MeL Minute

Finding Butterflies

Butterflies are in the air!  During this dazzling time of year in Michigan, there are several scenarios that might lead library staff on the pursuit of butterfly information, and the eResources in the Michigan eLibrary are likely to have just what you and your patrons are seeking.

Curious Kids

While Britannica School and World Book Kids might be an obvious choice to find reference information, images, and video clips related to butterflies, the following eResources have some hidden gems that you may also consider:

• In the Primary Search database for elementary-age children,  a simple keyword search of butterfly or butterflies returns over 700 articles from current publications such as Scholastic News, Science World, Fun for Kidz, Poppy for Real, and Boys’ Life. 
• PebbleGo, a resource that offers listening tools and visual navigation for early learners, has detailed information on the Blue Morpho, Painted Lady, and Monarch Butterflies.
• Offering over 70 titles related to butterflies, the eBook K-8 Collection is a reliable, digital resource for all of your school-age children to explore. 

Butterfly Crafts

Summer is a great time to find and implement crafty ideas, and the best places to seek inspiration in MeL are the Hobbies & Crafts Reference Center and the eBook Public Library Collection. Some searches that yield butterfly crafts: 

• Using keywords butterfly or butterflies and crafts, over 2,000 ideas are at your fingertips.  From how to make beadwoven butterflies to instructions for making a butterfly windchime, Hobbies & Crafts Reference Center has unique crafting ideas for young and old.
• Using the same search terms in the eBook Public Library Collection returns 14 titles that combine crafting with butterflies.

Advanced Butterfly Research

There is always a need to know the resource that can go the distance in specificity and fact.  With science encyclopedias, reference books, and periodicals, Science Reference Center is an ideal MeL eResource for the more advanced butterfly enthusiast:

• In articles from magazines such as Science News, Natural History, Horticulture, and dozens of others, you are able to find information about rare species of butterflies as well as learn how butterflies are impacting the people around us.
• Academic journals such as BioScience and the Northeastern Naturalist give readers the opportunity to explore topics that go deeper than just a cursory understanding of butterflies.  Policy implementation as well as butterfly studies in specific locations are examples that take the reader further.

Take advantage of the eResources at MeL.org to support not only the unique information that you may be seeking on butterflies, but also the countless other topics that come your way each day.

If you are having any issues linking to items on this page, please explore the MeL eResource Access Page. Contact meldatabaseshelp@mcls.org for help.

Brought to you by Ann Kaskinen from the MeL Team. 

Supporting Michigan Libraries by Putting You First. 

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