Did you know there are resources in Chicago that can help you with your career path? Chicago has many career service providers to support and help you achieve your career goals whatever they may be. Here are some free Chicago-based career resources to explore.

Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership

The Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership has numerous resources on career topics, and it is the non-profit umbrella organization for the American Job Centers partnership network. American Job Center locations have career specialist staff that can assist with resumes and interviews, unemployment, job searching, training and education and even job readiness. There are numerous American Job Center locations across the city. You can find out more information on the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership website, or by filling out the Level Up AJC online form to be connected to a location.

City of Chicago Job Seekers

The City of Chicago website has various resources and links for career information and opportunities on the City of Chicago Job Seekers webpage. On this page you can explore job openings in the public, private and nonprofit sectors. There are also additional local resources for things like job fairs, training programs, internships and even employment opportunities for teens and young adults. Many of the resources on this page will link to websites for other programs or services making this a worthwhile springboard to check out.

Illinois workNet

Though not Chicago-based, Illinois workNet is the State of Illinois designated workforce development portal and serves as a one-stop-shop for all things job and career related. No matter what your career goals are, this is an essential resource to explore. In addition to job searching and a detailed resume building tool, Illinois workNet has information on state assistance and services, job fairs, training opportunities and more. To get started, visit the Quick Start Guide for Job Seekers and make an Illinois workNet account if you don’t already have one.

Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities Career Center

The Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities Career Center offers a variety of services to individuals with disabilities including job seeking services, Career Counselors, benefits counseling and other program related assistance. MOPD works with community-based organizations and sister agencies throughout Chicago. Assistance is provided through personalized appointments. For more information and contact information, visit the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities Career Center website.

In addition to the resources above, there are many neighborhood organizations and services that can also assist with your career needs. Library staff can help connect you to additional local resources. Your neighborhood Alderperson’s office may also be great resource for more local connections to help you achieve your career goals.

Chicago Public Library Resources

The library has resources to get you closer to your career goals. Make sure to visit our Jobs & Small Businesses page regularly for more blog posts, tips and online resources. Not sure where to start with our resources? Library staff are here to help and can even help you build your digital skills.

What library resources have you used for your career path?  Let us know in the comments below.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Stockings, gingerbread cookies, ornaments and holiday cheer are everywhere! When the weather outside is frightful, curling up with a nice, soothing audiobook is quite delightful. Plug in your headphones and turn up the volume to these holiday-themed titles.

For some, Christmas can be a joyous celebration! However, for the Sullivans, it's another lonely holiday. No stuffed stockings, gifts, or even a tree can get them into the holiday spirit. However, things change when a Secret Santa sends gifts to their home. Suddenly, the widower Henry and his two children's lives are changed on The Twelve Topsy-turvy, Very Messy Days of Christmas.

The holidays should bring love and festivities, but this isn't always the case. Just ask Lily, whose sunny spirit has shattered due to her grandfather's recent heart attack. In The Twelve Days of Dash & Lily her boyfriend Dash, brother Langston and close friends go on a mission to help her recapture the holiday spirit.

Love is a beautiful thing, especially during the holidays. In the holiday romance What Light, Sierra and her family only go to California to sell Christmas trees, NOT to fall in love. Things change when she meets Caleb, a handsome teen with a complicated past. When you listen to this audiobook, you'll learn about the power of forgiveness, family, and the meaning of true love.

Winter is the coldest season and it isn't just because of the snow. In The Holiday Switch, Lily and Teddy aren't just co-workers, but bitter rivals who will argue about anything from tangled icicle lights to gift shop merch displays. However, things take a turn when they accidentally switch cell phones and discover that they've been hiding things from each other. Can they fix things before the ice melts? Listen to find out...

What are your favorite holiday audiobooks? Let us know in the comments below.

One hundred and twenty-five years ago on December 21, 1898, Marie Curie and her husband, Pierre, discovered a new element they named radium because of the way it produced and released rays in energy. This important discovery was the first time a radioactive element could be used everyday, such as in medicine.

As a pioneering physicist and chemist, this was just the beginning of Curie's accomplishments which included being the first person to win two Nobel Prizes in two different fields. This is especially notable, since not many girls and women went into the science field at that time.

Marie's life story shows that you are never too young to love science. Learn how she became fascinated with physics and chemistry with two of my favorite titles. 

Discover who Marie Curie was following her lifetime from childhood to Curie's later years. Readers won't want to miss out on the cool websites in the further information section.

