ISS07 Project YES I Can! Science Project

I hope you will check out the joint project between

YES I Can! Science

and Space Center Houston.

Classes from grades 3-12 can register to communicate through the project blog with astronaut Flight Engineer

Clayton Anderson

while he is on his mission to the International Space Station.

The focus areas suggest activities that can be done with the students that correspond with activities that are being done on board the ISS.

This project is free of charge from McMaster University YES I Can! Science project in partnership with the Space Center Houston.

Metadata for Digital Collections

I am looking forward to the online course I am taking at the end of October

Metadata for Digital Collections

at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, School of Information Studies.

This course appealed to me as it is hands on assigning exercises to teach how to create metadata as well as when and how to use it. You will learn how to create metadata for digital images and text using Dublin Core, MODS and VRA.

The course is taught by Steven Miller, Senior Lecturer at the UWM School of Information Studies. I will post further about the course in December.

NEW at the Library

I thought the

NEW at the Library

section of the

Readers’ Café – A Feast for Book Lovers

at the

Hamilton Public Library

was a great idea.

New titles added to the library in the past three months can be searched monthly by item type whether fiction or non fiction, adult, teen or children’s and DVD, music CD, large print or graphic novel.

When reviewing the new selections offered the catalogue gives you the number of requests, reservable copies and availability for each item. Other good options found at the bottom of the page received include Interlibrary Loans, Suggestion for Purchase and Online Databases and One Stop Search.

I wonder if we will see features like this become interactive and allow for readers to rate books online and attach tags drawing their attention to other users.

There are other great features available on the Readers Café page like Book Clubs, May We Suggest…….. and Special Features. I hope you will check it out!!!!!

YouTube Teen Extreme Reading Machine Video Contest

The Teen Annex

at London Public Library is running a YouTube Video Contest this summer! Anyone 12 and over can create a video, one to five minutes in length about a book they’ve read this summer.

The video can be anything you liked about the book, a song or poem, a play or simply reading from the book. You choose! Once you’ve posted the video on

YouTube

you need to send an e-mail to teens@lpl.london.on.ca to let them know.

Voting will take place August 15th to September 7th, 2007 and the winning video announced September 8th, 2007. Here are the complete

rules and regulations.

Teens enjoy using these 2.0 technologies and seeing the feedback from others. This is a great way for the library to connect with users. I will post a link to YouTube of the winning entry in September!!!!!!!!!!

Book Camp

I like the idea of a Book Camp. Some of the camps I checked out for children were :

Burlington Public Library

• Vancouver Public Library

and

Brantford Book Camp .

There was also an

Adult Writer’s Camp .

These camps offer students and adults the chance to receive instruction from authors, illustrators and at the adult writer’s camp publishers and editors. The counselors at the Brantford book Camp are Nipissing University education students.

I hope to see more of these camps. I have a children’s book called “Bear Paw” which I have been writing in my head for the last couple of years. Just reading about these camps has inspired me to get out a pencil and paper and get writing!

Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum

I enjoy visiting the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. They have the largest group of warplanes in Canada. I have chaperoned students while on an educational tour for grade 6: Science of Aviation. One of the planes I was fascinated to see was the Lancaster Bomber. It is the black plane shown in the background of this picture!

I hope to one day “Experience the Thrill” and take a ride in one of the planes as they offer a

Legends Ride Program

where you can ride in either a North American Harvard IV or Boeing Stearman PT-27 Kaydet.

The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum offer many varied programs both at the museum or they will come out and visit you bringing slide shows or audio/visual presentations. I would like to one day attend the special afternoon of dramatic readings

Letters from George Street – Letters from the Jungle

.

My Reading History

I found a neat feature at the

Kitchener Public Library

which records

My Reading History

.

I love to read and tend to read eventually everything that an author has written. Over time I may forget the title of a book and put it on hold not realizing I have already read it. I would also find this feature helpful when recommending books I have read to my friends and checking the catalogue for new books to put on hold from my list of favourite authors.

This is a useful feature that requires you to log onto your library account online and activate the "My Reading History" feature by clicking the "Opt In" link. You have the ability to delete any or all materials listed on your Reading History.

I hope they make this option available at my public library!!!!!!!!!