The Nova Scotian Institute of Science (NSIS), founded in 1862, stimulates public interest in scientific research and publishes the results of research by Nova Scotian scientists.

In the nineteenth century, the founders of NSIS were professionals who met monthly to share their love of science, presenting specimens they collected and reading scientific papers which they published in their journal, The Proceedings of the Nova Scotian Institute of Science. Members of NSIS still meet regularly and they currently publish the journal twice annually.

NSIS established a library in 1864 that is now housed in the Killam Library. This collection contains a number of periodical titles not available elsewhere in Canada. “The Institute’s collection at the Killam includes scholarly publications from around world. NSIS collects these publications through partnerships with other scientific societies. We send our journal to about 100 partners, some as far away as Australia. In turn, these partners send their publications to NSIS,” says Michelle Paon, a science librarian at the Killam Library who is the current president and librarian of the NSIS.

The back issues of the NSIS journal, (The Proceedings), were digitized by Killam Library interns (graduate students from Dal’s School of Information Management).“Issues of the journal from 1863-1984 are available on DalSpace, which works out to about 900 digitized articles. People who are studying or interested in the natural history of Nova Scotia will find the journal particularly interesting,” says Michelle. The library is also working with NSIS to transition current issues of the journal from print to an online format using Open Journal Systems (OJS) software. 

NSIS is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. To learn more about the Institute and the annual lecture series, visit chebucto.ns.ca/Science/NSIS/ All of the talks are free and presented at a level suitable for anyone wanting to know more about science in Nova Scotia.