This month’s cover features an image of a Ferris wheel from the World’s Columbian Exposition held in Chicago, the host city of the upcoming 2015 ALA Midwinter Meeting. The image is from the 1893 work The book of the fair: An historical and descriptive presentation of the world’s science, art, and industry, as viewed through the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893 by Hubert Howe Bancroft. The exposition, also known as the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, celebtrated the 400th anniversary of Chirstopher Columbus’ landing in America.

The image is from the collection of the Newberry Library in Chicago. A world-renowned independent research library, the Newberry offers readers an extensive noncirculating collection of rare books, maps, music, manuscripts, and other printed material spanning six centuries. Learn more about the Newberry at www.newberry.org.