The Oesterle Library is the Library at North Central's campus. It is a really great library because…read morethey have everything you could possibly need and more. It is spacious and well organized. I love going here to work on homework because I can use their computers and they have A LOT of them so I never have to wait when I am in a rush to print something off before class. About a semester ago, I got a walk through of the Library with one of the employees that work there. She showed me a whole area the Library has sectioned off from the rest of the books, that is completely dedicated to the teaching field. It is AWESOME! You can find any book you need on lessons and activities. They also have a whole room where you can check out games and activities to bring to your classes with you when you teach. These kits include all the materials you need to do the activity and some of them are really neat like the giant mannequin whose organs you can remove in the stomach for a health class! I love it. The staff are extremely friendly here too and always looking to help you. The library itself is pretty easy to maneuver around but sometimes it becomes overwhelming because there are so many books and it can take awhile to find what you are looking for. Just ask! Some, if not most, of the employees that work there are students and they are very helpful. They will point you in the right direction.

This library is theee world's most nosiest library ever! I'd be better off at Starbucks. From…read morestudents boldly having phone conversations, phones vibrating, and workers loudly having conversations and laughing at the front desk; it's quite ridiculous. I should not have to get up every 5 mins to tell workers and students to please keep it down in a LIBRARY. They have to do better.

Large and very nice library. As the parking is near the Metra, I recommend allowing yourself extra…read moretime to find parking if attending an event here. The parking fills up fast. They offer various community programs. Clean library and clean bathrooms.

For our family, winters are for library-hopping because it's warm and educational. Downers Grove…read morePublic Library is conveniently located in the downtown area so one can simply spend an hour or two at the library and then take a quick stroll to the nearby restaurants for a lunch or dinner. The library is clean, spacious, and well-lit. The staff are knowledgeable and friendly. We would normally stay for about two hours so our girls could choose books to be read to and spend quality time with the extensive play sets. To name a few, they have a wholesome section of outfits/roles for pretend play, a huge café with pretend food, light board, train set, and puzzles.

Very good community college library with excellent librarians. Lots of periodicals, all sorts of…read moremedia, comfortable place to read. Also, good WiFi good place to get work done. Nice and spacious, sunny, free parking.

What a fantastic library! I love coming here, especially at the more quiet times. Tons of space,…read morejust a great facility. And no staff is prejudice here, that's a ridiculous statement from someone who themselves is likely prejudice. But you do certainly have some rude and clueless students who are noisy and don't care about others around them, and the staff is not always on top of that. They should have a staff member do a regular walk around the library to make sure people are being quiet. BUT you can call the front desk and describe who and where it is happening and they will come and stop it, Always fun to see some careless student get scolded by a staff member, it's great! :-)

This is one of our favorites because it has the whole and vast second floor dedicated to the…read morechildren's section with plenty of books, activities, coloring paper, puzzles, and toys for all ages. Some of the main highlights for us are the plentiful seating and huge sets of magnetic tiles and dominoes. Our girls can easily spend an hour "reading" - which for their age is more like them flipping through the pages and trying to pick up familiar words and objects, or having one of us read to them. A library with enough seating is vital so we wouldn't be occupying a space for too long while others wait. Some libraries have incomplete sets of toys but this one is well-organized and their set of magnetic tiles is very comparable to the ones that we have at home. Our girls cannot seem to get sick of them and would play with them at the Woodridge Library and at home!

Good kids section. It's a whole floor dedicated to juniors and they have a wide array of movies and…read moreaudio books! Some of the librarians seem like mean girls, like they all got attitudes. I was looking at movies to check out few months ago and all I heard was one librarian talking about how she hates suburban libraries and that she's a city girl and only likes Chicago libraries... then go then..? Just annoying.

