Elaine. . . a woman of extraordinary talents . . . a woman with an inner storehouse of creative abilities that she uses to perfection in myriad ways to show the world that the Park Forest Library is in a class by itself . . . and a woman whose life and story are heavily woven into tapestry of our village and our library. Let's start at the beginning.
From the Illinois State bookmobile that came to her grade school in Matteson as a child, to riding a bus to the old Andrew Carnegie library in Chicago Heights as a young teen, to checking out books in a townhouse in Park Forest where Park Forest’s first library began, and to buying a house 35 years ago close to the present Park Forest Public Library, books and libraries have been essential to Elaine Brownlee’s existence.
In 1980, Alice Racher asked Elaine to join the Friends of the Park Forest Public Library as program chair. That led to eventually becoming President of the Friends for 3 years, and serving as newsletter editor for the Friends’ FOOTNOTES for nearly 20 years, a task she still continues. Elaine’s skills as artist and photographer enhance her contributions to the library, designing the Friends’ logo, and “creating more flyers and promotional posters and photos than I can count over the years,” she said. Although she began photography in the traditional way, teaching herself darkroom work with library books, she has now gone “digital” and many of her photographs of the library are used on our library’s website.
Entranced with the library and its friendly staff, when the library had an opening for a page in Reference in 1986, Elaine applied and got the job. Before long, she was working as a head clerk at the circulation desk. And then she became a clerk in Reference. “All these insider jobs made me aware of the myriad tasks and expertise that are required to make a library operate as excellently as ours does. And the boon always was contact with the library’s friendly patrons.”
Elaine worked at the Reference Desk for 10 years, early enough to observe the impact that the digital revolution was having on libraries and society in general. “I remember when the Internet was just a promise…and then, almost overnight, (it seems) it become an explosion! I remember when the reference department had only one computer for staff use in a back office. And just look at us now! Every computer is in use almost all the time with the public not only surfing for enjoyment but also to find jobs and do research.” Intrigued by all the capabilities of the Internet, Elaine put the Friends online in 1997, her first website. She continues to do that along with designing and webmastering the websites for The Tall Grass Arts Association, the Park Forest Historical Society, and she has just recently put her pioneering Class of 1956 from Rich East High School online. “Our class of 1956 was Rich Township’s first high school class, beginning in 1952. We were the first class to complete all four years at Rich East. We chose the school colors (green and gold) and the team name (The Rockets) when we were freshmen. And we were thrilled when Park Forest won its first All-America City Award based on the creation of the high school district in 1954. Our class’s internet site has helped my classmates reunite and we are having the 50th reunion of our freshman class in Las Vegas this September."
Her children led her kicking and screaming to a computer in 1987, and she is very glad they did. They told her if she got “connected” she could order groceries online and have them delivered to her house. That feature never materialized in our area, but “getting connected” in 1988 brought many other rewards. She met writers and musicians online way back then who have remained fast friends with get-togethers in various states. She said, “The Internet was likened to the “Wild West” in those days, with everyone “lighting out for the territory” -- the good, the bad, and the ugly. It is such a vital part of my life, my love of books, that I can’t imagine life without it. I subscribe to the Times Literary Supplement and the New York Review of Books so that I can tap their archives online going way back. This leads, of course, to ordering books from our library system’s online database (SWAN). I just type in what I want, and pick it (or several items) up at our library a day or so later. What our library doesn’t have, our friendly staff will get for us from other libraries. And I dare not mention how easy it is to order new books online! I have just subscribed to an online service that brings classical music to my computer. Amazing! We’ve come a long way from the crystal radio sets we built as kids.”
The books she enjoys most are about art, photography, poetry, history and biographies. “I am just finishing From Dawn to Decadence, 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, by Jacques Barzun. There’s not a dull passage in the book. And I am listening to Daniel Boorstin’s two books, The Creators and The Discoverers obtained from “Audible.Com” – an online subscriber service that enables you to download books and burn them onto a cd-rom so that you can listen to them away from the computer with a cd-rom player capable of playing MP3 files.
When Elaine retired from the library, her husband Jim became a library board trustee once again, having served on the Library board some years earlier as well. They still rejoice that they live so close to the library.
And so we salute a woman who - for years - has brought a vast storehouse
of extraordinary gifts and talent to our library, donating generous amounts
of time to the multitude of activities that have enhanced our library's
image over the years. To Elaine Brownlee, who so deserves the special
place in our collective hearts, we send a large bouquet of thanks from
us all.
– Joan Larsen