News

• Don’t Miss Out! Software Carpentry Workshop this February

  Monday, January 28, 2019 | By afloyd

  

  Join the Brock Digital Scholarship Lab for this two day Software Carpentry workshop. The goal of this workshop is to help researchers get their work done in less time and with less pain by teaching them basic research computing skills. This hands-on workshop will cover basic concepts and tools, including program design, version control, data management, and task automation. Participants will be encouraged to help one another and to apply what they have learned to their own research problems. This will be an excellent forum for conversation and networking! Hope to see you there. Only 30 spots available so sign up now!

  Who:  This course is aimed at graduate students and other researchers. You do not need to have any previous knowledge of the tools that will be presented at the workshop.

  When: February 21-22, 2019 | 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

  Where: Plaza 600F, Brock University

  Cost: $20.00 + $1.51 Fee

  For more information visit ExperienceBU.

  Register for this event.

   

  Tags: BrockUDSL, Digital Scholarship Lab, Software Carpentry, Workshops
  Categories: Digital Scholarship Lab

• Podcasting, Visualizing and Dreaming of Trudeau

  Friday, January 25, 2019 | By afloyd

  

  Hello again, dear readers!

  By the time you read this blog entry, I’ll have finished my third full week at Brock – I can’t believe how fast time is already flying by!

  So far, one of my favourite things about being in a university library is the fact that I’m involved in a lot of learning experiences – both my own and those of Brock students and faculty members. I said in my first entry that I wanted to disprove the idea that technology is rendering libraries obsolete, and I’ve found that the best way to do this is to demonstrate how much learning can occur with the help of technology, and the librarians who know how to use it. In just three short weeks, I’ve started work on a lot of different projects through both the Digital Scholarship Lab and the James A. Gibson library. Working on these projects has been exciting and also provided me with a lot of new learning experiences.

  First, I got to be a part of the DSL’s bi-weekly podcast (and I have the picture to prove it!). This was a totally new experience for me – I like listening to podcasts and I’ve always wondered what it would be like to record one, but I had never tried it myself until I started working in the DSL. One of the reasons I like listening to podcasts is because I find it to be a more natural way to learn something new or to hear another person’s opinion on a subject I’m familiar with in the hopes of gaining a new perspective. I won’t spoil the episode in case you haven’t listened yet, but I liked having the opportunity to voice my thoughts on a topic, while also learning from others in a casual environment. The recording process felt like four people having a normal conversation, but when I listened back to the episode I realized how much ground we’d really covered in what felt like a short time.

  Another project I’ve been involved with has been the planning of lots of DSL workshops for this semester. Working in the DSL has given me exposure to so many cool programs and technologies to learn and use in my work, and the workshops we’ve planned are a great way for students to learn these technologies and programs as well! Just last week, I attended my first workshop on Zotero, a citation management tool that is also capable of compiling bibliographies – a must for lengthy research papers. With every Zotero feature I learned, a small piece of my English major heart sighed, “if only I’d known about this in my undergrad when I was writing papers with 20+ sources”. The DSL is running another Zotero workshop closer to final assignment season (March 19^th to be exact, run by yours truly), I highly recommend checking it out!

  I’ve also been working on mastering data visualization and plan on running some workshops about the various programs I’ve used to develop my skills – so if citation management doesn’t appeal to you, fear not! Data visualization is another great learning tool for students and faculty. It makes patterns easier to see in datasets and makes large data sets easy to read and interpret. One of my data visualization projects has been creating a report based on a study that assessed language changes in Agatha Christie’s novels to determine whether or not she developed dementia in her old age. The study itself was fascinating (and a great example of digital scholarship), and visualizing the data is a really great way to see the trends and patterns – especially if you’re a visual learner like me, who has a hard time drawing conclusions just from reading tables. I also really enjoyed working with this study because data visualization is often seen as more of a necessity in STEM fields, and using it to notice trends in Agatha Christie’s writing style proves that this isn’t the case. Another message I really want to emphasize in this series is that the services offered by the DSL, as well as digital scholarship in general, is relevant to all fields of study – not just those that are technology based.

