Root Camp is back!

By Lisa M. Rabey
Systems & Web Librarian

It’s that time of year again: Root Camp is back in session!

Root Camp, sponsored by GRCC Works, is a series of classes designed to get your garden in shape for the spring. Beginning in January, the monthly series walks you through the basics of gardening starting with soil and composting and ending with how to pluck, prune, and pick the fruits and vegs. The classes are as follows:

• January 23 –  Stuff Grows! – Soil Basics and Composting
  
• February 20 –  Cruising the Seed Catalog; What’s Good and What’s Easy
• March 20 –  Get Ready, Get Set: Where, What, How, and Start Some Seeds
• April 24  — Go! – Plant, Prune, Protect, Pick

Classes are from 5:30-7:00 PM, and are at the Tassell M-TEC. Bring your dinner to much if you like.  Each class cost $15, or you can buy the entire series for $40. If you’re a member of West Michigan Co-op, a discount is available.

You can follow Root Camp on Facebook to get updated on future classes.

The library has a lot of materials to help feed your new passion in gardening, herb gardening, vegetable gardening, soil conservation, organic farming, and seeds.

Renewable Energy and Green Careers book display

Click on the image for more pictures of the book display!

By Lisa M. Rabey
Systems & Web Librarian

If you have been in the library as of late, you may have noticed that the display next to the doors leading to the second floor has changed! For the summer, the theme is renewable energy, with an emphasis on wind energy and smart grid training.

Curated by Michael Klawitter, liaison librarian to the Engineering and Energy & Construction programs, the displays illustrates a sampling of materials available at the library as well as information on the wind energy and smart grid training training programs available via GRCC Works.

All the books on the display ARE available for checkout! If you are interested in finding out more information on this or related topics, we have a wealth of materials on similar topics such as renewable energy sources, energy conservation, sustainable engineering, sustainable living and the green movement to name a few options. In addition to books and other materials that are available for checkout, we also have periodicals available on such topics as sustainable development.

As always, if you need any help with finding materials, you can always email a librarian, call the reference desk at 616.234.3868 or just stop in!

Books currently on display [Link takes you to catalog record and availability via RaiderCat]:

• Solar Energy Fundamentals and modeling techniques: atmosphere, environment, climate change and renewable energy by Zekâi Sen.
• Electricity from sunlight : an introduction to photovoltaics by Paul A. Lynn
• Career opportunities in the energy industry by Allan Taylor and James Robert Parish
• Understanding renewable energy systems by Volker Quaschning
• Fundamentals of renewable energy processes by Aldo Vieira da Rosa
• Energy for the 21st century: a comprehensive guide to conventional and alternative sources by Roy L. Nersesian
• Sustainable energy : opportunities and limitations edited by David Elliott
• America’s energy future : technology and transformation
• Alternative energy by Brian C. Black and Richard Flarend
• Introduction to wind energy systems : basics, technology and operation by Hermann-Josef Wagner & Jyotirmay Mathur
• Energy alternatives edited by Barbara Passero
• Energy in a changing climate by Martin Nicholson
• Wind power by Peter Musgrove
• Winds of change : the environmental movement and the global development of the wind energy industry by Ion Bogdan Vasi
• Green energy : sustainable electricity supply with low environmental impact by Eric Jeffs
• Introduction to wind principles by Thomas E. Kissell

Root Camp!

Free Lunch-and-Learn Session.

Join Jeff Smith on Wednesday, March 16, 12-1PM at Sneden Room 108, to learn about Getting Ready – Starting the Seeds of Your Garden. There’s plenty of room! We requested more chairs.

Jeff Smith has lived in a sustainable housing collective called Koinonia for the past 26 years. They built their own greenhouse, have a large urban garden, do their own canning and seed saving. Jeff also does community organizing work, as well as media work through the GR Institute for Information Democracy and is part of a social justice lending library called The Bloom Collective.

You can keep up to date with Root Camp on Facebook for future events.