• Running with it!
    Pheasant Run Resort
  • Running with it!
    Health Science Librarians of Illinois

Evaluation

About the Conference

Health Science Librarians of Illinois (HSLI) serves as the primary statewide organization meeting the needs and interests of all information professionals who focus on the area of health and medical science.

Anyone interested in librarianship and learning is welcome to attend the conference. Information professionals working in all types of libraries can benefit from the continuing education sessions offered during the conference.

Conference Photos

Conference Hotel

Pheasant Run Resort

4051 East Main Street, St. Charles, Illinois 60174
Phone: 630-584-6300 | Email: info@pheasantrun.com
Register Online

Schedule

Click an event for more information.

Printable Schedule

Registration desk will be open

ROOM: Lobby near Hotel Registration Desk

ROOM: Terrace Café seating --Near hotel registration desk

For HSLI conference attendees who will be arriving in St. Charles on Wednesday night, November 9th, you are invited to join a Dine-around! This will be a casual dining experience to join your fellow attendees for a nice meal and conversation. We will be meeting in the hotel lobby at 6:30 to travel to the restaurants for dinner at 7PM.

The following restaurants have been selected for their unique offerings:

Taste of the Himalayas
In the heart of downtown St. Charles, this unique restaurant offers the cuisine from the countries bordering the Himalayas, India and Nepal. Check out the menu for the delicious offerings plus the spice levels and ingredients.

Jambalaya
This popular St. Charles restaurant is located right in the hotel! The menu features traditional American cuisine with some Cajun additions.

Salerno’s on the Fox
An Italian eatery that has been serving the Fox Valley Community for over 40 years. Their menu offers a variety of pasta specialties, steaks, seafood, and pizza.

If you are interested in participating, please contact Emily Johnson, emj11@uic.edu, by Friday, November 4th, with your restaurant preference so we can make appropriate reservations for each location and coordinate car pooling for off-site restaurants.

ROOM: Meet in the Hotel Main Lobby

All HSLI members are welcome to attend the Board Meeting.

ROOM: Topaz

Registration Desk Open

ROOM: Tower Lobby

ROOM: Marsailis

This interactive class will provide a background in cultural competence and outreach skills as librarians make outreach efforts to under served and minority populations in their community. The goal of this course is to offer concrete ideas to enable librarians to initiate outreach programs with minority communities. Topics to be covered include locating community demographics, the importance of developing relationships, the basics of building and developing community-based partnerships, recognition and acceptance of cultural differences, and the importance of cultural competency. Some basic concepts of program planning and evaluation within a culturally diverse environment will be covered. Participants will engage in group discussions to explore models for developing their own programs.

ROOM: Jade

Description: User experience is a method of assessing libraries that is not common in health sciences libraries. The term user assessment comes out of website design (as usability). However, other industries have found it useful to assess how users experience their services and spaces, and the idea and use of user experience research has grown over time.

There are several ways of defining "user experience" to various physical and virtual spaces and services that a library may want to evaluate. For libraries, this can mean analyzing how users interact with your website to improve your virtual presence, observing users to improve your physical space, or interviewing how users research to improve services and instruction.

This workshop will focus on defining user experience and see what other libraries are doing to improve their services. We will talk about low-cost and simple, yet impactful activities to turn your library into a user-centered environment.

Instructor: Jenny Taylor

Room: Coral

Registration Desk Open

Room: Tower Lobby

As libraries are increasingly asked to demonstrate their value and the contributions they make to their institutions, library staff need efficient and effective strategies for assessment. Best practice in assessment means embedding assessment into the library's practices on a continuous basis rather than treating it as a separate and additional task. The workshop will present an integrated and systematic approach to developing and assessing library activities that includes identifying impact outcomes and aligned activities, establishing criteria, collecting and analyzing data and evidence, and using the results for improvement and telling the story of the library's impact. Participants will have the opportunity to practice using the tools and techniques presented.

