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Archives for Marlo MacKay

J.A. Wainwright Virtual Book Launch: This Cleaving and This Burning

Please join us for J.A. Wainwright’s virtual book launch for This Cleaving and This Burning
Wednesday, October 21, 7:30 p.m.
Join via Microsoft Teams

Inspired by the lives and work of American literary giants Ernest Hemingway and Hart Crane, This Cleaving and This Burning is a story of creative passions stoked by unspoken desires within the mind and heart. Two unrelated, aspiring writers, born on the same day in the same year to parents with the same first names, grow up together and eventually gain national prominence as authors. But their complex sexual identities undermine their intense private relationship as the years pass, inflicting damage that cannot be undone by their public reputations or the excellence of their fiction
and poetry.

J.A. Wainwright is McCulloch Emeritus Professor in English at Dalhousie University. He is the author of five books of poetry and five novels.

Presented by the Dalhousie Libraries Literary Events Committee. Books will be available for purchase at the Bookmark on Spring Garden Road.

 

Launch of the Nova Scotia LGBT Seniors Archive

You are invited to join us for the launch of the Nova Scotia LGBT Seniors Archive, a project the Dalhousie Libraries has been supporting through the Dal Archives.

We are proud to provide a home for these materials, which tell the history of the LGBT community in this province. Learn more about this important collection and hear from some of the people who have been working on it since the beginning. This will be a virtual event, so please join us by clicking on the link below.

Thursday, October 15, 4–5 p.m.
Join via Microsoft Teams

 

Document Delivery Is Filling Your Requests for Physical Materials Again!

We will endeavor to fill all requests, but please note that many libraries across the country and around the world are still not lending from their print collections. Many of the libraries that are loaning materials will be operating at reduced staffing levels (as are we) so it may be more challenging to locate certain materials and it may take longer to get requested items.

Thanks for your patience. We look forward to filling your requests! Questions about Doc Del? Get in touch.

Halifax-based Dal Libraries Locations Delay Opening Today (Sept 23)

The Halifax Dalhousie Libraries spaces will have a delayed opening at 2 p.m. today due to the current weather conditions. The MacRae Library will open at 9 a.m. Stay safe and see you later!

UPDATE: 8:52 A.M., SEPT. 23
The Sir James Dunn Law Library is opening at 9 a.m.

 

 

Dal Libraries Closing at 6 pm (Tues., Sept 22)

Due to the current conditions, all Dal Libraries spaces will be closing at 6 pm tonight. Stay safe everyone!

Alternative Sexton Library Space Opening on September 21

On the recommendation of Dalhousie’s Health & Safety Office related to concerns about insufficient ventilation, the Sexton Library will not be opening for student and faculty use this fall. Instead, the Dalhousie Libraries will be offering alternative study space on the Sexton campus in the classroom across the hall from the Sexton Library.

The space will offer 10 socially distanced study tables for three-hour bookable time slots. In addition, a printer workstation will be available for 30-minute bookable time slots. 

Starting September 21, bookable hours in the alternative Sexton Library space will be:

Monday–Friday
9 a.m.–12 p.m.
1–4 p.m.

Please note: The space will be closed for cleaning between morning and afternoon appointments.

Please bring your DalCard and wear a non-medical face mask. Enter via 5260 DaCosta Row (main entrance to B building).
To speak with staff, contact the Sexton Library Service Desk:  902-494-3240

Update, Sept 20, 9:51 a.m.: Bookings for the week of September 21 can be made now.

 

Streaming Video at the Dalhousie Libraries

The move to online teaching this fall presented a number of new challenges for everyone. One area where the Dal Libraries have seen exponential growth over the past few months is in the number of requests we’ve received for streaming videos.

Since classes have moved almost exclusively online, we have received over 280 requests for videos. Even if a film is already held as a physical copy in the Dal Libraries’ collection, we still must find a streaming source of the video for the online teaching environment.

To support online teaching and learning, the Dalhousie Libraries have recently added several streaming video collections: Audio Ciné, Criterion, Curio, Films-on-Demand, and Kanopy. (The content on Kanopy is limited to a selection of films purchased to support specific classes.) All of the videos found in these collections can be used in online teaching.

Despite the now thousands of films and documentaries that are available through the Dal Libraries in these new streaming video resources, faculty members often require videos that are not held in one of the streaming collections we subscribe to. When that happens, the Dal Libraries need to find the distributor of the video and acquire a licence for that video.

Tracking Down Videos
Films are a particular challenge to locate. Unlike books and journals, we don’t have access to a standardized and comprehensive list to locate a distributor. Sites like IMDB offer clues but the information is not always complete, up-to-date, or accurate. Once we do locate the distributor, we then explain that a professor at Dalhousie University wants to screen their film to a class online and ask if they have the option of providing us with an educational streaming licence.

Sometimes the distributor does not have a streaming service or digital files they can share with us, or we learn that the distributor we located no longer holds the rights and we have to conduct another search. Sometimes, the distributor can’t acquire Canadian streaming rights.