This library may seem to profile certain patrons who may choose to study, use computer in the lower…read morelevel. I have come to this library several times & may sit on the upper/first level. The lower level has the vending machines so I may choose that area to sit with a window view-street view so to speak & if need to take a short break to stretch, can easily treat self to the vending area. Not to focus too much on this, I came to the library to connect my setup, computer, hotspot for a project. I had to use the lavatory, however the upper/first floor one was occupied so I took the elevator to the basement level to attend to whatever. After I was refreshed, I decided instead of going back upstairs to study, work, I would set up shop on the lower level with a window view. I managed to get some things accomplished for close to an hour after setup & was fairly comfortable to the point I would watch TV listening through my bluetooth headphones. I decided to get something from the vending machines, snack, soft drink & was delayed a bit there because of others who were there prior line at the vending machine. After I got the snack/drink, I proceeded to head back to my station/table mind you with my headphones still on as was listening to the TV broadcast so not too far from where I was working. Some librarian or lady approached me saying something so I had to remove my headphones to figure out what she was trying to communicate. She said something about I should not leave my items unattended & because kids are down in this section they may bother my stuff or something. That was the furthest from my mind as I have worked in this area in the past like on Sunday nights & no one has ever raised any concern to me about that. I was confused about the librarian's concern because if kids were down there, they should be monitored & supervised by their parent(s) or guardian(s). There should be no reason for anyone to bother my stuff if the place is honest. After this rude exchange with me, I figured the librarian did not want me there especially in that section as maybe adults should NOT be in the children's section. So I decided to just leave the library entirely as I felt unwelcomed & considering this has never happened to me in the several times I have studied on either floor level. I would not recommend perhaps adults to study or setup anything on the lower level, children's section as this librarian may have had concern that the kids would be unruly, out of control & unsupervised as to tamper with someone else's items in that section. Other problems with this library since I am on a roll: Well!, the bathrooms only have 1 stall so the reason I went to the lower level was to use the lavatory. I now regret having to go to the lower floor but it was out of my control & could not wait for the upper/first level lavatory was free. I also regret now perhaps remaining on the lower level to study though I thought & have asked in the past if it was fine to set up & study on the basement area though kids seem to be running around down there. The noise never bothered me because I have my listening phones on. And today, when I was rudely approached, there was really no activities down there so I really did not understand why this librarian approached me unless it was some type of profiling situation and did not want someone like me to be there. I clearly disagree with the librarian's assessment that my items were unattended as I had just left my set up area & remained on the same level just to go to the vending area. It was not like I went back to the bathroom or went upstairs or went outside for a moment. I could still receive the BT audio signal from the TV program I was watching and listening to and thus did not abandon my items & I did not feel any concern that my items would be tampered with by anyone. I assumed people are trustworthy perhaps more so than this librarian who approached me. Perhaps dishonest patrons here? Fine, I will not come to this library again. There are better ones. Another problem: Cramped or no adequate parking. In summary: They say adults can study and set up shop in the lower level area that may be for children but yet they really do not want adults down there and will blame the adult if they have their computer setup down there so clearly they do not want an adult down there other than those attempting to supervise their offspring. Adults should stay in the upstairs sections. Sometimes some parents did let their progeny run around out of control down there jumping on some thing on the floor with a balloon image. So it could be a safety issue if they have no control of things running into something that is pretty much stationary. --running the risks of injury. so adults or those studying probably would be best going to the upper level to study and let the lower floor remain for youngsters activities and the librarians should do a better job to not mislead adults saying they can study safely down there.

I dropped in on a weekday. I like in the children's area that they have a large sign with what is…read moregoing on for the day which included story time and a take home craft. The ladies at the reception desk were very helpful. They also had a large play area. I will definitely be taking my son here in the future!

I graduated from Benedictine from both the Bachelor in Criminal Justice and Master in Business…read moreAdministration programs and I enjoyed both the education I received and the overall experience during my six years here. Benedictine is comparable to other smaller Division III schools in the area (e.g. Elmhurst). Class sizes are extremely small (approximately 20-40 students per class), so learning is much more personalized compared to sitting in a larger school with 100+ students in class. With that being said, it's much easier to get to know the professors individually and work with them during office hours when you need help or want to chat. Likewise, there are many opportunities for you to become involved with your peers as they have many different student organizations on campus. I met some great people at this school, and for that, I am very thankful. More importantly, I felt the curriculum was solid. If I had to repeat my time here, however, i would likely have changed my major to Political Science, Business, or something science-related as I believe that Ben U excels in these three areas. The issue of with the criminal justice program here was that it was mostly theoretical. For those students who want to go into law enforcement and law, there should be more application based classes. One drawback of this campus, however, was that it felt very dated. During my time undergraduate program, however, the University was undergoing a huge construction project to build the Goodwin Hall of Business. This building would be where I spent my final two years in the MBA program, and I must say, that building is exceptional. Ben U's developmental plan, #BenU2020, never came to fruition with most of it being stalled due to financial concerns. This leads me to my critiques of the campus. First, it's apparent that the University is not fiscally responsible. The fact that this is primarily a commuter school does not help whatsoever with the goal of increasing enrollment. The way to increase enrollment is to make this primary a resident school! Many students flock to other comparable Illinois educational institutions because they want the true college experience. Why can't they have it here, considering downtown Naperville is minutes away? Students would rather go to North Central than here simply because of the location! If Ben U made it more appealing to live on campus with an increased number of freshly renovated dorms, increased entertainment experiences on campus, and more parking, more students would gladly come there! Unfortunately, minimizing the number of programs will do more harm than good in the long run - you need a diverse range of educational programs or they will go elsewhere. When I was in my Master's program, I couldn't believe they got rid of the MIS program - the industry is hiring in bulk! Alternatively, offer more certificates for MBA grads! Second, parking was atrocious anytime of the day. Considering you parking was an issue for all types of students, it means one thing - build more parking. Third, interactions with Financial Aid, Student Accounts, and the Registrar departments were less than stellar. There was always an issue and nothing was ever resolved timely. I had to wait months just to receive my final transcript from my master's program. That is simply unacceptable. There should be no excuse that you are months behind. If you are that behind, hire more help or reform the departments. Lastly, there were small, yet random-things I would say need to be changed. I thought the library hours could have been expanded, especially closer to finals. I can't speak for how it was the last couple of years, but during undergraduate I didn't think they were satisfactory. Also, a real Starbucks franchise was great to have, but even it didn't last more than a year. Considering the campus needs an overhaul, this was a bad thing to lose. Also, the eradication of the tennis team was unfortunate - I would have loved to play. In short, I would gladly recommend this university to any of my peers looking to further their education in a small, faith-based, values-driven school. I just hope that the administration finds a better way of increasing enrollment - I want to see students have a great experience here in the future.

