Learning Commons

Comic(s) Relief

Friday, March 28, 2025 | By Evelyn Smith

As students scramble to complete assignments & prepare for exams, and instructors retreat into marking mode, we get it. There’s not a lot of free time to read. With this in mind, our April featured collection offers some ‘comic relief’.

This selection of 31 graphic novels includes non-fiction titles like Direct Action Gets the Goods, a history of the Canadian labour movement, Won’t Get Fooled Again: a Graphic Guide to Fake News, and This Place: 150 Years Retold. For straight up relaxation, check out The Prince and the Dressmaker or a special 30th anniversary edition of the classic V for Vendetta.

The Comic(s) Relief display features print-only titles. Find them on the display shelves next to the Ask Us desk until April 30.

Tags: display, Our Collections
Categories: Featured Collections, Learning Commons
Know your Pride flags: celebrating Brock Pride Week

Friday, March 21, 2025 | By Evelyn Smith

Brock Library is joining in campus-wide celebrations of 2SLGBTQIA+ Pride this week with an exhibit focused on the dozens of flags representing the diversity of Pride.

From March 21 through 28, we invite you to view Know your Pride Flags, a display documenting the history and identities which are expressed and celebrated through Pride flags. This informative exhibit reflects on Pride’s colourful past, the changing present, and the need for future progress. View it adjacent to the Badger Books collection on the main floor.

Wishing everyone a very happy Pride!

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

Friday, February 28, 2025 | By Evelyn Smith

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.

This month, the Library presents a range of titles – print and electronic, which provide context, food for thought, and a path forward for all 17 goals. Browse them online, and in-person on the Library main floor.

Learn more about the Brock University commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Tags: display, Our Collections, Virtual Book Display
Categories: Featured Collections, Learning Commons
Exhibit: Islamophobia Awareness Week

Wednesday, January 29, 2025 | By Evelyn Smith

Brock Library thanks the Muslim Students Association for this blog post.

In recognition of Islamophobia Awareness Week, a new display in the Matheson Learning Commons highlights the tragic events of January 29, 2017, when a gunman attacked the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City, taking the lives of six worshippers and injuring many others. This senseless act of hate continues to deeply affect Muslim communities across Canada.

January 29th is both a day of mourning and a call to action—a reminder of the urgent need to combat Islamophobia and all forms of hate. Through education and awareness, we strive for a future where every Canadian, regardless of faith or background, feels safe and valued. Join us in standing against Islamophobia and supporting the Green Square Campaign in solidarity with the victims, survivors, and their families

What is Islamophobia?

Islamophobia is defined as the fear of, hostility towards, or hatred against Islam or Muslims. It is primarily a form of religious or cultural bigotry and those who harbour such sentiments often stereotype Muslims as a geopolitical threat or a ‘source of terrorism.’

Learn more about the Green Square Campaign and view the display running until February 1.

Tags: display
Categories: Learning Commons, Main
Exhibit: What does self-care mean to you?

Wednesday, January 08, 2025 | By Evelyn Smith

Brock Library thanks the Psychology and Beyond Club for this blog post.

Self care today means many things, such as taking the time to allow yourself to recharge, tending to your community ties and friendships, or cultivating your individual interests through hobbies or feel-good activities. It is also a powerful form of protest, choosing to reject a status quo that demands productivity and progress with no limits or pauses for wellbeing.

This January, the Psychology and Beyond Club at Brock would like to promote and encourage self-care as the Brock community returns to campus for the winter semester. This display aims to educate our community on the value of self care and provides tips and inspiration through a colourful and cozy display. It is designed to be interactive so that anyone can scan the QR code and share their own tips and interpretations of the phrase, demonstrating the individual nature of self-care practices. The display also explores how the meaning of the phrase “self-care” has been changed or is often forgotten in today’s modern world, and has deep roots in social and political activism which stem from the writing of Audre Lorde.

Genuine self care has wonderful benefits for the mind, body, and community!

If you’d like to learn more about the Brock Psychology and Beyond Club, join us on Experience BU and follow us on Instagram (@brockpsychology_beyond).

Tags: display, Student Collaboration, Wellness
Categories: Learning Commons, Main
Exhibits: Voices of Remembrance, and Some Were Neighbors

Monday, November 04, 2024 | By Evelyn Smith

“To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time” (Elie Wiesel, Night, 1960). Wiesel’s words remind us that memory is a moral act, essential in preserving the past and preventing future hatred.