When we do find the correct distributor who has a version of the video available for educational purposes with Canadian streaming rights, our Copyright Office then reviews the licence. If all is well, we sign the licence. Staff on the Resources team then make the video accessible through the Novanet catalogue and we notify the faculty member that the video is ready.

Timelines and Costs
The process to acquire a single title can take a week to over a month and on average costs $200–$300 for a licence. A licence usually lasts for 6–12 months. Within these ranges, there is much variation. One distributor was charging as much as $4,000 US for a one-year licence. Some licences last for only two weeks.

What about Netflix and YouTube?
Services such as Netflix, HBO, and Crave only sell subscriptions to individuals for household use and do not offer educational licensing. If the video you are seeking is exclusively available through one of these commercial subscription services we are not legally able to provide access to the video.

Additionally, for students living and studying outside of Canada, content across these services will vary depending on where the user lives. For example, the content on Netflix in Canada is not the same as the content on Netflix in the US. YouTube raises similar problems — some countries have completely blocked access to their residents.

Start Early
We encourage faculty to start their search for streaming videos in our existing subscriptions before placing a request, but we recognize there will be times when a specific film or documentary is needed. As the timeline to locate the distributor and review and sign the licence can take up to a month for a single video, the earlier these requests can be submitted, the better. If it turns out the video is not available for streaming in Canada, the faculty member will be informed as soon as possible so they can adjust their syllabus accordingly.

Dalhousie faculty and staff can complete this form to request a specific streaming video to support 2020/21 online teaching. A Dalhousie login is required.

Streaming Video Subject Guide
The Dalhousie Libraries’ Streaming Video subject guide provides links to the streaming video services we subscribe to and copyright guidance as it relates to using video in online teaching.

These subscriptions provide access to thousands of feature films, documentaries, educational films, and video clips covering a wide range of subject matter and genres, available to Dalhousie and King’s faculty, students, and staff. The guide also includes listings for a number of sources that are freely available on the internet.

New Streaming Video Collections at the Dalhousie Libraries

  • Aclands Video Atlas of Human Anatomy
  • APA Clinical Training Videos: psychotherapy demonstration videos.
  • Audio Ciné: mostly recent feature films from major studios
  • Criterion-on-Demand: a mix of recent and older feature films and documentaries
  • Curio.ca: CBC video and audio materials in French and English
  • Digital Theatre Plus: British theatre productions
  • Films on Demand: a wide-ranging mix of educational films and documentaries
  • Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE): added biology, chemistry, and immunology materials
  • Kanopy: limited number of titles licensed to support specific courses.

Having a problem with an eResource? (films, journals, books, databases)

Please use this form. It collects the information we need to solve the problem.

Book Some Time in a Dalhousie Libraries Space

The following spaces are open by appointment for limited and safe access to Dal Libraries spaces for current Dalhousie faculty, instructors, students, and staff.

Locations not listed (Sexton Library, Sir James Dunn Law Library) are not yet ready to be booked. Weekend hours will roll out in the coming weeks.

Please note: The spaces will be closed for cleaning from noon–1 p.m. and  from 4–5 p.m.

 

After you log in to the booking system, choose the location you want (or express printing) from the drop-down menu to see which time slots are available. Depending on the space, a study table, study room, or a computer can be booked for three-hour time slots. Computers can also be booked for 30 minute express printing.

Bookings should be made a minimum of 24 hours in advance by completing this form.

  • You will receive an email to confirm your booking has been received and an email when your booking is confirmed.
  • You must bring your DalCard to gain entry to the space.
  • The wearing of non-medical masks is mandatory.
  • Furniture in the spaces has been adjusted to encourage social distancing. Library staff will perform some cleaning between time slots.
  • If you want access to materials from the Dalhousie Libraries’ collections, please continue to request items through the Curbside Pickup service.

 

Michael Crummey in Conversation with Sharon Bala, with Readings by Shandi Mitchell and Jaime Burnet

Join us for a wonderful evening of Atlantic literature and stimulating conversation.

We’ll start with readings by the 2020 finalists of the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award — Shandi Mitchell (The Waiting Hours), Jaime Burnet (Crocuses Hatch from Snow), and Michael Crummey (The Innocents).

Following the readings, there will be a conversation between St. John’s, Nfld. writers Michael Crummey and Sharon Bala.

Thursday, September 17/7 p.m.
Online via Zoom
Please register using this link:  https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_1R4tHrYTQPWFTLgb30yjEw

MacRae Library Opening for Bookable Appointments Sept 8

Starting September 8, the MacRae Library will be available for bookable appointments for current Dalhousie students, faculty, and staff.

You can book a:

  • study room (single)
  • study room (double — one person can book a double, but two people will need to sign in)
  • computer
  • study table
  • computer for printing

For the week of September 8–11, the bookable time slots will be:

Tuesday–Thursday (Sept 8–10) Friday (Sept 11)
9 a.m.–1 p.m. 9 a.m.–12 p.m.
2 p.m.–6 p.m. 1–5 p.m.

 

Bookings can be made via email: macrae.library@dal.ca or by calling the service desk at 1-902-893-6669.

The rest of our fall hours for the term will be rolled out in the coming weeks. Don’t forget to wear your mask and bring your DalCard!

 

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