News

  • 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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    Categories: Featured Collections, Learning Commons

  • Library Course Readings service is getting an upgrade!   

    Wednesday, July 02, 2025 | By

    ExLibris Leganto corporate logo

    Starting this Fall, we’re moving to a new platform: Leganto.

    What’s new?

    While library staff will still be able to upload and link to course materials in Brightspace, Leganto also allows instructors to build and manage reading lists, engage students, and easily update and reuse content.

    With Leganto, instructors can:

    • Build course resource lists independently or collaborate with others
    • Add any kind of content, including print or electronic Library resources, streaming video, websites, textbooks, journals, OER, and more
    • Allow students to easily access course resource lists in Brightspace
    • Structure lists with weekly, monthly or topic-based sections
    • Easily roll over course resource lists from term to term, adjusting as needed

    Want a sneak peek?

    We’re still configuring things behind the scenes, but you can watch this video for an overview of Leganto and how it can support course planning.

    Is your Fall reading list ready?

    Early submissions will give us the time we need to get everything set up smoothly while we navigate this new system together.

    If you have any questions about Leganto, please reach out to [email protected].

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    Categories: Main

  • 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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    Categories: Featured Collections, Learning Commons

  • 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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    Categories: Learning Commons, Main

  • Join our team as a Library Assistant, Acquisitions

    Tuesday, May 13, 2025 | By

    Icon of a person inside a magnifying gl

    Brock Library is currently recruiting a Library Assistant for the Acquisitions department.

    In this role you will:

    • support the acquisitions process for all digital media, as well as print and electronic monograph resources,
    • complete financial processes,
    • coordinate and process all donations, and
    • provide operational support for the department.

    You have:

    • a Bachelor’s degree, and
    • a minimum of two (2) years working in procurement for an academic, special, or public library.

    Learn more about this role and apply by May 21, 2025.

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    Categories: Main

  • Join our team as a Teaching & Learning Librarian

    Monday, May 12, 2025 | By

    Icon of a person inside a magnifying gl

    Brock University Library invites applications for the full-time, 18-month limited term appointment position of Teaching & Learning Librarian, Social Sciences and Humanities.

    You will support the teaching & learning mission of the Library by:

    • delivering in-person and online instruction
    • providing consultations to students and faculty
    • providing leadership for instruction and course support to programs within the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities

    Learn more about this position and required qualifications, and apply by June 8, 2025 (12:01 am)

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    Categories: Main

  • 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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    Categories: Featured Collections, Learning Commons

  • Big changes coming to the Map, Data & GIS Library this spring

    Friday, April 11, 2025 | By

    Text reading By appointment Only overlays an old map. A stylized badger, reminiscent of Boomer adorns one corner

    Starting April 28, 2025, the Map, Data & GIS Library will be shifting to a by-appointment-only service model. This means that if you need access to our collections or staff expertise, you’ll need to book an appointment in advance by emailing [email protected].

    This new model will be in place throughout the next academic year and will be reassessed for the Fall 2026. Our goal is to provide more personalized support while ensuring that we continue to meet the needs of our users effectively.

    If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out – we’re here to help!

    Contact us: [email protected]

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    Categories: Main, MDGL

  • 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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    Categories: Learning Commons, Main

  • Exhibit: Community Organizing 101

    Friday, April 04, 2025 | By

    People protest on a city street as part of the Black Lives Matter movement

    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.

     

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    Categories: Learning Commons, Main

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