As an incentive to get kids to visit the library during the summer, Bedtime Math is offering two math-focused programs for free to libraries across the country. The “Bedtime Math Pajama Party” kit contains games for three-to-nine-year-olds that teach basic math, such as “Twisted Tangrams,” as well as glow-in-the-dark magnets, party favor bags, and everything that’s needed to plan for programming the event in the library. The kit can be ordered online.

“Summer of Numbers” sets include two-month calendars (June 15–August 17) that feature Bedtime Math problems. The set also includes gold star stickers that kids can apply each day they do a math problem. Library representatives can order the calendars through May 15 for delivery before mid-June.

Both programs have been piloted in dozens of libraries in New Jersey and across the U.S. “Since the beginning, we have said that literacy and numeracy go hand in hand, and that public libraries are allies with Bedtime Math to keep students engaged and learning during the summer and all extended school breaks. We look forward to sharing these free library-and kid-tested programs more broadly,” noted Laura Overdeck, Bedtime Math founder.

National Geographic and Common Core

National Geographic Kids is being launched by Gale, part of Cengage Learning, as a new resource in their National Geographic Virtual Library product line. Intended for elementary and middle school students, National Geographic Kids includes full issues of the magazine from 2009 to the present, 500 downloadable images, and 200 National Geographic Kids books, including nonfiction titles and the National Geographic Readers. The resource’s content supports Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

You can purchase or subscribe National Geographic Kids as a stand-alone or as part of the complete National Geographic Virtual Library line. You can get a free trial of the product and find out more information.

Ebooks

Four S. E. Hinton novels are now available in ebook format for the first time from Diversion Books: Taming the Star Runner, Rumble Fish, Some of Tim’s Stories, and Tex. They can also be purchased from the iBookstore and all major online ebook retailers.

Capstone Partners with Save the Children

Capstone is working with Save the Children to raise money for the organization’s emergency fund to help children and families during severe crises and natural disasters with food, medical care, and education. Capstone will donate money to Save the Children from its sale of Flood, a wordless picture book by Alvaro F. Villa about a family’s experience after a flood. You can request a free reader’s guide to the book from Capstone Young Readers.

National Geographic: People, Animals, and the World

“National Geographic: People, Animals, and the World” is part of the National Geographic Virtual Library. The database allows access to full-text books on travel, science and technology, history, the environment, animals, photography, and peoples and cultures. Also included are full-text articles from National Geographic Traveler magazine from 2010 to the present, 325 videos, 655 full color maps and atlases, and 600 downloadable images.

Cost National Geographic Virtual Library (which includes National Geographic Magazine Archive 1888-1994; 1995-Current; and People, Animals, and the World) is based on the FTE of the academic institution or the size of the population a public library serves. Annual pricing starts at $1,264 for public libraries and $1,584 for academic libraries (a 20 per cent discount for both).

Overview The full-text books and articles and the media mentioned above are divided here into six umbrella topics: Animals, Environment, History, People and Cultures, Science and Technology, and Travel.

How it Works Selecting one of the umbrella topics directs the user to a new page displaying the following content types: images, books, feature articles, videos, and maps. A search box is on the left of the screen, and entering a search term creates a shorter list of content types, with the number of hits in each type displayed. The default selection for sorting the results is by relevance, but a drop-down menu on the right of the screen allows users to list results by date (newest or oldest first) and by document title.

Beneath the list of content types is another search box for narrowing the original search. There is also a list of recommended subjects for cross reference and for further focusing the work on a specific content type. For example, a search in the animals category for “rats” produces one featured image, seven books, 141 feature articles, and two videos.

Electing to search through the hits for books creates a list of over two dozen overlapping subjects. Choosing to look at the videos results in a list of only seven additional subjects that are relevant. The search does not allow for variations, so a search for “rat” creates its own set of hits, including some new ones.

A drop-down menu to the top right of the screen allows switching between topics, but does not save the search; so users who move from “Animals” to “People and Culture,” for example, would need to re-enter their query. Again, there is some overlap of results.

Upon choosing a featured article, the full text appears as the main feature of the page, with a sidebar to the right displaying a search box, a citation for the article in view, and related subjects. Running along the bottom of the screen are thumbnails representing some of the other feature articles that were part of the search. The article as it appears on the screen defaults to 14 per cent, but it can be expanded to full screen, which improves readability. While in full-screen mode, researchers can only scroll through the article a page at a time, using arrows at the top of the screen. There is more flexibility when using the reduced-size screen, however, which allows navigation within the article by entering page numbers.

It should be noted that the search box is designed to search the entire issue in which the article appeared, not just the article itself. Searching a book is similar, but with a key distinction: use of the search box finds the actual references within the text of the book. The page numbers are clickable and lead to the correct page with the search term highlighted.

