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Dal Libraries UnZipped

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We invite Dal faculty, teaching staff and researchers to join us for a series of lightning sessions on key library resources and services, breakfast included! Meet your subject librarian and find out how we support your research, teaching and publishing. Sessions include information on RSS feeds, open access, primary archival resources and much more. Sign up to take library and Special Collections tours too!

Dal Libraries UnZipped program Please RSVP to janice.slauenwhite@dal.ca if you plan to attend any or all of the sessions.

Something Completely Different: The LINC

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Lots of room to walk around in the LINC

Lots of room to walk around in the LINC

On January 21, the Learning Incubator & Networking Centre (LINC) officially opened in the Killam Library. Something truly new and different has come to Dalhousie.


The LINC is Dal’s first interactive learning studio. Located on the second floor of the library adjacent to the Upper Learning Commons, it is intended to provide both an innovative teaching facility for faculty and a collaborative study space for students. The LINC includes the following features:

  • 19 wired pods with large wall-mounted display screens
  • wall-mounted whiteboards around the room to write on
  • a mobile wireless teaching station connected to all screens
  • various seating arrangements and types of chairs
  • mobile video camera and lapel microphones
  • built-in data projectors with dedicated screens
  • VHS and DVD support for videos
One of the pods that line the room

One of the pods that line the room

From a teaching perspective the most innovative aspect of the LINC is that both professors and students are able to project their work onto all of the screens. In addition there is a “private” mode for individual pods which means each group can work on just their own screen.

A bar-style pod. Seats offer great back support

A bar-style pod. Seats offer great back support



These seats recline and offer fold-down arm tables

These seats recline and offer fold-down arm tables

The Learning Incubator & Networking Centre offers opportunities for collaboration and interaction limited only by your imagination. What do you think of the LINC? Send us your comments!

Dal News story on the LINC

Maps: What Makes Them Good, Bad or Ugly

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Maps: What Makes Them Good, Bad or Ugly
GIS Lunchless Learn Session
Friday November 6, 12:30 – 2:30 pm
Room G70, North Learning Commons, Killam Library

What is a “Lunch-less Learn,” you may ask? It’s a hands-on tutorial, held around lunchtime, open to all–without the food!

Due to a high level of interest, we ask that you contact the GIS Centre at gis@dal.ca to reserve a space.

PLEASE NOTE:
This is the fourth topic in a series. This session will be repeated November 10th at the Sexton Campus. You are not required to have attended the first session (First Encounters of the GIS Kind: An Introduction to the Basics of GIS) but basic GIS skills will be assumed.

Watch a RefWorks Video

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Our next hands-on RefWorks session is this Wednesday November 4 at the Killam Library from 1 – 2:30 pm (register here first). But did you know we now have a short video that teaches you how to get started on using RefWorks? Check it out!

There are also one-hour webinars from RefWorks that provide online training in greater depth. See our Classes and Workshops page for a complete list of our RefWorks tutorials.

How To Become a Raster Master

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The GIS Centre will be holding the next installment in our ‘Lunch-less Learn’ series:

How to Become a Raster Master

Friday October 23, from 1:30 – 3:00pm
Room G70, North Learning Commons
Killam Library (first floor)

The session will cover the basics of raster data model and introduce users to raster data analysis. This is the third topic in a series. This session will be repeated on October 27 on Sexton Campus at 12 noon. You are not required to have attended the first session (First Encounters of the GIS Kind: An Introduction to the Basics of GIS) but basic GIS skills will be assumed.

Due to a high level of interest, please contact the GIS Centre to reserve a space.

Libcasts Are “Out There”

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Praise for the Dal Libraries’ Libcasts recently appeared in a couple of blogs. LibCasts are instructional videos that you can access from a browser or in some cases download to your ipod or handheld device. They cover many different topics relating to research and many are generally less than 2 minutes long. Here’s what people had to say about them:

February 18
The Distant Librarian (Authority: 41)
“Dalhousie LibCasts – what you want to learn, when and where you want it”
Wow, check out the Dalhouse University LibCasts page! Too many to count, most available in multiple formats, with an RSS feed and a dedicated search engine. Very nicely done! Camtasia Studio seems to be the screencasting tool of choice.
February 21
Library Boy (Authority: 27)
“Use of Instructional Videos by Dalhousie University Libraries”
It is always interesting to see what instructional techniques other libraries have adopted. Dalhousie University Libraries in Halifax, Nova Scotia provide some great examples of instructional videos to help library users. They show a great diversity of approaches.

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