Instructor: Lisa Hinchliffe

Room: Jade

The freely available PubMed API (application programming interface) makes it possible for programmers from outside of the National Library of Medicine to develop alternatives to PubMed.gov for searching NLM’s vast database of biomedical journal literature citations. This three-hour workshop will introduce several popular and free third-party PubMed tools, comparing and contrasting them with the PubMed.gov interface. Through case studies, group exercises and hands-on practice, participants will become familiar with the strengths and limitations of search tools such as PubGet, Quertle, eTBlast and others. This workshop is intended for intermediate and advanced PubMed searchers.

Room: Coral

ROOM: Tower Lobby

ROOM: Marsalis/span>

The address will summarize the main issues behind digital archiving, including content management, format obsolescence, security and legal issues, and access. Each of these issues is a difficult obstacle for any information professional; however, specific tools, strategies, and examples will be presented in order to help health science librarians feel confident and capable of successfully leveraging the digital revolution to better serve their users.

Speaker: Laura Alagna

Room: Turquoise B

Updates from:

  • National Library of Medicine
  • Greater Midwest Region NN/LM
  • OCLC
  • Illinois State Library

Room: Coral

Hotel bus (20 max.)is available to take conference-goers to downtown St. Charles, to Pottawatomie Park or shopping

Room: Hotel Lobby

Silent Auction Items Needed!
Silent auction funds go to Conference Scholarships
Items donated in previous years:

Tote bags
Jelly
Books
T-shirts

To Donate Items:
Contact Sue Franzen srfranz@ilstu.edu

Not an HSLI member?

Join now and get the member discount!

Speakers

Evelyn Cunico

Plenary Speaker: Evelyn Cunico

Trends in Complementary and Integrative Health: Web Resources for Health Science Librarians

Download Presentation

Complementary and integrative health approaches include a broad range of philosophies, products, and therapies, which share the common goals of modifying health behaviors to manage chronic illness and to promote health across the lifespan.

An estimated 38 percent of adults and 12 percent of children in the United States used some type of complementary health approach, resulting in total out of pocket expenditures of $30 billion, according to the 2012 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Considering the continuing high use of complementary and integrative health approaches, health science librarians are thinking about questions they may be asked, or LibGuides, or collections.

In addition to highlighting trends, this presentation will review a selected list of Web resources that health science librarians may access to meet user information needs of clinicians, medical residents, researchers, educators, students, administrators, patients, and consumers.

Evelyn Cunico, MA, MSLIS

Evelyn Cunico is an Information Professional and Writer, with a recent Master of Science degree in Library and Information Science (MSLIS) and a Master of Arts (MA) degree in English.

Evelyn’s continuing education in clinical medical searching includes completing PubMed for Librarians, the five-module online real-time classes presented by instructors at the National Library of Medicine.

Earlier in her career, Evelyn worked onsite for medical and hospital associations as a Writer and Managing Editor in the respective areas of socioeconomic policy and hospital newsletter management.

More recently, she has worked on contract as a medical specialty society News Writer in science research and education. Her experience includes assisting clinical trial principal investigators to communicate their study results to science colleagues.

In 2013, she created CHIME Consumer Health, a monthly consumer health blog for which she finds, synthesizes, and discusses peer-reviewed medical, educational, and government information that consumers may choose to improve their health.

CHIME gives special attention to complementary and integrative health, to discover ways in which lifestyle behavior may complement evidence-based medical principles and practices to promote health across the lifespan. Evelyn blogs at https://chimeconsumerhealth.wordpress.com

 

Laura Algana

Keynote Speaker: Laura Alagna

From Surviving to Thriving in the Digital Era

The role of librarians, and of health science librarians in particular, has changed dramatically over the past several decades. The digital revolution has coincided with shrinking budgets across the board, forcing us all to do more with less: to be experts in electronic resources as well as in physical collections; to educate our users in fields like data management, preservation, and security, as well as in academic research; to promote our services on social media and to online communities, as well as reaching out to users “in real life.” The traditional roles and responsibilities of the librarian – collection development, instruction, and outreach – have not gone away. They have simply become more complicated and wide-ranging in the digital era.


