check your Towanda library account activity.
Login using your library card number. Contact the library to obtain a password.

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  About Us
  Freedom of Info
  General Info
  Newsletter
  Policies
  Library History
  Map
  Photo Album
  Volunteers
  Links
  Link to Towanda District Library page at Facebook
  Link to Towanda District Library page at YouTube
  Link to the TumbleBook Library Collection which contains great animated stories, quizzes and puzzles for children. TumbleBooks are created from existing picture books licensed from children's book publishers.
  Link to NoveList for descriptions of novels, information on Author Read-alikes, Discussion Guides, lists of best fiction, lists of books by genre and reader age group, and more. Login with your Towanda District Library card number.   Link to NoveList K-8 for descriptions of children's novels, information on Author Read-alikes, Discussion Guides, lists of best fiction, lists of books by genre and reader age group, and more. Login with your Towanda District Library card number.
  Link to the website of the Village of Towanda, Illinois   Link to the Towanda Area History website, which contains newspaper articles, photographs, personal stories, audio interviews, and much more about the history of the Towanda area.
  Link to Web Junction Illinois, which supports library staff through online resources, community and continuing education.    Link to the website of the Indian Creek subdivision two miles north of Towanda
 
  References
  Dictionary
  Encyclopedia
  World Atlas
  US Cities


 
    

     Staff email

   
Special Programs and Events


Rural Entrepreneurship Multi-media Interviews - Youth opportunity:

As part of a State Library grant, the library is seeking a cadre of teen youth who would like to learn to use a FLIP video camera and movie-making software. Youth will volunteer to interview and film local business people. The goal of the project is to highlight local area businesses and entrepreneurs. The resulting short video clips will appear on a web portal highlighting rural entrepreneurship.  Contact the library for more information.
 

Read to the Dogs

Tuesday evenings from 5:30 – 6:30pm June 22 through July 27, youth read one-on-one with a trained and certified canine friend - by appointment only.
 

Sign Up for the Summer Reading Program:

Families may begin to sign up for the Summer Reading Program. There will be a drawing on the first day of the program. Any parent or guardian who pre-registers a child for the program will be eligible to win a $50 gift certificate. Register now at the library.


Summer Reading Program

The theme for the library's Summer Reading Program is "Scare Up a Good Book." We will be emphasizing that "the more you know, the less you fear." The Zoo Lady will be here on Wednesday, June 23 at 10:00am. "Corny" from the Cornbelters, along with players from the team, will meet and greet library-goers on Wednesday, June 30. In July a NOAA specialist from Lincoln, Illinois will discuss scary weather and safety tips. Other frightful summer topics will include bugs, snakes, skunks, owls, and the scare tactics animals use to keep themselves safe. Sorry, no goblins or ghosts this summer! We'll save those for our Halloween Party!
See the full schedule here.
 

Family Movie Nights, Alternate Thursdays Throughout the Summer

EARLY SHOW: 4:00pm               EVENING SHOW: 6:00pm

June 10       4:00:  Toy Story (G)                      
                   6:00:  Toy Story 2 (PG)

June 24       4:00:  Monsters Inc (G)
                   6:00:  Monsters Vs Aliens (PG)

July 8          4:00:  Mr. Troop Mom (G)
                   6:00:  Leap Year (PG)

July 22        4:00:  Alice In Wonderland (1951) (G)
                   6:00:  Alice In Wonderland (2010) (PG)

Aug 5          4:00:  The Princess And The Frog (G)
                   6:00:  Up (PG)

Aug 19        4:00:  Under The Sea (NR)
                   6:00:  Cloudy With Chance Of Meatballs (PG)

Supported by the FRIENDS of the TOWANDA DISTRICT LIBRARY
 

Wii for Fwii at the Library

Tuesday evenings 4:00 to 6:30: Play Wii games with your friends.
 

Friends of the Library

The next FRIENDS meeting will be Wednesday, September 22 at 6:00pm at the home of a member.  Call the library at 728-2176 for location and directions. 
 

TOWANDA READS Book Club

TOWANDA READS meets Wednesday, September 22 at 7:00pm at the home of a member.  Call the library at 728-2176 for location and directions. The group will will discuss Loving Frank, by Nancy Horan.
 