  There are so many more projects and learning experiences I could write about in this entry, but I’ll leave you with one particular life lesson I learned last week about the nature of technology and social media. Following PM Justin Trudeau’s visit to Brock University, the DSL staff was overjoyed to see that Trudeau’s team appeared to be following us on Instagram! We basked in the glow of our national reach and validation for our efforts – how can you go wrong when The Prime Minister has actively shown support for what you do? We later came to the saddening realization that we had been bamboozled by a Justin Trudeau spam account (womp womp). We’re still hopeful that one day the real Justin Trudeau will drop by the DSL and profess his love for digital scholarship, but until then we’re happy to keep our focus on the Brock community.

  My blog series is posted bi-weekly, so be sure to check back on February 8^th for more on my internship journey!

  Tags: BrockUDSL, Digital Scholarship Lab
  Categories: Digital Scholarship Lab, Main

• New resource: Embase for biomedical research

  Friday, January 18, 2019 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  The Library now offers access to EMBASE, a key biomedical database and essential tool for conducting systematic review/evidence synthesis research. EMBASE includes more than 31 million records from more than 8,500 peer-reviewed journals. A crucial complement to the MEDLINE database, Embase provides notable coverage of drug and pharmaceutical research, pharmacology and toxicology as well as robust content from international scholarly publications.

  Contact your liaison librarian for more information.

  Tags: Our Collections
  Categories: Main

• Digital Scholarship Lab Offers Weekly Workshops

  Friday, January 18, 2019 | By afloyd

  

  This winter, enhance your digital scholarship skills with the Brock University Digital Scholarship Lab!

  Each week the DSL is offering training on new technologies and techniques for applying various platforms and methodologies to research projects, collaborations or just to your routine computer tasks. From text analysis and citation management to writing code and creating remarkable data visualizations, there is so much to learn. These workshops are also a great way to network with people across campus and generate unique ideas for group initiatives.

  No previous experience is necessary for almost all of these Workshops. Everyone is welcome!

  Register for the workshops at ExperienceBU or contact us dsl@brocku.ca for more information.

   

  Workshop Name	Date	Time
  Introduction to the Command Line	January 21	1 – 2:30 pm
  Introduction to Python	January 29	10 am – 12 pm
  Introduction to ArcGIS Pro	February 1	10 – 11:30 am
  Esri Story Maps – Harness the Power of Maps to Tell Your Story	February 6	11 am – 12:30 pm
  Python – Level 2	February 8	10 – 11:30 am
  Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS)	February 13	1:30 – 2:30 pm
  ArcGIS Pro – Level Two, Mapping the Canadian Census	February 14	10 am – 12 pm
  Software Carpentry	February 21-22	9 am – 5 pm
  Introduction to OpenRefine	February 28	11:30 – 1 pm
  Introduction to PowerBI	March 4	2:30 – 4pm
  Introduction to R	March 13	1 – 3 pm
  Citation Management with Zotero	March 19	9:30 – 11 am
  Introduction to PowerBI	March 28	2 – 3:30 pm

  Tags: BrockUDSL, Digital Scholarship Lab, Workshops
  Categories: Digital Scholarship Lab, Main

• New Resource! PsycTHERAPY Video Streaming

  Thursday, January 17, 2019 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  Featuring some of North America’s leading therapists, PsycTHERAPY breaks down the 4^th wall and allows viewers a first-hand glimpse into how psychotherapy works in practice.  Browse and watch over 400 demonstrations of a variety of approaches to therapy with real-life participants.  Each therapy session includes a word-for-word transcription and videos can be saved, clipped, and shared.  PsycTHERAPY can be used by any member of the Brock community, but may be of special interest to those in Child and Youth Studies, Psychology and Applied Disability Studies.

  Browse & Watch Now!

   

   

  Tags: Our Collections
  Categories: Main

• Improvements made to study room booking system

  Wednesday, January 16, 2019 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  Booking a group study room in the library just got a whole lot easier thanks to new software implementation. Features include:

  • Equipment available in each room and directions at a glance
  • Booking confirmation via email
  • Reminder emails just prior to the students’ reservation

  Bookable group study rooms are available to any group of Brock students and may be booked for up to 2 hours per day and up to 2 weeks in advance.

  Tags: Services, Students
  Categories: Main

• Extra! Extra! New Digital Scholarship Lab Blog Series Starts NOW!

