News

  • End of term resources to support students

    Friday, November 19, 2021 | By

    Icons of painting, studying, and a woman in a yoga pose.

    As we approach the end of term, the Library along with colleagues in A-Z Learning Services and Student Wellness and Accessibility Services are keen to support Brock students completing final assignments and preparing for exams.

    We’ve highlighted a number of resources and tips along with links to research guides, ways to contact us, and stress-relieving diversions in an online booklet this year. We hope you enjoy it and share it with friends.

    A-Z Learning Services has excellent guides available to help you with:

    Learning Skills Specialists are also running several online drop-in study sessions that you can visit to study with others, or get help on a specific assignment or question.

    Student Wellness and Accessibility Services offer unique sessions related to exam readiness and combatting test stress.

    Student mental health and wellness go hand-in-hand with academic success and are the focus of a new Library wellness webpage ready for you to explore.

    Finally, if you could use a little motivation download one of our new phone and desktop wallpaper designs. ⬇️

    For your phone:
    don't quit phone wallpaperYou've Got This phone wallpaper

    For your desktop:

    keep going! desktop wallpaper

    You've got this desktop wallpaper

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  • Supporting Transgender Awareness Week in Canada

    Thursday, November 18, 2021 | By

    Various book covers from the Transgender Awareness and Celebration collection

    November 13-19, 2021 marks Transgender Awareness Week in Canada.

    This selection of books and e-books represent a diversity of genres and topics by trans authors and features new non-fiction on timely topics from a transgender lens. Many of the authors spotlighted are Canadian, including Gwen Benaway, Vivek Shraya and Ivan Coyote. 

    You can view all our thematic collections in Omni via bit.ly/VirtualBookDisplay

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  • Instructors encouraged to submit winter term reading lists soon

    Monday, November 15, 2021 | By

    Woman with a notebook and journal articles

    Course readings for the winter term are being processed at Brock University Library.

    To ensure your students have access to their winter course materials, we encourage you to submit reading lists as soon as possible. Ideally by November 22, 2021.  

    An instructor self-serve option is also available, providing flexibility to instructors who wish to do this work themselves. All self-submissions will get a final check for copyright compliance, and will then be active for students. 

    A note about print reserve readings:

    While we encourage instructors to continue using online alternatives, print items are accepted.

    It is important for instructors to consider the element of risk in choosing to use print reserves for your course: If strict public health measures were to resume, these materials might be inaccessible for your students. Electronic readings have the benefit of being available to students no matter the changing public health measures.

    Several alternatives to print resources are available including the creation of course-specific online packs. The Reserves team is ready to work with you to develop these for your students. More information about non-print options is available. Liaison Librarians are also available to help you identify alternate resources. 

    The E-Textbook Challenge.

    Providing digital access to some textbooks may be hindered by the textbook publishers because most textbooks are not available to libraries in any format other than print.  Most of the major textbook publishers — Pearson, Cengage, Houghton, McGraw Hill, Oxford University Press Canada Textbooks, Elsevier Imprints, Thieme — do not sell e-textbooks to libraries. This means that for courses that have adopted textbooks from these publishers, students who do not purchase the textbook have no alternative access to the textbook contents. 

    Questions? reserve@brocku.ca

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  • New Canadian Titles

    Monday, November 01, 2021 | By

    Cover images from books on the Featured Display shelves in the Library

    After a long hiatus, we are happy to bring new thematic print book displays back to the Library. Our newest collection (next to the Ask Us desk in the James A. Gibson Library), features recent titles by Canadian authors. Please stop in and explore new books on climate change, decolonization, neuroscience, urban planning and more. There’s even a little fiction in the mix.

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  • Cannabis and the Cannabinoids

    Friday, October 22, 2021 | By

    Book covers from the Cannabis and Cannabinoids book collection

    Delve into titles that explore cannabis from inter-disciplinary perspectives. This collection is a mix of online and print titles.

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  • The Wellness Book Club

    Thursday, October 21, 2021 | By

    Image of a woman reading with a cup of tea in her hand

    If you love to read, you may already know the many benefits of reading for fun.  For instance, one 2009 study from the University of Sussex found that reading for just 6 minutes can significantly reduce stress!  Reading also has the power to improve sleep, increase emotional intelligence, and enhance overall wellbeing.   

    Brock students are invited to sign up for a Wellness Book Club that will run virtually during the month of November.  Hosted by Humanities Liaison Librarian, Justine Cotton, the details are as follows:  

    • Up to 15 students may participate 
    • Participants will need to visit campus* to pick up the book (the novel Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt) 
    • The group will have 1-2 online meetings over MS Teams during November to chat about the book 

    As part of the Club, students will also have the option of participating in a research study exploring the impact of reading on stress levels in university students.  

    Sign-up now or email jcotton@brocku.ca for more details about the Club and/or the research study (REB# 21-058-COTTON).

