Whois & Analysis for metrolibrary.org

The Metropolitan Library System (MLS) was an association of academic, public, school, and special libraries in Chicago and its suburbs in Cook, DuPage and Will counties.

On July 1, 2011, Metropolitan Library System merged with Alliance Library System, DuPage Library System, North Suburban Library System, and Prairie Area Library System to form the Reaching Across Illinois Library System.

Sarah Ann Long, director of the North Suburban Library System, summarized the evolution of organizations in northern Illinois in a 2011 essay,"Context is Everything.".

Critical thinking is the objective analysis of facts to form a judgment.

The subject is complex, and there are several different definitions which generally include the rational, skeptical, unbiased analysis or evaluation of factual evidence.

Creative problem-solving is the mental process of searching for an original and not-obvious solution to a problem.

To qualify, the solution must be novel and reached independently.

Education is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits.

Educational methods include storytelling, discussion, teaching, training, and directed research.

Education frequently takes place under the guidance of educators, but learners may also educate themselves.

Education can take place in formal or informal settings and any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts may be considered educational.

The methodology of teaching is called pedagogy.

A community is a small or large social unit (a group of people) who have something in common, such as norms, religion, values, or identity.

Often - but not always - communities share a sense of place that is situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, town, or neighborhood).

Durable relations that extend beyond immediate genealogical ties also define a sense of community.

People tend to define those social ties as important to their identity, practice, and roles in social institutions like family, home, work, government, society, or humanity, at large.

Although communities are usually small relative to personal social ties (micro-level), "community" may also refer to large group affiliations (or macro-level), such as national communities, international communities, and virtual communities.