This address will focus on how health science librarians can manage the challenges of the digital revolution. I will briefly discuss how the digital era has changed the information professions, but will focus on the current state of digital resources in libraries and librarianship. Digital archives, which encompass resources, systems, and services, are necessary for the future of librarianship but present unique challenges.  The address will summarize the main issues behind digital archiving, including content management, format obsolescence, security and legal issues, and access.  Each of these issues is a difficult obstacle for any information professional; however, specific tools, strategies, and examples will be presented in order to help health science librarians feel confident and capable of successfully leveraging the digital revolution to better serve their users.         

Laura Alagna, MS

Laura Alagna blends passion for history and technology in her role as digital archivist at Northwestern University Libraries. She has been a practitioner of digital archiving for more than five years, and has developed and implemented policies and workflows for digital repositories at Northwestern and the University of Chicago. Laura strongly believes in promoting digital preservation outside of libraries as well, and has worked with a number of smaller organizations and local businesses on a volunteer basis to provide guidance on digital challenges.  Her goal is to reduce barriers to understanding technology and digital archiving among information professionals and the general public.

Laura has an undergraduate degree in history from Amherst College, and a graduate degree in social sciences from the University of Chicago.  She is an active member of the Chicago Area Archivists and is an appointed member of the Illinois State Historical Records Advisory Board.

Syed Maghrabi Scholarship

Syed Maghrabi Conference Scholarship winners will receive funds to cover registration fees, and other expenses. If awarded a scholarship, hotel arrangements and registration are the sole responsibility of the recipient.

  • Applicants must be current members of HSLI (2016 dues paid).
  • Applicants must write a short essay entitled, “I would like a Syed Maghrabi Conference Scholarship because...”
  • Each scholarship recipient must write an article for the HSLI Newsletter discussing the plan to implement knowledge gained at the conference in his or her institution.
  • If awarded a scholarship, hotel arrangements are the sole responsibility of the recipient. Reimbursement expenses will be processed upon submission of receipts and after submission of the Newsletter article to the HSLI Newsletter editors.

Application Form

Get from as a Word document
Get from as a PDF

Continuing Education

Morning Classes - Concurrent Sessions

8:00am-noon
Getting Started with Information Outreach in Your Community

Description: This interactive class will provide a background in cultural competence and outreach skills as librarians make outreach efforts to under served and minority populations in their community. The goal of this course is to offer concrete ideas to enable librarians to initiate outreach programs with minority communities. Topics to be covered include locating community demographics, the importance of developing relationships, the basics of building and developing community-based partnerships, recognition and acceptance of cultural differences, and the importance of cultural competency. Some basic concepts of program planning and evaluation within a culturally diverse environment will be covered. Participants will engage in group discussions to explore models for developing their own programs.

Instructor: Jacqueline Leskovec

Jacqueline Leskovec
Jacqueline is a Network Librarian at the National Network of Libraries of Medicine Greater Midwest Region.

8:00am-noon

Laptop recommended but not required
Technology to Enhance User Experience

Download Slides

Description: User experience is a method of assessing libraries that is not common in health sciences libraries.  The term user assessment comes out of website design (as usability).  However, other industries have found it useful to assess how users experience their services and spaces, and the idea and use of user experience research has grown over time.
There are several ways of defining "user experience" to various physical and virtual spaces and services that a library may want to evaluate.  For libraries, this can mean analyzing how users interact with your website to improve your virtual presence, observing users to improve your physical space, or interviewing how users research to improve services and instruction.
This workshop will focus on defining user experience and see what other libraries are doing to improve their services.  We will talk about low-cost and simple, yet impactful activities to turn your library into a user-centered environment.

Instructor: Jenny Emanuel Taylor
Jenny Taylor

Jenny Emanuel Taylor is the Assistant Health Sciences Library at the University of Illinois at Chicago on the Urbana Campus. She focuses on the intersections of reference, instruction, and technology in libraries. She has worked extensively with library user experience and the discovery of library resources. She is also interested in how library users utilize library tools to benefit their research. She received her undergraduate degree in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia, a master’s in science in Information Science from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, and an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from the University of Missouri.

