Articles tagged with: Virtual Book Display

  • Spring Featured Collection

    Spring is here, and there’s no better time to reconnect with the natural world. We invite you to explore a curated selection of books to inspire everything from backyard planting to a deeper appreciation of the environment around us. 

    Whether you’re a seasoned gardener or just getting started, this collection features guides on sustainable gardening, plant care, native species, and nature writing that celebrates the beauty of the outdoors. Discover practical tips, creative inspiration, and stories that will help you see Niagara’s landscapes in a whole new way. 

    Ready to get outside? Borrow one of our Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA) passes and explore local conservation areas from peaceful forests to scenic trails, completely free. It’s the perfect way to bring what you’re reading to life. 

    Don’t forget to check out our Seed Library, where you can pick up free seeds to start your own garden. Whether you’re planting herbs on a windowsill or building a backyard garden, it’s a simple way to grow something of your own this season. 

    Stop by the library to browse the collection, borrow a pass, and pick up seeds—everything you need to make this spring a season of growth.  

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  • Pride Featured Collection

    In celebration of Pride Week 2026 at Brock University, the Library is highlighting a curated collection of books that explore the richness and diversity of 2SLGBTQIA+ experiences, histories and scholarship. This collection brings together works from across disciplines literature, history, film, religion, education and cultural studies to showcase the many ways queer and trans voices shape our understanding of identity, community and social change.

    From academic studies and cultural criticism to poetry, memoir and fiction, these titles reflect global perspectives on queer life and creativity. Readers will find works examining topics such as queer activism, drag performance, LGBTQ+ health and wellbeing, queer media and popular culture, and the intersections of sexuality with race, class and religion.

    This Pride Week display celebrates the resilience, creativity and scholarship of 2SLGBTQIA+ communities while encouraging students, faculty and staff to explore new perspectives and stories. Browse the collection at the Matheson Learning Commons or online and discover titles that honour Pride, foster understanding and amplify queer voices.

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    Categories: Featured Collections, Learning Commons

  • Freedom to Read Week

    In celebration of the 42nd Freedom to Read Week (Feb. 22 – February 28), we’ve curated a list of challenged and banned books that you can explore in print and online.

    Many of these once-controversial titles went on to become literary classics, including:

    While it’s often assumed that book bans and challenges are a thing of the past, the number of challenges continues to grow. In Canada, the Canadian Federation of Library Associations Intellectual Freedom Committee, together with the Book and Periodical Council Freedom of Expression Committee, created an annual survey to track challenges in Canadian public libraries. Since 2007, this survey has documented challenges to materials in library collections, as well as to displays, programs, room bookings, and computer access.

    Freedom to Read Week highlights the importance of intellectual freedom and encourages Canadians to defend their right to read, write, and publish freely. Browse the full list of featured titles and discover books that have sparked conversation, debate, and lasting impact.

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  • Black History Month 2026

    This Black History Month, we invite you to explore a wide-ranging collection of books that highlight Black history, culture, scholarship, and lived experience across Canada, the United States, and beyond. Spanning disciplines such as history, literature, education, social justice, feminism, and political thought, this collection centres Black voices and perspectives that have shaped and continue to shape our world. 

    Readers will find critical works on policing, abolition, education, environmental justice, and Black liberation movements alongside memoirs, poetry, fiction, and cultural criticism. The collection also emphasizes Black Canadian histories and scholarship, highlighting stories that are often overlooked but essential to understanding Canada’s past and present. 

    Visit the display to discover new authors, revisit foundational texts, and engage with stories that challenge, inspire, and affirm the richness and complexity of Black life. This collection contains a series of print and digital books. 

    Whether you’re looking for something for a class, personal growth, or simply a great read, this collection invites you to learn, reflect, and connect with stories that matter this month and the future. 

    Learn more about Black History Month 2026 at Brock here, and see the 2026 event listings

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    Categories: Featured Collections, Learning Commons

  • Goals, Growth, and Good Habits

    The start of a new year often brings goals for better focus, healthier routines, and improved balance. But lasting change doesn’t come from pressure or perfection. This collection highlights books that support student wellbeing, mental health, and academic success through realistic and compassionate approaches to self-care.

    Featuring titles on managing stress and burnout, building sustainable habits, mindfulness, movement, nutrition, and emotional resilience, these books recognize the realities of student life. Whether you’re navigating a heavy course load, adjusting to new routines, or simply looking for ways to feel more grounded, this collection offers practical tools and thoughtful perspectives to support both your studies and your well-being.

    While you move into the new year, explore some of these resources that encourage progress over perfection, balance over burnout, and care for both mind and body—because academic success is strongest when it’s supported by good mental health.

    As a reminder, Brock’s campus offers a lot of support for students. The Student Wellness and Accessibility Centre has implemented many different services and programs to meet the increasing mental health needs of Brock’s constantly changing student population. There are also several on-campus and off-campus food security resources for students to explore.

    At the Library you can explore our Games and Recreation Collection for a study break or engage with more wellness books and popular new reads in our Badger Book Collection.

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    Categories: Featured Collections, Learning Commons

  • Spoken & Written

    Explore a curated collection that brings together the best of modern voices and timeless classics. From contemporary poets who challenge and redefine the art form to the enduring works of writers who shaped literary history, this selection invites you to experience poetry’s full range—its emotion, rhythm, insight, and imagination.

