OVID will be performing maintenance on Saturday, December 15 between 10 p.m.–1 a.m. (AST) While they do not expect this to impact your access, it is possible with any system maintenance that you may experience some downtime during this window. We apologize for any inconvenience this maintenance may cause.
Scheduled Maintenance on Taylor & Francis Online – Tuesday, December 4
Due to scheduled site maintenance, some functionality on Taylor & Francis Online will be unavailable between 1 a.m.–5 p.m. (AST) on Tuesday, December 4. Users will still be able to search, browse and read articles on Taylor & Francis Online, but not be able to register, edit account information, purchase content, or activate tokens/e-prints during this period.
Journal Assessment Update – November 2018
This year, the Dal Libraries is examining six journal packages to determine whether we should renew these subscriptions. The packages we are examining this year are Cambridge, Oxford, Sage, Springer, Taylor & Francis, and Wiley.
Since the summer, subject-based teams of librarians have been analyzing the data from the faculty and student consultations we held in the spring, journal usage statistics, citations, and other metrics to determine the value of each package. As a result of these efforts, we can now report on the results of the analysis on one of the six packages — we will be renewing the full subscription for Cambridge.
We expect to decide on the renewal status of the Oxford package in January. Analysis of the remaining four packages will continue into the new year and updates will follow as that work is completed.
This is complex and time-consuming work. Thank you to the librarians for carefully analyzing all the factors leading to the decision to maintain the Cambridge package. For more information, visit our collections management page or contact Library.Collections@dal.ca
The Future Is Open
(This is a slighted edited version of the story that originally appeared in Dal News and Today @ Dal.)
On Thursday, January 10, the Dal Libraries is launching its first in-house produced open textbook, Environmental Science: A Canadian Perspective by renowned conservation biologist and Dalhousie faculty member Bill Freedman (1950–2015).
“The production of this open textbook is a celebration of the legacy of Bill Freedman, and an exploration of new possibilities to provide open access to scholarly resources at no cost to the reader,” says Donna Bourne-Tyson, Dalhousie’s University Librarian.
An open textbook is a textbook that has been published under an open copyright license and made available online freely to students, faculty, and members of the public. Most open textbooks are digital in format as there are fewer costs associated with digital publication. A digital format is also easier for people to access regardless of their location.
This is the first open textbook the Libraries have produced as part of its Digital Scholarship Initiative. Under the umbrella of the Digital Scholarship Initiative, the Dal Libraries offers services that include online journal publishing and hosting (OJS), eTextbook hosting, digital collections metadata development, and other related initiatives.
Thinking digital
As the digital scholarship librarian for the Dalhousie Libraries, Geoff Brown is the point person for much of this work, including the production of this open textbook.
“It’s very satisfying to be a part of this innovative project,” said Geoff. “Providing access to information is what we in the Libraries strive to do and removing barriers like cost for a textbook is one more way we achieve that.”
Geoff worked on the production of the textbook throughout the summer. The content came to him in the form of Microsoft Word files. The first thing he did was remove the many images, figures, and tables in the document. Next, he put the text into an open publishing system called Pressbooks. Finally, he put the images back in.
“Open textbooks differ greatly from commercially published textbooks. Commercial publishers use digital rights management to control distribution of their publications. Our goal is to welcome as wide a distribution as possible of the textbook we’ve produced,” said Ann Barrett, Associate University Librarian for Scholarly Communications.
Environmental Science: a Canadian Perspective is available in DalSpace, Dalhousie’s institutional repository. You can also find it in Novanet, the union catalogue for all Nova Scotia post-secondary institutions and in WorldCat, a catalogue of the collections of 72,000 libraries in 170 countries and territories. Next steps for distributing the textbook include reaching out to other Canadian open textbook initiatives so more Canadian universities will know about it.
Throughout the production of this textbook the Libraries have been in close contact with George-Anne Merrill, Bill’s wife. After Bill passed, the Dal Libraries acquired his papers and digital files for preservation in the Archives.
“Thanks to George-Anne’s willingness to trust us with this project, we are now able to share Bill’s work with the world,” says Michael Moosberger, associate university librarian, archives, special Collections, and records Management; and university archivist.
| LAUNCH OF DALHOUSIE LIBRARIES’ FIRST OPEN TEXTBOOK
You are cordially invited to the launch of the Dalhousie Libraries’ first open textbook, Environmental Science: a Canadian Perspective by renowned conservation biologist Bill Freedman (1950–2015). Thursday, January 10, 3:30 PM Biology Lounge, Fifth floor, Life Sciences Centre RSVP: marlo.mackay@dal.ca |
Welcome Morning Star Padilla, the new Indigenous Services Librarian
We are pleased to welcome Morning Star Padilla to the brand-new role of Indigenous Services Librarian with the Dalhousie Libraries.
