Libraries Gear up for Potter mania

By Jess D'Amico in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 18, 2007 8:05PM

Hi, we’re Chicagoist, and we’re Harry Potter addicts. We’re not ashamed of our guilty love, and when we take off the dust jacket to read on the train, it’s because we don’t want to ruin it, not because we’re embarrassed. We could argue with you over why we love them, but we’ll save our breath for reading the easy-to-read-well-written-and-just-plain-fun books instead.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock since February, you already know that the seventh and final chapter in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, will be released on July 21 at 12:01 a.m. We’re elated because we’re dying to know how the story will pull together, but devastated because this next hit will be our last.

To squeeze the most out of it, Scholastic’s tour of the Knight Bus is making a few stops in Chicago on the 26th and 27th, where you can sit in the purple triple-decker and record a video message professing your fandom for all the internet to see.

And in case you aren’t planning on dressing up and waiting in line until midnight to devour the book (listen, we didn’t take the time knitting that Ravenclaw scarf never to wear it), or shelling out the list price of $34.99 but still want to get your Potter fix, Chicago libraries have ordered 1,000 copies, 110 of which will be at Harold Washington. But you’ll still have to wait in line; the library isn’t allowing holds on Hallows. It’s a first-come, first-served basis. The suburban branches also have copies, but there are already more holds than books to go around.