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Join the Food Fight at Killam

The Killam Library is helping support the biggest food fight ever–Feed Nova Scotia’s “Coast-to-Coast Food Fight.”

HRM and Feed Nova Scotia have been challenged by the food banks in Regina and Victoria to see who can raise the most food in 48 hours, from 6 pm on October 14 until 6 pm on October 16. There’s a collection box in the Killam lobby by the self-checkout machine right now, waiting to be filled with non-perishable food items. Bring ’em in and let’s help make Halifax the Food Fight champ!

Details about Coast-To-Coast Food fight can be found at Feed Nova Scotia’s events site.

Showcasing Dal Students at Killam

7:30 pm Thursday September 30
Special Collections Reading Room
5th floor, Killam Library
494-3615 for more info

The Killam Library is delighted to host a literary reading by two Dalhousie students, both in their final year of the MLIS program in the School of Information Management. Nicole Dixon and Danny Jacobs are published writers who have won awards for their creative talents.

Nicole Dixon won the Bronwen Wallace Award and was short-listed for the Journey Prize and a CBC Literary Award. Her fiction has appeared in Grain, The Fiddlehead, and The New Quarterly. Her first book High-Water Mark, a collection of short stories, will be published by Porcupine’s Quill in 2012. This winter, Nicole will teach CRWR 3001 (fiction) for the Department of English. Nicole will read from her upcoming story collection.

Danny Jacobs’ poetry has appeared in CV2 and Grain, where he placed first in the 2009 Short Grain Contest. Recently, he was shortlisted for The Malahat Review’s 2010 Far Horizons Award for poetry. He has poems forthcoming from The Fiddlehead. Danny is currently finishing his MLIS degree from Dalhousie. He will read a selection of his most recent poems.

This event is free and open to the public. All are welcome!

Read the Dal News article on Nicole and Danny

Dal Reads 2010: Lawrence Hill at the Libraries

Dalhousie’s reading Lawrence Hill’s The Book of Negroes this fall and maybe some of you were lucky enough to meet the author himself on campus. But did you know that not only has Hill written two other novels—Any Known Blood and Some Great Thing—he’s also the author of a bestselling memoir (Black Berry, Sweet Juice: On Being Black and White in Canada) and several non-fiction books, most recently The Deserter’s Tale: the Story of an Ordinary Soldier Who Walked Away from the War in Iraq. All of these are either on the shelf at the Dal Libraries or available through Novanet, so check them out!

The Book of Negroes
PS 8565 I444 B66 2009

Any Known Blood
PS 8565 I444 A89 1997

Some Great Thing
PS 8565 I444 S6 1992

Black Berry, Sweet Juice: On Being Black and White in Canada
PS 8565 I444 Z53 2001

The Deserter’s Tale: The Story of an Ordinary Soldier Who Walked Away From the War in Iraq
DS 79.76 K494 2007

Women of Vision: The Story of the Canadian Negro Women’s Association, 1951-1976
HS 2265 C3 H55 1996

Trials and triumphs: The Story of African-Canadians
F 1035 N3 H543 1993

Libraries Green Team Wins Sustainability Award

Linda Bedwell, Leigh Smith, Michelle Paon, Sandy Dwyer with trophy

Linda Bedwell, Leigh Smith, Michelle Paon, Sandy Dwyer with trophy

The Dalhousie Libraries are tickled green to announce that our Green Team–Linda Bedwell, Sandy Dwyer, Michelle Paon and Leigh Smith–have won the Office of Sustainability’s inaugural ReThink! Program Green Team Award. Michelle Paon accepted the award on behalf of the team at an official ceremony on April 7 in the Rowe Building.


The Libraries’ was the first sustainability team on campus to register in the ReThink! program. Their initiatives to date include a sustainability audit of the Killam Library, a Lunch ‘n Learn for staff, placement of sorting bins in staff areas and a successful pilot project to remove garbage cans from the 2nd floor Killam atrium and replace them with sorting bins.

Trophy created by Architecture student Shyronn Smardon

Trophy created by Architecture student Shyronn Smardon

The award comes in the shape of a sculpture designed and created by Shyronn Smardon, a Masters student in the School of Architecture. This unique piece is made entirely of materials salvaged from around campus. For more photos see our Facebook album.


The Libraries are very proud of our Green Team and look forward to seeing what new projects they have up their green sleeves!

Books With Wings


[Guest post by Anuja Siwakoti]

Hello, my name is Anuja Siwakoti. I am a second year Dal student doing my double major in Microbiology and Immunology and Social Anthropology. I am writing this blog post to notify you about Books With Wings, a collaboration between Canadian students and university students in Afghanistan.

