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Category: Agriculture

Intern Profiles 2013: Linda Cormier, MacRae Library

Linda in the Agricola Collection at the MacRae Library, surrounded by agricultural artifacts.

Linda in the Agricola Collection at the MacRae Library, surrounded by agricultural artifacts.

Linda Cormier is spending her summer as an intern in the MacRae Library. Located on the beautiful Agricultural Campus in Truro, this is the first time the MacRae Library has had a student intern from the MLIS program, and Linda couldn’t be happier to be there.

“Last summer I worked at an aquaculture hatchery in New Brunswick, where I’m from. I loved watching the tiny oysters develop into adults, and I love the connections between aquaculture and agriculture. At the most basic level, both are forms of farming,” says Linda.

Linda didn’t start out in aquaculture though; she holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Education. She substituted in public schools in New Brunsiwck and also taught English in Japan for seven years. “I see a very close connection between teaching and librarianship. Both professions are essentially giving people information,” says Linda.

One of the projects Linda is working on this summer involves preserving the two-volume The History of the Lowbush Blueberry Industry in Nova Scotia 1880-1990. Linda is scanning the original documents and posting them in DalSpace. She is also working on migrating the Wild Blueberry Information Network Centre website to Dalhousie’s website. The information within that site gives people a central place to go for all the information available about the history of the wild blueberry industry in Nova Scotia.

As for her plans post-graduation, Linda is open to many types of work and settings. “Technical work, digital work, cataloguing, information or data management, I’m interested in it all. I could see myself working in an academic library, or in a government setting, or in a corporation,” says Linda. She particularly likes the digital aspect of the work, including web design and HTML, the main language for creating web pages.

“I’m really enjoying my work term and seeing what each staff member in the library does. The internship program is excellent, and the MacRae Library is a great place to learn,” says Linda.

Access Journals Easily from BrowZine

browzine

What is BrowZine, anyway?

BrowZine unites articles from databases into complete journals, then arranges them by subject on a library-branded newsstand. The result is a revolutionary new way to browse, read and monitor scholarly journals on various electronic devices.

The Dal Libraries have access to BrowZine on a trial basis until Nov. 30 (this has recently been extended from Sept. 30).

To access the trial from an  iPad (works best on iPad 2 or later)

•           From an iPad, download BrowZine from the App Store and install it.

•           When you open BrowZine for the first time, you will see a list of schools, select Dalhousie, then enter your Dal ID and password.

•           Select the subject areas and start browsing

BrowZine is also available for Android users.  It can be downloaded on a Google Nexus, Samsung Galaxy or Kindle Fire HD tablet (Ice Cream Sandwich or Jelly Bean OS recommended) from the Google Play or Amazon/Kindle stores.  Same approach as listed above for access on those devices.

If you have previously downloaded BrowZine and have been using their Open Access library, you will first need to log out of that library.  To do so, open BrowZine and tap the Settings button at the bottom; in the Settings page, tap the Logout button in the upper right.  The list of libraries will appear, please follow the above steps.

Unfortunately, not all e-journals Dalhousie has access to are available via BrowZine. This is a list of supported publishers.

BrowZine will be adding JSTOR content later this month, and on October 1 EBSCO, ProQuest, and OVID content will be available as well. We welcome your feedback about this product, please comment below.

 

 

Job posting: Systems Administrator

systems administrator

The Dalhousie Libraries are seeking a Systems Administration with excellent interpersonal, communication, and problem solving skills. Reporting to the Director of Library IT, the Systems Administrator creates and maintains the core infrastructure for all of the Dalhousie Libraries.

This competition closes on Wed., Sept. 4. For more information, see the job posting.

Intern Season 2013

intern season

Every summer, the Dalhousie Libraries welcome students from Dal’s Master of Library and Information Studies program for internships. Working with these bright and enthusiastic individuals is one of our favourite things about summer at the Dalhousie Libraries. Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be featuring profiles of these fantastic folks here on our blog, and highlight the great work they’re doing to make the libraries better.

James Rothwell, Sexton Design & Technology Library
Keriann Dowling, Killam Memorial Library
Marc Harper, W. K. Kellogg Health Sciences Library
Nicole Bloudoff, Killam Memorial Library
Linda Cormier, MacRae Library
Samantha Fritz, Killam Memorial Library
Maggie Neilson, W.K. Kellogg Health Sciences Library
Jannaya Jensen, Dalhousie University Archives
Veronika Kollbrand, Sir James Dunn Law Library

Agricultural Campus Open House: A fun day for all

Yesterday, approximately 35 members of the Dal Libraries staff from the Halifax campuses joined our colleagues in Truro at the Agricultural Campus for their annual Open House event.

The Agricultural Campus staff created a welcoming, fun, and interesting environment for everyone to explore. Faculty, staff, and students were on hand to explain various research projects and offer samples of local produce and delicacies. There were also games for the kids, contests for young and old, adorable animals, and beautiful gardens to take in, as well as a barbecue, ice cream, and cake. The new Seed Lending Library was featured in the MacRae Library, offering free samples of seeds such as lettuce and parsley.  A full list of all the activities from yesterday can be viewed here.

