Articles tagged with: Faculty

• UPDATE: Library Service Adjustments During Provincewide Shutdown

  Friday, January 08, 2021 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  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 Wednesday 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

  Tags: Faculty, Services, Staff, Students
  Categories: Main

• Introduction to the Canadian Common CV (CCV)

  Thursday, November 05, 2020 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  The Office of Research Services will present a timely workshop for Brock researchers on the Canadian Common CV (CCV). This session is part of the Building Better Research series, a joint effort by the ORS and Brock University Library

  The Canadian Common CV Workshop, held Friday, November 6 from 12 to 1 p.m., will include an overview of CCV basics with lots of time for questions. It will be led by retired research officer Josie Reed.

  Register for this online workshop via ExperienceBU.

  Tags: Faculty, Graduate students, Research, Workshops
  Categories: Main

• Faculty encouraged to submit winter term reading lists soon

  Friday, October 30, 2020 | By Evelyn Smith

  

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

  To ensure your students have access to their winter course materials, we encourage you to submit reading lists by November 20, 2020.  

  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 winter 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.  

  Questions? reserve@brocku.ca

  Tags: Faculty, Graduate students, Services
  Categories: Main

• Research Data Management Presentation

  Thursday, October 29, 2020 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  In collaboration with the Office of Research Services, Brock University Library begins the Building Better Research series with an online workshop focusing on research data management.

  Professionals and researchers alike increasingly rely on accurate and comprehensive information describing the data they create and use, as well as secure and reliable storage options where data may be safely stored and readily discovered.

  Data management principles enable the best means to document, protect, preserve, and reuse all kinds of data, whether that be before, during or after the completion of a project.

  This workshop will give you the foundation to understand the value of data management expertise in a wide range of contexts, including academia, business, government, and industry.

  Register for this online workshop via ExperienceBU.

  Tags: Faculty, Graduate students, Research, Workshops
  Categories: Main

• Library Yoga returns!

  Wednesday, October 21, 2020 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  Library Yoga is back for midterm season! Whether you’re winding down after your exams or preparing for your next big assignment, librarian and yoga instructor Chelsea Humphries is here to help you find space to pause, process, and prepare for your academic experiences, right in the middle of the (virtual) library!

  These two Library Yoga sessions will be livestreamed on LifeSize on Wednesday, October 28th and Wednesday, November 4th from 12:15-12:45 PM. You can register and find the links to the events on ExperienceBU. Recordings of the events will be saved for later viewing on the Library’s YouTube channel.

  These simple mindful movement sequences will pull you into the present moment, providing an opportunity for you to check-in with yourself, notice how you’re feeling, and take a few deep breaths before returning to your studies with refreshed energy and awareness. They are designed to be incorporated into the middle of a busy day, and they can be done in regular clothing and in any open space. Absolute beginners are welcome! After all, we all feel the midterm crunch and have likely had some of the following experiences:

  • You’re doing research and getting frustrated because you aren’t finding what you’re looking for. It’s getting hard to focus because you are feeling overwhelmed.
  • You have been working for hours and can hardly focus your eyes on the computer screen. You wonder how you’re going to manage to write the rest of your paper.
  • After a long virtual class, you’re surprised to find that your back is sore.

  Yoga can help you to notice experiences like these, when your mind and your body are telling you that you need to take a break. As a mindful practice, it can also help you approach your studies with a greater sense of calm and balance.

  If you’re interested in checking out Library Yoga before the live sessions, we encourage you to get a feel for the practice with this curated playlist of Library Yoga sessions and study breaks on our YouTube channel. You can also learn more about Chelsea as a liaison librarian at Brock University on this page and as a yoga instructor on her website.

   

  Tags: Events, Faculty, Staff, Students, Wellness, Workshops
  Categories: Main

• Book return options

  Tuesday, September 15, 2020 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  Brock students, faculty and staff are conscientious when it comes to returning their library books. Indeed, “how can I return my books” is a frequent question to libhelp@brocku.ca.

  While it’s not necessary to return items at this time (we’ve renewed regular loans to January 7, 2021), there are procedures in place for users who want to safely return their books.

  Please follow these steps:

  1.   Complete the self-scan survey prior to coming to campus.
  2.   When you arrive, enter at the Rankin Family Pavilion (base of the Schmon Tower).
        Note: Wearing a mask or face covering is required as per Brock’s campus-wide policy.
  3.   Tap your Brock ID card at the Welcome Desk.
        Note: If you don’t have a Brock ID card, follow these instructions to submit a photo and have a card created for you. In the meantime, give your Brock ID number to the staff at the desk.
  4.   Head to the book drop slot just to the left of the stairs to Brock Central and deposit your items.

  Your books will be quarantined for 7 days prior to check-in. Learn more about the quarantine period and a mail-in option for returns (navigate to the returns section).

  Tags: Faculty, MDGL, Our Collections, Staff, Students
  Categories: Main

• Instructor self-serve option now available for reserves

  Tuesday, August 25, 2020 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  Brock University instructors are now equipped to directly add online course materials to Ares, the Library reserve system.

  While the Reserve Team remain ready to receive and process your requests as usual, the self-serve option gives flexibility to instructors who wish to do this work themselves.

  Step-by-step instructions are available to guide users through the process, and demonstrate two options:

  • beginning with the details for the resource in Omni, signing-in, and following the ‘Add to Reserves’ link
  • direct uploading within the Ares system.

  Video tutorials are also available. All materials linked from Omni or uploaded directly to Ares will get a final check for Copyright compliance, and will then be active for students.

  Questions? Please email reserve@brocku.ca

  Tags: Faculty, Services
  Categories: Main

• Scanning service for print collection resumes

  Monday, August 10, 2020 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  Brock University Library is pleased to announce that we are resuming our scanning service – and it’s easier and more convenient than ever. You can now request a scan of a book chapter or journal article right from within Omni, the Library’s academic search tool.  