I Am Marie Curie is perfect for younger readers wanting to learn how she became such an accomplished scientist. I love her quote, "Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood."

Check out more books about Marie Curie if you want to dig deeper.

Hopefully, you're inspired now by everything you've learned about Curie. If so, you can uncover some cool facts about chemistry and tackle some experiments yourself with these books. Have you ever wondered How Do Molecules Stay Together? You may think that chemistry is not all around us, but everyone uses it everyday even if you might not realize it! See if you can find radium and polonium, the two elements Marie discovered, in the Periodic Table located in the back matter.

I love Chemistry for Kids because not only does it have cool experiments but you learn about the chemist that discovered that concept. Kitchen Science for Kids is great for kids of all ages. Just remember to follow all of the safety hints!

What chemistry experiment are you looking forward to trying out?

There's nothing quite like reading a good book. However, what happens when your favorite book comes to life on the big screen? The experience can be quite polarizing. Here are a few books that have been made into recent and forthcoming movies.

The eagerly awaited new adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning classic The Color Purple hits theatres this Christmas. The novel was previously made into a celebrated movie starring Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey. The novel was later adapted into an acclaimed stage musical, and the new movie is adapted from that Broadway version. 

Who can make a sunrise and sprinkle it with dew? Cover it with chocolate and a miracle or two? Willy Wonka can, of course! In Roald Dahl's classic novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, five lucky children get to tour the mysterious chocolate factory of eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka. There are three movie adaptations of this book: 1971's Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, 2005's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and the upcoming prequel Wonka, which will be released on December 15. 

Is the love of money the root of all evil? This appears to be the case in Osage County, where a series of grisly murders are taking place. In Killers of the Flower Moon, FBI agent Thomas Bruce White is tasked with investigating the murders of wealthy Osage Native Americans whose tribal land had oil on it. A riveting page-turner, this Martin Scorsese-directed film will leave you with as many interesting questions as answers.

J. Robert Oppenheimer was more than simply the father of the atomic bomb. In the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography American Prometheus, we learn that he was an important historical figure whose complex personality and hard-driving style changed the dynamics of physics. The book's film adaptation, titled Oppenheimer, captures the essence of a man who changed the world in his own way.

Some villains weren't born bad. This is just one of many lessons learned in the critically acclaimed Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Like many villains, Coriolanus Snow was born into wealth and privilege and had the world at his feet. So how did he become the diabolical, ruthless future President of Panem? If you want to find out, you'll have to read the book and watch the movie, out in theaters now.

Whether it's football, basketball, boxing or rowing, to play in competitive sports requires dedication and sacrifice. These are the traits that the eight-oared rowing crew displayed as part of the 1936 Summer Olympics. In The Boys in the Boat, we learn how the members bonded through poverty, classism and oppression to earn the gold medal. The movie version will roll out December 25.

Do you have a favorite recent book-to-film adaptation? Or a forthcoming one you're particularly excited about? Let us know in the comments below. 

Did you know that the United States has been officially protecting endangered species since 1973? The Endangered Species Act of 1973 created a way for people to ask for habitat protection for animals and plants whose entire existence might be threatened. This helps animals in the United States and also around the world. If you're an animal lover like me, you'll enjoy digging into these amazing books celebrating species we've lost, found and are working to save. 

Animals Lost & Found: Meet a wide variety of animals, from extinct to recovering, and learn about what those terms mean. Richly colored illustrations bring them to life alongside informative text sharing fun facts about each species, plus information about threats and conservation efforts.

One way to help endangered animals is by raising them and then Rewilding them. Each page tells a different story about animals that scientists have tried to raise and re-introduce to the wild. Want more detail on how specific species have been helped by humans? Try Back From the Brink for stories of wolves, bald eagles, giant tortoises and more!

What happens when animals go extinct? If You Take Away the Otter explores the changes to a specific ecosystem when otters were nearly hunted to extinction. The results might surprise you! 

Animals aren't born knowing how to exist in the wild. They are Learning to Be Wild, just like humans learn to be human. Prolific environmental author Carl Safina takes a deep dive in research on chimpanzees, macaws and sperm whales and shares what he finds about animal culture in this adaptation for younger readers. I loved exploring the long-term impact of hand-raising macaws in culture that is passed down between the generations of wild macaws.

Global: Animals are not the only ones threatened by changing habitats and climate change. Follow the fictional stories of Sami in a hot fishing village in the Indian Ocean and Yuki in very cold northern Canada as they figure out how they fit in a world where fish are disappearing and bear species are disappearing and changing.

