I don’t see this any­where on the web (either on the ILA site or the MVLD one), so I’m post­ing this to help pub­li­cize the effort. It appeared in the most recent of the Illi­nois Library Association’s e-News.

“The mag­netic library rib­bons mea­sure 8″ and say, “Sup­port Illi­nois Libraries.” They sell for $1 each for amounts of 100 or more. $1.25 each for smaller amounts. Ship­ping will be extra or you can pick them up at the Mis­sis­sippi Val­ley Library Dis­trict (408 West Main, Collinsville, IL 62234; phone: 618.344.1112 ex. 113; fax: 618.345.6401).

Please con­tact Bar­bara Rhodes (bar­barar at mvlibdist.org) and send her your name, library (if applic­a­ble), address, and phone num­ber. Indi­cate if you would like the rib­bons shipped or if you will pick them up.

The Mis­sis­sippi Val­ley Library Dis­trict will be sell­ing these rib­bons to the pub­lic for $2.00 each as a fundraiser.”

I’ll admit that when these mag­netic rib­bons first started appear­ing every­where, I wasn’t a fan. But a few years ago, MFPOW started offer­ing ones the ones that Mis­sis­sippi Val­ley is using, so I put one on my car. It’s still there today, and I con­fess that every time I look at it, it gives me a twinge of pride. YMMV (no pun intended).

Often. But I had a great time play­ing Library Mini Golf at the Down­ers Grove Pub­lic Library on March 8, as did hun­dreds of other peo­ple on LMG’s biggest course yet (a full 18 holes across two floors). Check out the pic­tures from the day in my Flickr set to see just how much fun we all had. I’ll be includ­ing the event as a case study in my next issue of Library Tech­nol­ogy Reports on gam­ing in libraries, which I’m cur­rently writing.

The DGPL staff, Friends group, and the Library Mini Golf crew (Rick, John, and Bob) all did an amaz­ing job on this totally amaz­ing event!

I’ve writ­ten before about Rick Bolton and his Library Mini Golf non­profit that cre­ates 18-hole mini golf courses for libraries to use as fundrais­ers. This time I’m par­tic­u­larly excited to note that Rick has part­nered with the Down­ers Grove Pub­lic Library Foun­da­tion in Chicago’s west­ern sub­urbs to hold the first such event in this area, because DGPL is my home library.

If you’re in the Chicagoland area, I hope you’ll make some time to come play mini golf at Down­ers Grove PL this Sun­day, March 8, from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. It’s a fundraiser, so adults can play the whole course for just $5, while kids age 15 and younger can play for $3. Putt your best and if you do well, you might find your­self in a play­off round at 4:15 p.m. Expe­ri­ence the stacks in a whole new way!

I can’t wait to finally see this in action for myself, so I’ll def­i­nitely be there. Give me a heads up if you’re com­ing, and we can tee off together. If you live in the area, con­sider thank­ing the local spon­sors by doing busi­ness with them.