<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4RctCV_1Goj6PeB00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4RctCV_1Goj6PeB00" width="1200" height="798" ></figure>VOICE-OVER: Tucked away on South Blackstone Avenue and East 49th Street, on a dead-end corner where busy Lake Park Avenue once lay, stands a tall granite building. It’s over a hundred years old, with soaring columns and a green glass Tiffany dome familiar to any Chicagoan. This is the Blackstone Memorial Library, the oldest branch of the Chicago Public Library system. On an average day, the library is populated with students from the neighboring Kenwood Academy High School, University of Chicago faculty using the library as a research resource and Hyde Park and Kenwood residents checking out books, printing documents, filling out job applications and more. DANIEL MEDINA: It really depends on the time of year. Some days it could be as low as 20 or 30. On Sundays, the numbers are very low on Sundays, and then other days we can have 100 to 200 people, cause, like I said, we have people who come in here and they’ll spend the entire day here, and then we have somebody that just might come in to pick up a book or get a print job done, and, you know, that counts as traffic. VO: Daniel Medina is an Adult Librarian. A Chicago native, he has worked in the Public Library system for 12 years, in behind-the-scenes and community facing positions. The last two have been at the Blackstone Library. Here, he gets to do his favorite part of the job: interact with people.MEDINA: Getting to know the patrons by name, which I, almost everybody on the adult side I know them when they walk in we greet each other just the customer service just helping people out knowing that I have the patience for them and that they don’t have to worry about how they’re going to be treated when they walk in here. VO: The Blackstone Public Library has been providing a community space to Hyde Park and Kenwood residents since 1904 by offering classes, clubs and community events every week.(NATURAL SOUND OF CHESS CLUB)VO: This is Chess Club. They meet every Thursday to play and learn chess. Mark Coleman has run the club since 2018. MARK COLEMAN: I started two years before COVID here. And then we stopped during COVID for a couple years, three years, two or three years. VO: Though Mr. Coleman runs the club, he didn’t start it. Before coming to the Blackstone Library, he ran the chess club at the Lozano Library in Pilsen. Then, in 2018, he got a call that the Blackstone branch was looking for someone. COLEMAN: I had been told that they had a chess club prior to me being here, and they needed somebody. And I had been involved in chess in other venues, and I just agreed to do it. I kind of enjoyed chess, and I enjoy teaching chess as well. VO: The club is small, only around 15 people every week, with the members being five years old and older. It’s one of the only open-play clubs across the Public Library system, where anyone can come to learn, play casual games or participate in tactical challenges. (NATURAL SOUND OF MR. COLEMAN TEACHING THROUGH A CHESS GAME)VO: Aside from Chess Club, the library also has English as a second language sessions, a Spanish conversation group, community concerts and recitals, weekly Lego Nights and more. MEDINA: I also like the program because we have such a diverse lineup of programming. Next week we have a video game tournament. Right now we currently have a music recital downstairs. We have language courses. We have ESL classes on Friday. We have Spanish conversation groups on Wednesdays. We have baby time, story time.VO: The library was opened in 1904, funded by Isabella Norton Blackstone, the widow of Timothy Blackstone. Blackstone was the Chicago and Altman Railroad president and founding president of the Union Stock Yards on the West Side of Chicago. When the library opened, it was the only branch of the Chicago Public Library beyond the main library in the downtown building now known as the Chicago Cultural Center. The Blackstone Library was designed by Solon S. Beman, the architect of the Fine Arts Building and the Pullman community, the planned company town of the Pullman Palace Car Company. The building remains mostly the same since its opening, from its massive metal doors to the murals in the entry rotunda, representing art, science, literature and labor. The murals were designed by Oliver Dennett Grover, an American landscape artist and mural painter. MEDINA: The only thing that’s fairly new, and I would say that I use the term very loosely, is this children’s library that we’re in right now. This was annexed in the early 40s, so it’s new compared to the rest of the library. But you know, obviously, it’s not very new, and the building has landmark status, so you know, it’s protected, but yeah, there’s a lot of history in this branch. VO: For Mr. Medina, the impact of the library can be anything from teaching someone how to use a computer to giving a kid access to their favorite comic books. He wants library patrons to feel confident coming to use the library.MEDINA: One of the biggest things with the library is that people are afraid to come in; they feel, like, intimidated. But I think that we’re very welcoming, especially at this branch. And so when they come in, we want them to leave feeling very comfortable, feeling like they were treated very well, and just eager to come back, and almost all of our patrons do come backVO: Whether you want to compete in a Super Smash Bros tournament, learn how to fill out a job application or just find a good book, the Blackstone Public Library is the place to go for confidence, history and community.This is Reed Francez, signing off. </div></body>

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VOICE-OVER: Tucked away on South Blackstone Avenue and East 49th Street, on a dead-end corner where busy Lake Park Avenue once lay, stands a tall granite building. It’s over a hundred years old, with soaring columns and a green glass Tiffany dome familiar to any Chicagoan. This is the Blackstone Memorial Library, the oldest branch of the Chicago Public Library system.

Public library creates community, provides confidence

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VOICE-OVER: Tucked away on South Blackstone Avenue and East 49th Street, on a dead-end corner where busy Lake Park Avenue once lay, stands a tall granite b

Public library creates community, provides confidence

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