Morning Star Padilla (Diné/Apache) has a Master of Arts degree in Community Development from Clark University and Master of Archival Studies and Master of Library and Information Studies degrees from University of British Columbia. She brings a background in social science research, community engagement, and Indigenous cultural/intellectual property and language reclamation.
Morning Star will spend time in both the MacRae Library on the Agricultural Campus and in the Killam Library on Studley Campus, but she will be available to work with people from all campuses. She will work closely with faculty, researchers, staff, and students to support learning and research on Indigenous topics in all disciplines. Morning Star will also coordinate reference support, programming and other services to users of Dalhousie’s National Centre for Truth & Reconciliation Hub in the MacRae Library.
“We have identified Indigenous Services as a priority within the Dalhousie Libraries and I am looking forward to working with Morning Star to develop new services and initiatives in this area. We envision these services extending not only to our Indigenous and non-indigenous students, staff and faculty but also to our local Indigenous communities,” said Elaine MacInnis, Associate University Librarian Services and Head, MacRae Library.
“I am happy to be here in Mi’kma’ki and to take part in the positive work that Dalhousie is doing towards building its relationship with Mi’kmaq and other Indigenous peoples,” said Morning Star.
Welcome, Morning Star!
Symposium: Indigenous Knowledge & Access
Please join us for a day of stimulating discussion and presentations on Indigenous knowledge and access.
Co-hosted by Dalhousie Libraries, Dalhousie’s School of Information Management, and Library and Archives Canada, the event will focus on the work and challenges of documenting and improving access to Indigenous knowledge. The day features a keynote address by Elder Albert Marshall and Dr. Cheryl Bartlett, presentations from the Mi’kmawey Debert Cultural Centre, Beaton Institute and much more.
This event is free and open to the public. Space is limited. Please register in advance.
Event info:
Thursday, November 15, 2018
Registration opens at 8 a.m. (AST)
Sessions begin at 8:45 a.m. (AST) and run all day until 4:10 p.m. (AST)
Collaborative Health Education Building (CHEB), Room 170, 5793 University Avenue
Reserve your spot for this event now All seating is general admission.
Holiday Hours – Remembrance Day
Sunday, November 11 is Remembrance Day. Because Dalhousie is observing the holiday on Monday, November 12, our hours will be as follows:
All locations of the Dal Libraries will run their regular Sunday hours on Sunday, November 11 with the exception of the MacRae Library in Truro, which will be open from 12–5 p.m.
All locations of the Dal Libraries will be running on holiday hours Monday, November 12, with the exception of the MacRae Library in Truro which will be closed for a scheduled power outage.
Consult the hours widget on our landing page for specific hours by location: https://libraries.dal.ca/
Welcome Guy LeLievre, Library Services Assistant
Guy LeLievre has joined the staff at the Dalhousie Libraries working both in Access Services and in the Archives. He is a graduate of NSCC’s Library & Information Technology diploma program, as well as Cape Breton University, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Certificate in Theatre Arts.
Guy has worked at the Woodlawn Public Library and the Health Sciences Library of the Nova Scotia Hospital, bringing a wealth of varied experience. He also is no stranger to Dalhousie and the Dal Libraries, having previously done his practicum at the Sexton Design & Technology Library while he was an NSCC student. In 2017, he also worked as a contract project assistant cataloguing the Shirreff Hall Library, an undertaking overseen by the Dalhousie Libraries.
During his free time, Guy likes to read, listen to podcasts, watch movies and catch up on some of his favorite TV shows.
Welcome, Guy!
25th Anniversary of the Launch of We Were Not the Savages
On this day in 1993, Daniel Paul’s ground-breaking book We Were Not the Savages was launched. Nearly 300 people attend the event.
A review by historian Geoffrey Plank describes the book as “…unique, in chronological scope and the story it tells, covering the last three centuries of Mi’kmaq history in detail. It is also extraordinary in the way it presents a distinctive voice [for] the Mi’kmaq…Prior to the appearance of …this book it was common for historians to downplay or even deny the violence inflicted on the Mi’kmaq…by European and Euro-American colonizers. …it is important to recognize that we have far too few histories written by Native American authors – very few indeed that cover as extensive a time span as this book does.”
We are proud to have featured We Were Not the Savages as last year’s Dal Reads book.
Thanks to the Mi’kmaq Book of Days (CBU) for the information in this post.
Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon: with a focus on women’s health
Your research skills can help make Wikipedia a better, evidence-based resource for those seeking health information for and about women. Join us as we host our third Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon, the first with a health focus. The US National Network of Libraries of Medicine are spearheading this initiative and you can join in. or follow along on Twitter with the hashtag #citeNLM2018
The session will begin with a brief presentation and discussion about Wikipedia followed by a learning session on Wikipedia editing. Participants will then embark in an on-site edit-a-thon, working with the aid of facilitators. Participants can work independently or in groups to locate and update/edit pages and citations.