  Friday, January 11, 2019 | By afloyd

  

  Welcome to my first entry! My name is Erin, and I’m a Masters of Library and Information Sciences (MLIS for short) student. I’ve been working towards my degree at Western University for the last eight months, and I’m lucky enough to be experiencing a different university for my co-op placement this semester. I’ll be using this bi-weekly series to chronicle my time here at Brock University and to bring as much awareness as I can to the soon-to-be-opened Digital Scholarship Lab. But first, some rambling about why I’m here.

  As a Library and Information Sciences student, I often receive a variety of responses when I tell people about my academic interests and career goals. Among the most commonly heard responses are, “wow, you really need a Masters for that?”, and my personal favourite, “aren’t libraries kind of obsolete now that technology is so advanced? Who even reads books anymore?”.

  When people say these kinds of things to me, my general response is to simply shake my head or offer a polite response such as, “I love books, but libraries are much more than that!”. I’ve learned a lot about library technology and the future of the profession in school, but putting all of those theories into practice and seeing library technology at work is a completely different matter. When I found out I would get to work in Brock University’s Digital Scholarship Lab for my co-op placement, I thought about all of the technologies I would get to learn how to use and was excited to gain valuable experience with these technologies and perhaps even develop some more snappy comebacks for the library naysayers.

  However, when I arrived at Brock for my first day, I learned that not only was the DSL space not open yet, but that it likely wouldn’t open until I’m long gone from my co-op placement. My job here is essentially to plan for a space that I will likely never see. The good news is that there are so many Digital Scholarship initiatives going on here at Brock, even without an official space to host them. This means that I’ll get an even better “behind the scenes look” at how an academic library functions and the roles they play in all of the different faculties and departments at Brock.

  My goal for this series is to respond to the commonly held (but misinformed) belief that technology is making libraries obsolete. If anything, technology and libraries go hand in hand, and the various digital scholarship initiatives at Brock University are a perfect example of how much room there still is to grow and learn.

  My blog series will be posted bi-weekly so be sure to check back on January 25th for more on my internship journey!

  Tags: BrockUDSL, Digital Scholarship Lab
  Categories: Digital Scholarship Lab, Main

• On Display: #MeetTheLibraryMonday

  Wednesday, January 09, 2019 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  Last term, we profiled a few Library staff members through our social media channels in a campaign we called #MeetTheLibraryMonday. In conjunction with the campaign, a new display features the profiles of each staff member alongside their favourite books.

  Take a peak next time you are in the Library. The exhibit runs to January 28th.

  Tags: display, Staff
  Categories: Featured Collections, Main

• Software Carpentry Workshop

  Wednesday, January 09, 2019 | By afloyd

  

  Join the Brock Digital Scholarship Lab for this two day Software Carpentry workshop. The goal of this workshop is to help researchers get their work done in less time and with less pain by teaching them basic research computing skills. This hands-on workshop will cover basic concepts and tools, including program design, version control, data management, and task automation. Participants will be encouraged to help one another and to apply what they have learned to their own research problems. This will be an excellent forum for conversation and networking! Hope to see you there. Only 30 spots available so sign up now!

  Who:  This course is aimed at graduate students and other researchers. You do not need to have any previous knowledge of the tools that will be presented at the workshop.

  When: February 21-22, 2019 | 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

  Where: Plaza 600F, Brock University

  Cost: $20.00 + $1.51 Fee

  For more information visit ExperienceBU.

  Register for this event.

   

  Tags: Digital Scholarship Lab, Software Carpentry, Training & Development, Workshops
  Categories: Digital Scholarship Lab

• Citation Management with Zotero

  Monday, December 17, 2018 | By afloyd

  

  If you find using different citation styles difficult or if you just want to find a more efficient and organized way to manage citations for your research papers, this free workshop will be ideal for you. Zotero is a citation tracking platform that can be used with multiple citation formats. It allows you to create your own library, manage collections of sources, as well as quickly and easily create in-text citations and bibliographies. This Digital Scholarship Lab workshop will guide you through the installation of this tool and the most effective ways to use it.

  When: January 16th, 2019 from 10 – 11:30 a.m.

  Where: Classroom A (ST228) James A. Gibson Library, Brock University

  Sign up at ExperienceBU

  Email dsl@brocku.ca for more information.

  Tags: BrockUDSL, Citation Management, Digital Scholarship Lab, Zotero
  Categories: Digital Scholarship Lab, Main