While I enjoyed many of my professors and courses in grad school there (I am a Dual MPH and MBA…read moreprogram graduate) it's clear to me that the university does not care about students and only cares about making money. I received a letter a few months ago, indicating that there was a balance of several thousand dollars on my student account. I graduated over a year prior and my account was in good standing. I had no balance in several months after it showed no balance. I no longer had access to my Benedictine school email after graduation, but apparently I received notifications that I had a balance on my account somehow. I then get surprised with a letter over year later that the account will be sent collections if they didn't receive the thousands of dollars within 30 days of receiving the letter. Luckily, I got mailed the letter and actually got it In time but they didn't reach out at all prior to that or to my email only an old student account. Because I have been undergoing extreme medical expenses and hardship I requested a hardship review which they refused there was no leniency on the amount which they had full discretion to lower. Just kept demanding it and that it could be sent to collections. So I had to pay them... they obviously do not care about people and just want their money.

Excellent event- this year probably had the best overall speaker lineup yet. Can't wait for next…read moreyear

From the owner: TEDxNaperville is a community organization and disruptive ideas conference that shares powerful…read moreideas from the greater Chicago area's most original and visionary thinkers. Our platform amplifies movements through large-scale events, community initiatives, and an ever-growing content library of online talks.

If you have a Wheaton address but live in "unincorporated Wheaton," this library is the worst…read moreexperience. It is a beautiful library, but unless you have a library card, you are treated with so much contempt. Want to purchase a library card? Get ready to spend a crazy amount of money. They claim the amount is based on the property taxes you would have paid, but I have always found the quote to be much higher. Also, if you rent but the building you rent from is in "incorporated" Wheaton, you don't pay property taxes, but you do get a library card. The librarians are generally irritated if you ask them simple questions, such as "how do I reserve a room" or "where can I print?" This week, I saw a woman ask to reserve a room and she didn't know that you need to leave an ID because the librarian didn't tell her, then the librarian got upset when the woman didn't hand over her drivers license right away. The library is supposed to be a community place. I just don't understand how it is full of unkind people.

I miss this wonderful library and its wonderful layout, selections, and hours. Especially being…read moreopen Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons. I do not have anything as great near me in Florida and am even considering relocating to an area where the community values access to public libraries such as this one.

Came here for story time for the young one - cute space, well organized and staff are quite…read morefriendly. This review mostly pertains to stuff probably for younger kids however we enjoyed ourselves immensely. We went to the play area in the back before story time where they have Legos, a play area that includes cooking and fake food, lots of word books and cushy stools for kids to lay around and jump on. There's also electronic interactive tablet type things against the walls that I saw kids playing with which looked cool as well. We did the story time and it was quite interactive, the leader was super engaged, kind to the kids, really tried to get all the kids involved. Story time seems to be open for any age but it is recommended that you register online as there is a wait list before the event. When you register online, it asks for how many people in your party, just count the kids do not count the adults. That's the pro tip we were given once we arrived by the staff lol. I loved our experience and will be back for more story time (for my daughter not for me hahaha although I did enjoy the story and dances as well).

Good solution for virus control, all visitors have to wear mask and free mask available if you do…read morenot have. and limit time inside. feel safe