Film festival season is here!
This month’s featured collection is all about cinema. Explore some of the titles, which range from film history, film criticism, and special topics.
Come by the Ask Us Desk and check it out!
Follow this link to see the entire collection, including a collection of eBooks:
Book Display
Categories: Featured Collections, Learning Commons
New and returning students are invited to stop by and view a new exhibit showcasing the many services and resources of the Brock University Library.
Archives & Special Collections:
Exhibited at the Thistle entrance to the Library, is cool story in the remarkable life of Sean O’Sullivan. At the age of 20 while studying at Brock, O’Sullivan was elected to the House of Commons. In this role- some fifty years ago, he undertook a quest to make the beaver the national symbol of Canada. We encourage you to view the entertaining source documents about this chapter in Canadian history.
Brock University Art Collection:
Get a sneak peek of Intentional Futures, an exhibition located at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.
Brock Library Makerspace and Maps, Data & GIS services:
The Learning Commons display cases show Niagara’s grape-growing regions visualized in a new and dynamic way. Come and view the Makerspace-created 3D puzzle of the Niagara Peninsula Wine Sub-Appellations map.
Resources for a successful start at Brock:
A guide to study spots, wellness resources for loan, and various ways to get help from the library are also featured this month.
Welcome to Brock University Library runs to Friday, September 26.
“Space is big. Really big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space.” – Douglas Adams (Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy)
Astronomy, astrophysics, astronauts, rockets, and space. This month’s Featured Collection is all about outer space! Grab a book and read, but don’t forget to look up and wonder what is beyond.
Browse our physical collection at the Ask Us Desk in the Matheson Learning Commons, or explore our eBooks and Space Films collections.
Book Display
Categories: Featured Collections, Learning Commons
Brock Library thanks Kristina Saltarelli, Mohawk College Library Technician intern for this display and blog post. Visit the display in the Matheson Learning Commons through September.
University life is more than lectures…it’s about finding balance. Keep Calm and Succeed at Brock is a collection of books that offer tips and inspiration for managing stress, eating well on a budget, building strong friendships, improving study habits, and taking care of your mental and physical health. Whether you’re entering your first year or your last, these reads are here to help you feel your best!
display, Students
Categories: Featured Collections, Learning Commons
Whether you’re new to Brock or back for another term, this month’s Featured Collection is here to sharpen your writing and research game.
Need help tackling essays, research papers, or thematic analyses? Find books on academic writing, research methods, and discipline-specific strategies on display near the Ask Us desk – plus a curated selection of eBooks.
Looking for more tools? Check out LIB101: Library & Research Foundations on Brightspace, or the Omni Search Tips guide.
And if you’re after program-specific help, explore Brock’s full set of Research Guides – including ones tailored to your courses.
In honor of the start of summer and the spirit of going outdoors during the warm days ahead, this month’s featured collection is all about nature and “The Great Outdoors”. Reconnect and rediscover nature by grabbing one of the books off of the Featured Collection shelf at the Matheson Learning Commons. From bird watching, foraging, plant identification and hiking, there is a little bit of something for everyone! The collection also features a series of eBooks and several film and video resources as well.
We would also like to take this opportunity to highlight the NaturePlus Pass. The NaturePlus pass gives you access to a dozen conservation areas and parks across Niagara courtesy of the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority. NaturePlus passes are available at the Ask Us Desk!
Brock Library thanks Mark Castrodale, Student Accessibility Case Manager in the Student Wellness and Accessibility Centre for this exhibit and blog post. Visit the display in the Matheson Learning Commons until June 27. A featured collection of supporting literature is available through Omni.
Access to education is a fundamental right for all persons. “Access is not just a word that indicates a lack of inclusion; it is also a way of perceiving, talking, and acting…As a perception, as talk and conduct, as a form of consciousness, access leads us to ask how access can be an interpretive move that puts people into different kinds of relations with their surroundings. Anything said about access can be read for how it reflects a host of questions: Who has access? Access to where? Access to what? When?” (Titchkosky, 2011, p.13). As such, access to higher education represents a collective responsibility, and ethical imperative. Considering issues of access can enhance the quality of education, deepen curriculum and pedagogy, and open paths for often marginalized persons to meaningfully participate and engage in teaching and learning opportunities. While there are advisable practices to improving access, accessibility in higher education represents an ongoing process, and a shared journey.
Reference:
Titchkosky, T. (2011). The Question of Access: Disability, Space, Meaning. U of Toronto Press.
Accessibility, display, Our Collections, Virtual Book Display
Categories: Learning Commons, Main
This month the Library presents you with a seasonal selection of titles designed to give some garden inspiration.
In the Garden includes books on growing and pruning plants and vegetables, soil science, and attracting birds, butterflies and bees to your garden. Titles on the history and economics of gardens, medicinal plants, insects, and fungi round out the collection.
Browse and borrow the print items located next to the Ask Us desk and view online titles.
Brock Library thanks Asha Edwin, Research Assistant at the IDEAS Research Lab, and PhD student in Applied Health Sciences for this exhibit and blog post. Visit Asha’s display in the Matheson Learning Commons until May 9.
