Articles by author: Evelyn Smith

• 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

• Exhibit: Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures

  Monday, January 29, 2024 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  The Department of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures welcomes you to browse through their latest exhibit in the Library and at the Thistle entrance to the Learning Commons. The display cases exemplify the unique cultures explored by MLLC students.

  Questions and comments are welcome. Please send them to: dbielicki@brocku.ca

   

   

  Tags: display
  Categories: Featured Collections, Learning Commons

• Thank you for your feedback

  Monday, January 15, 2024 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  The Library wishes to express a heartfelt thank you to the Brock community for taking the time to respond to our 2023 Library Survey.

  We were thrilled to receive approximately 3,900 survey responses, including over 3,270 students, 160 faculty, and 450 staff. Your feedback included over 890 comments. Over the coming months, we will be reviewing and analyzing the survey data. This summer, we will share a summary of the results including our intended next steps to respond to what we heard from you.

  Congratulations to the lucky winners of twelve incentive prizes:

  • Grand prize winner of Bose Headphones: Mohamad E.
  • $100 Visa gift cards: Natalia J., Zahra A., Hillary G., Juhwan O., Simone L.
  • Someday Books Gift Certificate valued at $50: Nathan D.
  • Locker prizes: Deana T., Skylar B., Bhavleen D., Lian Y., Chidinma O.

  

  Pictured above are seven of twelve incentive prize winners. From the left, Simone L., Mohamad E., Hillary G., Chidinma O., Juhwan O., Skylar B., and Nathan D.

  If you have a specific, time-sensitive concern (or compliment!), the Library is always open to hearing from you via our online feedback form.

   

  Tags: Digital Scholarship Lab, Faculty, Feedback, Graduate students, Makerspace, MDGL, Research, Services, Students
  Categories: Main

• Wild Reads

  Tuesday, January 02, 2024 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  Explore the amazing world of animals with our latest collection of print and e-books.

  Go on a deep dive by reading Full Fathom 5000: the Expedition of the HMS Challenger and the Strange Animals It Found in the Deep Sea. Learn the story of Najin and Fatu, the last two northern white rhinos, and the conservation efforts to save them. Take to the sky, and uncover the science of avian scent.

  You can find the print titles next to the Ask Us desk in the James A. Gibson Library. In addition to these wild reads, this month’s collection contains BBC and CBC videos which you can stream from anywhere.

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

• Supporting Brock students at exam time

  Wednesday, December 06, 2023 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  One of our Library Strategic priorities is student success.  At this time of year, we are busy supporting students who are completing final assignments, and preparing for exams. In recent years, supporting student wellness has become a mission close to our hearts as well. This month, we are happy to host de-stressing activities for students throughout the exam period including Mindful Moments (3 short meditation sessions), Library Yoga, and an Unstudy Spot. Located in the Learning Commons, students can find a drop-in zone that is filled with crosswords, puzzles, origami, and colouring sheets. We are also happy to share a newly revamped online Exam De-stress Guide.

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

  Tags: Events, Students, Wellness, Workshops
  Categories: Main

• Get out of this world at Brock Library

  Wednesday, December 06, 2023 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  Do you like to read about the unknown? Are you a fan of worldbuilding? Do extraterrestrials walk among us? If so, get cozy with an imaginative read. You can browse the Out of This World featured collection all December long!

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

• Career opportunity in Library Acquisitions

  Friday, November 10, 2023 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  Brock University Library is recruiting a Library Assistant for the Acquisitions department.

  Reporting to the Head, Collections Services, the Library Assistant, Acquisitions completes the acquisitions process for all digital media, as well as print and electronic monograph resources, completes financial processes, coordinates and processes all donations, and provides operational support for the department.

  Learn more about this full time position, qualifications, salary, etc. and apply by November 22, 2023 at 12:01 am

  Categories: Main

• Community researcher letter of gratitude

  Wednesday, November 01, 2023 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  A Special Thank-you to Brock U. from a Grateful Local Resident
  Graham Segger, BA, FCA, FCPA

  I should perhaps start with a few confessions. First, I am not a Brock student, faculty member, employee or alumnus. I do, however, live less than 15 kilometres SSW of the Schmon Tower in the Town of Pelham (and former Village of Fonthill). The history of a part of that town has been the subject of a fascinating research project which has absorbed a substantial part of my spare time over the last couple of years. This brings me to my next confession. That BA listed above was not in history, or even the liberal arts, and the FCA designation simply means that I spent my pre-retirement career as a moderately successful chartered accountant. Research is research, however, and my third confession is that I have spent more time in the various Brock and other Niagara Region libraries over the last two years studying history and geography than I did through any comparable two year period during my own university days, lo those many years ago.

