Art Speaks, is a series of events and art exhibit hosted by Brock’s Human Rights & Equity office that promotes artwork as a vehicle for discussing human rights related issues. In celebration of Art Speaks, we are a sharing a selection of books which highlight the role of art in activism and social justice.
Find additional #VirtualBookDisplay topics in Omni.
Our Collections, Virtual Book Display
Categories: Featured Collections
Needing a little assistance with your 2021 goals? Check out our virtual book display on the topic of “Mindfulness”. All of these titles are available electronically, so you can read them right from home.
Discover previous virtual book displays in Omni.
Our Collections, Virtual Book Display
Categories: Featured Collections
With the anxiety and stress of 2020 in mind, our December virtual display delivers an antidote of sorts. Featuring books and films on cultivating kindness and compassion (toward others and ourselves), it’s intended as an encouragement to our readers and a little glimmer of hope for better days ahead.
You can find all our virtual book displays in Omni.
Our Collections, Virtual Book Display
Categories: Featured Collections
In 2003 Terry O’Malley, advertising ace and St. Catharines local, donated a substantial archive of correspondence, notes, scripts, sketches, campaign materials, awards, video, audio, and scrapbooks to Brock University Archives and Special Collections. The trove offers a glimpse into the creative mind of one of Canada’s marketing legends.
Now, the Library’s Archives and Special Collections and Digital Scholarship Lab bring the O’Malley Archive directly to your fingertips in a new digital exhibit. The content features some of the major ad campaigns developed over the course of Terry O’Malley’s remarkable career including memorable commercials from the late 1960s to the 1990s.
Tonight marks the 20th annual Terry O’Malley Lecture in Marketing and Advertising. The event was created by O’Malley as a way to expose Brock students to the world of marketing. This evening’s virtual lecture “Looking back, to see the future” will be presented by Chris Powell and David Brown, co-founders and editors of The Message.
Orange Shirt Day is held annually on September 30 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 light of Orange Shirt day, we are highlighting a selection of books, ebooks and streaming video to help us learn more about the impact of residential schools.
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).
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2020
In the two weeks since we posted our What’s New? message (below), a number of updates are already available.
The Library Pickup Service which premiered in July for faculty, staff and graduate students, has been expanded to all current Brock undergraduates!
Earlier this summer the Brock News reported on the Pickup Service and explained a little about the process. If you are interested in requesting books from our collection (which aren’t available online), the process is straightforward. Simply sign-in with your Brock credentials to Omni, the Library’s database, search for the item you want and click the ‘Request for pickup’ link. When your book is ready, you’ll receive an email with information about pickup logistics. You can learn more about the service and eligible items on the Library Services and Resources Amid COVID-19 page.
The Map, Data & GIS Library is pleased to announce that atlases and books in their collection are also eligible for the Pickup Service. As the MDGL will remain closed for the fall term, returning items is not necessary. However, if you want to return Map books and atlases, please use the drop box in the Schmon Tower lobby. A 7 day quarantine period is in place before books are checked in.
In coordination with the Digital Scholarship Lab, a number of “hands-on” ArcGIS Online workshops are accessible to anyone with a computer and an internet connection. We utilize ZOOM technology to offer these workshops and registration is via ExperienceBU.
Pop back to our website and check our Social Media channels as, no doubt, we’ll soon have more good news to share.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2020
What’s new? We’re so glad you asked. Our team has been hard at work refining Library online services and supports to serve you. We encourage you to keep up with changes to our usual services and resources by reading our Library Services and Resources Amid COVID-19 webpage.
If you are new to Brock – in any capacity, we invite you to peruse our Discover Your Library orientation site.
Over the summer, Access Services staff developed and rolled out a print materials pickup service to instructors, graduate students and post doctoral researchers. Keep an eye on our website for details about the expansion of this service to additional user groups this term.
While not brand new, we are pleased to announce the library scanning service has resumed. Open to all in the Brock community, making a request for a pdf scan of a chapter from a print book or journal article is easier than ever. Learn more about requesting a scan via Omni.
Instructors at Brock are now able to self-upload their course reserve readings to Ares. Step-by-step instructions as well as video demonstrations are available for faculty interested in trying this out.
