Open Access Week 2017: Current Trends in Open Access for Research Data

October 16, 2017 Marlo MacKay

The theme of Open Access week this year is Open in Order to… and is an invitation to answer the question about the concrete benefits of making scholarly outputs openly available.

This session will explore current trends in open access for research data; new funder expectations for data management, discoverability, and sharing; direct and indirect benefits to publishing research data openly; and a brief overview of the current tools and platforms available to help researchers share their data.

We will also provide a demonstration of the DMP Assistant: a free online tool that guides researchers through the steps of creating a data management plan that is based on best practices and compliant with funder requirements.

Thursday, October 26, 10:30–11:30 a.m.
Collaborative Health Education Building (CHEB), Room C266
5793 University Avenue

RSVP to Erin.MacPherson@dal.ca
Remote Attendance Available: A guest link will be sent closer to the presentation date.

Presented by: Erin MacPherson, Research & Instruction Librarian, Dalhousie University; Lee Wilson, Interim Service Manager, Portage/ACENET and Maggie Neilson, Librarian, Acadia University.

Book Launch: Daniel Paul, Mi’kmaw Elder

October 13, 2017 Marlo MacKay

Join Jon Tattrie and Daniel Paul for the launch of Dr. Paul’s biography. Dr. Paul is the author of this year’s Dal Reads book, We Were Not the Savages.

The event will be opened by HRM Poet Laureate, Rebecca Thomas.

Wednesday, October 18/12:30 p.m.
University Hall, MacDonald Building (6300 Coburg Road, also accessible from University Avenue)

Can One Weak or Shared Password Lock the Entire Dalhousie Community Out of Online Resources?

October 4, 2017 Marlo MacKay

Yes, it can!

Have you ever tried to access an online resource, only to find that it’s unavailable? Publishers frequently have to cut Dalhousie Libraries’ access to electronic journals and databases because of suspected or actual fraudulent activity associated with weak or shared passwords. When access is cut, everyone at Dal is affected. The Resources and Academic Technology Services teams of the Dal Libraries work as quickly as possible to restore access, but even then it can take several days.

The Dalhousie Libraries sign licence agreements with many publishers — these licences are a key part of providing access to databases, journals, and ebooks. The licences include clauses that allow publishers to temporarily shut down Dalhousie’s electronic access if they suspect hacking, fraudulent downloading, or other misuses of their site. Most publishers monitor activity on their sites and when they see unusual download patterns from a Dalhousie account, they shut down access to every single Dalhousie user until we can address their concerns.

A common cause of misuse of publishers’ sites is when a NetID and password are stolen as a result of a phishing email. A phishing email tricks people into sending their credentials to a fake website posing as a trusted one. Another common cause of misuse of publishers’ sites is password sharing.

Keep your password safe. Never share it and never respond to emails requesting confidential information such as passwords. Banks, governments and Dalhousie will never ask for your password in an email.

Need to reset your password? Do it here: https://password.dal.ca/

Guidance on what makes a good password: https://www.dal.ca/dept/its/security/topics/passwords.html

Open Access Week 2017: Public Lecture with Dr. John Willinsky

September 25, 2017 Marlo MacKay

Public lecture: The Future of Open Access to Research and Scholarship: Lessons from the Medieval to the Early Modern Era

Dr. John Willinsky
Stanford University

Lecture Details: Monday, October 23, 4–6 p.m., Great Hall, University Club

This talk will set the current state of open access in scholarly publishing within a larger history of access to learning that reaches back to the medieval period in the West. It will consider the role of the intellectual properties of learning played in the rise of both the university and modern copyright law. This history suggests a number of principles that might be kept in mind when considering today’s various initiatives for pursuing universal open access to research and scholarship, now that such access is being increasingly accepted as the longterm goal for scholarly publishing.

Biography: John Willinsky holds a PhD from Dalhousie University and is Khosla Family Professor of Education at Stanford University, as well as Professor (Part-Time) of Publishing Studies at Simon Fraser University. He directs the Public Knowledge Project, which develops open source scholarly publishing software and his forthcoming book is entitled The Intellectual Properties of Learning: A Prehistory from Saint Jerome to John Locke (University of Chicago Press).

Co-sponsored by Dalhousie Libraries, the School of Information Management and the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences. Part of International Open Access Week. Content originally from: https://www.dal.ca/faculty/management/school-of-information-management/news-events/information-managementpubliclectureseries.html

Right to Know Day 2017: Balancing Access & Privacy

September 20, 2017 Marlo MacKay

Please join us for a day of stimulating discussion and presentations in celebration of International Right to Know Week. This event is open to the public and is co-hosted by Dalhousie University Libraries and the School of Information Management; and, Library and Archives Canada.

