Due to a planned power outage on Sexton Campus, the Sexton Library will be closed on Saturday, May 27.
Facilities Management will be implementing a power outage from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. to complete critical high voltage electrical maintenance. The work will affect the entire campus, with the exceptions of: O’Brien Hall, Gerard Hall, Grad House, the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (Halifax Data Collection Site), Hart House (K Building), and Moren House(L Building).
Starting today, the Killam Memorial Library is embarking on a deep energy retrofit that will continue into early 2026. When it’s done, most users won’t notice a difference. But the planet will.
The Killam retrofit project is projected to reduce both energy and water consumption by more than 50 per cent. It will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 2,100 tonnes of CO2 — the equivalent of removing 700 cars from the road.
As a deep energy retrofit, the project aims to achieve greater energy efficiency by looking at the whole building and incorporating upgrades and maintenance to multiple systems at once.
Work is starting today (May 15) in the Downie Wenjack Legacy Space. Work in that area should be completed before the start of the Fall term in September, but the space will remain closed until then. This closure includes the Learning Commons, IT Help Desk, Hardware Services, Ko’jua Okuom, Writing Centre, and the Atlantic Research Data Centre.
Help Desk staff and services will be available at the Killam Library Service Point throughout the closure.
The project will continue into early 2026 as building systems are replaced within each area. The plan is to complete the work space by space, so that closures are avoided during busy and important times, such as midterms and exams.
For specific closure announcements and updates: follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
For project updates: visit the Killam Library 2023‑25 Retrofit Project webpage.
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
Wednesday, April 26 is Lesbian Visibility Day at Mount Saint Vincent University. To mark this special day, an event will be held from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. in the MSVU Art Gallery.
The event will highlight the MSVU Lesbian Pulp Fiction Collection, the Dalhousie University Nova Scotia LGBT Seniors Archive, and the Dalhousie University Lesbian Oral History Project. Speakers will reflect on lesbian visibility and invisibility, and the need for collections that highlight the lives of women who love women. Light snacks and refreshments will be provided.
The event is a highlight of Lesbian Visibility Week, which runs from April 24-30.
Please contact elisabeth.heroux-rhymes@msvu.ca to RSVP.
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
The ASTM Digital Library site will be undergoing planned maintenance, and will be unavailable beginning Friday, February 24, 2023, at 11:00 p.m. AST ending Friday, February 24, 2023 at approximately 12:00 p.m. AST . ASTM apologizes for any inconvenience.
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:
For more information or any questions, please contact Shiloh Williams, Product Lead, Data Management Planning, Digital Research Alliance of Canada, at support@portagenetwork.ca.
In honor of ICPSR’s International Love Data Week 2023, which has the theme of “Data: Agent of Change”, Dalhousie Libraries will be hosting a series of online presentations aimed at giving you insights into varied aspects of working with data. Whether you are a new, experienced, secret, or not so secret “data agent”, you may very well find the right tool or approach that you need during a Love Data Week event. Taking place from February 13-17, presentations include:
To register for these (free) online sessions presented by Dalhousie Libraries and other organizations, check out our Love Data Week 2023 Research Guide. You will find Event details and registration information in our Events section.
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:
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.
Please join Dalhousie Libraries in congratulating James Boxall for being awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee medal in December. This medal was awarded to James to recognize his career of service to geography and geographic education in Nova Scotia and Canada, of which a few highlights follow.
James was instrumental in the creation of the Canadian Council for Geographic Education, now Canadian Geographic Education, an organization which supports a network of over 20,000 teachers. He is also a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, Past-President of the Association of Canadian Map Libraries and Archives, and co-chair of the Canadian Roundtable on Geomatics.
James has been with the Dalhousie Libraries for 31 years in a number of roles related to geography and is currently the library’s GIS Specialist and Map Curator. He has developed and taught courses in Human Geography in Earth and Environmental Sciences, Geospatial Information Management in the School of Information Management, and Marine Spatial Planning in the Marine Affairs Program. James has been published widely and his geospatial and geography teaching led to his involvement with projects in Canada, the UK, Mexico, and Vietnam, often as co-chair of the International Network for Learning and Teaching Geography.
Congratulations to James on receiving this significant award in recognition of all he does at Dalhousie and beyond.