Camels Hump Library Blog: December 2009

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Monday, December 07, 2009

Culturegrams -- The World at a Click

The map above is a clickable link to the world of information provided by Culturegrams. Once you click on one of the named continents, it will link to the Culturegrams site, allowing you to investigate any of the 200+ countries included in the database.

To become familiar with Culturegrams, please right click on the map above, then left-click "open link in new tab." That will keep this tab open for you to return to these instructions.

Once in Culturegrams, find a country about which you know little or nothing. Once you view it and its neighbors on the map, click on that country to find out more information about it. When that country's page comes up,

Read the "Did You Know" section
Read about the country's flag and why it looks as it does
Explore the links for that country

Next, look at the links along the second row (Photos / Videos / etc.).

Explore each category to see if your chosen country is represented in it. If not, view photos, videos, slideshows, etc. from another country.
Finally, click on "Graphs and Tables" in that second row. You are going to build your own comparison graph, comparing 4 countries (you choose the countries, but make one of them the U.S.) in the areas of Internet users, Caloric consumption, Electricity consumption, and Life Expectancy (male or female).

What conclusions, specifically and generally, can you draw between those comparison graphs?

Culturegrams can be used whenever you are exploring cultures, whether at home or at school.

Friday, December 04, 2009

How you can find anything in the CHMS Library

Here are a couple of possible situations:

Say you just got a new puppy, and you really want to train your puppy well. By looking at the library catalog, you discover that we have a book called The Dog Owner's Guide to Puppy Care & Training. But where is it?
You want to learn about an animal, but you're not sure which one. How can you know where to find books about animals in the library?

Luckily, help is here. Take a look at this webquest about the Dewey Decimal System. Follow the steps to learn about how things are set up in a library and why. Once you have finished that, take the short online quiz about general categories in the Dewey Decimal System. How did you do?

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

CHMS Book Fair All This Week

Yes, you can come spend your hard-earned cash, get good books, and support the Library at the same time! Whether you're shopping for yourself, your dog, or friends and family, books always make good presents. All proceeds go to the CHMS Library fund to help us pay visiting authors and purchase those oh-so comfortable chairs and couches you can relax on while you're choosing books.

Book Fair Hours 11/30-12/4

M-F 7:30-3:30

Wednesday evening 5:00-7:00