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Libraries 2023-2024 Annual Report

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Happy New Year! Dalhousie Libraries extends warm wishes for a year of success, collaboration, and growth.

We are happy to share our 2023-2024 Annual Report. Last year, we enhanced our services and resources, strengthened community partnerships, and continued to support research excellence at the university. It was a busy and exhilarating year connecting with our Dal community.

We invite you to read our report to discover more about the exciting things that happened in the libraries. You’ll find stories about our digital initiatives, our ongoing efforts to improve access to scholarly resources and meet some of our dedicated staff. Our annual report reflects our commitment to fostering learning and discovery across the Dalhousie community and beyond.

2nd Annual MacRae Library Research Poster Competition

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Showcase Your Research

Attention all students and post-docs from the Truro Campus! The MacRae Library Student Research Poster Competition is returning on March 12, 2025, for its second year, promising another exciting opportunity for students to showcase their innovative research.

This event is a fantastic platform for budding researchers to present their work, engage with the academic community, gain valuable feedback, and possibly win a gift card prize.

Whether you’re a participant or an attendee, the competition is an excellent chance to explore diverse research topics, network with peers, and celebrate the achievements of student researchers.  

Submit Your Application

To register for the competition, complete the online application form by March 5 and prepare a digital or print version of your research poster* to share with other students, faculty, and staff from the Truro campus on March 12 from 6-8pm.

Please note that digital posters will be presented to attendees as QR codes so your poster should be scalable for mobile devices. If you want to showcase a print version of your research poster, it must be submitted to the MacRae Library front desk by 3 pm on March 7.  Posters will be displayed on the Library’s top floor from March 10-14, 2025. This competition is open to all Truro Start, undergraduate, graduate students, and post-docs on the Truro Campus and no previous publishing or presentation experience is required. Research can explore any topic and does not need to be new.  

Vote for the Winners 

On March 12, 2025, from 6-8 pm, researchers will engage with event attendees to discuss their posters in the MacRae Library Program Rooms (218/219). Audience members will vote for their favourite poster using a scoring rubric and the top three posters will receive a gift card. The event is open to everyone, including community members from Truro, Bible Hill, and surrounding areas.

Can’t make the event? Posters will be on display for asynchronous viewing at the MacRae Library from March 10-14, 2025. 

Let’s come together and celebrate the incredible work of our student researchers and their future global impact. We look forward to receiving your submissions and hearing more about your work. 

Important Dates 

  • March 5 – Competition registration deadline
  • March 7 – Deadline to submit print posters (3 pm)
  • March 12 – Competition night (6-8pm) 

If you have any questions, please contact Jaclyn Chambers Page at jchamberspage@dal.ca. 

*Curious about how to prepare a poster presentation? Sign up for Research Camp, an online, asynchronous program created by Dal Libraries with support from the Writing Centre. It covers all the elements of research, from basic to advanced skills, with video lectures, interactive exercises, and more, including a special module on Poster Presentations in the “Presenting and Publishing Research” section.  Self-register in Brightspace by clicking Academic Support > Self registration > Online Community – Research Camp 2024-2025. You can enroll anytime and complete as many modules as you wish. 

 

Call for 2025 OER Development Grant Applications

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The Council of Atlantic Academic Libraries has called for applications for AtlanticOER Development Grants. Funding is provided by the four Atlantic provinces (New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island).

AtlanticOER Development Grants provide financial support to instructors in the Atlantic Region creating and adapting new Open Educational Resources. The goal is to support instructors to increase the availability of quality, free, openly licensed resources to support student learning. You can apply for three different funding tiers, depending on the scope of your project. The tiers are:

Tier 1: Creating an Open Textbook (up to $7,000) – This funding is intended for the development of a new open textbook. The topic should not be covered in an already existing open textbook. This tier is meant for creation projects at a larger scale.

Tier 2: Adaptation of an Existing Open Textbook (up to $4,000) – This funding is intended for substantive adaptation projects. Sometimes it can be possible to find an open textbook that covers foundational knowledge but needs to be adjusted. For example, the textbook might require adjustments to ensure it adheres to local educational standards, or adjustments might be made to make it relevant to the local context (eg, an American business textbook may need adjustments to make it suitable for a Canadian business context), or new examples and interactive elements may be added to a book.

Tier 3: Creation of Ancillary Materials (up to $1,000) – This funding is intended for smaller creation projects. Ancillary materials can be defined as course materials that are meant to supplement and support a textbook. Examples of ancillary materials include: slide decks, interactive tutorials, and quiz and test banks. Often, ancillary materials can enhance student learning.