This day will feature a keynote address from Catherine Tully, Information and Privacy Commissioner for Nova Scotia, and a panel discussion on Managing Privacy in the 21^st Century. It will showcase student research from the Dalhousie School of Information Management, as well as presentations on digital forensics and data management.

The event is free. Space is limited. RSVP* in advance to confirm your attendance. Presentations will be in English only and questions in either language will be facilitated. PowerPoints will be made available in English and French.

Thursday, September 28^th, 2017
University Hall, Macdonald Science Building, Dalhousie University, 6300 Coburg Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Registration opens at 8:30 a.m. (A.S.T.)
Sessions begin at 9:00 a.m. (A.S.T.) and last all day

*R.S.V.P. no later than Monday, September 25^th, 2017: bac.contactevenements-eventscontact.lac@canada.ca by providing your name and the name of your organization.

	Agenda
8:30 – 9:00	Registration and Networking
9:00 – 9:10	Welcoming Remarks Kristina Lillico, Library and Archives Canada
9:10 – 9:55	Keynote – International Right to Know Day Catherine Tulley, Information and Privacy Commissioner for Nova Scotia
9:55 – 10:40	Panel Discussion: Managing Privacy in the 21^st Century Johanna Smith, Library and Archives Canada Alison Shea, Dalhousie University Carla Heggie, Dalhousie University Moderator: Patti Bannister, Nova Scotia Archives
10:40 – 11:10	Health Break
11:10 – 11:55	Student Panel Discussion: Emerging Ideas from the Dalhousie University School of Information Management Nicole Dalrymple, MLIS Candidate 2018 Happy Birthday Dalhousie: Research & Initiatives for the 200th Anniversary Scarlett Kelly, MLIS & MPA Candidate 2018, Interdisciplinary Information Skills Alison Brown, MLIS 2017 What Access to Shared Reading Means for Incarcerated Women & Their Families? Moderator: Sandra Toze, Dalhousie University
12:00 – 1:30	Lunch (on your own)
1:30 – 2:15	Digital Challenges and Opportunities Creighton Barrett, Dalhousie University Tom Smyth, Library and Archives Canada Moderator: Michael Moosberger, Dalhousie University
2:15 – 2:45	Health Break
2:45 – 3:30	Leveraging Artificial Intelligence to Improve Access to Records & Information: Challenges, Opportunities, and Risks Mike Smit, Dalhousie University
3:30 – 4:00	Open Government Natasha Clarke, Service Nova Scotia

GISciences Centre’s Lunchless Learn Series Fall 2017

September 13, 2017 Marlo MacKay

What is a ‘Lunchless Learn’? It’s a hands-on tutorial, held around lunchtime, open to all on campus — without the food.

A GIS, or Geographic Information System, is “a computer system for capturing, storing, checking, integrating, manipulating, analyzing and displaying data relating to positions on earth’s surface.” In other words, it’s an easy and fun way to look at the world differently.

This is a series to give people a taste of what GIS is and how it can be used. To accommodate more people we are offering the same session at different times and locations. These sessions are meant to be self contained. After the Intro session – take only the topics that are of interest to you.

Due to the high level of interest, we ask you to sign up for session(s). Due to construction on the Sexton Campus, all sessions will be held in Room G70, Killam Library, Studley Campus. To sign up, send an email to gis@dal.ca

Intro – First Encounters of the GIS Kind
Thur., Sept. 21/11:30 a.m.–1 p.m.
Mon., Sept. 25/1–2:30 p.m.
Tues., Oct. 3/1–2:30 p.m.

Data: so you want to make a map – where and how to find data
Mon., Oct. 2/12:30–2:30 p.m.
Tues., Oct. 10/1–3 p.m.

Raster: how to become a raster master
Mon., Oct. 16/1–2:30 p.m.
Tues., Oct. 17/1–2:30 p.m.

Carto: maps — the good, the bad, and the ugly
Mon., Oct. 23/1–2:30 p.m.
Tues., Oct. 24/1–2:30 p.m.

ArcGIS Online – GIS that’s in the cloud(s)
Mon., Oct. 30/1–2:30 p.m.
Tues., Oct. 31/1–2:30 p.m.

U15 Statement on Sustainable Publishing

August 24, 2017 Marlo MacKay

The U15 are Canada’s 15 research-intensive universities, of which Dalhousie is a member.

by Ann Barrett, Associate University Librarian Scholarly Communications

The Statement on Sustainable Publishing was recently released by U15 and its preamble states: “Access to research and scholarly outputs is essential for scientific discovery, innovation, and education. To maximize knowledge transfer and impact, our researchers’ work must be made readily available around the globe. Research-intensive universities also require timely and continuing access to international research results and scholarship in order to advance and disseminate knowledge, and to develop the next generation of researchers.”

U15 strives to “foster the development and delivery of long-term, sustainable higher education and research policy, in Canada and around the world.”

