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What's going on at Dalhousie Libraries

Category: Arts, Social Sciences & Sciences

Killam Retrofit: April & May 2025 Updates

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Second Floor Closed: April 28-May 7

The entire second floor of the Killam, including the book stacks, atrium seating, and McNab silent study room, will be closed due to construction from April 28-May 7. There will be no power on the second floor.

Fifth Floor Closed During Evenings: April 28 – May 2

The fifth floor, including the Archives, Special Collections Reading Room, and GIS Centre, will close at 5:00 p.m. from April 28-May 2. Alternative quiet study spaces can be found on the 4th floor.

Downie Wenjack Legacy Space (Learning Commons): April 28-May 7

The windows (curtain wall) near the emergency exit to the courtyard in the Learning Commons will be under construction from April 28 – May 7. Access to the learning commons and Ko’Jua Okuom will not be affected.

  • Noise: Expect loud noise and vibrations in the first few days. There may be some noise and vibrations felt throughout the building as well. The final days of work will be quieter with minor interruptions.
  • Emergency Exit: The emergency exit will be available in case of evacuation.

Atrium Slate Flooring Repairs: May 12-16

  • Access: A safe path will be maintained, but some areas will be temporarily blocked.
  • Disruptions: Expect noise, vibrations, and dust throughout the repair period.
  • Closures: Atrium seating will be unavailable and restaurants will be closed during this time.

Entrance & Accessibility:

  • To minimize disruption, please use the Howe Hall side entrance whenever possible.
  • The front ramps will remain open for those with accessibility needs.
  • In case of an emergency evacuation, use alternative exits when possible.

Health & Safety:

  • Those sensitive to dust or construction materials are advised to use alternative entrances.
  • Air purifiers and filters will be employed to help contain dust and fumes.

Ongoing: Basement Construction March 24-May 10

Work in the basement area that began March 24 is ongoing until May 10, 2025. We will provide updates if access to other buildings is impacted. 

Thank you for your patience as we near the end of the Killam Deep Energy Retrofit Project.

 

Killam Retrofit Update: Fifth Floor Closed February 17-21

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A long hallway featuring shelving and boxesPlease note: The fifth floor will be closed from February 17-21, 2025, for electrical panel upgrade work.

The GIS Centre and the Archives & Special Collections Reading Room will be closed but you can still book appointments:

Call for 2025 OER Development Grant Applications

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The Council of Atlantic Academic Libraries has called for applications for AtlanticOER Development Grants. Funding is provided by the four Atlantic provinces (New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island).

AtlanticOER Development Grants provide financial support to instructors in the Atlantic Region creating and adapting new Open Educational Resources. The goal is to support instructors to increase the availability of quality, free, openly licensed resources to support student learning. You can apply for three different funding tiers, depending on the scope of your project. The tiers are:

Tier 1: Creating an Open Textbook (up to $7,000) – This funding is intended for the development of a new open textbook. The topic should not be covered in an already existing open textbook. This tier is meant for creation projects at a larger scale.

Tier 2: Adaptation of an Existing Open Textbook (up to $4,000) – This funding is intended for substantive adaptation projects. Sometimes it can be possible to find an open textbook that covers foundational knowledge but needs to be adjusted. For example, the textbook might require adjustments to ensure it adheres to local educational standards, or adjustments might be made to make it relevant to the local context (eg, an American business textbook may need adjustments to make it suitable for a Canadian business context), or new examples and interactive elements may be added to a book.

Tier 3: Creation of Ancillary Materials (up to $1,000) – This funding is intended for smaller creation projects. Ancillary materials can be defined as course materials that are meant to supplement and support a textbook. Examples of ancillary materials include: slide decks, interactive tutorials, and quiz and test banks. Often, ancillary materials can enhance student learning.

The application period closes on February 14, 2025.

Read more about the application process and who can apply.

 

Killam Retrofit Update: Fourth Floor Closures

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Thank you for your patience and understanding as we move through the phases of the Killam Library Deep Energy Retrofit Project.

The current phase of the project requires closures on the fourth floor of the Killam Library including the Grad Pad and quiet study rooms. Closures will happen in 3 stages and were scheduled to avoid closing during both the December and April exam periods.

Phase 4-1: Closed for Construction November 1 – January 24

  • Book stacks – Please use Novanet Express or speak with staff at the Killam Library Service Point (KLSP) to borrow materials from areas that are closed.
  • Study carrels

Phase 4-2: Closed for Construction December 4 – January 3

  • Classroom 4106

Phase 4-3: Closed for Construction January 20– March 24

  • Grad Pad
  • Quiet study rooms
  • Atrium seating
  • Washrooms

Alternative seating for phase 4-3: the study carrels that run along the perimeter of the book stacks are available during this time.

