How Do We Remember Communities in the Wake of Urban Change?

Changing urban landscapes is a reality of our modern times.  Any Toronto citizen can give you examples of communities that have undergone significant transformation, in some cases, so much change that markings of the original community are forever lost.  But since change is an inevitable reality of our times, how do we as a society, create and retain memories of something that was once there?

Local history is important to libraries.  At many of our Toronto Public Libraries, you will find publications documenting the existence of local communities at different points in history.  We are one of the few centres that make these documents available to everyone.  At the Barbara Frum Library, we have a filing cabinet with files containing information about Lawrence Heights (It’s on the second floor right before the Young Adult area – ask the librarian if you need help finding it).  Also check out the City of Toronto’s website and some of our reference materials. 

By the way, Lawrence Heights is on the brink of physical and social change, a change that has been dubbed the “Lawrence Heights Revitalization Project.”  Many local efforts are now in place to record and document the integrity of Lawrence Heights before revitalization.  One such initiative is the Leave Out Violence (LOVE) summer program.

The LOVE program is an initiative that connects youth (aged 13-19) in Lawrence Heights through the use of visual and social media.  The work produced in this project will serve as a resource documenting the stories of people, places and events within the Lawrence Heights community.

The project coordinator is now looking for youth to participate in this project.  Please contact Steve D’Alimonte [[email protected]/ 416-785-8411x26] if you or anybody that you know is interested in participating.  The program will run from the first week of July until the last week of August 2011.

If your interested in books on urban renewal, check these out:

The Lawrence-Allen Revitalization Plan by City of Toronto	Break Through Communities: sustainability in the Next American Metropolis by M. Paloma Pavel	Back to the City by Steffan Lehman

What's for dinner? We can help!

What's for dinner? We can help!

While we can't provide you with food, we do have lots of cookbooks for you to browse, looking for what to cook next.

If you're a meat lover, try:
Steak with friends                            

Steven Raichlen's planet barbecue

If you're vegetarian or vegan, try:
Vegetarian collection
Vegetarian option
Fresh and fast vegan                        

Party vegan

If your family includes both meat eaters and vegetarians, or if you're dabbling, try:
Meat lovers meatless cookbook
Flexitarian table                        


What if you're in the mood for Chinese or Italian or Mexican or Thai? We have those and other cuisines to choose from on our shelves.

For those of you who keep kosher, try:            

Kosher by design lightens up
Hip kosher: 175 easy-to-prepare recipes for today's kosher cooks
Nutrilicious: food for thought and whole health

If you're undecided between eating meat or not, you might want to read:
The Kind Diet, by Alicia Silverstone
Some we love, some we hate, some we eat: why it's so hard to think straight about animals
                                                                

Whatever you choose: bon appetit !

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Conservative, Liberal, NDP, BLOC or Other? You decide

Have you been following Canada’s 41st federal election? 

It’s day 26 of the federal election campaign and only 12 days remain to soak up enough information to make an informed decision.  As our political leaders continue to convince Canadians across the country that their political platforms will best lead the country into the future, it is nearing the time when we practice our democratic rights and cast a vote.

There are many polling locations setup across the city for Election Day.  If you live in the immediate Bathurst & Lawrence community, we are pleased to invite you to exercise your democratic voting rights here at the Barbara Frum Library.  Just make sure the library is your designated polling station.  You can find this information on your voter information card.  By the way, we will be open for voting from 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Monday May 2, 2011. Please take the elevator to the third floor and make a left to visit Room B to cast your vote.

For further voter information like what is acceptable voter identification, visit www.elections.ca

Are Essays Stressing You Out? Breathe and Read Carefully!

It’s crunch time for university students.  While some are studying endlessly to pass the term exam, others are digging deep for information resources.  The research process can be a pain in the brain, so for all those secondary-resource seekers, here is a quick tip that will help ease the end of the process.

Now, this tip is not exclusive to university students.  In fact it can be used by anybody who is annoyed by the particularities of creating a bibliography, so high school students and researchers listen up!

In most electronic databases, like Academic OneFile, General OneFile, etc. there are quick tools that allow you to email or export a citation.  Most electronic databases even allow you to specify the citation format.  So for example, if your instructor wants your bibliography in APA, then the database will allow you to modify the citation according, so you don’ t have to spend the extra hour creating a flawless bibliography! 

To see how this can be done follow this search path: www.tpl.ca (type) > online research and more > A-Z list of databases > Academic OneFile > enter your membership information > find an article and access the record.

Once you’ve identified an article that you can use for research…

Click “citation tools” (demarcated in red)

 

 

Specify the format and save (demarcated in red).  A webpage should appear with your citation ready to be cut-and-pasted into your bibliography.

 

Barbara Frum's YAG member shares her thoughts on teen programs at the library

Yeng-Ching, a member of Barbara Frum's YAG, shares her thoughts on Spring programs for Youth: 

Time has flown by and already it is April 2011. There are many teen programs
lined up this spring and we are hoping to get as many people as we can back
to the library and back to the fun!

We have the YAG (Youth Advisory Group) ever second Thursday of the month and
this is where teens gather to give their ideas on improvements that can be
made to the library, plan events and be a part of the community. Volunteer
hours are given as well.

We have our Gardening workshop on Wednesday April 6th, so be sure to come
out to learn more about how to garden properly! Whether or not you attend,
come to YAG planting day on Saturday May 9th. This is where you put your
green thumb to the test and have fun making your library look great.

We have a comic workshop by the creators of “Kill Shakespeare” coming to
Barbara Frum on Thursday May 12th, so if you have an interest in comics, or
even manga, it would definitely be a lot of fun!

We also have game night at the library and that’s on Thursday May 26th. This
is your chance to show off with your Wii skills, so why wouldn’t you come?
Win and you get bragging rights!

Finally, we have a new teen program that just got started in January, and
already we are experiencing success. Our Teen Writers Group meets every
first Thursday of the month from 5:30- 6:30 pm and this is one of the best
places to showcase your work to other people in their teens.

At our first meeting, we had the pleasure of meeting other people who like
us, loved to write. For that one hour, everyone read what they wrote and
gave critique, played writing games and worked on exercises that
strengthened writing skills. Overall, it was very fulfilling.

On our second meeting in February, we had the honor of welcoming Ms. Karen
Krossing to our meeting. A published Canadian author; she was one of the
best people we could get to share with us her insight into the writing
world. We learned what it took to make a good story, how to develop
characters and worked on some very fun exercises, some of which included
elephant earrings.

Our most recent meeting was just as fun as the two before it and the group
is running along smoothly. Our next meeting is Thursday April 7th, so if you
want to be able to show your writing in a positive environment and speak to
others who are just like you, join us for the Teen Writer’s Group!

Spring is the time of new beginnings, so if you have not done so already,
shake off the winter blues and come back to the library to start fresh!

Thanks for your insight Yeng-Ching.