[OPLINLIST] Us, Them, STEM

[SWON Info]

Necessity may be the mother of invention, but invention’s got plenty of 
pals. Libraries routinely find different ways to use the same equipment 
or technology. It’s fiscally responsible, it’s efficient, and it’s 
downright fun if you take it as a challenge.

SWON had inventiveness in mind when we bought a Cameo Silhouette. It 
looks like a printer, but instead of using ink, it cuts out shapes from 
paper or fabric. What can you do with that? That’s the question I’m 
exploring at SWON’s upcoming STEM Summer Reading Program event on March 
4 <http://swon.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails.aspx?EventId=819>.


    Cut Paper

To cut a shape, the Silhouette software can use several sources. You can 
draw your own shapes in the software, freehand, or toss in an image and 
use the bezier pen tool to trace it. Simpler images are easier to cut 
and use. You could, for example, cut out leaves that match local tree 
species for decorations or a learning display.


    Cut Vinyl

Signs on glass doors often aren’t painted on, these days. They’re cut 
out of vinyl; they’re stickers. You can buy sheets of vinyl for the 
Silhouette and cut out text that you could stick to a window. With the 
Silhouette software, you can just select a font and type in the text 
you’d like it to cut. With this, you could cut your own vinyl for signs 
to put on glass doors, windows or display cases.


    Design Wherever. Cut Here.

Since the Silhouette’s software is free, you can install it on several 
computers or patrons could install it at home. Just save the files in 
the correct format and you can easily load them onto the computer 
connected to the Silhouette. That means *you can turn your patrons into 
designers, teaching them to use vector images and helping them create 
their own projects.*

Learn more about this and other ways to bring STEM to your library on 
March 4th at the Centerville Public Library 
<http://swon.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails.aspx?EventId=819>.

~ Nathan

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    The 2014 Teen Reading Challenge is Back!

Grab some reading peeps, form a team, and see how many teen-oriented 
books you can read between February 1 and April 30. Almost 200 people 
read over 4,000 books last year, but you can beat that, right? Free to 
join, and plenty of fun, sign up for the 2014 Challenge here: 
http://tiny.cc/trc2014

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    Level-Up Lab: HTML

This Lab is a take-it-from-the-top approach to HTML. We won’t be 
building websites. You’ll learn the basics of how HTML works and how to 
use HTML to apply basic formatting to text and pictures. Don’t treat the 
web like Microsoft Word. Join us in Blue Ash on January 16th to get 
started with HTML: http://tiny.cc/html-lab.

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Connect to SWON online: Website <http://www.swonlibraries.org/> : 
Calendar <http://swon.evanced.info/signup/eventcalendar.aspx> : Facebook 
<https://www.facebook.com/SWONLibraries?sk=wall> : Twitter 
<http://twitter.com/swonlibraries>
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Calendar excerpts from the next two weeks. (Please register for online 
classes at least two days before they take place.)

  * *Unraveling the Year Ahead
    <http://swon.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails.aspx?EventId=794&lib=>* -
    (1/14/2014) - Online
  * *ROYAL Book Review (SIG) Meeting
    <http://swon.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails.aspx?EventId=727&lib=>* -
    (1/14/2014) - SWON Meeting Room
  * *ROYAL Book Review (SIG) Meeting
    <http://swon.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails.aspx?EventId=728&lib=>* -
    (1/14/2014) - Boone County PL, Main Branch
  * *Technical Services (SIG) Meeting
    <http://swon.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails.aspx?EventId=708&lib=>* -
    (1/15/2014) - Cincinnati Art Museum
  * *Level-Up Lab: HTML
    <http://swon.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails.aspx?EventId=789&lib=>* -
    (1/16/2014) - SWON Meeting Room
  * *Surviving the Stressors of Organizational Change
    <http://swon.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails.aspx?EventId=791&lib=>* -
    (1/14/2014) - Online
  * *Martin Luther King Jr. Day* - SWON Libraries Office Closed-
    (1/20/2014)
  * *Customer Service for Challenged Libraries
    <http://swon.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails.aspx?EventId=803&lib=>* -
    (1/21/2014) - Online


SWON Libraries - http://www.swonlibraries.org
10250 Alliance Road, Suite 225
Blue Ash, OH 45242
phone (513) 751-4422 - fax (513) 751-0463
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