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The LibVine

What's going on at Dalhousie Libraries

Category: General Library News

Tim Ruggles Award Established

Tim Ruggles, Reference & Research Librarian at the Kellogg Health Sciences Library, was recently honoured by Dalhousie’s Emergency Medicine Department by having an award named after him. Tim himself presented the inaugural “Tim Ruggles Critically Appraised Topic Award” at the Dept. of Emergency Medicine’s 14th Research Day held at the Holiday Inn (now the Atlantica Hotel) in Halifax on May 20, 2009.

For the past six years Tim has helped co-ordinate the Emergency Medicine Evidence-Based Care course offered annually to emergency medicine residents at Dalhousie University. As part of the course requirements, each resident must complete a “Critically Appraised Topic” or CAT, for which they pose a clinical question, do a thorough literature search, critically appraise the appropriate studies, and finally present a clinical conclusion about whether a particular intervention is effective or not. Critical appraisal involves assessing studies for their methodological validity, calculating whether the results are clinically significant, and deciding whether or not these results have implications for patient care.

The eponymous award will be presented annually to the resident who writes the best CAT.

Gail Fraser To Speak at Grand Opening

Gail Fraser, Head of Acquisitions Services, Kellogg Library, has been invited to give a presentation at Login Canada’s Grand Opening of their new offices and distribution centre in Mississauga, on 18 Sept 2009. Login Canada is a health sciences, sci-tech & music book and media distributor based in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Gail’s presentation will be on Doody’s Online Review Service and Doody’s Core Titles, two collection development tools for health sciences libraries.

Libraries Welcome Umar Qasim

Umar Qasim has recently joined us as a System Developer in the Library Information and Technology Support (LITS) group. He has a BSc. in computer science and an MSc. in information systems, and is currently a PhD candidate at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in the United States.

Umar has many years of experience in software development, teaching and research. He has specialized in the areas of digital libraries, information retrieval and information filtering, and has worked on various projects including those funded by National Science Digital Library(NSDL). Before joining Dalhousie he worked with the digital initiatives group at McMaster University.

A father of two, Umar was born in the world’s best citrus producing rural area of Pakistan. He enjoys traveling, watching sports and spending time with his family. We look forward to working with you, Umar!

Librarians on Leave, Take 3

MARK LEWIS
Reference Librarian, Sir James Dunn Law Library
September 1, 2008 – August 31, 2009

While on sabbatical for the past year I completed the first year of the Masters of Public Administration program in the Faculty of Management here at Dalhousie University. I will complete the degree requirements on a part-time basis over the next few years while at the same time returning to work full-time.

During the coursework portion of the year I took the opportunity to explore areas which have been of interest to me in my work at the Sir James Dunn Law Library. Specifically, I wrote one paper on the question of the need for a revision to the Revised Statutes of Canada, a paper I plan to submit for publishing. I wrote another paper on the topic of generational conflict in the workplace.

As a full-time Masters student for a full year I have found that I have gained a greater appreciation of the needs and wants of the students that the library system services; I plan to draw upon this new perspective as I return to work. One of the benefits of being a full-time student for the year was shaving once every two-weeks or so, whether I needed it or not.

Librarians On Leave Take 2

Ian Colford

Ian Colford, Assistant University Librarian Collections
July 1, 2009 – June 30, 2010

While on leave I plan to complete two writing projects, both of which I began a number of years ago. The first is a novel titled “The Lives of Hector Tomas.” It is set in South America during a time of political instability and involves a young man who is drawn into the conflict against his will, and who must do terrible things in order to survive. The second is a book of literary criticism. I am working on a critical assessment of the work of the American novelist and short story writer John Cheever. I began this manuscript during my previous sabbatical and made substantial progress. I hope to complete it during this sabbatical.

Librarians on Leave Take 1

SARAH STEVENSON
Reference Librarian, Killam Library
July 31 – December 31, 2009

For some time, I have suspected that the libraries are not meeting the needs of the Faculty of Science. I propose to investigate two questions during my leave:

Are Dalhousie University Libraries meeting the needs of the Faculty of Science?
How can the Libraries improve services to the Faculty of Science, or make them more aware of what we have to offer?

At present, my plan for investigating these questions consists of soliciting feedback from students (undergraduate & graduate), post-doctoral fellows, staff, and faculty through an online survey, focus groups and interviews.  I expect that these investigations will reveal areas for improvement, both in the provision of service and the marketing of the services we already provide.

During my leave, I’ll be one of the Researchers in Residence at Dalhousie’s School of Information Management. They are providing me with a workspace and a collegial environment for my research in exchange for a presentation in their Public Lecture series and mentoring with their students.  The faculty and staff have already been very welcoming, and generous with their advice!

New Job for Valerie Reashor

I am very pleased to announce that I’ve accepted a new position as Distance Education Assistant in the School of Social Work. After working within the Dalhousie University Libraries system for the past 23 years, I am looking forward to new challenges at the School. In my new position I will be a resource person for both students and faculty in the area of Distance Education programs along with all the technical work behind the scenes.

I’ve met a lot of nice people over the years working at Dalhousie University Libraries and I know I will truly miss my dear friends and colleagues. I look forward to starting anew with the School of Social Work!

Sarah Jane Off to Austin TX Y’All

Please join us in congratulating Sarah Jane Dooley, Sexton Reference & Liaison Librarian and Promotions & Outreach Coordinator. Sarah Jane will be presenting her paper, “Collaboration with Faculty: What They Don’t Teach You in Library School” at the upcoming ASEE Annual Conference, to be held in Austin, TX, June 14 – 17, 2009. This paper is published in the American Society for Engineering Education, Annual Conference Proceedings.

Read Bedwell Article on Live Help

Killam Reference Librarian Linda Bedwell has an article  in the current issue of Online magazine, titled Making Chat Widgets Work for Online Reference. Linda was Chair of the Live Help Committee 2007-09, and this article follows up on IM a Librarian: Extending Virtual Reference Services through Instant Messaging and Chat Widgets, an article she co-authored with Denyse Rodriguez, Lawrence Duggan and Stan Orlov, published in Partnership: the Canadian Journal of Library Information Practice and Research in 2008.

Document Delivery Welcomes Christine Hatton

Christine Hatton (bottom right); with colleagues Amy Harding, Kellie Hawley &; Marlyn McCann (standing) and Angela Manyangara

Christine Hatton (bottom right); with colleagues Amy Harding, Kellie Hawley& Marlyn McCann (standing) and Angela Manyangara

Document Delivery staff at the Killam Library are delighted to welcome Christine Hatton, who joined the department on May 19.

Christine comes to the Killam from the Sexton Library where she has worked since 1990.  She was responsible for all the interlibrary loan services offered from that library prior to and after the re-organization of the Dalhousie Libraries document delivery services in 2007.  In her new capacity Christine will have the opportunity to become familiar with all aspects of the document delivery management system and to refresh her expertise with processing incoming patron requests.  Her experience and knowledge will be very valuable to the department.  Welcome Christine!

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