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The LibVine

What's going on at Dalhousie Libraries

Category: Featured News

Red Dress Day Pin Workshop

We had a full room for our Red Dress Day pin workshop, designed and hosted by Michelle McDonald. A big thank you to Michelle and also Rachelle McKay – who attended the workshop but ended up helping those of us who needed a little extra attention. Here are a few photos from today’s event.

We’re grateful to those who joined and created with us to mark May 5 – the National Day of awareness and remembrance for the Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQI+ people (MMIWG2S), also known as Red Dress Day.

Killam Retrofit: April & May 2025 Updates

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: Noise Expected in Learning Commons April 28 – May 7

There will be construction with noise in the Downie Wenjack Legacy Space, also known as the South Learning Commons from April 28 – May 7.

Specifically, the glass windows with the emergency exit will be enclosed for construction. Expect loud noise and vibrations in this space and the Ko’jua Okuom in the first few days. There may be some noise and vibrations felt throughout the building. The final days of work will be quieter with minor interruptions.

Access to the Learning Commons and Ko’jua Okuom will not be affected; the space will still be available.

In an emergency, floor wardens will direct evacuees to the back emergency door and the main lobby doors by the service point.

Killam Spaces & Noise Designation Updates

Welcome back to the Killam Library! Based on data collected during assessment, and feedback and recommendations we collected from our users this year, we’ve made some changes to the noise level designations on each floor.

As always, if you are seated in a quiet or silent area and have noisy neighbours you can text us at 902-220-5318.

Noise Level Designations:

Conversation Friendly AreasQuiet Study AreasSilent Study Areas
Talking and group work allowedQuiet conversationNo talking
Use Headphones with all devicesUse Headphones with all devicesUse Headphones with all devices
Phones must be on silentPhones must be on silent. Leave quiet area to take callsPhones must be on silent. Leave silent area to take calls

First Floor/Main Level

  • Conversation Friendly: Learning Commons. lobby
  • Quiet Study: Music room

Second Floor

  • Conversation Friendly: Atrium seating, Study carrels in the book stacks
  • Silent Study: McNab Reading Room

Third Floor

  • Conversation Friendly: Atrium seating
  • Silent Study: Study carrels in the book stacks

Fourth Floor

  • Quiet Study: Atrium seating, study rooms
  • Silent Study: Study carrels in the book stacks

Fifth Floor

  • Silent study: Atrium seating and Special Collections Reading Room

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

Steam shutdown coming up on Sunday, May 7

Facilities Management must do essential maintenance to our steam distribution network and have determined that this will take place for 20 hours on Sunday, May 7 from 12:01 a.m. until 8 p.m. in the evening.

This will mean no heat or hot water in many of our buildings on Studley and Carleton campuses during this time. All Dalhousie Libraries locations will remain open. However, only cold water will be available in the washrooms. Water fountains will remain operational.

Key personnel in the most impacted areas are aware. If you see any issues with this shutdown please contact Gordon Rines Gordon.rines@dal.ca

 

Explore a World of Research with SAGE Research Methods (Webinar)

Dalhousie Libraries has recently purchased a subscription to SAGE Research Methods.

Do you work with students who need help designing a research project or understanding various research methods? Have you struggled helping researchers understand how to conduct a literature review? Whether overseeing a student research project, thesis, or dissertation; or preparing your own work for publication or dissemination, SAGE Research Methods (SRM) can help with every step of the research process.

In this session, you will learn more about SRM and its various content types — including books, journal articles, reference works, videos, and medicine & health cases — and how these resources can help in teaching and learning research methods.

As a result of this session, you will be able to:

  • Explain the purpose and scope of SRM and each of the resource’s content types
  • Instruct your students and colleagues on how SRM can enhance their research and teaching
  • Search and browse for information across content types and disciplines
  • Incorporate content into your classroom and library
  • Create custom video clips and embed them in learning/course management systems

Tuesday, May 25/12–1 p.m.
Register
(After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with information about joining the session.)

Can’t attend this session? There will be another one offered in June, so watch for the announcement.​​

 

 

Publish APC Free with SAGE: Dalhousie Libraries & CRKN partner in a publisher transformative agreement 

by Ann Barrett

On behalf of academic libraries across the country, the Canadian Research Knowledge Network  (CRKN) has reached a transformative open access agreement with academic publisher SAGE that significantly increases open access options for Canadian researchers. Through the agreement, authors affiliated with participating CRKN institutions, like Dalhousie, may now publish their articles as open access with no Article Processing Charge (APC) in most of over 900 SAGE Choice journals (a few journals are excluded from SAGE Choice and are listed here). With the elimination of the standard SAGE article processing fee of $3,000 USD,  Dalhousie authors who seek to publish in a hybrid SAGE journal will see substantial savings. 

In addition, the agreement includes a 40 per cent discount on APCs in SAGE’s gold open access journals. (See the title list of participating gold journals.) 

How does it work? 