Afternoon Classes - Concurrent Sessions

1:30-5:30pm

Engaging Assessment to Show your Values & Make Decisions

Download Slides

Description: As libraries are increasingly asked to demonstrate their value and the contributions they make to their institutions, library staff need efficient and effective strategies for assessment. Best practice in assessment means embedding assessment into the library's practices on a continuous basis rather than treating it as a separate and additional task. The workshop will present an integrated and systematic approach to developing and assessing library activities that includes identifying impact outcomes and aligned activities, establishing criteria, collecting and analyzing data and evidence, and using the results for improvement and telling the story of the library's impact. Participants will have the opportunity to practice using the tools and techniques presented.

Instructor: Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe
Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe

Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe is Professor/Coordinator for Information Literacy Services and Instruction in the University Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is also an affiliate faculty member in the University’s Graduate School of Library and Information Science. Lisa served as the 2010-2011 President of the Association of College and Research Libraries, which launched the Value of Academic Libraries Initiative during her presidency. Along with Debra Gilchrist, Lisa is the lead designer for ACRL’s training program for the Standards for Libraries in Higher Education and the IMLS-funded Assessment in Action project. Lisa has presented and published widely on information literacy, teaching and learning, the value of libraries, library assessment, program evaluation, and organizational innovation. She is an internationally sought after speaker and has also conducted workshops and trainings on five continents. For more information see lisahinchliffe.com.

1:30-5:30pm

Participants should bring a laptop to this course
Third-Party PubMed Tools

Download Slides
Download Handout

Description: The freely available PubMed API (application programming interface) makes it possible for programmers from outside of the National Library of Medicine to develop alternatives to PubMed.gov for searching NLM’s vast database of biomedical journal literature citations. This three-hour workshop will introduce several popular and free third-party PubMed tools, comparing and contrasting them with the PubMed.gov interface. Through case studies, group exercises and hands-on practice, participants will become familiar with the strengths and limitations of search tools such as PubGet, Quertle, eTBlast and others. This workshop is intended for intermediate and advanced PubMed searchers.

Instructor: Elizabeth Kiscaden
Elizabeth Kiscaden

Elizabeth Kiscaden is the Associate Director of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM), Greater Midwest Region (GMR) office and has been a health sciences librarian for nearly a decade. Originally from Minnesota, Elizabeth worked at the Mayo Clinic in the Center for Translational Science Activities before relocating to Iowa. Elizabeth started her career in librarianship out as a solo hospital librarian at Mercy Medical Center – North Iowa in Mason City, Iowa. Following this, she served as an academic library director at a small liberal arts college before returning to health sciences librarianship as the Head of Library Services at Hardin Library for the Health Sciences. Elizabeth’s areas of interest include evidence-based medicine instruction, particularly critical analysis, systematic review searching, and gamification in medical education. Elizabeth lives in a townhouse in Iowa City with her mixed-breed hound, named Tammy.

Exhibitors and Sponsors

Sponsorship and Exhibitor Opportunities

The cost for each exhibitor table is $350. The exhibitor fee includes:

  • One conference registration including refreshments during reception
  • One 6’ to 8’ table with table skirt with two chairs
  • Wireless internet access
  • Electricity is available. Power strip or extension cords are your responsibility or they can be rented through the hotel. Please bring tape to secure cords to the floor.
  • Listing of your company in our conference program
  • Your company’s logo/link on HSLI’s conference website

Invitation to Exhibitors | Exhibitor/Sponsor Contract | Audio/visual Equipment Needs Form

Exhibitors

Nancy's Reception

Thursday Evening, 11/10, 6:30 to 9:30pm

7:00-8:00pm
Poster Session

Plenary Speaker

Exhibits

Silent Auction


Nancy Stump was an active member of HSLI and served in several roles, including HSLI President from 1990-1993. Nancy died December 14, 2004. Her many years of service to HSLI deserve remembrance and a party is the best way to honor her fun loving nature.

Posters

The posters will be presented during Nancy’s Reception, Thursday evening, November 10th from 7:00 to 8:00 pm.  Setup will start at 6:00 pm.  The reception will be from 6:30 to 9:30, so posters may be kept on display during the entire event.

