Starting this weekend, prehistoric creatures will be roaming the Gail Borden Public Library in downtown Elgin with the opening of the Dinosaur Explorer exhibit.
“Our community loves dinosaurs. We have seen this with the past exhibits Dinosaur Giants in 2017 and GIANTS: African Dinosaurs in 2005,” library spokeswoman Natalie Kiburg said. “Dinosaur Explorer adds a whole new interactive dimension as people can create their own dinosaur to see them in the environment, step into a nest and more while visiting with these feathered, moving dinosaurs.”
The traveling exhibit, on display through Jan. 4, features 22 dinosaurs, three of which are babies, and six major interactive components, Kiburg said. It examines what modern paleontology knows about the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods — as well as what remains uncertain — and encourages guests to use their imaginations, particularly through the hands-on features available, she said.
One interactive station will allow visitors to draw and create their own dinosaur. When they feed their picture into a machine, they will see their dinosaur creation in animated form in a dinosaur habitat.
“We think this is such a unique and new experience for our visitors,” Kiburg said. “It will be very exciting to watch users get to have such a personal experience with the exhibit and their own creations.”
At another interactive spot, visitors can have a dinosaur head superimposed on their body via a video camera.
“We think children will have a lot of fun with that,” Kiburg said.
The library will have Spanish translations of exhibit information available, and staff is also hoping to connect with schools for class visits. The exhibit comes with a 39-page educational guide.
Dinosaur Explorer was put together by Atlanta-based The Imagine Team, an organization that’s also produced exhibits on Harry Potter, King Tut’s tomb and the Titanic.
“We were impressed that renowned paleontologist Gregory Erickson, a professor at Florida State University, was the senior scientific advisor who consulted, wrote and edited text for Dinosaur Explorer,” said Denise Raleigh, the library’s director of development.
The exhibit has already been on display at Reading Public Museum in Pennsylvania; Museum of Science & History in Jacksonville, Florida; Cox Science Center in West Palm Beach, Florida; the Clinton Library in Little Rock, Arkansas; and Springs Preserve in Las Vegas, Kiburg said.
To mark its visit to Elgin — and with September being library card sign-up month — the library is offering a special-edition, dino-themed library card to new patrons who sign up at one of its three branches or at outreach events, while supplies last.
In addition to gaining the ability to borrow items from the library, new cardholders will be automatically entered into a weekly drawing for dinosaur-iffic prizes, including Lego kits and puzzles. There are books, documentaries, movies and music related to dinosaurs in the library’s collection.
Funding for the exhibit was provided in part by the Gail Borden Public Library Foundation and sponsors including Consumers Credit Union and Wintrust. More information is available at gailborden.info/dino2025.
Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