Processing of the APC waiver for SAGE Choice journals and the discount for gold open access journals is done automatically via the SAGE Open Access Portal (SOAP) when authors identify themselves as affiliated with a participating CRKN institution. SOAP is a dashboard for authors to submit their article, select a copyright license, assign a bill payer (if applicable), and view article status. A Creative Commons license CC–BY (Creative Commons-Attribution) will be applied to open access publications unless a different license is requested by the author. 

What is a Transformative Agreement? 

There are many “flavours” of transformative agreements, but they generally all espouse the core principles of:  

  • shifting from paying for library subscriptions to paying for publishing, with inclusion of clauses that favour open access. 
  • requiring that copyright be retained by the author and not transferred to the publisher through a CC–BY license (allows copy and distribution of the material in any medium or format and adaptation, so long as attribution is given to the creator and changes indicated) 

How has this agreement been achieved? The agreement includes a total package price increase of 6% over three years to cover the costs of open access publishing that in the past were often paid through researcher funding grants or discretionary funding at universities.   

This is a major step forward for Open Access publishing at Dalhousie.  Please check out this and other APC discounts that the Dalhousie Libraries have arranged through publisher agreements, memberships and sponsorships. 

Dal Libraries COVID-19 Update #2

Starting Wednesday, all Dal Libraries locations will be closed for three weeks, with the exception of the CHEB Learning Commons.

 Today (Tuesday), all of our libraries will be moving to reduced hours, closing at 5 p.m. and reopening at 9 a.m. tomorrow (Tuesday) morning

Going forward, the Kellogg Library Learning Commons in the CHEB will be open from 7:30 a.m.–4 p.m., Monday–Friday, to provide access to computers and internet-based scholarly resources for students. We recognize that not every student has a computer or internet access.

Library Collections

  • Online collections are available from the Dal Libraries website.
  • Guides to library resources by subject are available (LibGuides)
  • All physical collections (print books, music, etc.) are unavailable while we are closed.
  • Print materials are not available at this time. We are working on providing print materials in digital format by request, while adhering to Canadian copyright legislation and for as long as it is possible to obtain content from other libraries. As other libraries start to close, this could become more challenging.
  • Inter-Library Loan requests will continue with delivery in digital format to the extent possible. Please continue to submit your requests at: https://libraries.dal.ca/borrow/documentdelivery.html
  • Equipment lending (laptops, headphones) will not be available

Library Hours and Spaces

  • The Kellogg Library Learning Commons in the CHEB will be open 7:30 a.m.–4 p.m., Monday–Friday. All other locations will be closed for three weeks.
  • Group Study Rooms will be unavailable in the CHEB
  • Some computers will be removed in support of social distancing
  • Use the LiveHelp chat box on libraries.dal.ca for asking quesitons

Due dates and late fees

  • All due dates have been moved to May 30. This is Novanet-wide, so items borrowed from other university and college libraries in Nova Scotia and from Mount A are not due until May 30.
  • Overdue notices will stop as of March 17.
  • You can still return items in our book drops during the closure. If you are self-isolating, please do not return your items until more information can be provided.
  • If you know how to renew online, you can do that. If you have problems renewing, please ask us.

DEADLINE EXTENDED: Invitation to Participate: Understanding Research Data Management Practices at Dalhousie University

Below is an invitation from Dal Librarians Erin MacPherson and Melissa Rothfus to participate in a survey on the topic of research data management practices at Dal. Your participation will be of great assistance as we finalize our Institutional RDM Strategy for Dalhousie. We want to help our researchers to follow the FAIR principles for research data – ensuring their data is Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable.

Researchers can find more information about current RDM services in the Dal Libraries at https://dal.ca.libguides.com/rdm  or contact data.management@dal.ca

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To: Dalhousie University research community, including all current faculty (non-tenured, tenured, limited term appointments), postdoctoral fellows, instructors, staff and graduate students at Dalhousie University

Subject: Invitation to Participate: Understanding Research Data Management Practices at Dalhousie University

Researchers from the Dalhousie Libraries are conducting an anonymous, online survey focusing on the research community at Dalhousie University, including faculty at all ranks (tenure, non-tenure and limited term appointments), instructors, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students at all departments, institutes and schools at Dalhousie University.

The purpose of this survey is to contribute to a national growing body of knowledge on research data management in universities and versions of this survey have been conducted at several other Canadian universities. Additionally, results of this survey may help the Libraries develop infrastructure and educational programmes to meet the research data management needs at Dalhousie University. The combined results may also assist in developing national initiatives for research data management.

We will be sharing our aggregate and anonymized data with the participating schools and the wider community in a data repository such as Dataverse. The researchers also aim to publish and/or present the research results openly within the academic community through academic journals and/or conference presentation and in an institutional repository such as DalSpace.

This research is being conducted by Erin MacPherson (Research Data Management Librarian – MacRae Library, 902-893-3296) and Melissa Rothfus (Scholarly Communications Librarian, Kellogg Library, 902-494-1649) and has been approved by the Research Ethics Board at Dalhousie (REB #2019-4738)

The survey deadline has been extended and is now open until midnight, August 16th, 2019. It can be accessed here:  https://surveys.dal.ca/opinio/s?s=48047

 

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