The librarian is reading...

Let's dust off this blog, shall we?

A colleague tweeted a story about a professor at the University of Guelph and her research on Jean Little. I always loved Jean Little's novels as a young girl. Jean Little is a Canadian author who focuses on children with disabilities. She herself has a visual impairment, which influences her treatment of disability in her stories.

You can read Carstairs’ article through the Brock University Library. If you want to more about Jean Little or read some of her novels, search Super Search.

Or learn more here:

Scholastic Authors and Illustrators: Jean Little

www.jeanlittle.ca

Super Search

Have you been using Super Search? Want to know more about using it? Check out our new Super Search FAQ.

June is Aboriginal History Month

June is Aboriginal History Month for Canadians. Our friends at Scholars Portal have gathered a selection of relevant resources from their books and journals platforms. The guide is available on my Aboriginal Studies Research Guide.

June 21 is National Aboriginal Day. For some Ontario happenings, see: http://www.aboriginalaffairs.gov.on.ca/english/events/national_aboriginal_day.asp.

More resources:

Background on National Aboriginal Day
Aboriginal Peoples Channel (NFB.ca)

Resources for Teachers: Aboriginal Canada Portal

Interested in doing some reading? Try this:
Integrating Aboriginal perspectives into the school curriculum: purposes, possibilities, and challenges / Yatta Kanu.
9TH FLOOR OF LIBRARY E 96.2 K36 2011

For a more general history:
A concise history of Canada's first nations / Olive Patricia Dickason
9TH FLOOR OF LIBRARY E 78 C2 D536 2010

Need more? Let me know!

Celebrate Earth Day with The Lorax

What better way to introduce Earth Day than with Dr. Seuss's The Lorax? What a great story! And a jumping off a point for some wonderful discussions and creative activities. Most of these are good for the K-3 set.

From Seussville.com:

What Can Your Class Do? Ideas for Earth Day and every day
A list of discussion ideas and activities.

The Lorax Project
This project helps "generate funding, create awareness and inspire earth-friendly actions." Information about friends of The Lorax, as well as games and activities.

The Lorax Project in the Classroom
Discussion questions, Earth Day toolkit, printable resources, suggested books.

Seussville: The Lorax
Interactive games and activities.

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss: Lesson Plan (Scholastic)
Lots of ideas here for science, language arts, visual arts and more.

Family Literacy Bag: The Lorax (Reading Rockets)
Crafts, printables, and more featuring The Lorax and Tell Me, Tree by Gail Gibbons.

And how cute is this?  Learn to make your own Truffula Trees at Craftjr.com.

Earth Day

Earth Day is coming up on April 22, 2012.

Resources for kids and classrooms:

K-8 Enviro-resources (Earth Day Canada)

Free, curriculum-linked K-8 lesson plans, activities and teaching support.

EarthCARE Environmental Quizzes, Handouts, Activities & Lessons (EarthCARE)
Activities and handouts about energy efficiency, water conservation, and waste reduction.


Educational Resources for Educators (Environment Canada)

Replacing screen time with green time is good for kids (David Suzuki Foundation)


I have compiled more online resources about the environment on my delicious site.

Library workshops for faculty and graduate students

From 9:00 to 12:00 on Tuesday, April 10, the library will be offering a number of enlightening workshops aimed at assisting faculty members with their research and teaching.

• Web of Knowledge – Expert Searching
• Citation Management Options: Mendeley, Zotero or Ref Works?
• Google Like a Librarian
• Know Your Author Rights: Copyright in Academic Publishing
• Scholars GeoPortal

• The Cost of Knowledge: Is Open Access the Answer?

Registration and more information available on the Library website.

More new books

Curious about what I do? Part of what I do as the Liaison Librarian for Education is build a great collection of resources for students, staff and faculty. Check out some of the titles that have come in this month at the Brock University Library. A few that look good:

The Sage handbook for research in education : pursuing ideas as the keystone of exemplary inquiry / edited by Clifton F. Conrad, Ronald C. Serlin.

Key issues in e-learning : research and practice / Norbert Pachler and Caroline Daly.

Leadership with a conscience : educational leadership as a moral science / Robert Palestini.

Succeeding with your master's dissertation : a step-by-step handbook / John Biggam.