How the Library May Stimulate Local Bird 



Study 



By Ida M. Mendenhall. 



The real work that counts in stimulating local nature study must be done 

 in the library. The librarian cannot do it alone, but with the help of club women, 

 nature lovers, college students, and local natural history enthusiasts, she may 

 bring to the library these various interests and thus make the library the vital 

 educational center of the community. 



The following are some suggestions of ways by which the library may 

 interest children in a study of the birds of the locality : 



1. A special corner, table, bulletin-board, and book shelf devoted to the 

 subject of birds, where children may look for and expect something interesting 

 each day. 



2. A bird calendar, on which the dates of the arrival of birds is kept by 

 the children themselves. 



A black-board, bulletin-board, or large sheet of paper may be used for these 

 records. A list of the birds likely to appear during the month may be printed 

 on the board or sheet of paper and the children may check each day the birds 

 seen by them for the first time. The record of these dates of arrival should be 

 preserved and at the end of two or three years they may, be printed in folder 

 form, that the child may continue each year to keep for himself this same record. 

 The calendar of bird migration giving the record of the spring observations, 

 ptiblished by the Springfield, Mass., Library, will be interesting to librarians. 

 Lincoln Park, Chicago, publishes a bulletin of bird migration for the use of the 

 Chicago schools. Lists of birds, with space for a note of the date, weather, 

 and locality, are used by the University of Illinois in field work in local bird study. 



3. Exhibit of bird pictures in the library. 



Rather than a large exhibit of miscellaneous bird pictures, it is better to 

 show pictures of the birds as they arrive. Just before the time for the appear- 

 ance of a bird, its picture together v/ith typewritten copies of poems about the 

 bird and a short interesting description may be posted on the bird bulletin-board. 

 This description should always tell of the food and habits of the bird. A type- 

 written list may also be posted referring to the exact pages in the books best 

 describing the bird, or containing poems about it, and these books may be kept 

 on the special shelf near the bird bulletin or on the table. Books may be placed 

 on the table open at a picture or good description of the bird or a poem about it. 

 Children will not always take tlie trouble to search for a book, but if it can be 

 found easily near the picture, the book will be taken home and read. 



4. Talks by a bird lover given at the library. 



There is always some one in every community interested in birds. The 



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