    Perfect for longtime poetry lovers and curious newcomers alike, this display encourages you to reconnect with familiar favourites, encounter new perspectives, and celebrate the timeless art of verse.

    The Spoken & Written display features several print-only titles. Find them on the display shelves next to the Ask Us desk until January.

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    Categories: Featured Collections, Learning Commons

  • Holocaust Education Week, 2025

    Brock Library thanks Brooke Braverman and Perla Zaltzman of Brock Chabad for this exhibit and blog post. Visit the display in the Matheson Learning Commons until November 14. 

    Places can be deceiving. Where grass and trees now grow, once were scenes of unspeakable horror — killing fields where more than 2 million people 
were murdered before the creation of concentration camps. “Holocaust by
Bullets” documents this lesser-known side of the Holocaust. This exhibit makes sure that the victims won’t be forgotten.

    Between 1941 and 1944, thousands of killings took place across seven Soviet republics. The estimated number of Jews exterminated was at least 2.2 million. This included 1.6 million victims in Ukraine, 500,000 in Belarus and at least 120,000 in Russia. Over 80% of the victims were shot, while the rest were deported or murdered in the death camps or in gas vans. The death of Soviet Jews was not called “Holocaust by Bullets” for nothing. The statistical murder by shooting was used in Eastern Europe, in small towns or in a large Soviet occupied city. Often these shootings were done outside of villages and towns, against women, men and children.

    During Holocaust Education Week, Chabad at Brock presents “Holocaust by Bullets,” an exhibit featured in the Thistle Corridor and the Learning Commons of the Brock University Library. Curated by Perla Zaltzman and Brooke Braverman, this display brings together the “Holocaust by Bullets” story in the Thistle Corridor from Yahad in Unum, while highlighting the Brock students who are descendants of Holocaust survivors, in the Learning Commons. Through these narratives, we reflect on the fallen Jewish people forgotten during the Soviet Holocaust, while commemorating the resilience needed to carry the memories of the survivors.

    In the Thistle Corridor, the organization, Yahad in Unum, devotes its research to the Holocaust, fighting antisemitism, and fostering relations between Catholics and Jews. By combining both Catholic and Jewish relations, the organization uses “Yahad”, which is the Hebrew word for “Together”, while in Latin, “In Unum” means “in one”. The organization seeks to uncover the lesser-known chapter of history, “Holocaust By Bullets”, which has been silent for too long.

    Additionally, the library has curated a collection of books to support Holocaust Education Week, offering historical insights, survivor testimonies and scholarly perspectives on antisemitism and resilience.

    We invite you to explore and reflect on the stories, messages and meaning of the exhibits. In bearing witness to this history, we commit to fighting antisemitism, hatred, bigotry and silence, wherever they may appear.

     

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    Categories: Learning Commons, Main

  • National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

    On September 30, we recognize the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The day honours the children who never returned home and Survivors of residential schools, as well as their families and communities.  

    Learn more about the impact of residential schools by exploring our newly updated virtual book displaya mixture of print titles, ebooks, and streaming video.

    Image credit: The Survivors’ flag was designed during six weeks of consultation, discussion and collaboration with Survivors from across Canada. Inuit, Mi’kmaq, Atikamekw, Cree, Ojibway, Dakota, Mohawk, Dene, Nuu-chah-nulth, Secwepemc, Métis Survivors brought the flag to life by sharing their thoughts, ideas and lived experience to identify the important symbolism you see. The NCTR (National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation) ensured the Survivors’ wishes and ideas were conveyed to Vincent Design to complete the flag.

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    Categories: Featured Collections

  • Gettin’ outdoors

    In honor of the start of summer and the spirit of going outdoors during the warm days ahead, this month’s featured collection is all about nature and “The Great Outdoors”. Reconnect and rediscover nature by grabbing one of the books off of the Featured Collection shelf at the Matheson Learning Commons. From bird watching, foraging, plant identification and hiking, there is a little bit of something for everyone! The collection also features a series of eBooks and several film and video resources as well.

    We would also like to take this opportunity to highlight the NaturePlus Pass. The NaturePlus pass gives you access to a dozen conservation areas and parks across Niagara courtesy of the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority. NaturePlus passes are available at the Ask Us Desk!

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    Categories: Featured Collections, Learning Commons

  • Breaking down barriers through learning: accessibility in higher education

    Brock Library thanks Mark Castrodale, Student Accessibility Case Manager in the Student Wellness and Accessibility Centre for this exhibit and blog post. Visit the display in the Matheson Learning Commons until June 27. A featured collection of supporting literature is available through Omni.

    Access to education is a fundamental right for all persons. “Access is not just a word that indicates a lack of inclusion; it is also a way of perceiving, talking, and acting…As a perception, as talk and conduct, as a form of consciousness, access leads us to ask how access can be an interpretive move that puts people into different kinds of relations with their surroundings. Anything said about access can be read for how it reflects a host of questions: Who has access? Access to where? Access to what? When?” (Titchkosky, 2011, p.13). As such, access to higher education represents a collective responsibility, and ethical imperative. Considering issues of access can enhance the quality of education, deepen curriculum and pedagogy, and open paths for often marginalized persons to meaningfully participate and engage in teaching and learning opportunities. While there are advisable practices to improving access, accessibility in higher education represents an ongoing process, and a shared journey.

    Reference:
    Titchkosky, T. (2011). The Question of Access: Disability, Space, Meaning. U of Toronto Press.

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    Categories: Learning Commons, Main