Community Enagement

Voting Help: Voting for Judicial Candidates

Judges gavel

Often people skip the judicial candidates on the ballot because they have no idea who to vote for. It is much easier to research other types of candidates. How does the average citizen know which judicial candidates are qualified for the job? If you live in Cook County, the Vote for Judges website makes it easy. The Alliance of Bar Associations has compiled the ratings of 12 different Bar Associations into an easy to read chart in which the candidates are rated on their qualifications and whether each association recommends them or not. You can get to the chart from the Vote for Judges page — scroll down below “November 2022 Retention Election Evaluations” and click on the link for the PDF. (See screenshot below to see where to click – I highlighted the link in yellow.)

If you live in Dupage County, you can go to the Dupage County Bar Association Judicial Candidate ratings or to the Illinois Bar Association’s Judicial Candidates for Dupage County. If you live in Will County, I was only able to find compiles ratings from the Illinois Bar Association’s Judicial Candidate ratings for Will County.

If you need help researching any other candidates, please Ask a Librarian.

Support Student Scholarships with our HUE-MONGOUS Coloring Event!

Help support student scholarships during National Library Week! Between April 4th and April 8th, stop by the library and color with us! Donate $1 to have your work displayed in the library! All donations go towards scholarships for library student employees.

The Moraine Valley Community College Library offers scholarships to student employees of the Library when funds are available.

Scholarships in the amount of $300.00 per student are awarded annually to student employees who have shown a spirit of service to the Moraine Valley community. 

Eligible student employees who work in the library are strongly encouraged to apply. 

The scholarship award may be used for tuition, fees, exams, textbooks, and other education related expenses.

Eligibility

  • Have a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.5
  • Be enrolled in a minimum of 6 credit hours during the semester in which the award is disbursed (spring term).

The Virtual Rainbow Reception

The Celebrating Diversity Task Group’s LGBTQ+ Subcommittee is hosting the annual Rainbow Reception virtually this year! On Monday, February 1st you can learn about the different resources on campus available to LGBTQIA+ students. Join via WebEx. You can also show your pride by ordering a t-shirt!

After the reception, check out some of the resources available at the library with this selection of books, audiobooks, and graphic novels. Click on the image to view the collection:

Pride Month eReads

Voting for Judges

Voting for judges has always seemed weird for me. How does the average person know if a judge is qualified? This is especially difficult in Cook County where there are so many judges (62 on the ballot). Worry not, the Alliance of Bar Associations for Judicial Screenings has compiled a grid that will help you. Each candidate is rated by up to 12 different Bar Associations on whether they are qualified and/or recommended. They have a separate page that summaries judicial candidate recommendations; it even states which associations said no. If you want to look more in depth, Injustice Watch has a Check your Judges page. If you live in another county, the Illinois State Bar Association reviews judicial candidates by county.

File:3D Judges Gavel.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

What R U Reading?

We interrupt our regularly scheduled “What’s New Wednesdays” blog to bring you the “What R U Reading Wednesdays” blog. Since we have all been relegated to our homes during this unprecedented time, we are curious as to what everyone is reading. Please click on this (What R U Reading Wednesday?) link where you can fill out the form. We will gather the results, make some recommendations (aka Readers’ Advisory) for other books in that genre via our digital collection from Hoopla, and share the results on Wednesdays. Hope you will join us! #mvcclibraryonline2020

Between Art and Quarantine

Museums are among the many things that have been temporarily shut down. One of our librarians has been taking us on some great virtual tours of some of these museums. Recently another trend has begun as a way to interact with the art world. It’s called Between Art and Quarantine and you can get involved as well.

It began with the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and was then taken up by the Getty in Los Angeles. The challenge invites you to use the online collections of museums as inspiration and then use household objects to re-create the artwork. People are then posting their creations to Instagram, Facebook and Twitter using the hashtag #betweenartandquarantine. The posts are creative and fun.

You can see above that my family got involved in the challenge over the weekend. Shown are our interpretations of Monet’s Poppy Field and Corot’s Interrupted Reading. Both of these pieces are owned by the Art Institute of Chicago.

This blog post from the Getty tells you more about the challenge, shows some creative examples that people have posted, and gives how-to’s for making your own re-creation.

If you want to explore more artworks or artists, you can always consult the MVCC Library collection. In the library catalog, do a search for a genre, era, or artist. Then to the left of your results click on E-books to see the online sources.

If you like, in addition to posting your work to social media, please share with me what you come up with. Email a picture of your art to handk3@morainevalley.edu I would love to see your creations!

2020 Census Update: Census Invitations are Coming!


The 2020 Census is a bit different from previous Census years. For the first time, it is possible to submit your household’s Census response online! Beginning on March 12th, households will receive an invitation from the 2020 Census to respond online, by phone, or to request a paper response form. 

The invitation your household receives in the mail should look something like this and include a Census ID number to use in your household’s response. 

If you are unsure about any correspondence you receive related to the 2020 Census, check out this article from the U.S. Census Bureau on verifying Census-related mailings, surveys, or contacts.

The U.S. Census Bureau–and any people or correspondence related to the 2020 Census–will never ask for your Social Security Number, bank account details, or passwords. 
You can also contact the Chicago regional office by phone at 800-865-6384, the national Census Bureau helpline at 301-763-4636, or check out ask.census.gov.

The 2020 Census: What You Need to Know

2020 is a Census year!

The US Census is a constitutionally required decennial (once every ten years) count of all persons living in the United States.

The data collected during the Census determines representation on a federal, state, and local level, the distribution of billions of dollars of funding, and provides information used to make decisions about education, business, health care, and many other issues that affect the MVCC community.

Activities related to the Census will take place throughout 2020, but most people will only have to actively participate in March. Here is how the 2020 Census will look for most households:

  • March 2020: Receive an invitation to respond to the Census online, by mail, or by phone.
  • March-April 2020: Receive periodic reminders to respond, if your household had not yet participated in the Census.
  • April 1st 2020: Census Day!
  • May-August 2020: Census workers will follow up in person, if your household had not yet responded.
  • December 2020: Results of the Census are compiled and officially presented. 

Learn more on the 2020 Census website, a great resource to learn more about participating in the 2020 Census. The Library also offers a Census 2020 Research Guide with helpful links and research tips.

It’s not too late to apply for a 2020 Census Job! For more information and to apply online visit the 2020 Census Jobs page.

History of Labor Day

Many states celebrated a “labor day” in the late 1800s but Labor Day became a federal holiday in 1894. One of the probable reasons for the federal holiday was that U.S. President Grover Cleveland was attempting to placate organized labor after the Pullman Strike, a nation-wide railroad strike that ended after many lives were lost and much property was destroyed. Workers began the strike at the Pullman Company in Chicago on May 11, 1894, as a reaction to wage cuts. You can visit the Pullman National Monument and Historic Pullman Foundation at 11141 S. Cottage Grove Ave. in Chicago.

Take the Survey: On to 2050: Alternative Futures

For the next four weeks, the Library will be hosting the “On to 2050: Alternative Futures” survey. A special interactive station near the New Book Shelf in the Library offers this interactive survey. The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) is seeking input on five “alternative futures,” each with distinct factors that could significantly shape our region for decades to come. The futures are:

1. Changed climate
2. Walkable communities
3. Innovative transportation
4. Constrained resources
5. Transformed economy

Students, employees, and members of the public are invited to visit the library to offer their perspectives. For more “On to 2050: Alternative Futures” visit
http://www.cmap.illinois.gov/onto2050

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