Articles by author: Evelyn Smith

• Exam supports: Unstudy spot, de-stressing events return

  Friday, April 05, 2024 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  A library crowd favourite from last term is returning in April. As part of wellness and exam de-stressing activities, the Unstudy Spot will be available from April 9 to 23 in the Learning Commons. Colouring sheets, jigsaw and crossword puzzles, a giant Sudoku, and more were a welcome diversion for students in December, and we are happy to bring it back.

  Check out the full slate of relaxation activities and our Exam De-stress Guide.

  To all writing and marking exams this month, we wish you success.

  Tags: Exams, Students, Study space, Wellness
  Categories: Learning Commons, Main

• Career opportunity in Library Collections Services

  Wednesday, March 20, 2024 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  Brock University Library invites applications for the full-time, permanent position of Collections Librarian. This position is part of the Brock Black Cluster Hire initiative and belongs to the Brock University Faculty Association (BUFA) employee group. As a signatory to the Scarborough Charter on anti-Black racism and Black inclusion, Brock is committed to the development of Black academic and research excellence.

  The successful candidate will collaborate with a team of eleven professionals within the Collections Department and will be responsible for developing collection management strategies related to various resource formats including print, ebooks, streaming media, databases, and journals. Collection analysis and assessment is also part of this role.

  All applicants to this Brock Black Cluster Hire must identify as Black, African, and/or as a person of African-Caribbean descent in their cover letter and through the self-identification application process. This opportunity is specific to applicants who self-identify as Black, African, and/or of African-Caribbean descent, and this self-identification information will be used for the purposes of screening candidates.

  Learn more about this position, qualifications, salary, etc. and apply by May 7, 2024 at 12:01 am

  Tags: Collections, Employment opportunity
  Categories: Main

• Metadata Specialist career opportunity

  Tuesday, March 19, 2024 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  Brock University Library invites applications for the full-time, permanent position of Metadata Specialist in the Library Collections Services department.

  Reporting to the Head, Collections Services, the Metadata Specialist is responsible for the creation, maintenance and integrity of metadata for all Library materials, including Archives & Special Collections, and University departmental collections. The Metadata Specialist will also create policies and procedures in accordance with metadata standards of practice for the library catalogue.

  Learn more about this position, qualifications, salary, etc. and apply by April 17, 2024 at 12:01 am

  Tags: Collections, Employment opportunity
  Categories: Main

• Celebrate Pride Weeks with the Library

  Friday, March 15, 2024 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  Brock Library is joining in campus-wide celebrations of 2SLGBTQIA+ Pride this month with exhibits and activities focused on education and enjoyment. 

  From March 18 through 29, the Library will host: 

  • Reading out Proud – a curated selection of books and films which take an intersectional approach to examining queer life and issues such as race, disability, class and politics. Reading out Proud includes a digital collection as well as print titles on our Badger Books end cap.
  • Know your Pride flags – Drop by our display documenting the history and identities which are expressed and celebrated through Pride flags. Adjacent to the Badger Books collection. 

  On March 22, all are welcome to join a Queer Crafternoon from 1-4 p.m. in Library Classroom B. Drop in to de-stress and celebrate your Pride with an afternoon of casual crafting featuring 2S&LGBTQ+-themed colouring sheets, button-making and easy origami. We’ll also have a Cricut machine available: select from previously-created designs or make your own. You can even bring in your own T-shirt — we’ll help you print out a vinyl transfer and stick it on a shirt so you can wear your Pride. 

  No RSVP is required. However if you wish to receive CWC credit, register for these events via ExperienceBU, and scan the QR attendance code at each location.

  Wishing everyone a very happy Pride! 

  Tags: display, Events, Virtual Book Display
  Categories: Learning Commons, Main

• Women, Water, and Words: An Exploration of Visual Culture in Niagara

  Tuesday, March 05, 2024 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  A new exhibit in the Library and at the Thistle entrance to the Matheson Learning Commons features a selection of items from Brock’s Archives & Special Collections chosen by Visual Arts students in VISA 2P90 (19th Century Visual Culture).

  Each student selected an item from the collection to research and present. There is a broad range of material in this exhibit–from whimsical sketches to advertisements and tourist material to photographs of architectural monuments–but they are all connected by a focus on the history of visual culture in Niagara. 

  We invite you to visit this intriguing exhibition until April 7.

   

   

   

   

   

  Tags: Archives and Special Collections, Course Collaboration, display, Students
  Categories: Archives, Featured Collections, Learning Commons

• Red Dress Day

  Thursday, February 08, 2024 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  Brock’s Hadiya’dagénhahs First Nations, Métis and Inuit Student Centre and the Office of the Vice-Provost, Indigenous Engagement are hosting the Legacy of Hope Foundation’s interactive four-piece Waniskahtan exhibit in the Rankin Family Pavilion, February 5 to March 6. The exhibit is designed to educate and create greater awareness about the high rates of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in order to commemorate them and to prevent future occurrences. The exhibit coincides with events taking place at Brock to honour Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Gender Minorities on REDress Day, Wednesday, February 14.

