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Apply to Host Harry Potter's World: Renaissance Science, Magic, and Medicine Exhibition

Apply to Harry Potter's World: Renaissance Science, Magic, and Medicine Exhibition. NLM Tech Bull. 2009 Mar-Apr;(367):e18.

April 20, 2009 [posted]

[Editor's Note: This is a reprint of a news announcement published on the American Library Association Web site.]

Public, academic (university, college and community college), and medical libraries can apply to host a new exhibit, "Harry Potter's World: Renaissance Science, Magic, and Medicine." Applications must be received by May 1. The exhibit is sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office, in cooperation with the National Library of Medicine® (NLM® ).

Information on the exhibit and how to apply is featured on Thinkfinity.org, a collection of resources featuring librarian specific content from ALA. Thinkfinity @ your library is the Verizon® Foundation comprehensive program and online portal to 55,000 standards-based, grade-specific, K-12 lesson plans and other educational resources provided in partnership with many of the nation's leading educational and literacy organizations. Content for Thinkfinity.org is provided through a partnership between the Verizon Foundation and eleven of the nation's leading organizations in the fields of education and literacy.

Using materials from the NLM History of Medicine collections, the exhibition explores Harry Potter's world, its roots in Renaissance science and the ethical questions that affected not only the wizards in J.K. Rowling's books, but also the historical thinkers featured in the series. Exhibition panels feature the works of 15th- and 16th-century alchemists, naturalists and occultists, and explore the intersection between the Harry Potter novels and Renaissance thinkers, lore and practices.

Following the application process, twelve libraries will be selected to host the exhibition for a four-week display period between September 2009 and November 2010.