Summer Shine 2013

September 17, 2013 Marlo MacKay

On September 16, the Dalhousie Libraries interns took part in a presentation opportunity called the Summer Shine Series. The series, introduced last year, was designed to give the interns an opportunity to present projects they have been working on during their summer internships. The faculty from the School of Information Management (SIM), the first-year SIM students, and all of the faculty and staff from the Dalhousie Libraries were invited to attend.

The interns’ presentations were varied and fascinating. The interns from the Killam Library–Nicole, Sam, and Keriann–talked about work they did with the data from the LibQUAL+ survey that we did this winter, the faculty profiles in DalSpace, and the process involved in getting more issues of the Nova Scotian Institute of Science (NSIS) on DalSpace.

James, the intern from the Sexton Library, talked about a weeding project that all the staff at the Sexton worked on together this summer. Linda, the intern from the MacRae Library, discussed the work she did preserving historical data about the wild blueberry industry in Nova Scotia.

Marc, from the Kellogg Library, talked about producing updated tutorials, while Maggie, also from the Kellogg, talked about translating search queries into multiple databases. Jannaya, the intern from the Dal Archives, talked about cleaning up the data in and moving the Archives’ electronic records, as well as how she created descriptions for many issues of the Dalhousie Gazette. Veronika, the intern from the Sir James Dunn Law Library, discussed a project she did that compared Dal’s Schulich School of Law against other law schools in Canada by looking at publication and citation rates of law faculty across Canada.

Thank you to all of the interns for your excellent work this summer.

A larger view, from l to r: Maggie, Keriann, Jannaya, James, Nicole, Linda, Samantha, Veronika, and Marc.

Intern Profiles 2013: Veronika Kollbrand, Sir James Dunn Law Library

August 28, 2013 Marlo MacKay

This is Veronika’s second summer working as an intern at the Sir James Dunn Law Library. It’s the ideal place for Veronika, who is working on a combined degree, pursuing both her JD (Juris Doctor) and MLIS (Master of Library and Information Studies). In the winter, she works at the circulation desk at the Law Library.

Before coming to Halifax from British Columbia, Veronika enjoyed working in a public library. She also had an interest in law, so when she found Dal’s combined degree program, she knew it would be a perfect fit for her.

Veronika is spending some of her time this summer working on a metrics project that looks at publication and citation rates of law faculty across Canada. This kind of information can be used to compare Dalhousie’s law school to other schools across Canada.

“This internship has helped me with all the research and writing that I have to do as a law student,” she says. “Working at the law library has also made me more aware of the kinds of legal assistance that people need. So many of the skills I’ve learned here will make me a better lawyer, if I decide to practice law.”

Veronika hasn’t yet decided if she will practice law or work as a librarian in a firm or a university. “The combined degree program gives me many exciting options,” says Veronika.

Intern Profiles 2013: Jannaya Jensen, Dalhousie University Archives

August 28, 2013 Marlo MacKay

Jannaya with some very old, bound editions of the Dal Gazette.

When asked why she chose to enrol in the Master of Library and Information Studies degree at Dalhousie, Jannaya Jensen answers, “It felt natural.”

“I’ve always loved the educational environment of libraries,” says Jannaya, who has experience in both academic and public libraries, and now, in archives. With a Bachelor of Arts in history, Jannaya says working in the Dal Archives makes a nice connection with her educational background.

She is fascinated by the sheer variety of materials held in the Archives, and also by all the steps involved in making these materials available to people. “It can be very complex, processing these materials so they can be found and accessed by researchers and other archive users,” she says.

Jannaya has been spending her summer migrating accession records (the initial records created for newly acquired materials) from Microsoft Access to Archivist’s Toolkit, cleaning up the data in resource records (the larger and more detailed descriptions of archival materials), publishing them online to create finding aids, and describing issues of the Dalhousie Gazette, which was first published in 1869. “Right now, I’m describing issues from the 1890s. There is so much interesting content in them, so it’s exciting to be involved in the process of making the issues more accessible,” says Jannaya.

Coming all the way from Saskatoon, Jannaya says she was drawn to Halifax because she loved the idea of living in such a different area of Canada. She’d also heard great things about the MLIS program at Dalhousie.

“My time at the Archives has been so valuable to me. It’s been a hugely educational experience and one that I recommend to any student interested in working in this field,” says Jannaya.

Intern profiles 2013: Maggie Neilson, Intern at the W. K. Kellogg Health Sciences Library

August 27, 2013 Marlo MacKay

Maggie checks out some of the medical equipment in one of the Kellogg Library’s group study rooms.