  This then is my letter of thanks to the many Brock faculty, staff and alumni who have generously helped me during this research project.

  My initial interaction with Brock was in the Archives and Special Collections 10th floor reading room where Edie Williams and Anne Adams lugged heavy and dusty Registry Office Copy Books out of the Archives Stacks for my perusal on numerous occasions. These books provide an incredibly detailed accounting of land transfers and other documents such as Will probates back to the 1790s. The carefully compiled Finding Aids supporting several of Brock’s other Special Collections were also helpful in my research. The Archives head David Sharron provided some leads while I was tracking down permissions for other materials incorporated into my project.

  When I was seeking information on the glacial origins, Indigenous history and early land surveys of the area the 9th floor stacks supplied a wealth of authoritative texts, and far too many rabbit holes to descend into.

  I’ve been a map geek throughout much of my life so my discovery of the treasure trove of Niagara related Historical Maps and Air Photos maintained online by the Map, Data and GIS Library was a revelation as was the collection of physical Pelham maps. The 1827 and 1840 sketch maps of a proposed military fortress on Pelham Heights contained a huge amount of data about Upper Fonthill (then called Riceville) including roads, distances, school houses, cider presses, tanneries, soil conditions, tree species and springs. The names of the 100 acre lot owners and the locations of their farm houses, fields and orchards were identified for both years allowing me to appreciate the evolution of the community during the intervening years. Sharon Janzen of MDGL also helped me navigate the new world of Open Data multi-layer map building. The result was two very informative maps she generated based upon my content wish lists.

  Dr. John Menzies, Professor of Geography and Earth Sciences, and a global authority on past glacial environments kindly read my initial glacial era chapter. He then politely explained to me how the understanding of the science has changed dramatically since most of my original source texts were written 50 years ago and more. He generously stuck with me through several more iterations of that chapter and contributed a helpful illustration. I hope he has my back when the good people of Fonthill (where he also lives) read that the huge mound of sand and gravel at the top of the Fonthill is not really a kame.

  Dr. Anna Lathrop, Professor of Kinesiology and former Vice-Provost and Associate Vice President, Students, as well as a life-long resident of Pelham, generously contributed a foreword to the book which emerged from the research, and was supportive from the beginning of the project.

  Dr. Michelle Vosburgh, Instructor in the Canadian Studies and History departments, and another Pelham resident, provided excellent insights into the early surveying of Niagara and also contributed other very helpful suggestions and edits. Many other Brock alumni also provided support and assistance, including Adam Shoalts and Robert Young in particular.

  This project has demonstrated the huge value of living so close to an excellent academic institution like Brock. Much of my research was done in the May to August periods of 2022 and 2023 at times when the campus was quiet and the parking was free, though I did make some considerable financial contributions through the Honk parking app at other times. I am forever grateful for this access to these extensive research materials, the excellent interaction I have had with hard working and knowledgeable staff and the insights provided by authoritative faculty members.

  Editor’s note: Mr. Segger’s new book The Land at the Crest of the Hill: Clues to Niagara History from Upper Fonthill is available in eBook format through the website of its publisher The Pelham Historical Society. Paperback copies are available at several Fonthill retailers. All net proceeds from the sale of the book go to charity.

  Tags: Archives and Special Collections, Community
  Categories: Archives

• Celebrating International Education

  Wednesday, November 01, 2023 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  Enjoy this curated collection of books and ebooks focusing on international education and studying abroad. International Education Week (IEW) is celebrated globally on the third week of November each year. IEW highlights the importance of a globally oriented learning experience and showcases the impact that international education has in preparing students for the world.

  Brock International Education Week events, held November 20-24, are great opportunities to get involved, expand your knowledge and connect with the world.

   

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