The Statement on Sustainable Publishing supports this endeavor emphasizing that for research to have the greatest distribution and impact it must be as accessible as possible. A “healthy communication ecosystem” is defined in the U15 statement as being made up of the following principles:

Open Access– widest possible access to research and scholarly output
Public Interest– access should not be limited by ability to pay
Quality– rigorous peer-review processes and effective research impact measures in all forms of academic publishing
Accountability– highest possible proportion of public dollars invested in research and education should be spent directly on research and education
Innovation– collaborative development of new models of scholarly communications that benefit the academy and the public in the digital age

The full U15 Statement on Sustainable Publishing is available at: http://u15.ca/sites/default/files/u15_statement_on_sustainable_publishing_final.pdf

For information on Dalhousie Libraries services that support the U15 statement, consult with one of our subject liaisons or go to our Scholarly Communications page for information on DalSpace, the Institutional Repository; Open Access and more: https://libraries.dal.ca/services/scholarly-communications.html

Intern Season 2017

August 21, 2017 Marlo MacKay

Every summer, the Dalhousie Libraries welcome students from Dal’s Master of Library and Information Studies program for internships. Working with these bright and enthusiastic individuals is one of our favourite things about summer at the Dalhousie Libraries! Over the coming days, we’ll be featuring profiles of these fantastic folks here on our blog, highlighting the great work they’re doing to make the libraries better. Stay tuned.

Intern profiles:

Alicia Whidden
Lindsay Warner
Nicole Dalrymple
Caroline Korbel
Christine Cousins

Welcome, Craig Power

August 2, 2017 Marlo MacKay

Craig Power is the newest member of the Dal Libraries Academic Technologies Services (ATS) team, effective June 1. We are very pleased to welcome him to Dal.

As the Library and Geographic Information Systems Developer, Craig will have a unique and busy schedule as a developer for the Libraries and geographic systems. In addition to being a member of the ATS team, he will also work with the GIS and Data Services team. Ultimately, Craig’s job is to assist the Libraries in rolling out the tools that the Libraries need to fulfill its mission, such as digital archiving tools, improvements to Brightspace and supporting the university-wide records management policy rollout. He will also write programs that will process external data and make it available to GIS systems.

He studied math and computer science with information systems electives at Saint Francis Xavier University and chose to enter the software development field out of the joy he finds in problem solving. “As the Libraries expand into areas like research data management and digital archiving, we can find that our needs exceed what the available tools provide. That’s where we leverage developers — they assess needs and bring new solutions to meet the demands at Dalhousie,” said Marc Comeau, Director of Academic Technology Services.

Previously, as the software developer for RWDI Air Incorporated (formerly Scotia Weather Services), Craig designed the Runway Weather Information System (RWIS) used at Toronto Pearson International Airport until they retired it in the winter of 2015. He has also narrated, edited and produced streaming video that still assists learning for students in pre-clinical skills courses during his time as Video Editor for Nova Scotia Community College. He has considerable experience in web development, back-end development and working with a variety of operating systems.

Craig is looking forward to taking on new tasks and challenges as the Library and Geographic Information Systems Developer and hopes to innovate and surpass expectations to create excellence within Dalhousie Libraries.

Brightspace Update: Introducing “Daylight”

July 17, 2017 Marlo MacKay

Starting the first week of August, you’ll notice a new look and feel for Brightspace. Your common workflows and the way you use Brightspace tools aren’t changing, but you will notice some positive interface changes. These changes are designed to make the experience more consistent and visually appealing for students.

Examples of Brightspace’s new Daylight Experience user interface as seen on a laptop, a tablet, and a phone. The new course tiles help to visually organize the ‘courses’ page.

The new look includes a cleaner interface, new fonts and updated icons.

The new user interface, called Daylight, was built with a responsive design. This means that it adapts to different screen sizes and looks great on laptops, tablets and smartphones so that Brightspace is more accessible on more devices.

Some of the changes include:

• Simplified navigation design that is responsive for smaller devices

• Wider page layout for your content so that it’s the focal point of the page

• New fonts, icons, colours and simpler formatting of widgets provide a consistent experience

• Responsive homepage layout that works best with two columns

• New ‘My Courses’ widget featuring rich photography in a responsive, tile-based layout
• New image library with over 3,000 images that you can choose from for new course tiles

Faculty and instructors can continue to develop courses for fall 2017 — no action is needed. Summer courses that are currently in progress will see the new interface when it goes live. The Brightspace tools will automatically adjust to the new layout when it goes live in August.

⇒Technical questions? Contact Academic Technology Services (ATS) in the Dalhousie Libraries: intech@dal.ca or at (902)494-3456.

⇒Other questions? Contact Marc Comeau, Director of Academic Technology Services, marc.comeau@dal.ca

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