When the Brock University Smart Start Team moved their programming online, we followed suit and offered our Top 10 Tips for new students. As orientation continues, all Library extra-curricular learning opportunities are posted on ExperienceBU. Among the myriad listings, we invite you to embark on your own Library Quest, take a mid-week Library Yoga break, develop your citation management competencies with Zotero, and get introduced to Vector Design for CNC.
Brock University Library is now a member partner of HathiTrust and has signed onto its Emergency Temporary Access Service (ETAS). ETAS provides electronic read-only access to approximately 30% of our in-copyright print collections. In addition, over 4 million worldwide public domain items already accessible in HT. The service is available to all current Brock University faculty, students, and staff. Learn more.
For the immediate future, the Archives & Special Collections is closed to the public. However, the staff of the Archives is still working. Direct any questions or needs to archives@brocku.ca. They will do their best to assist you. You can also find many of their digitized materials in the Brock University Digital Repository.
During the pandemic, Archives staff have been creating digital exhibits featuring some of the collections and records that we have in the Archives. See some of the rich history that we have in our collections.
In March, the Archives and Digital Scholarship Lab Teams started to collect stories, questions/answers, photos, videos, and other materials that chronicle the pandemic in the Niagara area. To contribute to this project and have your experiences and thoughts preserved into the future, go to our COVID-19 in Niagara website and add your stories.
The Digital Scholarship Lab in conjunction with the Map, Data & GIS Library invite you to learn from their expertise with their Fall Workshop Series. In addition, both the DSL and MDGL invite you to get ‘hands-on’ by plotting your hometown and entering the Data Visualization Contest.
Our Makerspace Team invite you to take a virtual tour of their new facilities. Workshops will continue online for the fall term and their website features a new FAQ.
Stay up-to-date by keeping an eye on the website and our social media channels – Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for any changes or expansion in services as the term progresses.
The Library Team wish you all the best for a successful start to the fall term.
Collections, Digital Scholarship Lab, Our Collections, Services, Students
Categories: Main
Due to unsustainable rising costs, Brock University Library will be switching our access model for Kanopy streaming video service to mediated mode beginning on September 8.
Until now, Kanopy has been in “Patron Driven Acquisition” mode. In this model, the entire Kanopy catalogue was open, but after a certain amount of viewing of a title, a 1-year lease of the film costing $150 was automatically triggered for the library.
Kanopy costs have grown steadily over the years, but have increased dramatically since March 2020, finally leading us to make the difficult decision to mediate access.
What does mediated access mean for you?
Good news! We still have access to thousands more films:
The library subscribes to several other film collections, covering a breadth of content including popular movies, Canadian documentaries, and theatre productions. A full list can be found on our new Streaming Video page.
Brand new in August 2020, the library has added Audio Cine Films to these collections, which includes films from studios like DreamWorks Animation, Pixar Animated Studios, Walt Disney, and more.
Our sincere thanks for your understanding as we make this change
We understand how popular streaming video has become, and how valuable it is as a learning resource, particularly in our challenging COVID-19 circumstances. We regret having to make this change. However, Patron Driven Acquisition and its growing costs are not sustainable. Mediating access will allow us to sustain our budget, and ensure we continue to have the capacity to lease Kanopy and other streaming video titles for purposes that need them most: course instruction and focused research.
Our Collections
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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.
We are in the midst of a civil rights uprising.
As Brock’s Director of Human Rights and Equity, Leela Madhava Rau notes, “Systemic racism, and specifically anti-Black racism, is being named as a root cause of inequities with which people have been living for centuries… People are in the streets demanding nothing less than total change: not only the ability to live their lives without the ever-present threat of violence, but the opportunity for everyone, regardless of identity, to participate fully and equitably in societal structures.”
Many are stating the desire to learn, listen, read, and reflect. To that end, we are highlighting a selection of books, ebooks, and streaming videos on the topic of ‘Anti-Black Racism and White Privilege’. While our print collection remains inaccessible at this time, we encourage you to seek out local booksellers and public libraries.
Our Collections, Virtual Book Display
Categories: Featured Collections, Main