Educators

The Villa Park Public Library is proud to offer a wide range of services for the hardworking educators in our community. The goal of these services is to supplement the resources already provided by school librarians, teachers, and other educators in local schools.

Feel free to contact us directly if you have any questions by visiting the “Contact & Feedback” section below.

Here are more Educator Library card brochure the library offers. Here is the handout with more information about Educator Library Cards.

Eligibility

Who can use these services?

Teachers, school support staff, and paraprofessionals who work at:

  • Schools in Districts 45, 48, and 88
  • Any of the following educational and childcare institutions, located in Villa Park or Oakbrook Terrace:
    • Private schools
    • Preschools
    • Montessori schools
    • Daycares
    • Homeschools

Ask us if you have questions about the eligibility of your school or organization.

Educator Book Bags & Delivery Services

Do you have an upcoming classroom assignment, project, or subject that you need materials for? Let us help! We’ll gather age-appropriate books, audio-visual materials, and other library resources on the subject(s) you’ve requested from our library collections. We will put these items into one of our canvas library bags when they are ready to go. Finally, we will put them on hold for you to pick up at the library or you may choose to have us deliver them directly to your school.

Educator Book Bags are limited to 20 items per topic and require 5 business days to prepare.

Depending on library staff availability and requests made under extenuating circumstances, we may be able to accommodate Educator Book Bag requests made with a shorter lead time than 5 business days. If you have less than five business days, please call us directly at (630) 834-1164 ext. 103.

Fill out a book bag request form.

Book Lists

Youth Librarians and staff have created many book lists for you to use! Here are just a few samples of what is available:

Tasty Titles

Thieves and Outlaws

Winter Reads

Zombies

Webliographies

A webliography is an annotated list of websites and other e-resources on a subject for your classroom. To request a webliography, send us an Book bag, homework shelf reserves, and bibliography requests form.

The cap for websites is 15 per subject request. We cannot guarantee that library staff will be able to locate as many as 15 websites/e-resources for all requests.

Assignment Alerts

Let us know about your big class assignments and projects ahead of time and we will set aside resources to meet your students’ needs. There are two options you can request for the Homework Shelf Reserves:

1) These books can be checked out by students who come in looking for resources on the assigned subject(s). -OR-

2) You can request that the status of these books be changed to “in-house use only” so that they can be viewed at the library by all students and cannot be checked out.

Fill out an Assignment Alert request form.

Teacher Library Cards

Teachers at School District #45, #48 and #88: We currently have intergovernmental agreements that allows teachers at SD45, SD48, and SD88 to access VPPL resources and materials without having to use their personal library card for classroom materials. Apply for your Teacher Library card online!

Please view the Informational Handout for more information on signing up for a Teacher Library Card.

Educators at other school districts and private schools: Please contact us for more information. If you have a personal library card, you can still check out items from our library. We accept most library cards from any public library in the state of Illinois; you must be in good standing at your home public library to use your card at the Villa Park Public Library.

Research Online

If you or your students are working on a project that requires research, be sure to check out our Digital Reference guide. eResources for kids include everything from encyclopedias to non-fiction eBooks!

Here are some recommended eResources that we love:

School Visits & Field Trips

To arrange a school visit or field trip, please contact our Circulation/Outreach Services Department at (630) 834-1164 ext. 103. We appreciate it if you can schedule all visits (to or from the library) at least 2 weeks ahead of time so that we can make sure our library staff is available and prepped; because staff might not always be available on any given day, we also prefer if you can give a few alternate dates.

School Visits: A  staff member would be happy to visit your classroom. Some of the services offered during schools visits are:

  • Grade-appropriate booktalks and/or storytimes
  • Talking about the summer or winter reading programs (if applicable)
  • Research orientation
  • We are also open to your preferences and suggestions

Field trips to library: We would love to have you and your students visit the Villa Park Public Library. Here are some examples of how your students will spend their time during a field trip to the library:

  • Grade-appropriate booktalks and/or storytimes
  • Talking about the summer or winter reading programs (if applicable)
  • Research orientation
  • Tour of the Youth Services area
  • Free time for browsing
  • Scavenger Hunts
  • We are also open to your preferences and suggestions

To schedule a visit to the Villa Park Public Library, please contact our Circulation/Outreach Services Department via email at: outreach@vppl.info or by phone at (630) 834-1164 ext. 103.

Book Awards

State Book Awards

Illinois state book awards are facilitated by the Association of Illinois School Library Educators (AISLE):

National Book Awards

The American Library Association (ALA) and its divisions facilitate many book awards at the national level.

See a full list of all ALA book and media awards. Some of the most popular awards for children & young adult (YA) literature are listed below:

  • Alex Award
    • Awarded to a YA novel written for ages 12-18
  • Caldecott Medal
    • Awarded to a children’s picture book
  • Coretta Scott King Book Awards
    • Awarded to outstanding books for young adults and children written by African American authors and illustrators that reflect the African American experience
  • Newbery Medal
    • Awarded to the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
  • Printz Award
    • Awarded to a book that exemplifies literary excellence in YA literature.
  • Pura Belpré Award
    • Awarded to children & YA books written by a Latino/Latina author.

Feedback

If you would like to suggest a new service, give feedback on our current services, or just leave any general feedback, please Contact Us.