What's your favorite endangered animal?

I’ll be honest and say that when I picked up Lessons in Chemistry, I wasn’t too sure if I would like it. However, it ended up being one of those books I couldn’t put down. I loved it! It was by far one of my favorite books of 2022. If you loved it just as much as I did, here are some books I think you’d enjoy just as much.

If you enjoyed reading about Elizabeth Zott’s journey as a woman in STEM during the 1960s, then you will love reading Her Hidden Genius by Marie Benedict. This book is a work of fiction that follows the real life of Dr. Rosalind Franklin, a famous chemist known for her discovery of the double helix structure of DNA.

Another fantastic novel that tells the story of a real-life scientist is The Woman With the Cure by Lynn Cullen. This book tells the story of Dorothy Horstmann, virologist and epidemiologist whose research into the polio virus led to the development of the vaccine we have today. Not only did she lead the research during this epidemic, but she also became the first woman to be appointed as Professor for the Yale School of Medicine in 1961—shattering glass ceilings along the way much like Elizabeth Zott.

If you enjoyed Zott’s Supper at Six cooking show, then you will probably enjoy Laura Dave’s Hello, Sunshine. This book takes you into the world of Sunshine Mackenzie and her YouTube cooking show with millions of followers. As she gains notoriety through her professional endeavors, she gets hacked, and the truth about her quickly unravels.

If you’re looking for a lighter read with a leading lady in STEM, then read Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood. Elsie Hannaway is a theoretical physicist looking to finally land tenure professorship. She makes ends meet by being a girlfriend for hire, but what happens when she lands an interview with one of her fake date’s brothers? This is a very cute and very nerdy romcom. If you end up loving this one, then be sure to check out Hazelwood’s other STEM novels The Love Hypothesis and Love on the Brain.

Recipe for A Perfect Wife by Karma Brown is an excellent choice if you enjoyed the historical aspect of Lessons in Chemistry. This book is written in dual timelines going back and forth between the 1950s and present day. When Alice Hale leaves her glamorous PR job in Manhattan to move into her new home in the suburbs with her husband, she is faced with the reality of this drastic change. She discovers an old cookbook in the basement of her new home which belonged to its previous owner, a 1950s housewife. As she cooks her way through the book, she discovers notes in the pages detailing the housewife’s life and experiences. Alice soon realizes they might have more in common than she assumed.

What other books would you recommend for fans of Lessons in Chemistry? Please share them in the comments below.

This September, my sister and I flew out to California to spend time with a dear family friend and the three of us (in our 30s and 40s) went to a magical place: Disneyland. Without kids. We were officially Disney Adults.

I have to admit - it was a lot of fun! All of the Halloween decorations were up so that added a level of excitement, plus I had so many questions about how it all worked. Mainly, what's their storage situation look like and how do they transform it from regular Disneyland to Halloween Disneyland all in one night?

After I got home, I researched behind-the-scenes information about Disneyland and found it pretty fascinating. Plus, this year marks The Walt Disney Company's 100th anniversary, so it's a special year for them. If you too would like to learn more about what goes into 100 years of magic, here are some books I recommend.

The Story of Disney: 100 Years of Wonder is a gorgeous coffee table book that contains drawings and art used for the making of various Disney movies plus photos of Walt Disney himself. There are also interviews and quotes from people important to the making of the Disney franchise.

In Disney's Land: Walt Disney and the Invention of the Amusement Park That Changed the World, author Richard Snow details the path that led Walt Disney to create a theme park like no other at that time. Instead of an emphasis on roller coasters and thrills, Disney wanted Disneyland to create a calm and fun escape from the heaviness of the world in the 1950s. Snow offers a well-researched glimpse into this process, adding a bit of his own experience with Disneyland in the mix.

If you're into logistics or learning how things are made, Walt Disney Imagineering: A Behind the Dreams Look at Making the Magic Real is a great read. Full of colorful images and details about special effects, building rides, visuals and more, you'll learn first-hand from the people who make the theme park come to life.

Women of Walt Disney Imagineering features stories from twelve women "Imagineers" who have helped design, build and manage Disney theme parks. Each story is written by the women themselves, so we get to learn from their perspective what their time at Disney is like (the good and the bad), including photos and drawings as well.

If these books inspire you to make your own trip, take a look at Disney travel guides. Do you have a favorite Disney book or memory? Let us know in the comments!