In Maggie Neilson’s family, libraries are in the genes. This soon-to-be third generation librarian has a grandmother who was a librarian in Montreal and a father who has worked as a librarian at Memorial, Lakehead, and UNB. With a family history like that, it’s no surprise that Maggie has just completed her first year of the Master of Library and Information Studies (MLIS) degree at Dal and is spending her summer working at the Kellogg Library.

“I know I’m supposed to be a librarian,” says Maggie, who did her undergraduate degree in animal science at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College (now known as Dalhousie’s Agricultural Campus). Even while she was pursuing her Bachelor of Science, Maggie spent two summers working in the MacRae Library as a summer student. “I was encouraged by the staff of the MacRae Library to pursue my MLIS degree,” says Maggie. “They could see that I really liked the role that libraries play in research.”

This summer, Maggie has been revamping the design of the Libguides, assisting with systematic reviews (large searches that involve upwards of 10,000 articles), and helping students and researchers with their searches. One major undertaking that she is especially excited about is a bibliometric project where she is counting citations in five different clinical pharmacy journals. (Bibliometrics is the statistical analysis of books, articles, or other publications.) Maggie is assisting with evaluating how often the journals cite other sources and how often other people cite them. This information will be used in a paper to help science libraries select the best journals, based on both popularity and prestige.

“A health sciences library is a great fit with my undergraduate degree and I’d heard that the Kellogg Library offers an extensive internship with boundless learning opportunities,” says Maggie. “Every day I have an opportunity to help someone. Working at the Kellogg Library allows me to contribute to the health of my community, and that’s very exciting to me.”

Intern Profiles 2013: Samantha Fritz, Killam Memorial Library

August 26, 2013 Marlo MacKay

Samantha in the Special Collections Reading Room, fifth floor of the Killam Library.

Samantha Fritz is spending her summer as an intern in the Killam Memorial Library. Having completed her first year of the Master of Library and Information Studies (MLIS) degree, one of the things Samantha is enjoying so far is seeing the theories she’s learned in the classroom come to life in the library.

“I really enjoy learning the theories behind the organization and classification of information,” says Samantha. “I have a background in history and English, so I was also drawn to the MLIS program because I loved the research aspects to those disciplines.”

Coming to Halifax via Kitchener, Samantha says that she chose Dalhousie’s program not only for the high-quality of the courses offered, but also because of the welcome she got from the people in the program. “The program here at Dal makes you feel like you are part of a community,” she says, adding, “and Halifax is a beautiful city.”

Since her internship began, Samantha and the two other Killam interns have been keeping busy on a number of projects, including citing and uploading to DalSpace more than 350 faculty profiles. Other projects include uploading the Proceedings of the Nova Scotian Institute of Science to DalSpace (older issues) and to Open Journal Systems (newer issues), and offering information assistance at the Killam Library Service Point (formerly the circulation desk). Samantha has also been using Camtasia software to produce a new tutorial video about how to search for journals, a common question asked in the library.

Samantha sees herself working in an archive or special collections library in the future. She is also interested in working in an academic library, and she finds projects that connect the libraries to their universities particularly intriguing. She also enjoys the digitization process. “Learning the technical skills such as HTML coding and working with metadata present challenges which are certainly interesting to grapple with,” she says. “The opportunities with this degree are so diverse, I could go into a traditional librarianship role, or do more of the information management side; the opportunities are endless,” says Samantha. Whatever she chooses, she’ll be well served by her love of organization and challenges.

Intern Profiles 2013: Linda Cormier, MacRae Library

August 23, 2013 Marlo MacKay

Linda in the Agricola Collection at the MacRae Library, surrounded by agricultural artifacts.

Linda Cormier is spending her summer as an intern in the MacRae Library. Located on the beautiful Agricultural Campus in Truro, this is the first time the MacRae Library has had a student intern from the MLIS program, and Linda couldn’t be happier to be there.

“Last summer I worked at an aquaculture hatchery in New Brunswick, where I’m from. I loved watching the tiny oysters develop into adults, and I love the connections between aquaculture and agriculture. At the most basic level, both are forms of farming,” says Linda.

Linda didn’t start out in aquaculture though; she holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Education. She substituted in public schools in New Brunsiwck and also taught English in Japan for seven years. “I see a very close connection between teaching and librarianship. Both professions are essentially giving people information,” says Linda.