  This service is available, free of charge, to all current Brock students, staff, and faculty.  

  When looking at a book or print journal in Omni, simply click on ‘Request a Scan’ and provide us the details about which chapter or page selection you want. Our team will pull the book from the shelves, scan your requested section, and email you within a few days. That email will include a link – click it, log in with your Brock ID and then download the PDF.  

  Please remember that we must abide by the guidelines in Brock’s Fair Dealing policy, which generally means one chapter from a book, one article from a journal issue, or up to 10% of the total work.  

  Note: Books available electronically through Hathi Trust Emergency Temporary Access Service are not eligible for ‘Request a Scan’. 

  Learn more about our scanning service and other supports.

  Tags: Faculty, Our Collections, Services, Staff, Students
  Categories: Main

• Brock joins HathiTrust to get students and faculty back to the books

  Monday, July 27, 2020 | By Jennifer Thiessen

  

  Library access to digital items such as online journals, electronic books, music and video has been relatively straightforward during the COVID-19 pandemic, but what about the millions of printed books lining the shelves of libraries?

  Brock University Library recently added a print pickup service and has now launched HathiTrust Emergency Temporary Access Service (ETAS), which provides electronic access to roughly one-third of the print books housed in Schmon Tower.

  This new service is based on an approach called controlled digital lending (CDL), which is the digital equivalent of traditional library book lending. It means a library like Brock’s can lend out a secured digital version in place of a physical book in its collection.

  In order to adhere to copyright laws, a library can only offer as many digital copies of a book as it physically owns. Digital rights management (DRM) technology is used to ensure a consistent “owned to loaned” ratio. If a digital copy is borrowed, the physical copy must not be lent out at the same time. So if a library owns two copies of a particular book, it could lend out two digital copies while the physical books themselves are inaccessible.

  “We are thrilled to be reconnecting students, staff and faculty with so many of our books that are otherwise inaccessible during COVID-19,” said Mark Robertson, Brock’s University Librarian. “This is especially crucial for members of our community who may be geographically dispersed during the shutdown. This is good news for teaching, learning and research at Brock.”

  Earlier this month, Brock Library became a member of HathiTrust, an organization focused on the preservation and improved access of print materials. Founded in 2008, it now provides legal access to more than 17 million digitized books and other material.

  Membership provides the opportunity to activate HathiTrust’s Emergency Temporary Access Service (ETAS), which is available when situations such as the current COVID-19 pandemic block traditional access to printed books.

  With this service now active, Brock students, faculty and staff will have CDL access to the approximately 30 per cent of the University Library’s books which are in HathiTrust’s digital library.

  “Activating ETAS allows us to provide digital access to works in our collection with a matching copy in HathiTrust, for as long as our physical collection is inaccessible,” said John Dingle, Acting Head of Collections for Brock Library. “Once the Library’s physical spaces have fully reopened and regular access to the print collection items is restored, our ETAS access will end.”

  For step-by-step instructions on how to use HathiTrust ETAS to access Brock-owned books and a full list of services and resources available during Brock’s COVID-19 response, see the FAQ section on the Library’s website.

  Tags: Collections, Faculty, Students
  Categories: Main

• Course Reserves and the Challenge of Commercial E-Textbooks

  Friday, July 17, 2020 | By Evelyn Smith

  

  Ever since we closed the doors to our physical space in March, Brock University Library has been working diligently to provide alternative access to our print and physical collections. The latest developments on this front have been the launch of our book pickup service and the HathiTrust emergency digital collection. As we get closer to September, we are turning our attention to course reserves. Normally, a significant portion of course reserves would be print copies of textbooks, but the realities of the pandemic mean that we cannot offer any physical print reserves. To support instructors and the students in their courses, we have been exploring digital alternatives for print copies of textbooks. 

  The E-Textbook Challenge 

  When it comes to providing digital access to textbooks, however, the Library is hindered by the textbook publishers. Simply put, 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 — simply 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. 

  How the Library is supporting Instructors 

  We work with instructors to explore and identify viable textbook alternatives, including: 

  • Using an existing e-book in the relevant subject area from the library’s e-book collection or requesting that the library purchase one. Many academic e-books are not considered textbooks and are therefore available for the library to purchase. 
  • Adopting an open educational resource (OER). OERs are freely available educational materials, including textbooks, that are openly licensed to allow for re-use and modification by instructors. Our Liaison Librarians can work with instructors to help find the right OER for your course. 
  • Creating an online course pack through ARES by: 

  • • Posting individual book chapters or excerpts and scanned copies of the content, subject to copyright limitations. Copyright permission will be sought where feasible in cases where the excerpt falls outside of fair dealing guidelines. 
    • Linking to content from the library’s existing collection of electronic resources (e-books, journal articles, streaming media, and other digital materials) or acquiring new content whenever possible. 

  Efforts will be made to secure online materials that are free from digital rights management restrictions (DRM) in order to ensure unfettered student access. DRM includes limits on the number of users that can access a resource at any one time, as well as limits on copying, printing and downloading. 

  The easiest way to get started with your course reserves is to submit your reading list on the Library’s course reserves webpage. If you have questions about how the library can support your course, email the Reserves team at reserve@brocku.ca. To ensure we can meet demand, we encourage submission of your reading list before August 4th, 2020. 

  If, as you prepare for your courses, you have questions about the finer points of copyright, please see our Copying for Teaching & Educational Purposes website for guidance and support.  

  With thanks to the University of Guelph for starting the conversation about the challenges of e-textbooks.

  Tags: Collections, Faculty, OER, Open Educational Resources, Publishing, Reserve, Students
  Categories: Main