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Subway Outlet Coming at Killam

Construction has begun this week on a Subway outlet in the Killam Library atrium. They’ll be demolishing some of the concrete infrastructure beginning tonight from 9pm until 7am; this will take approximately 2 weeks to complete (the noisiest work will happen only while the library is closed).

The work will also include some retrofitting of both the Library Bistro and the Second Cup to allow for changing traffic paterns. The Bistro will be reorganized tomorrow (August 24) to allow a reduced Second Cup to operate in that space. Coffee, pastries, sandwiches, and packaged salads will be available during this period, but no espresso-based or blender drinks . Next week the Second Cup will close and be retrofitted.

We apologize for the disruption!

Early Closure at Killam

The Killam Library will be closing at 6 pm on Thursday, July 14th. This early closure is necessary as water to the building will be shut off at 6 for approximately 10 hours to allow for construction work.

We apologize for the inconvenience–we’ll be open regular hours again on Friday!

Check current hours at all Dal Libraries

Get Jazzed at the Library!

The Halifax Jazz Festival kicks off today, but here at the Dal Libraries we get to listen to all the jazz we want year round–and so can you.

The Music Collection on the 5th floor of the Killam Library is a must-visit for jazz audiophiles. Available for your on-site listening pleasure are over 400 classic vinyl jazz LPs and approximately 1,500 CDs representing all the legends of American and Canadian jazz, from Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Stan Kenton, and Charlie Parker to Oscar Peterson and Joe Sealy. We also have recordings by local performers like Upstream and Dal’s own Professor of Saxophone Chris Mitchell–the image above is from the cover of a CD called Collage he recorded at Maxwell’s Plum, and we also have his other recordings The Witches of Redbeard, Spectrum and Tonic.

Hundreds of CDs by yet-to-be-jazz-greats are also awaiting you on our shelves…the joy of discovering a new jazz legend could be yours. Audio Room hours are Monday through Friday from 9am to 5 pm. For more information please call 494-3615.

Dal Maps/GIS Poster Display

Aerial shot of Halifax Port 1969

Aerial shot of Halifax Port 1969

The Dalhousie Map Collection and GIS Centre are creating posters for display in the Killam lobby. The latest is one of a series of aerial photographs done in 1969 by Capital Air Surveys Ltd. for Nova Scotia Lands and Forests. These photos, taken from an elevation of 3200 feet (approximately 1km), cover the area to the west and north of the Halifax Harbour and Bedford Basin.


The images of the peninsula are available from the Map Collection in digital format at high resolution. Most of their aerial photos, including this entire series, can be examined in 3D using a stereopticon in the Map Collection room on the second floor of the Killam Library.


Just to put these images in context, in 1969:

  • you could still drive over the wall into the parade square at the Halifax Citadel National Historic Site
  • the “new” bridge was still under construction, to be opened in 1970. The bridge doesn’t appear on the index map.
  • the Halifax Port was substantially smaller than it is today
  • there was a monastery where the Superstore stands on Quinpool Road (Monastery Lane!)
  • the Killam Library was under construction
  • there was little to nothing north of Bayer’s Road (to the west) and Duffus St. (to the east)
  • there was a large railyard where the car dealerships are now, north of Young St.

The Map Collection has posted just one of these images, but they have thousands of aerial photos, so watch the Killam lobby for more exciting posters over the summer!

What’s Going On At the Killam??


If you’ve been in the Killam Library this week you won’t have been able to miss the noise emanating from the 2nd floor. We apologize sincerely for the racket, but…

  • an emergency exit and new washrooms are required on the 2nd floor due to increased usage since installation of the LINC and expansion of the Learning Commons
  • the library’s’ budget won’t allow for the extra costs of having this work done outside regular working hours
  • we expect the noisiest work will be done within a week
  • there are areas in the building (we especially recommend the 4th and 5th floors) that are available for study purposes where the noise cannot be heard
  • it is not possible to close the library for the duration of this work
  • library staff mind the noise too. We’re all trying to grin and bear it!

Thanks everyone for your patience!

Meet Johnelle Sciocchetti

Playwright. Fleetwood Mac groupie. Penguins fan. Actor.

You’ve probably seen her behind the Killam Circulation Desk signing out books but we’re betting you didn’t know that Johnelle Sciocchetti, who now works full time effective June 6, wears so many interesting hats. Having graduated from Dalhousie in 2010 with a BA in English, Johnelle ended up working in the library “kind of by accident.” A friend who’s now in the Dal MLIS program told her about a posting at Killam, and hoping they could work together at the Dal Libraries she applied and got the job. She began doing stack maintenance, then worked as a summer student assistant and finally ended where she is now, alternating shifts on the Circulation Desk and in the book stacks.