The Body is Home Initiative explores the feeling of being at home in our bodies through movement and community. Through this project, we reflect on how we perceive ourselves through movement, how various sports and spaces impact our identity and how we cultivate and strengthen our communities through movement and sport.
The exhibition includes photography by two Black women photographers, Chrris Lowe and Britney Holung. The photography captures visual representations of Black women runners in Toronto as counter-narratives to Black women’s representations and experiences. The research and photography took place over the summer and fall of 2024, documenting the women’s running journeys.
The exhibit also has an interactive component where observers can participate in individual and collective imaginings of healing, health and wellness. We are currently only accepting online submissions at this time. To participate, please can scan the QR code at the end of the exhibition or use this form to submit a response online.
Ryan Antooa, Creative Director at Form, designed the initiative’s branding.
Project I – Run to You
The Body is Home’s first project with Hill Run Club followed the experiences of 15 Black women runners in Toronto. Two creatives worked on the project to visually capture and represent the women’s unique stories.
IDEAS Research Lab Project
The Body is Home Initiative is a project facilitated by Dr. Janelle Joseph’s IDEAS Research Lab.
Exhibition Curator
As creator of the Body is Home, Asha Edwin started it as a passion project based on her experience with movement and community. Wellness has always been a prioritized practice for Asha, and her experiences as a yoga teacher and runner allowed her to develop a deeper and more intimate connection with herself and, through her work, others. Yearning to learn more about what it means to be at home in our bodies and how movement and community impact herself and others, she birthed the Body is Home. Since its inception, the Body is Home has evolved into a research initiative focusing on the experiences of Black, racialized and marginalized groups and their experiences in reimagining healing, health and wellness.
Asha Edwin is an interdisciplinary Black Feminist researcher. She is currently a student and research assistant at the IDEAS Research Lab, where her work primarily focuses on Black women’s wellness. Asha is passionate about community engagement and individual and collective well-being. She is a twice-certified yoga teacher with additional somatics training and enjoys music, culture, travel and art.
display, Student Collaboration
Categories: Learning Commons, Main
Brock Library thanks Dorothy Sierra-Gutierrez, Social Issues Researcher at Future Black Female, and fourth-year Sociology student for this display and blog post. Visit Dorothy’s exhibit at the Thistle entrance to the Matheson Learning Commons until May 9.
Discovering the Heart of Organizing
When I first heard the phrase “community organizing,” I wasn’t quite sure what it meant. I was completely unaware of the key foundations of labour studies and organizing. That changed when I took LABR 4P21: Social Justice Organizing instructed by Dr. Simon Black, that introduced me to the history and important work that is organizing.
My introduction to organizing was both academic and personal. Through course readings, discussions, and reflections, I came to understand that community organizing is about building collective power to address systemic injustices. It’s about shifting from isolated frustration to strategic, people-powered change. Referencing the work of Marshall Ganz, organizing isn’t just about leading others—it’s about helping communities recognize the power they already have.
Ganz’s concept of the “public narrative” resonated with me deeply. He encourages organizers to share their “story of self, story of us, and story of now.” This structure helped me articulate why I care about justice, connect with others over shared values, and envision how change can happen in the present. It’s a tool that turns personal experience into collective action—and it became a core inspiration for my project.
What I Learned in the Classroom
The class offered a strong foundation in both theory and practice. We explored frameworks from Progressive Community Organizing by Lori Pyles (2009), which emphasized the importance of intersectionality, long-term community commitment, and disrupting systems of oppression. Pyles explained that community can be built through shared identities or shared goals, but either way, the goal is the same: to dismantle oppressive power structures and uplift the voices of those most affected by them.
We also examined key concepts of power through the work of scholars like Frances Fox Piven and Joan Kuyek. Piven’s theory of “disruptive power” was especially important to me—it reframes power not as something that’s held by the elite, but as something ordinary people can wield through collective action. Kuyek, meanwhile, introduced the distinctions between “power-over” and “power-with.” These terms helped me understand how organizing should always center empowerment and solidarity rather than hierarchy.
Intersectionality at the Center
A critical theme in my work is intersectionality—the idea that systems of oppression overlap, and that we need to address racism, sexism, colonialism, and other forces together. The Combahee River Collective Statement (1977) shaped my thinking here. Their Black feminist perspective emphasizes that liberation must be inclusive and that movements must be built by and for those most impacted by injustice. This intersectional lens isn’t just a framework—it’s a commitment to justice that informed every page of my booklet.
Visit My Display!
For my final project, I created a photo booklet that explores community organizing through an intersectional lens, using visuals and text to highlight key theories and practices I engaged with during the course. The photographs—shot on 35mm film—were taken during a Black Lives Matter protest, capturing moments of resistance, solidarity, and collective action. The project was a way to combine my academic learning with creative expression, and to document a powerful moment in the fight for racial justice.
If you’re at Brock, I invite you to visit my display at the Brock University Library and engage with the materials I’ve curated. Whether you’re new to organizing or already involved in social justice work, I hope it offers you new insights and inspiration. As Jane McAlevey (2016) and Astra Taylor (2016) argue, we must move beyond performative activism and into the slow, meaningful work of building movements from the ground up!
Community organizing is not just an academic topic—it’s a way of building the world we want to live in.
display, Student Collaboration
Categories: Learning Commons, Main