The Owings Mills branch of the Baltimore County Public Library is taking part in something very small. So small, in fact, you can't see it with the naked eye.
It's the world of nanoscience, and it's on display at the entrance of the library thanks to a partnership with Port Discovery in Baltimore.
Several copies from the 400-square-foot exhibit were developed by the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network, or NISE Network, with funding from the National Science Foundation, and given to 50 museums across the country during 2012 and 2013.
Ashley Barnett, public relations and promotions specialist at Port Discovery, said the NISE Network set up the exhibit at the museum, which in turn partnered with the University of Maryland to add components to the display.
"We worked with the University of Maryland and the NISE Network to develop it here and to install it here and it's usually housed in our studio," Barnett said. "But just recently last year we decide that it'd be really awesome if we could lend it out to different places around the state. It would be kind of another opportunity to spread our resources and spread that education."
Port Discovery loaned the exhibit to the Robinson Nature Center, in Columbia, for a year before deciding to make it available to a new audience.
"Our education team reached out to the Baltimore County Public Library system and the Owings Mills branch was recommended by their team," Barnett wrote in an email.
On Feb. 10, the exhibit was set up at the Owings Mills branch, where it is scheduled to stay through Aug. 16.
The interactive exhibit features several components, and allows visitors to take part in hands-on activities, from building nanotubes to spinning disks to illustrate the effects of static electricity and gravity on beads of varying sizes.
Each station "illustrates a concept about nanotechnology in very easy to understand terms," said Barbara Salit-Mischel, manager of the Owings Mills branch.
"The whole exhibit is bilingual — Spanish and English. There's also a scavenger hunt, which is located right at the beginning and customers can take the scavenger hunt, and … it kind of leads you through the exhibit," she said.
One station has a magnifying glass that "allows you to look at things very closely and it tells you more about nanotechnology and then there's an exhibit that allows you to build atoms and then put together your own chain of atoms," Salit-Mischel said.
Barnett said the exhibit is "a great way for kids to learn about" STEM, or science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
"Through this exhibit kids can kind of refocus on that and kind of discover how science can be cool and they really learn through play and it's a really hands on exhibit so it allows them to play and discover and kind of feed that curiosity all while learning," she said.
But it's not just kids who are benefiting from all the exhibit has to offer.
"Our customers are just really loving it," Salit-Mischel said. "We have a lot of people engaged, a lot of kids engaged in it -— adults too."
The idea of an educational display designed to shed light on a topic many aren't very familiar with fits perfectly into the library's mission, Salit-Mischel said.
"It's a way to learn about science, a section of science," she said. "It's interactive and we have lots of kids here and lots of families and we're part of the community and we're part of helping kids learn … What we're about is learn, explore, create and connect. That comes off of our strategic plan but that's where we head. And the Nano exhibit just fits in there perfectly."
Librarian Cori Dulmage agreed, saying the exhibit is a "really nice complement to the mission of the library in terms of being a place for education and for growing knowledge and engaging people with new ideas."
Staff members aren't just enjoying librarygoers reactions to the exhibit, though. Indeed, they too, are benefiting from what Nano has to offer.
"I think it's fascinating," Dulmage said. "It's something I didn't know much about before this exhibit came. I would wager most people don't know much about it."
Salit-Mischel said the exhibit is "very cool."
"I'm not a scientist, but this is very, very cool stuff," she said.
And what can be learned from the exhibit won't just benefit this generation, Salit-Mischel said, but future ones as well.
"I think nanotechnology is important. It's cutting edge," she said. "One of the exhibits talks about how we may use nanotechnology to help in treatment for cancer without the invasive or the present modalities for treatment … the exhibit shows how this is the future of things that we do every day, the world around us. It's a whole other world that exists that we're just discovering."
Salit-Mischel said she encourages people to visit whatisnano.org to get greater insight into the world of nanoscience.
"If people look at this before they come or even after it will really help them understand more," she said.
The exhibit, she said, has all the components to make it a great learning tool for people of all ages.
"I love it that it's kid-friendly. And it's hands-on. That it's bilingual. And that it's here in the library so it just complements what libraries do all over — a place to come learn as a community spot where you can learn and see what's going on in the world," she said. "It fits in really good with the STEM initiative, too. We incorporate that in our programming too as we work with the schools. We're all in this together to educate our kids."
For more information about the exhibit, visit www.bcpl.info/events/datelines-owings-mills.
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