Since 2002, students from ten universities across Canada have been collecting donated textbooks to send via Canadian Forces to universities in Kabul, Kandahar and Herat, working together under the Books with Wings project. As of September 2009, we will have sent over 8500 up-to-date medical books worth nearly $1.4 million to the medical schools of Afghanistan to restructure their libraries destroyed due to war at various times in history and even at present.

Zakia Zahra Biswas, Anuja Siwakoti, Sunisha Neupane, Jason MacGregor (Bruce Bottomley photo)

Zakia Zahra Biswas, Anuja Siwakoti, Sunisha Neupane, Jason MacGregor (Bruce Bottomley photo)

Many more books are needed. As members of this project at Dalhousie, my friends and I have been collecting textbooks from different faculties to ship to Afghanistan. We would like to expand the book donation to other disciplines, as the need for books in Afghan universities in all subjects is great. Examples of requests we have had from Afghanistan are:

English
Biochemistry
Business
Computer Science
Dentistry
Education
Engineering
Mathematics
Midwifery
Public Health
Science

Since we want students in developing countries to be updated with recent medical innovations in the Western world, we are collecting health sciences related textbooks such as dentistry, medicine, radiology, nursing, etc. that are published after 2000. However, any year of publication is acceptable for textbooks related to other disciplines. If you’d like to make a donation, please look for the drop-off boxes in the Killam, Sexton and Kellogg libraries.

First and foremost, I would like to thank Dr. Richard Gordon, the initiator of this project at the University of Manitoba, who incorporated students across Canada to contribute for this noble cause. On behalf of the Books With Wings team, I would also like to thank the Dalhousie Libraries for supporting this project. I thank the Chemistry, English, and Sociology and Cultural Anthropology departments for their help in the initiative phase of this project. Last but not least, I am grateful to Sunisha Neupane, Co-Director of this project; Rosie Ashton, medical school representative; and Qura-tul-ain Haider, Zakia Zahra Biswas, Jason MacGregor, Sophie Thapa and Jamie Aaron for contributing their valuable time and efforts towards this project.

If you would like to learn more about us, then please visit the Books With Wings website.

I thank you very much for your support and generosity.

Anuja Siwakoti
Co-director of Books With Wings at Dalhousie University
E-mail : an752929@dal.ca

Sustainability Students Live

Student Presentations
Killam Library Lobby
Wednesday March 24, 12 – 1 pm

Be in the Killam lobby today at high noon for a fun presentation by students of SUST1001–slam poetry, digital displays and more, all about “the value of biodiversity”! This event is in conjunction with the student projects display currently on view at the Killam, and will be videotaped by the College of Sustainability.

What Is the Value of Biodiversity?

Student Project Display (SUST1001)
March 22 – April 2
Killam Library Lobby

The 215 students of SUST1001 (Introduction to Environment, Sustainability & Society II) were asked to answer the question “What is the value of biodiversity?” as a creative class assignment. The projects they produced in response take “creative” to a whole new level! From posters to comic books, slam poetry performance art to sculpture, these projects highlight the wide-ranging interests and keen engagement of our talented Dal students.

From March 22 until April 2 the Killam lobby will be an exhibition venue for some of these fascinating, fun and informative projects. The highlight of the display will be a series of presentations by the students themselves at noon on Wednesday March 24, in the Killam lobby. All are welcome to come, browse, listen and learn!

Attention Dal Night Owls

Are you a Dal or King’s student looking for a safe, secure place to study after midnight? Look no further.

Beginning the night of Sunday March 7th, the Learning Commons in the Killam Library will remain open after midnight, Sundays through Thursdays, until the last day of exams. Extended hours apply to the North and South Learning Commons only. The Help Desk, Circulation Desk, and upper library floors will close at midnight.
After midnight

  • Access to the Learning Commons after midnight requires a valid Dalhousie ID card (your DalCard). No need to get a new one; just swipe in with your current DalCard.
  • A swipe reader will be installed at the University Ave. entrance. All students must swipe their DalCard to gain access.
  • Students already in the Learning Commons/Atrium at midnight will be required to swipe their DalCard in a mobile card reader. (Students will not have to exit and re-enter the building).
  • The second – fifth floors of the library will close at midnight and students will be required to move to the Learning Commons or exit the building.

Parking/Safety

  • To improve safety, the McCain Building Parkade across from LeMarchant Street will offer free parking from midnight until 3:00am, Sundays through Thursdays, until the last day of exams.
  • If you are walking or biking, consider becoming “study buddies” with friends or classmates who live near you, and head home together. Remember, neither Metro Transit nor the Tiger Patrol operate at this hour!

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