Did you know that you can borrow bird watching binoculars, a darning mushroom, or air quality monitor from UBC Library?
At Woodward Library, there’s a growing collection of unique, specialized kits available for library users to borrow. Created by librarians at Woodward Library, each themed kit contains curated tools and materials to help UBC students, faculty, and staff explore climate science, build practical skills, and make more sustainable choices.
In June, the library introduced four new kits that focus on exploring local environments. The new Birding Kit, Air Quality Monitor Kit, Plant Identification Kit, and Tide Pool Kit are available now through the UBC Library Catalogue.
Providing tools for community science
“These kits were created to encourage participation in community science,” says Sarah Parker, Reference Librarian at Woodward Library.
Community science, also sometimes called citizen or neighbourhood science, is a collaborative approach to research, where community members are encouraged to gather and contribute data to ongoing research projects, like identifying plants, monitoring bird migrations, or measuring local air quality. These crowdsourced observations can support research taking place at the local, provincial and national levels. With only minimal experience required, anyone can gather data for projects like the City of Vancouver’s rainwater monitoring initiative, BC Parks’ biodiversity tracking project or Birds Canada’s survey programs.
“Three of the kits are portable backpacks for students to explore the local environment, and each kit includes information on local resources, locations, and apps like iNaturalist and eBird, where participants can contribute data by entering some basic information about an identified species,” says Parker.
Whether you’re an experienced naturalist or simply curious about the world around you, the kits make it easy to start exploring.
Repair, build and experiment
The new nature kits have been added to an expanding collection of hands-on resources from the Woodward Library Kit Shelf, located in the Course Reserves area on Level 1.
For those interested in sustainable living, the Textile Mending Kit has everything you need to repair clothing and extend its use. Inspired by the popularity of the library’s Repair Café events, the kit includes pins, thread, fabric, a darning mushroom, pinking shears, and other essential sewing supplies.
If you’re feeling creative, the LEGO Kit combines building bricks with a small collection of books to inspire your next project.
Aspiring inventors can borrow an Arduino Kit, created in collaboration with UBC Engineering Physics, to tinker with circuits and open source microcontrollers.
Learn more about the Woodward Library Kit Collection.