Chabad at Brock presents “Voices of Remembrance,” an exhibit featured in the Thistle Corridor and the Learning Commons at Brock University Library. Organized under the lead of Chabad at Brock’s Holocaust Education Chair, Brooke Braverman, this display brings together the stories of Brock students who are descendants of Holocaust survivors. Through their narratives, we reflect on the antisemitism that led to the Holocaust and honour the resilience needed to carry these memories forward.

In the Learning Commons, Some Were Neighbors, a traveling exhibit from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, further examines the actions and moral choices of ordinary people during the Holocaust, inviting us to consider our own responsibilities in confronting hate.

Additionally, the library has curated a collection of books to support Holocaust Education Week, offering historical insights, survivor testimonies, and scholarly perspectives on antisemitism and resilience.

We invite you to explore these stories and reflect deeply on their message. In bearing witness to this living history, we commit to fighting against antisemitism, hatred, ignorance, and indifference wherever they appear.

Tags: display, Students
Categories: Featured Collections, Learning Commons
Spotlight your research, teaching, or BUSU club interests in the Learning Commons display cases

Wednesday, October 30, 2024 | By Evelyn Smith

The Library welcomes members and groups of the University community to showcase their work within the Matheson Learning Commons. We offer display space to bring attention to the unique research, services, and teaching & learning projects that are happening around campus.

See exhibit guidelines and make your booking request.

Questions? Please email [email protected] or [email protected]

Tags: display, Services
Categories: Learning Commons, Main
A beautiful new display with challenges (and prizes)

Thursday, October 03, 2024 | By Evelyn Smith

“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 (MLLC) 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 students in our courses. May your curiosity be piqued! Perhaps some of the questions rooted in the history of these cultures will be raised by the materials on display.

Students are invited to view the intriguing assortment of items and win a prize. All responses will be collected for each of the two challenges and a $10 gift card will be awarded to two lucky winners.

Challenge #1:

a) Identify the theme of the current display. The hint is given on red crêpe paper in the four main languages taught in MLLC.
b) Identify the person or the event depicted on the images posted on each vertical surface in both display cases (not the collage). The images for one group are identical, so there are seven (7) scenes it total.
The submission with the most correct answers will be the winning one.

Challenge #2:

Find an image from the collage or an object from the display and write about it. It can be a memory, a meditation, or simply a comment.
The responses will be evaluated by a selection committee, based on the creativity and relevance of the content.

Submit your responses by Sunday, October 20 at midnight to: [email protected]. Questions and comments are also welcome!

Citation: https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/81446280-the-innocents-abroad

Tags: display
Categories: Featured Collections, Learning Commons
Featured Collection: Honouring Indigenous Women and Girls

Tuesday, October 01, 2024 | By Evelyn Smith

This month’s featured Omni Collection is intended to honour and remember the lives of Indigenous Women and Girls in recognition of the Native Women’s Association of Canada‘s Sisters In Spirit Day. Browse and borrow from the print collection displayed next to the Ask Us desk and head online to view the Indigenous Women on Film sub-collection of documentaries.

The collection also acts as a complement to The Canadian Library, a grassroots art installation project that acts as a memorial to all Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit people. View the Brock University micro gallery at the Entiohahathe’te Knowledge Den.

The Entiohahathe’te Knowledge Den is located home to an Indigenous book collection and Brock’s Canadian Library Project micro gallery.

Tags: display, Our Collections, Virtual Book Display
Categories: Featured Collections, Learning Commons
Trio of exhibits celebrate Isaac Brock and his namesake University’s 60th anniversary

Friday, September 13, 2024 | By Evelyn Smith

In celebration of Brock University’s 60^th anniversary, Brock University Archives & Special Collections have installed three new exhibits focusing on Major General Sir Isaac Brock and graphical representations of the University.

At the east entrance of the James A. Gibson Library, view the collection of archival treasures depicting Sir Isaac Brock over the centuries. As no one really knows what the ‘Hero of Upper Canada’ looked like, seeing how artists have portrayed him over time is always interesting. From paintings to Pokémon, you can find Isaac almost everywhere.

The Major-General Isaac Brock action figure. Created by the Canadian Legends company, the collector’s item is one of several unique pieces on display.

On display inside the Matheson Learning Commons and at the Thistle entrance, visitors can learn how Brock University has promoted itself graphically from 1964 to the present. From the most successful campaigns to the least, each exhibit represents a specific time in the University’s history as well as art styles and ideas.

A young man in suit and tie strides into a bright future with the Schmon Tower in the background. This advertisement from Time Magazine appeared in the November 8, 1968 issue of Time Canada with the compliments of the publisher.

Enjoy these exhibits throughout September (and Surgité)!

Tags: Archives and Special Collections, Brock 60th, display
Categories: Featured Collections, Learning Commons