Learning Commons

  • A 10-minute European vacation awaits

    Friday, October 03, 2025 | By

    Vintage postcard of a train travelling through the Swiss Alps

    “Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”
    ― Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad

    The Department of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures welcomes you to browse through its latest exhibit in the Library and at the Thistle entrance to the Learning Commons. The display exemplifies the languages and unique cultures explored by MLLC students. May your curiosity be piqued and perhaps some of the questions rooted in the history of these cultures will be raised by the materials on display.

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  • Celluloid Crazy

    Tuesday, September 02, 2025 | By

    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:

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  • Display: Welcome to Brock & the Library

    Monday, August 25, 2025 | By

    A 3d printed model of grape growing regions in Niagara

    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.

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    Categories: Learning Commons, Makerspace

  • Cosmic Reads

    Friday, August 01, 2025 | By

    Graphically representation of the milky way galaxy

    “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.

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  • Display: Keep calm and succeed at Brock

    Thursday, July 31, 2025 | By

    Isaac Brock statue at Brock University

    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!

     

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  • The Write Tools

    Wednesday, July 02, 2025 | By

    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.

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  • Gettin’ outdoors

    Friday, May 30, 2025 | By

    icons representing outdoor activities

    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!

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  • Breaking down barriers through learning: accessibility in higher education

    Tuesday, May 27, 2025 | By

    Symbols for closed captioning, listening, braille and vision represent the concept of accessibility

    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.

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  • In the Garden

    Thursday, May 01, 2025 | By

    A pathway wends its way through a spring garden

    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.

     

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  • Exhibit: The Body is Home: In Motion

    Friday, April 04, 2025 | By

    Women stretch their bodies in preparation for a run.

    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.

     

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