News

  • Exam resources from A-Z Services and the Library

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

    We’ve highlighted a number of resources and tips along with links to research guidesways 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 mental health and wellness are important to us.  To that end, we’ve created a Wellness Guide for you to explore at any time of the year. And finally, if you could use a little motivation or reassurance, download our smartphone and desktop wallpapers. ⬇️

    Smartphone wallpaper thumbnails (click for full size render and to download)

    "Keep Going" motivational mobile phone wallpaper  "Just Breathe" motivational mobile phone wallpaper  "You got this" motivational mobile phone wallpaper "Take a deep breath and try again" motivational mobile phone wallpaper  "Do your best, forget the rest" motivational mobile phone wallpaper

    Desktop wallpaper thumbnails (click for full size render and to download)

    Just Breathe desktop wallpaper in Grafitti font "You Got This" motivational desktop wallpaper "Take a deep breath and try again" motivational desktop wallpaper "Expect nothing, appreciate everything" motivational desktop wallpaper "Everything you can imagine is real" motivational desktop wallpaper "Do your best, forget the rest" motivational desktop wallpaper

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  • New Resource: Microsoft Academic

    Microsoft Academic (MA) is a next generation academic search tool. Heavily influenced by AI semantic search algorithms, MA scans publishers, societies, and open web content to identify key authors, topics, conferences, journals in all disciplines. The scope of content covered, speed of searching, and wealth of bibliometric semantic algorithmic analysis is simply amazing.

    Microsoft Academic features:

    • Contains over 252 million scholarly records and growing quickly
    • Ranks top topics, descriptors, publication types, authors, journals, repositories, and institutions
    • Allows for sorting, alerting, downloading, and citation analysis tools
    • Includes powerful citation and disciplinary visualizations
    • Provides article “cited by” analysis lists to forward track citatio
    • Personal account features enabling users to manage saved citations, share lists, and receive notifications
    • Is straightforward and free to search.

    Learn more about how MA works and check out the Brock University’s profile of over 12,000 publications and 344,000 citations.

    Ian Gordon
    Science Liaison Librarian

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  • Celebrating trans authors on Trans Day of Visibility

    Brock Library is celebrating Trans Day of Visibility – marked on March 31 annually — by highlighting books by trans authors in our collection. 

    These titles represent a diversity of genres and topics, ranging from poetry to memoir, history to romance. Many of the authors spotlighted are Canadian, including Gwen Benaway, Vivek Shraya and Ivan Coyote. 

    Happy Reading!

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  • New workshop for students: Mindful Research

    Feeling overwhelmed with research?  Are final papers stressing you out?   

    Join Chelsea and Justine, liaison librarians and yoga instructors, for “Mindful Research” to learn how you can incorporate elements of mindfulness into the research process.  We will discuss the unique challenges of library research, outline the benefits of mindfulness, and offer strategies for building easy mindful practices into your day.   

    The workshop will be offered on Thursday, April 1 from 12:00-12:45 and repeated on Thursday, April 8 from 12:00-12:45 live on Teams.  If you have questions, please contact Chelsea or Justine.  Hope to see you there! 

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  • Temporary Service Adjustments, March 25-April 5

    In response to Brock University moving into Stage 1 of the University’s Response and Recovery plan, the Library is adjusting its in-person services.

    During this period, bookable study space will not be available.

    The book pickup service will continue, but with shortened hours and a new contactless model. The new hours for pickup are Monday, Wednesday & Friday from 10am-2pm. Upon arrival for pickup and after screening by campus security, please come to our Book Pickup table just outside the entrance of the library. Give us a call at 905-688-5550 x4583 to let us know you have arrived, and Library staff will bring your books out to you. Full instructions will be provided to you over email when your items are ready for pickup.

    Online library services such as scanning requests and Hathi Trust are unaffected by the shutdown. We will continue to support access to the information you need for your research and teaching.

    If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at libhelp@brocku.ca

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  • Celebrating Pride Week at Brock University

    In recognition of Brock Pride Week (Friday, March 26 – Thursday, April 1), we are highlighting a selection of books and e-books from Canada and around the world written by LGBTQ2S+ authors, and about LGBTQ2s+ theory. This collection is a mix of print and e-books but it’s quick and easy to place a hold on print items for pickup.

    Happy Pride Week #BrockU

     

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  • New Resource: Audio Ciné Films

    Try out Audio Ciné Films, the newest addition to the Library’s streaming video collections. It provides access to over 900 films, both new releases and older titles, with new films added regularly. Studios represented include Walt Disney Pictures, Universal Studios, Sony Pictures, MGM Studios, and more. Most films have Closed Captioning, as well as French-language versions  

    Some film highlights include: 

    • Action and drama movies like Knives Out (2019)Avengers: Endgame (2019), The Fifth Element (1997), Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005). 
    • Family films such as Frozen II (2019), Freaky Friday (2003), Moana (2016), WALL-E (2008), Hook (1991), and Coco (2017). 
    • Classic films including Taxi Driver (1976), Marnie (1964), Pillow Talk (1959), Rear Window (1954), and Rebecca (1940).
    • Classical themed favourites like Cleopatra (1934), Alexander the Great (1956), O Brother Where art Thou? (2000)and Spartacus (1960).  

    Whether you’re studying a classic film or critiquing contemporary title, ACF probably has you covered. And if it doesn’t, try one of our other streaming video databases.

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  • Instructors encouraged to submit spring term reading lists soon

    Reserve request processing for the spring term is underway at Brock University Library.

    To ensure your students have access to their spring course materials, we encourage you to submit reading lists by March 29, 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. 

    An important consideration: print reserve materials remain unavailable for spring 2021 courses.

    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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  • Expansion to services coming March 8

    Starting Monday, the Library will expand book pickup hours and resume offering bookable study spaces for students. Please note that current public health restrictions limit us to ten (10) bookable study spaces.

    This service expansion is in alignment with Brock shifting into Stage 2 of the university’s COVID-19 response framework.

    Questions? libhelp@brocku.ca

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  • Agreement with SAGE gives Brock authors more options for publishing Open Access

    Brock Library is pleased to share that The Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) and SAGE Publications have signed a transformative agreement that will give Brock authors increased support for Open Access publishing. 

    As of January 1, 2021, Brock-affiliated authors may now publish Open Access with no Article Processing Charges (APCs) in over 900 SAGE Choice journals. Brock authors will also receive a 40% discount on APCs in SAGE’s Gold Open Access JournalsMore information for authors is available here. 

    Much of academic publishing output is behind paywalls that limit who can access and learn from this research. Transformative agreements are an emerging vehicle to shift scholarly publishing towards Open Access and broader availability of this researchThese agreements transform libraries’ existing subscriptions to publishers journals so that they include not just access to articles, but also cover affiliated authors’ APCs. This is CRKN and Brock’s first transformative agreement. 

    Questions? Read more about Library support for Open Access publishing, or email Evelyn Feldman, Collections/Liaison Librarian, at efeldman@brocku.ca 

     

     

     

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