Poster Abstracts

An Analysis of the Health Science Librarians of Illinois Facebook Page, From September 2015 to August 2016: Current Trends and Future Directions
Eric Edwards, Interlibrary Loan Librarian
Illinois State Library

Abstract: Over the past year, the Health Science Librarians of Illinois Facebook page has seen a drastic increase in the number of posts, the variety of topics covered, and the number of people reached. This has helped the organization become more visible on social media and has also increased the amount of information readily available to members. This poster session will examine use trends over time (such as total weekly and monthly page views), in addition to which individual posts have been the most popular. It will also break down which topics--such as news items related to medical advances, professional-development opportunities offered through the Medical Library Association or the National Network of Libraries of Medicine – Greater Midwest Region, or technology related to health science librarianship--the page covers most frequently. It will include the sites, such as the Illinois Health and Hospital Association, the MLA, and the NN/LM - GMR, from which ideas for posts are drawn. As part of an overall analysis based on the information gathered, the poster session will propose future directions for the Facebook page, especially in terms of topics that are the most relevant or are reaching the most users. The session fits into the HSLI 2016 Conference’s theme of “Running with It: Library Trends in 2016” by evaluating how the organization’s Facebook page reflects trends and topics of interest to not just librarians in the health sciences, but those in other areas of the profession, also.

 

Running Towards Student Empowerment:  Applying Critical Librarianship to Health Science Library Instruction
Beth McGowan, Health Sciences and English Librarian
Ladislava Khailova, Education Subject Specialist
Founders Memorial Library, Northern Illinois University

Abstract:  One recent trend increasing in prominence is critical librarianship: this practice introduces students to the power dynamics of the information universe. The ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education (2015) is built upon the idea of critical librarianship, emphasizing that information is inherently political, with certain voices perceived as more authoritative/privileged than others. This poster aims to explore interactive methods that allow health science librarians to teach this new material in their one-shot and/or embedded library instruction sessions. More specifically, we introduce exercises that point out the constructedness and contextuality of databases to students, such as the historical background of CINAHL, the conventional guidelines for source inclusion/exclusion within a database like the Cochrane Library, or the mutability of controlled vocabularies – either between databases like CINAHL and PubMed or over time within MeSH. We also sketch out possible classroom activities that uncover the working of database ranking algorithms and the presence of instructor bias/preferences in the information literacy sessions. We explain that the aim of these exercises is for students to develop the propensity to question the authority of information aggregators and source providers, thus encouraging students to produce alternative research methodologies and utilize less conventional sources. We plan for the proposed interactive classroom methods to be mirrored in our interaction with session participants, inspiring them to reflect upon the sociopolitical dimensions of the research sources and practices they use in their instruction and how they relate to student empowerment.

 

Making the Health Care System Run Smoothly: Using Spanish language Children's Books to Improve Health Communications
Beth McGowan, Health Sciences and English Librarian
Kathy Ladell, Assistant Professor, Outreach Librarian
Founders Memorial Library, Northern Illinois University

Abstract:  An efficient and economical health care system requires that patients and providers understand each other. For Latino patients, the challenges to effective communication include limited Spanish language ability of providers, limited English language ability of patients, lack of knowledge of the health system and a generally low educational attainment resulting in general low literacy and numeracy abilities. Both literacy and public health research suggests that focusing on family systems and children is a good path to helping the entire Latino community to navigate better healthcare. This poster provides a selection of titles of readily available Spanish and bilingual (Spanish/English) children's books that focus on health literacy as well as a series that addresses children’s health issues written for low literacy Spanish-speaking parents. We have organized the bibliography into the following categories: Exercise, Healthy Habits, The Human Body, Hygiene, Nutrition, Parenting and Understanding Difference. It is incumbent upon those in public service, including public libraries, the educational system, and literacy experts, as well as those in the medical professions to try and remedy this situation.  Ideally, the titles for children should be read with parents or teachers. This bibliography should be useful for public librarians, school librarians, academic librarians collecting for education departments, literacy experts, and medical and health sciences librarians.

 

Support From the Inside Out: An Embedded Librarian in a Dementia Support Group for Caregivers
JJ Pionke, Applied Health Sciences Librarian and Assistant Professor
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
SSHEL

View Poster

Abstract:  Elder care, especially for those with cognitive impairments, such as Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease is a growth field.  While there is a great deal of information on the internet, caregivers struggle with finding the right information, especially because caregivers are often elders themselves and may not be as tech savvy.  This is a case study discussion of information literacy outreach steps and assistance provided to a Dementia Support Group for Caregivers in the form of embedded librarianship.  This includes bibliographic support in an easy to use and visual format, via an online webpage marker, in this case, Pearltrees.

