Jeffery Donaldson and Adam Getty reading at Hart House!

The Hart House Literary and Library Committee presents ...

A poetry reading featuring Adam Getty and Jeffery Donaldson
Date: May 14th at 7:30p.m. in the Hart House Library
Admission: Free

In his latest work, Repose, Adam Getty explores the definition of cultural freedom. He argues that our lives are so tightly controlled by non-negotiable experiences of employment that for the majority of people, employment is anything but a democratic process.

In his latest work, Palilalia, Jeffery Donaldson offers poems about Tourette's Syndrome, about his loves and blessings, about the erotic life as flavoured by all these, and about the grace of a stillness in the midst of so much mental noise.

What Happened Later

Is anyone a Jack Kerouac fan?

Hart House is sponsoring a reading of a followup book to On the Road. Ray Robertson's What Happened later interweaves the story of a postOn the Road Kerouac, with a narrative about a young Ray Robertson. All Are Welcome. Admission is Free. Location: 7 Hart House Circle, 2nd floor library.

FUNdraiser!

Hi all!

I would like to invite you to attend the Literature for Life fundraiser tea and lecture this upcoming Wednesday, February 13th at 4 p.m. at 140 St. George Street. Literature for Life offers teen moms a safe environment to explore and use language to benefit themselves and their children. Young mothers from local parenting centres and agencies develop confidence and skills to articulate thoughts and needs through reading, writing, and performance.

Come and join us!

For more information on Literature for Life, Please visit: http://www.literatureforlife.org (main site)

To donate: http://www.canadahelps.org/CharityProfilePage.aspx?CharityID=s75097

Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet Reading

I would like to let you know that Hart House Library (7 Hart House Circle, 2nd floor, Toronto) will be holding a reading on Wednesday January 30th at around 4 p.m. (right after class for my FIS colleagues)!

Joanne Proulx will be reading from her debut novel entitled Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet. Admission is free! The reading will be followed by a discussion, and there will be a small reception following!

Hope to see you there!

Helen Pereira at Hart House

I would like to invite everyone to this evening's reading in the Hart House Library (7 Hart House Circle, 2nd floor, Toronto). Our featured reader is Helen Pereira, who will be reading from her collection of short fiction called Southern Exposure. All are welcome. Admission is free with a discussion and reception to follow.

Rotten Richie and the Ultimate Dare

Welcome back! I took a month long hiatus to celebrate the Christmas holidays, and discovered a delightful book by Patricia Polacco. Rotten Richie and the Ultimate Dare is a real treat to read. It is based on Polacco's childhood, where she dares her brother to join her ballet recital. In turn, she must practice hockey and join her brother's team. I performed a ministorytime featuring this book for the children of some family friends. We all agreed that the picture of Richie dressed in his ballet costume while swinging haphazardly over the stage was hilarious!

Holiday Posting!

Hi!

I just wanted to wish everyone "Happy Holidays!" and good luck in 2008!

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!

FISt Impressions: The Eleventh Hour

FISt Impressions: The Eleventh Hour

If any of you ever has a moment of time to spare, or feels that there is a need to destress, then I encourage you to check out the book The Eleventh Hour by Graeme Base.

Although it at first seems like nothing more than a rhyming picture book, there is more to the book than first meets the eye. The large and elaborate illustration require in-depth investigation, especially once the main story (an elephant's birthday party) becomes a mystery (the readers must discover the thief of the party food). The pictures become especially important: the readers must use both the evidence from the coloured illustrations and encrypted messages to solve the mystery.

It is a delightful book for readers of all ages!

Halloween Happenings!

I would like to take this opportunity to let all who read this blog know of a Halloween reading event taking place at Hart House on the evening of October 30th. University of Toronto English professors will be reading from a selection of spooky tales! It will take place on the third floor of Hart House, in the library, and will start at 7 p.m.

Feel free to drop in!

Talis

This is the final version of my conclusion (basically only rewording the conclusions posted before this) to my submitted assignment criquing the Talis white paper entitled Do Libraries Matter?: The Rise of Library 2.0.

Does Library 2.0 matter? Although the answer to this question is “Yes,” it is far less technologically-oriented than the answer provided by Chad and Miller. To paraphrase Chad and Miller (and Newton!) a library is worth far more than the sum of all its information sources; it is a community source of information. To be truly successful in meeting the needs of library patrons, Library 2.0 technologies must be a financially viable forum for the development of the library’s staff and must serve (and protect the privacy of) library patrons in both real and virtual library environments – both of which lack the “musty book” atmosphere which Talis has wrongly associated with libraries.

Preschoolers and the Internet

As I was getting ready to head out the door, I turned on AM 680 news, expecting to hear the weather and traffic reports. What I heard first was this interesting (to me) piece of information: that preschoolers are among the fastest growing sector of the population to use the Internet. As a preschool programming instructor, this worries me, since due in part to the amount of advertising, this infringes on cognitive development, and the development of critical thinking skills (not to mention the issue of childhood obesity as well)! Might these children be considered real examples of catered-to Digital Natives??

Check this out for the full story!

www.680news.com/news/local/article.jsp?content=20071015_114042_4948