Hart House Reading

I would like to let you know of a reading that will happen at the Hart House Library (second floor) on November 29th at 4:30 p.m., and which has an advocacy theme. Our featured author is Amanda Sussman. She will be reading from her book The Art of the Possible: A Handbook Towards Political Activism. The focus of her reading will be on how successful advocacy through the government can be a direct route to social progress.

And, admission is free. There will also be a small reception with free coffee/tea and cookies following the event.

Hope to see you there!

TSpace/DSpace at the University of Toronto

I just saw this today on the University of Toronto Library website, and thought that this piece of information might interest any of my blog's readers who analyzed Dspace in their recent papers. There will be a lecture on November 27th discussing the evolution of DSpace (through the DSpace foundation) here at U of T. The lecture will take place from 11am -12:30 pm. Although the RSVP deadline to attend the lecture in person is today, it will be also webcast as well.

For more information, visit the website at: http://content.library.utoronto.ca/events/kimpton/

Book Recommendations?

I am interested in hearing if anybody would like to contribute their favourite children's (environmental) books -- if I ever have a spare moment, I always enjoy discovering new children's literature as well as following up on recommendations.

One of the most recent books for older children that I have read is the coming-of-age novel Replay by Sharon Creech, author of Walk Two Moons. The main character is Leo, a 13 year old, who dreams of acting, and who struggles to establish his own identity (especially in his large family). Although I occasionally found Leo's dreamy flashbacks a little confusing, I thought that the novel was well-written as a whole. I found it especially funny that Leo, who dreams of being a star actor, is cast in a bit part in his class play -- as an old crone!! If you ever have time, or, if you're like me and need a little light reading after doing homework, this book is definitely worth it!

Little Earth Book

I did not preface this blog title with "Environmental Children's Books" since James Bruges' The Little Earth Book is meant for older readers, and addresses social issues in addition to environmental ones. I discovered it through the environmental course that I took last year -- part of the book was incorporated into the class reader, and I ended up purchasing the book itself once the class had ended.

This book is a great read. It may literally be described as a "pocketbook" since it truly is a small book. The Little Earth Book is made up of several 2-3 page essays which clearly and concisely depict current environmental and social issues, especially exploring activities reducing global warming.

Although it is a very worthwhile read, this book may be difficult to locate in large bookstores.

Environmental books: Prince William

Continuing the theme of environmental children's books, I also recommend the book "Prince William" by Gloria Rand. It may provide a way to introduce children to the danger of environmental disasters, including oil spills. In this picture book, a young girl rescues a baby seal from an oil spill, and helps him return home.

Management Assignment Tip

I thought that the following tip might be useful to some of my colleagues who are working on their management papers for next week. You may find this to be a useful search strategy:

Once you have generated a list of potential author names for your references, go to Web of Science (an electronic index) and select "author search." Type in the author's last name and initial(s). You will eventually be lead to a page that lists the author's articles listed on the database, as well as options to find out how many times they have been cited, and where they have been cited.

Good luck!

Environmental Children's Books

Last year, I took a really interesting course which studied contemporary society and its impacts on the environment. It really got me thinking about my own actions and their impacts on the environment. Since I am interested in becoming a children's (or youth services) librarian, I thought I'd put together a list of environmental books I have enjoyed for these age groups. I hope that this list continues to grow in future.



The book "We are the Weathermakers," by Tim Flannery is first on my list. I would recommend it for older middleschool or for high school readers. I read it, actually, coming out of last year's environmental class. This book addressed many of the same current issues that we discussed in class, especially regarding climate change, using clear, direct language. It is an excellent read.

Koha Assignment

As a preamble:

In this last FIS1311 assignment, I examined the open source software Koha. In this assignment, I focused on Koha's overall stability (particularly as evidenced on the SourceForge website). I also pointed out that Koha is flexible regarding the computer systems on which it can function. Lastly, I thought that having such an active community of users and developers that participate on the Koha listserv is a big benefit -- contributing to both developing Koha and resolving its diffficulties! The biggest disadvantage, in my opinion, was the expense of the third party commercial support for Koha -- cost savings might only be a longterm goal, not a short term achievement, due to the expense of the third party maintenance.

Here is the (brief) conclusion which I submitted in my report.

As evidenced by its stability and the interactive developments from its user community, Koha is a viable operating system. However, the possibilities of making a financial savings may only occur within a longterm usage of Koha.

Shooting Water

I invite all of my blog's readers to come to a reading. The invited reader is Devyani Saltzman, who will be reading from the book Shooting Water. Shooting Water covers the making of the highly-acclaimed film Water, and all of the political actions surrounding the film.

The reading will take place the evening of November 13th at the Hart House Library, which is on the second floor of Hart House (#7 Hart House Circle, University of Toronto).

Hart House

Hope you can make it!