 

Reconnecting Persons with Dementia to their Libraries: Using library materials to improve the quality of life for people living with Alzheimer’s and other dementias
Mary Beth Riedner
Chair, IGARD/ASCLA/ALA
University Librarian Emerita, Roosevelt University Library, Chicago, IL

View Poster

Abstract:  Inspired by International Federation of Library Association’s Guidelines for Library Services to Persons with Dementia, libraries in the United States are taking concrete steps to implement the philosophy and principles outlined in that 2007 report. The Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias Interest Group (IGARD) of the Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), was created in 2013 to identify and coordinate the efforts of individual libraries across the country. This poster showcases several successful programs and services that use books, music, video and technology to stimulate and engage people living with dementia. Among them are the “Tales & Travel” program of the Gail Borden Public Library District in Elgin, IL; the “Stories for Life” program of the Springfield-Greene County Library, Springfield, MO; and the “ElderPlus” program of Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Baltimore MD. Also highlighted will be related professional tools, journal articles and research studies. Using photographs of participants and sample materials, as well as graphics depicting research results, the poster hopes to widen the discussion among librarians about how library resources can make a positive difference in the lives of people affected by dementia within their communities.

 

A Day in the Life: Applying an Ethnographic Method to Clinical Health Information Seeking Research.
Cynthia Snyder, Reference and Instruction Services Manager
Other Contributors:  Gwen Gregory, Jay Jurek
Midwestern University

Abstract:  What are the trends information seeking behaviors by medical students on rotation?  Six medical schools collaborated to collect data which provided insights about information sought by students in clinical settings, factors influencing behavior, and differences between settings and institutions.  
Researchers interviewed sixty-nine third year medical students currently on rotation at clinics and hospitals. Students narrated their activities of the previous day, focusing on times when information was sought or used.  Interviews were recorded and transcribed. Librarians identified common themes using the coded transcripts, then used these themes to code their own transcripts. Although not generalizable, the data produced by this ethnographic investigation has had great explanatory power because it presents researchers with information about this user group’s real world experiences.
Results indicate that speed of access is more important than ‘quality.’ Time constraints and availability of devices impact what students use. Information buried in library websites or behind logins is not as useful as Google. Compilation and analysis of data obtained from interviews began in October 2014. The poster presents observations on working as a multi-school group of researchers and usefulness of the ethnographic research process used, as well as students’ information-seeking differences and similarities across institutions. This project was supported by in part with federal funds from the Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine, under Contract No. HHSN-276-2011-00005C.


Registration

Early Bird registration rates extended to November 4

Register by Mail and Pay by Check

Download Registration Form

Register and Pay Online
Registration Type
Morning CE, 8am-noon
Afternoon CE 1:30pm – 5:30pm
Mentor/Mentee opportunities
Nancy's Reception Plans
Special Dietary Needs
Name of Person Attending the Conference (if different from name on Credit Card)
Email of Person Attending



Optional - Purchase an additional Nancy's Reception Ticket for a Guest

Local Attractions

St. Charles has been named one of the region’s “Top 10” cities by the Chicago Tribune. St. Charles, and Geneva to the south, are some of the jewels of the Fox Valley. Whether you enjoy history, shopping, walking or hiking, music and night life, science, or more shopping, the St. Charles area has something for you. Consider visiting one of these options before or after the HSLI conference!

Check out Visit St. Charles for more information on local parks, attractions and shopping.

Map of St. Charles

Shopping


Downtown St. Charles Antique stores, galleries, gifts, specialty foods, and a variety of specialty shops.


Geneva Commons Over 50 stores, restaurants, cafes and services in an open-air setting along Randall Road in Geneva, Illinois, it is home to Crate & Barrel, Barnes & Noble, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Coach, H&M, Forever 21, Banana Republic, California Pizza Kitchen, Houlihan’s, and Claddagh Irish Pub, among others. Geneva Commons offers seasonal events and celebrations for the whole family.


