Learning Commons

• Exhibit: The Mother of all Game Jams

  Wednesday, April 10, 2024 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  At the end of February, the Department of Digital Humanities hosted “The Mother of All Game Jams,” a two-day game design workshop open to both community members as well as Brock students, staff, and faculty where participants were asked to design games on the theme of motherhood, mothering, and maternal identity. Organized by Dr. Sarah Stang, and facilitated by the Library’s Makerspace, this event was designed to push back against the idea that moms don’t play or make games and to explore what it means to be a mother through game design.

  On May 11 – Mother’s Day weekend – the games will be showcased at the St. Catharines Public Library in a drop-in, family friendly event held in the Mills Room from 10am-4pm. Come check them out!

  Tags: display, Faculty, Makerspace, Research, Students
  Categories: Featured Collections, Learning Commons, Makerspace

• Exam encouragement exhibit

  Wednesday, April 10, 2024 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  This month, the Learning Commons display cases feature a little bit of encouragement to all those writing exams and completing final assignments.

  The Library offers group, quiet and silent spaces for student work. We host de-stress events during the exam period, and have curated an array of relaxation links in a newly updated library guide. Visit the display today to learn more or, 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: display, Exams, Services, Students
  Categories: Featured Collections, Learning Commons

• Exam supports: studying in the Library

  Friday, April 05, 2024 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  Brock University Library offers a variety of study options which include areas for group learning and collaboration as well as quiet individual zones and silent areas. Just in time for exam season, here’s a reminder of the options available to you.

  Silent Zones: No talking please

  • Learning Commons Classroom B
  • Floor 5 Silent Study room (ST 500)
  • Floors 9 & 10 (even in the single study rooms)

  Quiet Zones: Low level conversation between individuals

  • Learning Commons Classroom A, one-person study desks, and computer areas.
  • Floors 5, 6, 7 at single study desks
  • Floor 8

  Group Zones: Low level conversation in groups

  • Learning Commons group tables and hallway seating
  • Floor 5
  • Floor 6
  • Floor 7

  Wherever you choose to study, stop by the Ask Us desk first and pick up some free ear plugs.

  Exam time often means high stress and high spirits. If you have concerns about noise, please contact us in-person at the Ask Us desk for immediate assistance.

  Beyond the James A. Gibson Library, additional sweet study spots include:

  • The Map, Data & GIS Library, MC C-306
  • Jubilee Court
  • Walker Courtyard
  • Goodman Atrium
  • Market Hall

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

• 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

• Cosmic Reads

  Monday, April 01, 2024 | By Amanda Emery

  

  April 8, 2024 will mark an exciting celestial event as a total solar eclipse covers the sky over the Niagara region. As we celebrate this observation, Brock University has scheduled an afternoon of researchers, educators, and experts to deepen our understanding of the cosmos!

  Looking to do some learning of your own? Check out April’s Featured Collection of print books and virtual e-books to explore the universe beyond our planet. Cosmic Reads also features special subcollections dedicated to eclipse books, e-books, and films.

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

• 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

• Explore deep waters this March

  Friday, March 01, 2024 | By Amanda Emery

  

  Dive into Exploring Deep Waters, our latest collection of print and e-books.

  Advance your knowledge of oceanography with The Blue Machine: How the Ocean Works. Learn the importance of watersheds and architecture through a design-research project with the Mekong, Mississippi, and Rhine river basins. Read expedition poems from Bronwyn Preece as she traverses into a remote area of Northern B.C. and journeys along rising rivers.

  From droughts to floods, Pacific to Atlantic, shoreline to tap, explore all of the ways water plays a role in our world.

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

• 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