Johnelle claims she enjoys her stacks work the most. “It’s like a puzzle,” she says, setting up the shelving correctly and fitting the huge amount of material into it properly. It’s no surprise she finds pleasure in working with books as she’s an avid reader, especially of biographies—autobiographies by Patti Smith and Ann Murray are sitting on her desk now. And this brings us to Johnelle’s next love: music. Her screensaver is a shot of Fleetwood Mac dated 1976 and she carries a Fleetwood Mac wallet in a Fleetwood Mac cloth bag to work. “The first job I had,” she says, “I used the money to buy myself a record player.” She now has a huge vinyl collection to play on it.

Johnelle’s real passion though is theatre. She writes plays, and has had three performed by the Dal Theatre Society: “Blonde Alfred,” a co-written murder mystery; “Coffee,” a same-time-next-year plot with three friends meeting once a year for coffee; and “Late for the Sky,” which is about a young woman coming to terms with her sexuality (“Getting that on stage was one of the best things to happen in my life!“) Did we mention she also directed and starred in these productions? As if this weren’t enough Johnelle is pursuing another interest while writing a new play and working full time: economics. She took a course at Dal last year and intends to take more. And sports fans should know she’s seriously into hockey and has been a long-time supporter of the Penguins, “…ever since the nineties, when they were terrible!”

Drop by the Killam Circ Desk and have a chat with Johnelle some time—a lively and interesting conversation is guaranteed. We’re delighted to have you with us full time Johnelle!

Construction at Killam This Summer

This summer the Killam Library will be undergoing several construction projects inside and out. In addition to the “facelift” you can see now making repairs to external walls, visitors will also notice the following happening on the second floor.


  • Construction of washrooms adjacent to the LINC classroom. Materials are expected to start arriving on site for this project this week with construction beginning shortly thereafter. This project is expected to be completed by the end of August. Please note there will be some noise involved as holes will need to be drilled through the floor to accommodate plumbing. We have requested that the noisiest work be completed between 7:00 and 10:00 a.m., realizing that some exceptions to this may be needed for short periods of time.
  • An emergency exit will be constructed off the balcony from the second floor reading room. Tentative start date for this project is the week of June 13th. It will get noisy at times as well, as the existing balcony will have to be demolished and the anchors to support the new structure will have to be installed. Use of some equipment (possibly a bobcat) will also be required.

We apologize for the disruption as we continue to make improvements to your library!

The Old Master: A Bob Dylan Tribute

May 24, 2011, 7 pm
DUASC Reading Room
5th floor, Killam Library
494-3615

Come join us to hear Halifax novelist and poet Andy Wainwright read his short fiction tribute to Bob Dylan , who turns 70 this year on May 24. Happy birthday Bob!

Andy Wainwright is McCulloch Emeritus Professor in English at Dalhousie. He has written extensively about Dylan and taught a course called “Bob Dylan and the Literature of the Sixties.” See Dal News article Ballad of a Thin Man



One of the many Dylan recordings in our Music Collection

One of the many Dylan recordings in our Music Collection

Environmental Science Students Audit Killam Waste System

Huan Liu

Students Brooke Allan, Mhari Lamarque, Ashley White, Ellie Scotland. Missing: Huan Liu

Thanks to the Dal Libraries’ Green Team, four-bin waste containers have been available on all floors of the Killam Library since the fall of 2010. These bins encourage people to separate waste by Paper, Recyclables, Organics and Garbage (“PROG”). Their presence has significantly improved waste placement–previously, people on most floors of the library had little choice but to toss everything into garbage bins.

In March 2011, a student team (pictured above) from ENVS 3502 Environmental Problem Solving II conducted waste audits in the library to analyze compliance levels in the PROG bin systems. The students found that the paper and organics bins were the least contaminated, while recycling and garbage bins showed the greatest levels of contamination from items that did not belong in them, like coffee cups and food. As in the 2010 waste audit, the most commonly misplaced items were disposable coffee cups (these should be placed in the garbage–their cardboard sleeves go in the organics bin).

The students’ recommendations include designing an educational sustainability tour addressing proper waste disposal, putting a waste diversion visual link on the Dal website, adding a fifth bin for liquid waste, and creating more informational signs highlighting where waste items should be placed.

Read the full report here!

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