Downtown Geneva  Over 100 specialty shops, many in historic storefronts and charming Victorian-style homes. Third Street is With each new season, Geneva merchants fill their shops with exclusive treasures from all over the world.

Parks along the Fox River


River walks/bike trails follow both sides of the Fox River (see map) and includes a covered bridge over the river north of Main St. (Rt. 64).

Pottawatomie Park, on the east side of the Fox in downtown St. Charles, has walking trails and a historic picnic pavilion.

Ferson Creek Park, Norris Woods Nature Preserve, and Mt. St. Mary Park are also close to downtown.
Interactive Map http://www.st-charlesparks.org/VW-Systems/Map/map.asp

Local Flavor

St. Charles History Museum     
Explore St. Charles' unique history in the historic, 1928 McCornack Oil Company building. Museum features permanent, rotating temporary exhibits that tell the important stories about St. Charles' rich history. 


Hotel Baker   
The historic Hotel Baker, Rt. 64 on the Fox River, has a picturesque setting and features unique architecture, including an oval-shaped ballroom with a lighted floor-- one of three in the world


The St. Charles Municipal Building and Plaza, across the river from the Hotel Baker, is a 1940 Arte Moderne building constructed with black granite base, white Georgian marble, 84-foot tower with stained glass windows, pierced grillwork, and a diamond-shaped translucent top.

Entertainment

Zanies Comedy Club at Pheasant Run, The Midnight Swinger November 10-12 

Arcada Theatre   
The Arcada Theater was built in 1926 by local millionaire and Chicago Tribune cartoonist Lester J. Norris, and was a popular stop on the Vaudeville circuit. Today, the “Gem of the Fox Valley ” is back to its original state of elegance, complete with the original pipe organ that rises from beneath the stage floor.

In the Area

Chicago Premium Outlets  
At Kirk Road and I88, CPO has over 140 stores such as Armani Outlet, Coach Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th, Under Armour, Michael Kors, and more.

Dempsey and Kavanagh Galleries at Fine Line Creative Arts Center 
Dempsey Gallery, 1st floor of 100+-year-old barn, offers one-of-a-kind artisan works for sale. Adjacent Kavanagh Gallery hosts six to seven exhibits per year, along with national and regional juried shows. Mon-Sat 10-5 pm

Fermilab  
Fermilab is America's premier particle physics laboratory. Collaborating with scientists from around the world, we perform pioneering research, operate world-leading particle accelerators and experiments, and develop technologies for science in support of U.S. industry.
Whether you're interested in the science conducted here or just come to see the bison herd, you're welcome at Fermilab. The laboratory is open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. in November.

Ferson Creek Forest Preserve
Ferson Creek Preserve is a part of a greenbelt and wildlife corridor along Ferson and Otter Creek. In this belt there are extensive floodplains and wetlands, some in fair condition and some needing stabilization and restoration. This has been a co-operative project with the St. Charles Park District and it includes parcels where developers are restoring the land to satisfy Corps of Engineers and Fish & Wildlife mitigation requirements for wetland destroyed in other locations. There is also a high beaver population at Ferson Creek.

Fox River Bluff Forest Preserve
Fox River Bluff Forest Preserve straddles the Fox River in St. Charles. East of the river, the preserve is referred to as Fox River Bluff Forest Preserve.

Conference Planning Committee

Co-Chairs: Roy Jones and Daneen Richardson

Continuing Education: Emily Johnson and Nina Pals

Exhibits and Sponsors: Daneen Richardson and Sue Franzen

Finance: Heather Klepitsch and Fran Kovach

Local Arrangements: Roy Jones and Cynthia Snyder

Program: Roy Jones and Molly Horio

Posters: Molly Horio

Publicity: Roberta Craig

Reception: Roy Jones and Cynthia Snyder

Registration: Michelle Quinones and Roy Jones

Silent Auction: Sue Franzen

Speakers: Roy Jones and Miranda Shake

Website: Stacey Knight-Davis and Karen Gutzman

Pheasant Run Resort
4051 East Main Street
St. Charles, IL 60174