The application period closes on February 14, 2025.

Read more about the application process and who can apply.

 

Killam Retrofit Update: Fourth Floor Closures

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Thank you for your patience and understanding as we move through the phases of the Killam Library Deep Energy Retrofit Project.

The current phase of the project requires closures on the fourth floor of the Killam Library including the Grad Pad and quiet study rooms. Closures will happen in 3 stages and were scheduled to avoid closing during both the December and April exam periods.

Phase 4-1: Closed for Construction November 1 – January 24

  • Book stacks
  • Study carrels

Phase 4-2: Closed for Construction December 4 – January 3

  • Classroom 4106

Phase 4-3: Closed for Construction January 20– March 31

  • Grad Pad
  • Quiet study rooms
  • Atrium seating
  • Washrooms

Alternative seating for phase 4-3: the study carrels that run along the perimeter of the book stacks are available during this time.

2024 Dal Libraries Survey Results 

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At Dal Libraries, we hold ourselves accountable to the university and the community we serve and measure our progress regularly. In January, we surveyed Dal students, faculty, and staff to assess our services and measure our impact. In March, we shared a brief note thanking you for your feedback and announcing the prize winners. 

5,125 people responded to our survey – we are delighted and grateful for such an enthusiastic response. After reading and analyzing the feedback, we are happy to share the following results with you.   

Areas Rated Highly Important Where We Are Doing Well 

  • Wireless access
  • Information resources are meeting needs and helping students and faculty to be successful
  • Students feel comfortable asking staff for help
  • Help is available when needed
  • Staff provide accurate answers to questions

Priorities for Improvement 

  • Improving access to quiet study areas
  • Improving access to group study areas

Other Areas for Improvement 

  • Electrical outlet accessibility and maintenance at specific locations
  • Ease of use of printers at specific locations
  • Hours at specific locations
  • Laptop loaning for specific groups of students
  • Students with disabilities & Faculty: Accessing library resources through mobile devices
  • Faculty: The Libraries’ website and search box

Actions We are Taking 

  • After careful review, the silent, quiet, and conversation-friendly study spaces at the Killam Library, the Kellogg Library Learning Commons at the CHEB, and the Law Library have been rezoned. We are monitoring these areas to ensure they meet users’ needs.
  • We are conducting usability and accessibility studies in preparation for a reimagined Libraries website in 2025. We will seek input and feedback from both students and faculty.
  • While our current budget does not enable us to extend our current building hours, we regularly consult our usage and foot traffic data to optimize our hours of operation.
  • We will be reviewing our laptop loan program in the near future.

We will provide updates on these items as we make progress. 

We were bolstered by messages of support and enthusiasm for our libraries and our staff. One user said, “I am extremely happy with the library system. The staff are helpful, and a lot of thought and effort has clearly gone into setting things up to make it easy for students.”  

Again, we are grateful to all who took the time to respond to our survey and we look forward to making improvements and adjustments to serve you better. If you have questions about the survey and results, please contact Assessment Coordinator Linda Bedwell.

Michael Vandenburg
Dean of Libraries 

DalSpace Upgrade – A More Robust Institutional Repository

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DalSpace is Dalhousie’s open-access institutional repository. It is used to preserve, store, and showcase digital content created by the Dal community. You may have used DalSpace to search for or cite scholarly work, explore archival material, or upload a Master’s or PhD thesis. DalSpace makes content discoverable not just to the Dal community, but to people worldwide.

DalSpace must be a stable, reliable resource for people, however they choose to use it. Software upgrades ensure it is always secure and supportable. Over the last year, a team from Dal Libraries worked together to upgrade DalSpace, including system administrators, instructional support technicians, and scholarly communications and metadata librarians who tested it and provided feedback.

People Notice When DalSpace is Down

As with any upgrade, the goal is to ensure a seamless transition with minimal downtime. Choosing a downtime period for the platform was a challenge. Geoff Brown, digital scholarship librarian, says he gets emails from around the world about the repository’s resources. He noted there can be more than 1200 items added to DalSpace in the run of a year, with the Faculty of Graduate Studies as DalSpace’s biggest contributor and the heaviest upload times in June as students add their theses. It is understandable why coordinating downtimes takes time and thoughtful attention.