One of the projects Linda is working on this summer involves preserving the two-volume The History of the Lowbush Blueberry Industry in Nova Scotia 1880-1990. Linda is scanning the original documents and posting them in DalSpace. She is also working on migrating the Wild Blueberry Information Network Centre website to Dalhousie’s website. The information within that site gives people a central place to go for all the information available about the history of the wild blueberry industry in Nova Scotia.

As for her plans post-graduation, Linda is open to many types of work and settings. “Technical work, digital work, cataloguing, information or data management, I’m interested in it all. I could see myself working in an academic library, or in a government setting, or in a corporation,” says Linda. She particularly likes the digital aspect of the work, including web design and HTML, the main language for creating web pages.

“I’m really enjoying my work term and seeing what each staff member in the library does. The internship program is excellent, and the MacRae Library is a great place to learn,” says Linda.

Intern Profiles 2013: Marc Harper, W. K. Kellogg Health Sciences Library

August 21, 2013 Marlo MacKay

“I’m a curious individual, so a library is a good place for me,” says Marc Harper, who now has a year of his Master of Library and Information Studies (MLIS) degree under his belt. Marc thought that his undergraduate degree in sociology would be a good fit with the MLIS program at Dal. “I have a family member who encouraged me to go into the MLIS program. That’s what got me first thinking about it.”

Marc has been at the W. K. Kellogg Health Sciences Library for two months now, and he’s been wanting this internship since the first day of classes back in September. “Patrick Ellis, the Head of the Kellogg Library, spoke to our class on the first day. He told us that many young librarians feel they can’t work in a health sciences library if they don’t have a science background, and that isn’t true. I was encouraged by that,” says Marc.

Inspired by the possibility of working in a health sciences library, Marc sought a practicum in a hospital in Moncton, where he’s from. “I worked in the hospital library, helping doctors and medical staff,” he says.

Even though he’s only been at the Kellogg for a short while, Marc already feels like he’s getting very meaningful work experience. “The staff here have already trusted me to assist with some very large, time-sensitive requests from medical researchers,” he said. In addition to assisting researchers with systematic reviews (large searches that involve upwards of 10,000 articles), Marc has been working on updating some of the Libguides. These updates include adding more relevant ejournals and books, as well as adding database tutorials, depending on the type of Libguide it is.

Before Marc came to Dalhousie, he worked for Statistics Canada and spent three years teaching English in South Korea. “I spent my twenties travelling. I was in Europe, Africa, and South America,” says Marc. Marc is interested in the possibility of living and working abroad again in the future, especially if that work is in the health sciences.

Intern Profiles 2013: James Rothwell, Sexton Design & Technology Library

August 19, 2013 Marlo MacKay

James Rothwell is a busy guy. In addition to doing dual master’s degrees (Master of Library and Information Studies and Master of Public Administration), he is also an intern at the Sexton Library.

In order to complete the dual degree program, James spent last year in the MLIS program. This upcoming academic year will focus on the MPA program. His third year will be half MLIS, half MPA. Before graduating, he will do two internships, one for his MLIS and one for his MPA.

In addition to that, James is also the chair of the Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management (DJIM), a student-led initiative aimed at publishing Dalhousie graduate student work of the highest quality and significance in all areas of management.

James’s undergraduate degree is in political science and history, and his interest in library work started with a job at the public library. “Finding that thing someone is looking for and seeing their satisfaction is very rewarding,” says James.

He’s always appreciated architecture, both historic and contemporary, so an internship at the Sexton Library was instantly intriguing to James. This summer, he’s been explaining copyright issues to library users, increasing the Sexton Library’s Facebook presence, developing policies for the library, cataloguing, and working on a virtual tour of the library, to name just a few tasks. “The amount of knowledge you should have to serve the engineering disciplines alone is so much. This internship is a great learning experience,” says James.

A Torontonian, James was drawn to the east coast because he’d heard great things about Halifax. “I have friends who graduated from the dual MLIS/MPA program, and it came highly recommended.” His dream job would be working for the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, or in an academic library.

Intern Season 2013

August 19, 2013 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 next couple of weeks, we’ll be featuring profiles of these fantastic folks here on our blog, and highlight the great work they’re doing to make the libraries better.

James Rothwell, Sexton Design & Technology Library
Keriann Dowling, Killam Memorial Library
Marc Harper, W. K. Kellogg Health Sciences Library
Nicole Bloudoff, Killam Memorial Library
Linda Cormier, MacRae Library
Samantha Fritz, Killam Memorial Library
Maggie Neilson, W.K. Kellogg Health Sciences Library
Jannaya Jensen, Dalhousie University Archives
Veronika Kollbrand, Sir James Dunn Law Library

Archives for summer shine 2013