Articles tagged with: Students

  • Book return options

    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).

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  • What’s New? Version 2.0

    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.

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  • Scanning service for print collection resumes

    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 wantOur 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.

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

    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.

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  • Course Reserves and the Challenge of Commercial E-Textbooks

    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: 

      • 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 copyrightplease 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.

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  • New year, new academic search tool

    Come explore Omni, our new academic search tool. All students, staff, and faculty are invited to attend one of three hands-on workshops this month.

    Learn to:

    • discover collections at Brock and the 13 other partner institutions.
    • refine search results by availability, resource type, focused subjects, library collection, and more.
    • browse a virtual bookshelf using Virtual Browse.
    • follow citations from references within an article, and those that cite it.
    • pin, collate, and tag materials in your ‘favourites’ file for easy retrieval.
    • cite, email, and export to a citation tool to manage your information.

    You are welcome to just drop-in to a session however, students will earn CWC credit if they register first on ExperienceBU

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  • Welcome to Brock: Thorold and St. Catharines Libraries On-Site!

    We love libraries! All kinds. As part of Welcome Week events at Brock, the Library is partnering with the Thorold and St. Catharines Public Libraries to provide the Brock community with public library cards. Getting a card is easy as representatives from both libraries will be on-site Thursday, September 5. Fill in a form, present some i.d. and then you’ll be all set to borrow video games, join book clubs, experience adult craft nights, and more.

    What: Thorold and St. Catharines Public Library Membership Drive.
    Where: Learning Commons (Library main floor)
    When: Thursday, September 5. Thorold: 10 am to 12 pm. St. Catharines: 1 pm to 4 pm.

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  • Welcome to Brock: Spin it to Win it at the Library

    As part of Welcome Week activities at Brock, we invite you to drop by our table in the Matheson Learning Commons (main floor of the James A. Gibson Library), say hi, spin, and win library swag.

    What: Spin it to Win it at the Library
    Where: Learning Commons (Library main floor)
    When: Tuesday, Sept. 3, 11 am to 2 pm & Wednesday Sept. 4, 11 am to 2 pm.

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  • Welcome to Brock: Discover Your Library

    As part of Welcome Week activities at Brock, students are invited to learn more about the services and resources of the Brock University Library by attending one of six, fast-paced sessions. Hear about how you can make use of our 3D printers, discover rare books, harness the expertise of your own personal librarian, and enrich your learning experience at Brock. We’ll round out the presentation with a short tour of the Learning Commons.

    Attendees who register @ https://experiencebu.brocku.ca/event/130056 will receive credit towards the CWC Personal Growth Domain.

    What: Discover Your Library orientation sessions + tour.
    Where: Learning Commons Classroom B (ST 230)
    When: Tuesday, Sept. 3 at 2 pm & 3 pm, Wednesday Sept. 4 at 4 pm & 6 pm, Thursday Sept. 5 at 4 pm & 6 pm.

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  • Improvements made to study room booking system

    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.

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