Discover Earth: A Century of Change

Application deadline: September 2, 2011

The American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office, in partnership with the National Center for Interactive Learning at Space Science Institute, the Lunar and Planetary Institute and the National Girls Collaborative Project, announces a new traveling exhibition opportunity for public libraries. Ten public libraries will be selected to host an interactive exhibition called Discover Earth: A Century of Change.

Discover Earth will tour from January 2012 to December 2013, visiting each of the ten selected sites for a period of eight weeks. The exhibition requires approximately 500-750 square feet of space for optimal display. Each site will be awarded a grant of $1,000 to support public programs related to the exhibition.

The Discover Earth exhibition will focus on local earth science topics—such as weather, water cycle, and ecosystem changes—as well as a global view of our changing planet. The primary message of the exhibition is that the global environment changes – and is changed by – the local environment of all exhibition-hosts’ communities. Interactive, multimedia displays will allow exhibit visitors to interact with digital information in a dynamic way, encouraging new perspectives on our planet.

Discover Earth is made possible through the support of the National Science Foundation. The exhibition and its educational support materials and outreach opportunities are part of the STAR (Science-Technology Activities and Resources) Library Education Network (STAR_Net), a hands-on learning program for libraries and their communities.