Our Communications Coordinator Marlo MacKay tries her hand at soap felting, a process where you add layers of wool to a bar of soap to make your loofah-type product,

Our Communications Coordinator Marlo MacKay tries her hand at soap felting, a process involving adding layers of wool to a bar of soap to make a loofah-type product. (photo by Stephen Murray of the Sir James Dunn Law Library)

Thank you to our new President, Dr. Florizone, for providing the Dal Tiger bus that many of the library staff and other Dal staff took to the event.  Thanks also to the staff at the MacRae Library on the Agricultural Campus, Elaine MacInnis, Verna Mingo, Sherree Miller (who came in on her vacation), Jolene Reid, Jennifer MacIsaac, Erin MacPherson, and Linda Cormier, the MacRae Library’s SIM intern, for being such gracious hosts. We can’t wait to go again next year!

A scene of the beautiful rock garden on the Agricultural Campus. (photo by Stephen Murray of the Sir James Dunn Law Library)

A scene of the beautiful rock garden on the Agricultural Campus. (photo by Stephen Murray of the Sir James Dunn Law Library)

 

Cake served by the staff at the MacRae Library.

Cake served by the staff at the MacRae Library. (This and all following photos courtesy of Debbie Bangay of the Killam Library.)

Nellie and Susan (KIllam Library) on the bus en route to the Open House event.

Nellie and Susan (Killam Library) on the bus en route to the Open House event.

 

Janet, Susan and Nellie of the Killam Library enjoying the beautiful grounds of the Agricultural Campus.

Janet, Susan and Nellie of the Killam Library enjoying the beautiful grounds of the Agricultural Campus.

 

Four little sheep all in a row. They were being herded as part of a demonstration with a Shetland sheepdog.

Four little sheep all in a row. They were being herded as part of a demonstration with a Shetland sheepdog.

This man is a professional falconer, bringing his hawk to the Agricultural Campus to rid the crops of unwanted pests such as sparrows.

This man is a professional falconer, bringing his hawk to the Agricultural Campus to rid the crops of unwanted pests such as sparrows.

 

Chicks, always cute!

Chicks, always cute!

Sheep shearing

Sheep shearing

 

Introducing Creighton Barrett, the new Digital Archivist

creighton

Creighton Barrett is the brand-new Digital Archivist for Dalhousie University. A new position at Dal, Creighton will be responsible for:

  • Developing programs to acquire and provide access to born-digital archival material
  • Overseeing the adoption of digital preservation standards and best practices
  • Increasing capacity to digitize historical records held in the University Archives
  • Contributing to activities of new Digital Scholarship Centre

Creighton is not a new face in the Dalhousie Archives, though. Previously, he held the position of Archives Specialist. In that role he was responsible for the day-to-day running of the archives, processing archival material, and supervising student and contract workers, as well as working with the Dal Libraries’ website committee, which he will continue in his new role.

“I’m really excited to help contribute to digital archives initiatives and programs here at Dalhousie.  The world of archives is rapidly changing and I am looking forward to joining a growing community of people tackling the technical, organizational, and resource challenges involved with digital preservation and stewardship,” says Creighton.

“We are thrilled to welcome Creighton into his new position as Digital Archivist in the Dalhousie University Archives and the Dalhousie Libraries’ Centre for Digital Scholarship. Creighton will play an important role in the development of services and infrastructure that will allow the University Archives to begin the transition from a primary paper and analogue based repository to one whose future holdings will be received almost exclusively in digital form. Creighton will also work closely with members of the Centre for Digital Scholarship to ensure that the work created through the Centre is preserved and available for research use for generations to come,” says Michael Moosberger, Dalhousie’s Archivist.

Congratulations Creighton!

Geoff Brown, the new Digital Scholarship Librarian

Geoff Brown

Geoff Brown has worked for the Dalhousie Libraries since 1995. In his most-recent position, Geoff was the Head of Technical Services at the Killam Library, a role which included some system-wide responsibilities as well.

Geoff is now the Digital Scholarship Librarian, a new position for the Dal Libraries. This position complements the new Digital Scholarship Initiative of the Dalhousie Libraries. Geoff will be the point person for the Libraries’ online journal publishing and hosting (OJS) service, eTextbook hosting, digital collections metadata development and related initiatives.

“We are thrilled to welcome Geoff into his new position as Digital Scholarship Librarian for the Dalhousie Libraries” Centre for Digital Scholarship. Geoff will provide leadership and expertise in a number of key areas as the Centre develops a suite of services and initiatives; all of which will promote a collaborative approach to research at Dalhousie and beyond by making more and more materials publicly available in digital form,” says Michael Moosberger, the Dalhousie University Archivist.

 

Heather MacFadyen, the new Scholarly Communications & Collections Librarian

macfadyen_libvine_01

Heather MacFadyen started working as the Management and Economics Librarian at the Killam Library in September 2012. Since January 2013, she’s been working as the Scholarly Communication, Economics, and Information Management Librarian. And her newest role, beginning in July, will be as the Scholarly Communication and Collections Librarian.

“I am delighted to be working with Heather in her new role as Collections Librarian. Her skills and fresh perspective are already proving crucial to our re-imagining and re-organizing resource management at the Dalhousie Libraries,” says Patrick Ellis, Associate University Librarian, Resources.

In this position Heather will support system-wide collection activities by providing analysis, consultation and planning services. Her work in Scholarly Communications includes leading the Faculty Research Profiles program in DalSpace, supporting the Dal Libraries OJS journal hosting service, and other digital scholarship initiatives.

 

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