    *please note Brock University’s COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate for On-Campus 

     

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  • Refreshed DIY lessons covering library research topics now available

    Wednesday, October 20, 2021 | By

    A cartoon graphic of the Schmon Tower and Rankin Family Pavilion entrance

    Over the summer, Brock librarians were hard at work refreshing our digital learning offerings. The result is https://brocktnl.github.io.

    These asynchronous, self-paced learning  objects focuse on important information literacy skills. Students looking to learn more about how to use library resources to succeed in their studies will benefit from lessons, such as how to “Create a Search Strategy”.  Alternatively, students can set off on a more in-depth learning “Path,” such as the “Research Fundamentals” Path.

    Instructors can easily import these lessons into their Sakai page for immediate use in their course pages. Contact cmurgu@brocku.ca if you require assistance.

    We will feature a different lesson every Tuesday, beginning October 26th until November 30th. Watch for #TipTuesday on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

    More lessons are in development, so check back soon.

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  • International Open Access Week at Brock

    Monday, October 18, 2021 | By

    Open Access Week graphic with the text "it matters how we open access: building structural equity"

    The Brock University Library will join in the global celebrations of International Open Access Week with two workshops highlighting how researchers can maximize the impact of their scholarship.

    • Oct. 26, 12-1 p.m. – Opening up graduate scholarship via the Brock Digital Repository, with Tim Ribaric, Acting Head of the Brock Digital Scholarship Lab and Map, Data and GIS Library, and Elizabeth Yates, Liaison and Scholarly Communication Librarian. This workshop will explore the process of showcasing graduate research via the Brock Digital Repository and highlight key considerations around publishing, copyright and embargoes. Register here.
    • Oct. 28, 12-1 p.m. – Maximizing Access and Impact: Support for Open Access Publishing at Brock, with Cal Murgu, Instructional Design Librarian, and Elizabeth Yates, Liaison and Scholarly Communication Librarian. This workshop will explore the benefits of open access publishing and highlight financial support available via the Library Open Access Publishing Fund and funding memberships with major publishers. Register here.

    Open Access refers to free, immediate online access to research. The theme of International Open Access Week is: It Matters How We Open Knowledge: Building Structural Equity. This theme aligns with the recent UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science, which centres the need to “embrace a diversity of knowledge, practices, workflows, languages, research outputs and research topics”.  Open science, and open access publishing, can advance structural equity by ensuring equitable sharing of research outputs from scholars in both developed and developing nations.

    The Library strives to advance equitable open access practices by providing infrastructure to disseminate Brock’s research outputs via the Brock Digital Repository and Scholarly Journals at Brock, through education and advocacy, and by making financial investments to support a variety of open access platforms and projects.

    “During Open Access Week, we invite everyone in the Brock community to reflect on how they can break down barriers in how knowledge is created and shared,” says Elizabeth Yates, Liaison and Scholarly Communication Librarian. “And we hope that these workshops will spur conversations and actions which can help all of us advance equity – both individually and in our academic systems and communities.”

    More Open Access Week events from around the world can be found here.

     

     

     

     

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  • Display sponsored by the Department of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures (MLLC)

    Tuesday, September 28, 2021 | By

    Images of items on display by Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures.

    Explore modern languages, literatures, and cultures by browsing the colourful exhibits on display in the Library and Learning Commons this month.

    Doing so may benefit your wallet as well as pique your curiosity!

    Find an image from the collage or an object from the display and write about it.  Be it a memory, a meditation, or simply a comment, submit your response to dbielicki@brocku.ca by Friday, October 22 at midnight.

    You will find the display cases just past the Ask Us desk inside the library and also in the Thistle hallway at the south entrance to the library.

     

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  • Resources to learn about the impact of residential schools

    Monday, September 27, 2021 | By

    Graphic elements representing various Indigenous peoples. An eagle for First Nations peoples. A narwhal representing Inuit peoples. A flower representing Métis peoples. A violin

    September 30, 2021 marks the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The discoveries of the graves of children at former residential schools remind us of the devastating impact these schools had and continue to have on Indigenous communities and individuals. On this national day of reflection, we remember and mourn for these children and for the generations of Indigenous people hurt by the residential school system. The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is a direct response to Call to Action 80, which called for a federal statutory day of commemoration.  

    We recognize Orange Shirt Day, also held on this day to bring awareness to the history of residential schools and their negative effects on children’s self-esteem and well-being. Orange Shirt Day was first observed in 2013 at St. Joseph Mission in Williams Lake, British Columbia, where, in 1973, Phyllis (Jack) Webstad had her new orange shirt taken away on her first day of residential school. She never saw the shirt again. 

    We wear orange to show our commitment to recognizing and remembering the approximately 150,000 children forced to attend residential schools, where many experienced shame, deprivation, and abuse, as well as more than 6,000 students who did not survive. 

    In acknowledgement of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, we are highlighting a selection of books, ebooks and streaming video to help us learn more about the impact of residential schools. 

    Learn more about Phyllis’ story and Orange Shirt day. 

    Review the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action   

    The Brock University community is encouraged to reflect on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

     

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