Special Features Setting up a personal account allows users to create tags and save documents. Citation tools include print and email commands, a citation generator, and bookmarks.

Videos include closed captioning; it is also possible to listen to an audio version of the information that is printed beneath the video. The text is highlighted as the audio plays. Users can control the speed of the highlighting, so that it features individual words or complete sentences, or to turn this extra off altogether. The audio files can also be downloaded.

Unfortunately, backtracking is not easy in this resource. A “Back to Search Results” feature is available when a document is first selected, but as soon as the researcher begins to move within or away from the document—following a link to a suggested, relevant topic, for example—the feature disappears and the only way to return to the original list of results is to use the browser’s back arrows or to simply return to the homepage and re-enter the search. When users select an article from the feature articles results list, they must reenter their search term in the search box (unless they plan to read the article from start to finish). Because this creates a search through the entire issue, it generates a new set of results (including the original article), which creates an extra step to work through. Finally, the results can be slow to load in the sidebars.

Verdict The name “National Geographic” is a respected and trusted brand for armchair travelers and professional researchers alike, and this database should prove popular with patrons. Because it draws from the parent magazine and from publications for an adult readership, it is best for high school and public libraries, though features such as the videos, images, and maps could prove attractive to younger users.

Kara Schaff Dean is the youth services librarian at Walpole Public Library, MA

SPONSORED BY:

Archive now available!

Engage students and broaden their horizons with reputable, authoritative, and child-focused content that will bring them the world in a way they’ve never seen it before. Fun and substantive, National Geographic Kids will take them on amazing adventures in science, nature, culture, archaeology, and space. National Geographic Kids includes:

• 500 kid-friendly images
• 200 National Geographic Kids books
• National Geographic Kids magazine
• Popular themes of animals, environment, people, cultures, history, geography, science, and technology
• Authoritative, nonfiction content in support of the Common Core State Standards

The National Geographic Virtual Library includes National Geographic Magazine Archive, 1888-1994, National Geographic Magazine Archive, 1995-Current, National Geographic: People, Animals, and the World, and the new National Geographic Kids.

Presenter:

Sara Tarpley- Manager of Research Product Training & Sales Support, Gale, Cengage Learning

Moderator:

Rocco Staino- Contributing Editor, School Library Journal

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Samwel Melami in the classroom

On a family trip to Tanzania, high school librarian Paula Busey became acquainted with Samwel Melami Langidare Mollel, a Maasai warrior who spoke five languages. The high school educator arranged for Melami to guest teach at her Colorado school in an educational exchange that drew the attention of National Geographic, which honored Busey and Melami as 2012 Travelers of the Year.

In 2009, Busey and her family were “lucky enough” to go on a safari in Tanzania. Their guide, Melami (above), taught Busey’s family about wildlife, the Maasai tribe, and the challenges they face, along with aspects of ethnobotany learned from his father, a healer.

Paula Busey

“Over the course of the week I realized he was an amazing educator,” says Busey, and she thought it would be wonderful for him to come speak with her students. Her principal at ThunderRidge High School in Highlands Ranch, CO, supported the plan.

Busey and the students in the community service group had previously raised funds, by selling jewelry, to support micro-businesses in Malawi. They then tackled the $2,000 fundraising goal to bring Melami over.

In April 2010, Melami “spent a solid week teaching hundreds of kids in our school,” says Busey. He geared his lectures toward the existing school curriculum and opening students’ eyes to the culture and problems of the tribal people in Tanzania.

“Our science teachers were looking at water issues” in class, said Busey, who was among 15 named to National Geographic’s roster of 2012 Travelers of the Year, “boundary breakers, who explore the world with passion and purpose, inspiring others to expand their horizons, ask big questions and seek new answers,” according to the site. “Of course, Samwel had a lot to say about this in terms of wildlife and the sustainability of the Maasai’s pastoral lifestyle.”

He also spoke to the students about Maasai customs, the prevalence of malaria and other fly-borne illnesses, since most Maasai do not like to use sleeping nets, according to Busey, and the challenges to women, in particular, around establishing sustainable incomes.

The school yearbook staff sponsored a second Colorado visit for Melami in 2011. This time, he visited more schools, from alternative facilities serving at-risk students to those in affluent suburban areas. He connected with everyone equally, says Busey.

During that visit, “we talked to Samwel about doing a school-wide project” to raise money for the Maasai, Busey says.  He told her about a new school near Arusha, Tanzania, that had good classrooms but an unsanitary kitchen.

Through a Maasai festival at the school, Busey and students raised $13,000 to build a better kitchen for the school, working in partnership with an NGO.

The students would like to have Melami back again, but it’s a long trip, and he’s very busy these days, Busey says.

Melami is building a safari business owned and operated by Maasai–one that he hopes will be economically sustainable, with all profits going to the tribe.