What Has Changed

Although it has a new look and feel, the public interface of DalSpace was not the focus of the upgrade. The work was primarily on the back end to make what was already a secure, stable, and reliable repository more robust. David Mifflen, system administrator with Academic Technology Services, says the front and back ends of DalSpace are now separated and run on different servers. The user interface is simplified, faster, more flexible, and more secure. Changes and updates are now easier to perform and will not impact the user’s experience. In addition to the new look, filters offer more nuanced browsing and searching.

Read more about DalSpace. If you have questions about registration or uploading content, contact Geoff Brown.

AtlanticOER Development Grant Program – Upcoming Cycle

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The Council of Atlantic Academic Libraries (CAAL-CBPA) has announced the 2025 cycle of the AtlanticOER Development Grants.

The AtlanticOER Development Grant program is intended to encourage and support educators in the Atlantic region in the adaptation, creation, and curation of Open Educational Resources (OER). These grants provide financial support to educators teaching credit-bearing courses at publicly funded post-secondary institutions who are interested in creating or adapting new educational resources for their classes. There are three tiers of funding that applicants can apply for, each of which represents a different scope and type of project.

Applications for the 2025 cycle of the AtlanticOER Development Grant program will be open in early January 2025. Applicants will have 6 weeks to submit their applications. The applications are put through a single-blind process and a committee of CAAL-CBPA members reviews and ranks the applications. Successful applicants will be notified in mid to late March 2025.

An open webinar detailing the application process will be held on January 14, 2025.

Get more information about the grant program and application process or check out the list of past grant-funded projects.

Best Practices for Writing about Indigenous Peoples

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Best Practices for Writing About Indigenous Peoples in the Canadian Legal Context: An Evolving Style Guide for the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University

The written word constitutes one of the most powerful tools we have as legal professionals; what we write matters and how we write about it matters. This is especially true when we are writing about people. Legal professionals must therefore take particular care when writing about people whose lives and voices have been historically marginalized. As Aboriginal and Indigenous law are gaining more attention within the legal profession, it is important to be informed about best practices when writing about these topics. This evolving style guide offers best practices when writing about indigenous peoples particularly within the Canadian legal context. The guide was developed at the Schulich School of Law and was officially launched in June 2024. It is freely accessible online.

Document Delivery During Canada Post Strike

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The current Canada Post strike impacts our ability to borrow print books and other “returnable” items from libraries outside of Novanet.

We can still borrow from a limited number of libraries but many have suspended book lending.

What You Can Do for Efficient Processing

  • Please indicate the date you need the item when you submit your request.
  • If you only need part of a book, you can request specific chapters be sent to you electronically. You can request one chapter per form submission. Copyright regulations may prohibit us from filling multiple requests from the same book. We will assess each request as they are submitted.

Access the request forms by logging into your Document Delivery account.

Please contact us with questions at docdel@dal.ca or 902-494-3612.

Horror Fiction Comes to Life in the Victorian Lounge

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Dalhousie Libraries partnered with the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia again this year to bring scary stories to Shirreff Hall. This year, local horror writers and creative writing students read their spookiest works to an eager crowd in the dimly lit Victorian Lounge.

L’nu’skw (Mi’kmaw) writer and author Tiffany Morris began the evening with a nightmarish tale of a festering and possessed house that transmutes its lodgers into dolls. Morris’ story,  Night in the Chrysalis from the collection Never Whistle at Night, set the stage for a thoroughly macabre lineup of stories and poetry.

Elliott Gish read her short story Tour, a darkly humorous narration of the morbid exploration of a house where a family met its tragic end. The listeners learned the gory details of the gruesome crime as the narrator navigated the house describing its rooms like a realtor selling to a hopeful buyer.

Sci-fi writer Brittni Brinn read Safe Passage from the anthology At the Lighthouse – a futuristic tale of a forlorn journey to a lighthouse that is expected to provide passage to a new life for a desperate and determined traveller but a dark twist delivers an unexpected fate.

Between each short story, creative writing students from Dalhousie and King’s shared their own works. Poetry and flash fiction were energetically read to the room by Tessie Doyle, Michelle Garcia-Burgos, and Liv Mazerolle.

Dal Libraries is committed to working locally with partners and communities to share knowledge, celebrate culture, and build capacity. This event is one of the ways the libraires work with community partners to celebrate local talent and art and connect with up-and-coming writers and creators from our Dal community.

About the Writers

Tiffany Morris is the author of the Ignyte, Indigenous Voices, Shirley Jackson, the Aurora award-nominated Green Fuse Burning (Stelliform Press, 2023), and the Elgin Award-winning horror poetry collection Elegies of Rotting Stars (Nictitating Books, 2022). Her work has appeared in the Indigenous horror anthology Never Whistle at Night, as well as in Nightmare Magazine, Uncanny Magazine, and Apex Magazine among others.

