February is Library Lovers’ Month, and with plenty of free events on offer, the reasons to love your library are never ending. With materials and events for all ages, visiting in person or online offers free entertainment and eduation.
February is Library Lovers’ Month, and with plenty of free events on offer, the reasons to love your library are never ending.
The week starts with “Take Your Child to the Library Day” on Saturday, Feb. 1. All Rock Island Public Library locations are offering “Find the Reading Robot” scavenger hunts for kids this month, in conjunction with the library’s all-ages "Be a Reading Machine" winter reading challenge. There’s still time to enter the challenge when you visit the library in person or online, and start earning rewards. Be a Reading Machine is for children, teens, and adults, and runs through Feb. 28.
Other activities to do while you’re visiting the library include checking out hundreds of reading options, including special young-reader versions of graphic novels, audio books, and Wonder Books/Vox Books. The latter combine audio read-alongs with text to improve reading skills and understanding. While you're at the library, you can also play a game or puzzle in the library, browse videos or music, or check out the library’s growing collection of STEAM activity kits and other Library of Things collections.
Next week, the library leans into the robot-mania further with a Reading Machine Robot Workshop, offered from 3pm to 5pm, Wednesday, Feb. 5 at the Downtown Library, 401 19th Street. Library staff will walk participants how to create their own robot reading machine with boxes and other spare “parts.” The event is free and open to anyone.
February also marks the start of the library’s Valentine card making project for local seniors. Participants can drop into any Rock Island Library location from Feb. 1 to 13 to make cards for residents at St. Anthony’s Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Rock Island.
Events to note in February include a free music performance by Macomb-based singer-songwriter Chris Vallillo, part of the library’s Tuneful Tuesday series at noon on Tuesday, Feb. 4 at the Downtown Library, 401 19th Street. Vallillo presents his “Abraham Lincoln in Song” program, which sheds light on Illinois’ favorite son “not only as a remarkable leader, but as a man who knew and loved many of these songs.” The extensively researched program blends period music and Lincoln’s own stories to illustrate his life. The interactive, accessible program is for all ages. The Tuneful Tuesday concerts have been supported by generous sponsorships by James and Carol Horstmann since December 2018.
Chris Vallillo is a singer/songwriter and roots musician who makes the people and places of “unmetropolitan” America come to life in song. Having spent the last 30 years in the rural Midwest, he has a natural affinity for American roots music. Performing on six string and bottleneck slide guitars, Vallillo weaves original, contemporary, and traditional songs and narratives into compelling and entertaining portraits of the Midwest.
February also marks Black History Month. Programs of interest include an online author talk, “An Evening with James McBride,” offered through the library’s Illinois Libraries Present membership. The February 4 program is offered at 7 pm online. To receive the participation link, register online at the library website or call 309-732-7341. With books that include “The Good Lord Bird, Deacon King Kong, The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, and The Color of Water, McBride is among the nation’s most acclaimed African-American authors. Honors include the National Book Award for Fiction for The Good Lord Bird in 2013, the National Humanities Medal in 2016, and the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction in 2024.
Additional history month programs include the documentary “Emmett Till, Then and Now,” by NBC Chicago investigative journalist Marion Books, at 2 pm on Feb. 11 at the Downtown Library. The video traces the events surrounding Till’s brutal murder on August 28, 1955, and uncovers new facts that update the story. Some elements may disturb sensitive viewers. Later this month, the library features local author Dave Markward, writer of “From Dubuque to Selma and Beyond” in a discussion of his personal journey of understanding racism. The powerful memoir by a former superintendent of the Rock-Island Milan School District explores the complexities of race in America. The free event is Wednesday, Feb. 19 from 6 pm to 7:30 pm at the Rock Island Library Watts-Midtown Branch, 2715 30th Street.
Teen events this month include a dissection lab, 3D printing introduction, graphic novel book club discussion of Victory, Stand!, and a meeting of the Teen Advisory Board. To register for the Feb. 20 dissection lab, visit the library website.
The Library’s “Knit and Lit” series continues, with a showing of a literary movie (The Great Gatsby) and craft time on the second Tuesday, Feb. 13, from 1pm to 3:30 pm at the Watts-Midtown Branch. Crafters will also want to note the return of Adult Knitting Circle on the third Monday of each month. The February 17 event is from 2 pm to 4 pm at the Downtown Library. It offers time to work on projects in company with other crafters. Bring a project and join in, or start something new with the library’s selection of patterns and supplies.
More continuing events to love include Coffee and Conversation events, offered twice a month at the Southwest Branch, 9010 Ridgewood Road; weekly after-school drop-in activities on Tuesdays at the Watts-Midtown Branch and Thursdays at the Southwest Branch; monthly Army history lectures by Rock Island Arsenal Sustainment Command historians, and monthly movies, including a Feb. 12 “Wacky Movie” for families and a Feb. 20 Downtown Movie Club for grownups.
For more information about library services and upcoming events for a wide range of ages, visit the library website, call 309-732-READ, or follow the Rock Island Library Facebook and Instagram social media sites.
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