Document Delivery During Canada Post Strike

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The current Canada Post strike impacts our ability to borrow print books and other “returnable” items from libraries outside of Novanet.

We can still borrow from a limited number of libraries but many have suspended book lending.

What You Can Do for Efficient Processing

  • Please indicate the date you need the item when you submit your request.
  • If you only need part of a book, you can request specific chapters be sent to you electronically. You can request one chapter per form submission. Copyright regulations may prohibit us from filling multiple requests from the same book. We will assess each request as they are submitted.

Access the request forms by logging into your Document Delivery account.

Please contact us with questions at docdel@dal.ca or 902-494-3612.

Planned DalSpace Repository Updates & Outages

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The DalSpace theses repository will undergo updates during October 15-22. These updates will address issues and ensure ongoing functionality. 

From October 15-22 users will experience outages. Please avoid uploads and deposits until the update is completed after October 22. 

If you have any questions about the update, please contact dalspace@dal.ca.

May 5 is Red Dress Day

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Seven red dresses hang on a line.

The Red Dress Day exhibit in the Ko’jua Okuom in the Killam Memorial Library.

May 5 is Red Dress Day,  a day of honouring missing and murdered Indigenous people.

Learn more about Red Dress Day.

Learn more about missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG) by reading the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

Research Summer Camp

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Are you a graduate student, research assistant, or teaching assistant looking to develop your research skills? The Research Summer Camp is a comprehensive program that will take you through the research process from literature searching and writing all the way to publication. The program is open to any student, faculty, or staff member at Dalhousie, but is specifically tailored to graduate students.

The Research Summer Camp will be offered as a series of online modules on Brightspace and live online sessions. Modules may include short video lectures and interactive exercises to help you brush up on your literature searching, writing, information management, and research skills. By registering for this program, you will have access to all of the pre-recorded modules beginning on May 15th, 2023. You also have the option to register for sessions in the program that will be delivered live (online) in May and June.

Starting in May 2023, we are also offering certificates for completion of Research Summer Camp sessions and modules. For a full list of available certificates, see the Certificate page on the Research Summer Camp website.

Registration is open now, and access starts on May 15th, 2023. To self-register for the program

· Log into Brightspace

· In the Academic Support menu, select Self-registration

· From the list of courses, find and select Online Community – Research Camp 2023-2024

To register for live sessions, visit the Dal Libraries Events Calendar: https://dal.libcal.com/calendar/events

Program website, including schedule, module descriptions, FAQs: https://dal.ca.libguides.com/ResearchCamp

DMP Assistant Platform Upgrade

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The DMP Assistant will be unavailable from 9am to 6pm AST on February 22nd, 2023 for a system upgrade.

 

Any work that DMP Assistant users have completed prior to the shutdown will be migrated to the new 3.1.0 platform, along with any other existing data management plans (DMPs), templates and user data. Users should save and/or export any existing DMPs/data that they may require during the shutdown period. Once launched, users will be able to access the DMP Assistant 3.1.0 service at the same URL (https://assistant.portagenetwork.ca/) with their existing credentials, and new users may create accounts as normal. 

 

The upgraded version of the DMP Assistant will improve security and user experience, and come with several exciting new features, including a new “Research Output” tab that allows users to: 

  • Specify the type (e.g., dataset, software, image, etc.), name and a description of the output, size (if applicable), whether or not it contains sensitive information, what the initial access level will be (e.g., open, restricted, closed), and the anticipated publication date 
  • Select an appropriate license from the SPDX License List 
  • Select any metadata standards that will be followed from the RDA Metadata standards catalog 
  • Select the repositories they intend to preserve the object in from a dropdown list powered by re3data  

 For more information or any questions, please contact Shiloh Williams, Product Lead, Data Management Planning, Digital Research Alliance of Canada, at support@portagenetwork.ca.  

Borealis Upgrade February 1st

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Borealis, the Canadian Dataverse Repository, will be upgraded February 1. The platform, including Dalhousie Dataverse @ Borealis, will be unavailable from approximately 11 am – 5 pm Atlantic Time.

This upgrade should bring exciting new features, including:

  • New standardized Creative Commons licenses
  • Improved file upload handling and messaging
  • Accessibility improvements
  • Bug fixes
  • And more

To test these features, feel free to use their demo sandbox environment.

For more details reach out to the Borealis team with questions or feedback.