  Brock Library’s Honouring Indigenous Women and Girls featured collection, first curated in September, 2023, includes fiction and non-fiction as well as documentaries which tell stories of survival and resilience that act to support and educate. Browse these titles and explore more at the Indigenous Collection in the Learning Commons.

   

  Tags: Indigenous Collection, Our Collections
  Categories: Featured Collections, Learning Commons

• International Love Data Week comes to Brock

  Tuesday, February 06, 2024 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  Join the Map, Data & GIS Library for events celebrating International Love Data Week 2024 (February 12-16). A variety of workshops will explore queer data, scraped data, geodata, census data, and more. The Brock University community can learn more about the events and is encouraged to sign-up on ExperienceBU.

  Nicole Stradiotto, Data Services Librarian says, “Love Data week is a chance for the Brock community to highlight the importance of data literacy and to highlight the variety of creative ways that researchers can use data.”

  For more information contact maplib@brocku.ca

  Tags: BrockUDSL, MDGL, Research, Research methods, Workshops
  Categories: Main, MDGL

• Celebrating black voices and sharing Black stories

  Monday, February 05, 2024 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  This month, as Brock celebrates African Heritage and Black History, we invite you to browse and borrow from a special end-cap of Black authored popular fiction and non-fiction from our Badger Books collection.

  A virtual book display, Celebrating Black Voices and Sharing Black Stories, is freshly updated with new titles and available online.

  The Brock community is celebrating Black History Month and African Heritage Month with a full calendar of events and programming. See what’s going on and join in the celebrations.

  Tags: Black History Month, Our Collections, Virtual Book Display
  Categories: Featured Collections, Learning Commons

• Black History and African Heritage Month at Brock Library

  Monday, February 05, 2024 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  This month, as Brock celebrates African Heritage and Black History, the Library is hosting learning opportunities open to all.

  February 7 and 28 at 11am and 2pm: Join David Sharron, Brock University Archivist for a tour that illuminates the Black history of St. Catharines and Niagara through the University’s archival collections.

  February 8, 7pm: Join Archives of Ontario’s Archivist Melissa J. Nelson for a talk on the power and potential of Black archival collections. Melissa positions these collections as tools for empowerment that allow Black record creators to reclaim the historical narrative. This talk celebrates Black record creators who documented and passed on their life’s stories.

  February 12-March 1: Visit the Learning Commons exhibit cases to view Echoes of the African Great Lakes (Rwanda), an exhibit of artifacts curated by SOFIFRAN, a non-profit community organization, created in 2007 by French-speaking immigrant women living in the Niagara region and from various parts of the world.

  We are thankful to our partners, the Black Student Success Centre, SOFIFRAN, and Professor Jean Ntakirutimana, Modern Languages Literatures, and Cultures for their support.

  All month long, we invite you to browse and borrow from a special end-cap of Black authored popular fiction and non-fiction from our Badger Books collection. A virtual book display, Celebrating Black Voices and Sharing Black Stories, is freshly updated with new titles and available online.

  The Brock community is celebrating Black History Month and African Heritage Month with a full calendar of events and programming. See what’s going on and join in the celebrations.

  Tags: Archives and Special Collections, Black History Month, display, Events, Our Collections, Virtual Book Display
  Categories: Learning Commons, Main

• Freedom to Read Week, 2024

  Thursday, February 01, 2024 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  In celebration of Freedom to Read Week, we’ve created a featured collection of challenged and banned titles for you to read in print and online.

  Included in the featured collection are several titles by Canadian authors. Margaret Atwood finds many of her books banned in countries, school boards, and individual libraries around the globe. Her debut novel, The Edible Woman, and Surfacing are both early titles that were challenged or banned outside of Canada. The Handmaid’s Tale is one of Atwood’s most banned books and is continuously contested. In 2008, the book was challenged by a parent of a grade 12 student in Toronto. The following year a review panel of the Toronto District School Board recommended the novel be kept in the curricula.

  Some titles that have been banned in other countries have caused ripple effects in Canada. Maus, a graphic novel depicting the Holocaust by Art Spiegelman, was banned by a Tennessee school board in early January 2022. By the end of the month, the 1986 book was at the top of Amazon’s bestseller list and eventually sold out due to high demand. Libraries across Canada had readers lining up to borrow the title.

  Freedom to Read Week is an annual event which highlights intellectual freedom and encourages Canadians to actively defend their right to publish, read, and write freely. Originally founded by the Book and Periodical Council, it is celebrating its 40^th anniversary this year. Starting this year three additional organizations – Library and Archives Canada, the Canadian Urban Library Council, and the Ontario Library Association – will join to lead this campaign into the future.

  Tags: display, Our Collections, Virtual Book Display
  Categories: Featured Collections