Elliott Gish wants to creep you out. A writer and librarian from Nova Scotia, her work has appeared in The New Quarterly, Dark Matter Magazine, Wigleaf, the Dalhousie Review, and many others. Her debut novel, Grey Dog, was published by ECW Press this year. Elliott lives in Halifax with her partner and a small black cat named Mr. Raymond Parks.

Brittni Brinn writes from a tower and sometimes a cottage in Mi’kma’ki. Their scariest stories appear in At the Lighthouse (Eibonvale Press) and Your Flight Has Been Cancelled (Little Ghosts Books). Keep an eye or ear out for her weird novella Misplaced, coming out on November 1, 2024, with Little Ghosts Books.

 

Planned DalSpace Repository Updates & Outages

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The DalSpace theses repository will undergo updates during October 15-22. These updates will address issues and ensure ongoing functionality. 

From October 15-22 users will experience outages. Please avoid uploads and deposits until the update is completed after October 22. 

If you have any questions about the update, please contact dalspace@dal.ca.

Dal Libraries Announces Dal Reads 2024-2025 Title: Shut Up You’re Pretty

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Dal Libraries is thrilled to announce that the 2024-2025 book title for Dal Reads is Shut Up You’re Pretty by Téa Mutonji.

About Shut Up You’re Pretty

The debut story collection from Téa  Mutonji was the runner-up in CBC’s 2024 Canada Reads competition, won the Trillium Book Award and Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction (2020), was a finalist in the Rogers Writers’ Trust of Canada Fiction Prize (2019), and was a Globe and Mail Best Book of the Year.

From the publisher, Arsenal Pulp: In Tea Mutonji’s disarming debut story collection, a woman contemplates her Congolese traditions during a family wedding, a teenage girl looks for happiness inside a pack of cigarettes, a mother reconnects with her daughter through their shared interest in fish, and a young woman decides to shave her head in the waiting room of an abortion clinic. These punchy, sharply observed stories blur the lines between longing and choosing, exploring the narrator’s experience as an involuntary one. Tinged with pathos and humour, they interrogate the moments in which femininity, womanness, and identity are not only questioned but also imposed.

Shut Up You’re Pretty is the first book to be published under the imprint VS. Books, a series of books curated and edited by writer-musician Vivek Shraya featuring work by new and emerging Indigenous or Black writers, or writers of colour.

Get a Copy of Shut up You’re Pretty

Free paperback copies of the book will be available at Dalhousie Libraries – look for our book stations at a library near you to grab a copy.

eBook and audiobook copies are available by searching Novanet or the Libby app. To borrow materials, just log in with your NetID and password.

First time borrowing an eBook? Get more information and guidance on borrowing eBooks from Dal Libraries.

About Dal Reads

Dal Reads is the university’s unity reading program – it’s designed to encourage our Dal community to share their love of reading. Dal Reads selections are provided for free and come in ebook, audiobook, and paperback. Launched in 2009, the program brings the Dalhousie community together through the shared experience of reading the same book and taking part in programming and events.

 New! Sign in to DMP Assistant with your Dal Credentials 

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On September 12, DMP Assistant, the national bilingual data management planning tool, enabled institutional and social ID logins. This means you can log in with your Dalhousie credentials – and you have one less password to remember!

To move your existing account to a single sign-on account:

  1. Sign in to your old account.
  2. Navigate to your name in the upper right corner and click “Edit Profile.”
  3. Select “Link your institutional credentials” in the edit profile area.
  4. Follow the sign-in process.

To make a new account with single sign-on:

  1. Click “sign in with institutional or social ID” on the landing page.
  2. Select Dalhousie University or a social sign-on provider (Google, ORCiD) you would like to use.
  3. Follow the on-screen instructions and a new DMP Assistant account will be created for you.

If you need support, contact the DMP Assistant Team or Dalhousie Libraries’ Research Data Management Team.

Killam Spaces & Noise Designation Updates

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Welcome back to the Killam Library! Based on data collected during assessment, and feedback and recommendations we collected from our users this year, we’ve made some changes to the noise level designations on each floor.

As always, if you are seated in a quiet or silent area and have noisy neighbours you can text us at 902-220-5318.