Pre-School Story Hours, 11:00am weekly during the school year

Pre-school Story Hours run from first Monday after Labor Day to the Monday prior to Memorial Day.  Pre-schoolers may participate in the Summer Reading Program on Wednesday mornings during the summer.

Mondays each week during the school year, preschoolers learn the “joy of reading”. Youth Services Librarian Erica Ensign reads to children ages 3 through 5 and leads them in educational activities. Younger brothers and sisters may listen to online, animated TumbleBooks or enjoy board books with parental supervision.  Open enrollment allows children to enter the program whenever they turn three.

              Topics:

April 26: Fishy Tales
May 3:   Birds
May 10:  Fabulous Families
May 17:  Milk and Cookies
May 24:  Vacations
 

Economize at the Library

  • Magazines can be checked out free-of-charge.

  • There is no charge for DVD and video rentals.

  • Summer Reading and other programs are free.

  • Books on Tape and MP3 Play-a-Ways are free.

  • Wireless access to the internet is free - on our computers or on your laptop.

  • Copier and Fax are available for a small fee.
     

Buying children's books as gifts? 

You can help support the Towanda Library by purchasing your books through the Friend's of the Library online book sale at Usborne BooksA percentage of each sale will go to benefit the library.  Click on Friend's of the Towanda District Library page at Usborne Books to see and purchase books.


Towanda History

The Towanda District Library has partnered with the Towanda Area Historical Society to document and display Towanda Area History on the web at towandahistory.org.

A new feature of the Towanda District Library is a History Corner, with books, displays, and archives of Towanda area history. Following is a list of history binders contain information researched, compiled and donated to the library by Nancy J. Miller of Bloomington:

  • Census records for 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930

  • Civil War Soldiers from Money Creek Township

  • Towanda in the Black Hawk War - 6/3/1832 - 8/3/1832

  • History of Elizabeth 'Mattie' Stephenson (1853-1873) of Towanda, Proclaimed a Heroine by Citizens of Memphis, Tennessee

  • Miscellaneous Collection of Newspaper Articles on Towanda, 1850 - 2008

  • Section 33 and Landowners in Money Creek Township

  • History of the William R. Duncan Family and Descendents, 1818 to 2008


Library delivery service 
  

If you have difficulties getting to the library due to age or health issues, please call us and we can bring library materials to you.  We have two very dedicated volunteers ready to deliver books and other library materials to your home monthly.  Right now they only have one customer and they want more!  A staff member at the library will select items based on your requests.  Please  call the library at 728-2176 and ask for Karen.
 

   Book Sales

The ‘Friends of the Library’ runs a book sale at the 4th of July flea market.  There are also donated used books for sale at the library year round.  Please donate your no longer needed books, videos, CDs, DVDs and audio books in condition appropriate for resale.   Books appropriate for resale include:

  • Only books published since 1985

  • Hardcover fiction books

  • Up-to-date non-fiction items (ex., travel, medical and science items less than five years old) or non-fiction items that will never be out-of-date (ex., how-to’s, biographies, history, etc.)

  • Paperbacks in good condition (clean, bright pages, sturdy spines only)

WE DO NOT ACCEPT textbooks, magazines, Reader’s Digest Condensed Books, “book club edition” books, encyclopedia sets of any kind, musty books, yellowed books or books in poor condition because these items can’t be put in our collection nor do they sell at our book sales and we do not have the resources to pass them on or recycle them. 

   
On-line Catalogs

RSA Cat: catalogs of 190 libraries in the Alliance Library system, including the Towanda District Library. You can order books from any of the libraries in the Alliance Library system. (Place a 'Hold' on the book and it will be delivered to the Towanda District Library for you to check out.)

Bloomington: Bloomington library web site with Bloomington Library catalog (not on RSAcat)

I-Share: catalog of the Illinois State Library and of 76 academic and research libraries in Illinois.

SILC: Statewide Illinois Library Catalog;  Search all libraries in Illinois using World Cat. 

World Cat First Search: Catalog of books and other materials in libraries worldwide. Contact your library for an authorization and password

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Associations

Alliance Library System

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 This web page was last updated on Saturday July 17, 2010, by Helen Mogill.