Noise Level Designations:

Conversation Friendly AreasQuiet Study AreasSilent Study Areas
Talking and group work allowedQuiet conversationNo talking
Use Headphones with all devicesUse Headphones with all devicesUse Headphones with all devices
Phones must be on silentPhones must be on silent. Leave quiet area to take callsPhones must be on silent. Leave silent area to take calls

First Floor/Main Level

  • Conversation Friendly: Learning Commons. lobby
  • Quiet Study: Music room

Second Floor

  • Conversation Friendly: Atrium seating, Study carrels in the book stacks
  • Silent Study: McNab Reading Room

Third Floor

  • Conversation Friendly: Atrium seating
  • Silent Study: Study carrels in the book stacks

Fourth Floor

  • Quiet Study: Atrium seating, study rooms
  • Silent Study: Study carrels in the book stacks

Fifth Floor

  • Silent study: Atrium seating and Special Collections Reading Room

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

New Resource: Ullmann’s Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, 6th Edition 

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By Shannon Bateman 

A new edition of Ullmann’s Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry is now available.

Ullmann’s Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry is the standard reference work for chemistry and chemical and life science engineering. First published in 1914 by Professor Fritz Ullmann in Berlin, generations of chemists have come to rely on the encyclopedia as the source on industrial chemistry. Ullmann’s is fully international in scope and compiled under the supervision of a renowned global Editorial Advisory Board. 

This sixth edition covers inorganic and organic chemicals, advanced materials, pharmaceuticals, polymers and plastics, metals and alloys, biotechnology and biotechnological products, food chemistry, process engineering and unit operations, analytical methods, environmental protection, and more. Students and researchers alike will find complete coverage of the science and technology in all areas of industrial chemistry, including over 1000 major articles written by experts in the field. 

Access Ullmann’s Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry online (Dal credentials required for off-campus access). 

 

New Resource: 2023 ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code

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By Jenna Green 

A new edition of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code is now available. 

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is the global source of standards. Founded in 1880, the ASME promotes collaboration and development across all disciplines of engineering. In 1914, the first edition of the Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, previously called ASME Boiler Code – Rules for the Construction of Stationary Boilers and for the Allowable Working Pressures, was issued in response to multiple boiler-related explosions that occurred in New England. 

The ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code is the standard set of rules and regulations for the design and construction of power boilers. With access to the 2024 edition, mechanical engineering students, faculty, and professionals can be sure that they have the most accurate standard in the field. 

The 2024 ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code is available in the Sexton Library Reserve Readings Collection for in-library use only.

Updated! Killam Retrofit Update – Atrium Closure

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The Killam Atrium will be closed from May 6 – August 12 as part of the Killam Library Deep Energy Retrofit Project.

There will be no access to the atrium and food services in that area (Second Cup, Subway, and Bento) will be closed.

Closure of the atrium will enable:

  • Window cleaning (🎉)
  • Replacement of broken windows
  • Lighting improvements
  • Fans and ductwork (to help distribute heat back down to the main floor in winter)

A large swing stage will be erected and will move clockwise around the atrium to enable window cleaning and replacements. This work is primarily why the atrium must close.

A covered walkway will usher people through the Atrium from the main entrance to the Killam Library. Additionally, staff and library users can use the back entrance (Howe Hall side).

Thank you for your patience during this significant phase of the retrofit!

Dalhousie’s Hannah Rosborough and Matthew Walker Receive Atlantic OER Development Grants

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The Council of Atlantic Academic Libraries (CAAL) announced the opening of the Atlantic OER Development Grants 2024 cycle in May. Applicants were invited to submit proposals for funding to create new open textbooks, adapt existing open textbooks, or create new ancillary materials.

CAAL recently announced the recipients of this year’s Atlantic OER Development Grants, including two successful applicants from Dalhousie. Congratulations to Hannah Rosborough, Instruction and Scholarly Communication Librarian at the Sir James Dunn Law Library, and Matthew Walker from the School of Performing Arts!

Hannah Rosborough received a creation grant to create an accessibly designed Legal Citation Guide that will benefit students and legal professionals. It will include commonly cited primary and secondary sources, explain specific components of legal citation, and contain a glossary of legal sources. Tailored to law students, it will provide guidance for formatting legal documents and major papers.

Matthew Walker received a creation grant to develop a textbook entitled Devised Theatre Tools for Actor Training, which will articulate how devised methods and collaborative models can serve the actor in training. The collaborative nature of devised training seeks to give actors greater autonomy and empower them as artists. The book will help artists explore the parts of their own complex identity they wish to represent in their work.

Check out the full list of 2024 recipients.

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