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INFORM

News from the Department of Information Science (formerly SIM)

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2012 Outstanding Alumnus: Patrick Ellis

The Dalhousie School of Information Management (SIM) Associated Alumni (AA) is delighted to announce that Patrick Ellis (MLIS ’88) has been chosen as the recipient of the 2012 Outstanding Alumni Award. The award will be presented on October 4th, 2012 at SIM.

Mr. Ellis has been the Director of Dalhousie University’s Kellogg Health Sciences Library for the past 8 years and has worked with the Kellogg Health Sciences Library for 33 years. Prior to his current position, he held roles such as Head of Access Services, Coordinator of Reference Services, and Dental Librarian.

Patrick is honoured and humbled to accept the Outstanding Alumni Award.

Patrick is a natural leader. He is recognized for his excellent management ability and his personable, collaborative approach to librarianship by colleagues in the Dalhousie Library system, the Novanet consortium and affiliated health institutions. One nominator writes: “He is a natural leader, who studies problems, ensures that everyone is included in decision-making, and that the end results is best possible for the greatest number.”

Mr. Ellis’s commitment to health libraries and librarianship is most evident from his committee work. Accepting leadership at all levels, he has chaired and sat on numerous boards and executives, including Canadian Health Library Association (CHLA), the Atlantic Health Knowledge Partnership (AHKP), and the Maritime Health Libraries Association (MHLA), in addition to a multitude of Dalhousie and Novanet Committees. One nominator writes, “through the MHLA, AHKP and CHLA, Patrick has led many initiatives that bring health librarians from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island and beyond our region together to work for common goals for the health information community.”

Patrick is an advocate for universal access to health information. Evidence of this is his role in bringing access to the Cochrane Library (a major evidence-based health care database) to all Nova Scotians, and his work with the Virtual Health library of Nova Scotia.

Mr. Ellis has held an outstanding leadership role in the development of the National Network of Libraries for Health (NNLH), where he has worked to establish the Canadian Virtual Health Library.  The goal of the Canadian Virtual Health Library is to bring equitable access to high-quality health information to all Canadian health professionals as a means to improve health outcomes and patient safety for Canadians.  Patrick was Principal Investigator on a Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR) grant for the project’s implementation. He now serves as a member on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Virtual Health Library. (http://cvhl.ca/en)

As one selection committee member states: “Patrick’s contributions cover multiple constituencies; from the Dalhousie library community, to that of the larger East Coast, to health information users across Canada. All have benefited from the professionalism, collegiality, foresight and hard work of this great alumnus.”

Patrick is described by his nominators as a genuinely wonderful person: very affable, friendly and full of fun. Nominators also boast of his musical talents – Patrick has been a professional drummer and singer since 1969. One nominator states: “On top of all his accomplishments, Patrick is a great guy!”

Read To Me! volunteer opportunity

Read to Me! is looking for Weekend Volunteers!

Read to Me!, Nova Scotia’s non-profit, hospital-based early reading promotion program, gives a free bag of books and literacy resources to every baby born in Nova Scotia. The bag is distributed at 11 hospitals throughout the province, at the hospital bedside within 24 hours of birth.

We are currently looking for weekend volunteers to help deliver the bags to new families at the IWK Health Centre.

If you are interested in learning more about this fun and rewarding volunteer opportunity, please call the Read to Me! office at (902)

470-3847 or (902) 470-7763 or emailcarol.mcdougall@iwk.nshealth.ca

Inform Vol 41.1

The latest issue of Inform is now available!  It covers the period from January to June 2012 and can be found on the SIM website.  We look forward to receiving your updates and hearing your feedback.  Happy reading!

 

 

Giving Back to SIM: A Challenge!

Did you know that university funding for scholarships and students assistantships at SIM is on the decline?

At last year’s CLA conference held in Halifax, a number of us from the SIM class of 2007 got together to talk about the difference that funding made for a number of our classmates. We wondered what we could do to restore some of that support and decided to invite our fellow 2007 alumni to donate to SIM.

Since that time, the class of 2007 has raised around $1,000 for the Dalhousie-Horrocks National Leadership Fund. In the spirit of taking this idea further…

…we hereby challenge all classes of SIM alumni to donate to the fund.

Which class will give the most? We think that 2007 can’t be beat…

Why the Dalhousie-Horrocks Fund?

While exploring the possibilities, we learned that the Dalhousie-Horrocks fund was very close to raising the amount it needs to reach before it can pay out an annual scholarship. We decided that supporting something in memory of Dr. Horrocks, combined with an amount of money that seems achievable to raise, made the fund a great fit for a fundraising challenge.

It is expected that the fund will annually provide a scholarship of a minimum of $2,000 for a student who “demonstrate[s] leadership potential in information management, specifically in libraries.” For information about the fund, visit: http://sim.management.dal.ca/Donations/Horrocks_Leadership_1.php

In order to begin paying out by September, 2013 the fund needs to reach its $50,000 base by September 30, 2012. We encourage you to donate before this deadline.

Check back in September to see which class reigns supreme!


Donating is easy – here’s how!

1. Give online at: giving.dal.ca/horrocksscholarship  

In order to ensure that your donation is tracked as part of this fundraising effort, please enter the following:

a) Under “Area of Support” select “Select a Designation by Faculty” – make sure the drop downs read “Management / School of Information Management/ Dalhousie  Horrocks National Leadership Fund”

b) Under “Dedication” select “In Honour of”

c)  in the “In name of box” enter your class year

or…

2. Call 902-494-8801 or 1-800-565-9969 and make your gift over the phone – make sure to communicate the information above!

All gifts are eligible for a tax receipt.

Gifts made as a result of our efforts will be tracked so we can report back about our success. We suggest a donation of $50 but, as the saying goes, every bit helps!

Questions, thoughts, ideas for future giving, contact any of the following:

Kim MacInnis: kim.macinnis@gmail.com
Pam Maher: pmaher@dal.ca
Megan Fitzgibbons: megan.fitzgibbons@gmail.com
Yusuke Fitzgibbons: y.fitzgibbons@gmail.com
Monique Woroniak: mworoniak@gmail.com

Jane Willwerth awarded Stephanie Downs Memorial Award

We are very pleased to announce that Jane Willwerth has been selected as the 2012 recipient of the Stephanie Downs Memorial Award.

As the recipient of the Stephanie Downs Memorial Award Jane will have the opportunity to make contributions to the lives of international students within the Faculty of Management by:

  • Participating on the planning committee for the international student orientation.
  • Acting as one of the facilitators during the international student orientation.
  • Through consultation, providing content and updating the Faculty’s international student website

Candidates for the Stephanie Downs Memorial Award are selected for their demonstrated commitment to leadership, student life at SIM and to international librarianship.

After high school, Jane spent five months running after-school programming at the Prisoner Assistance Nepal Children’s Home in Kathmandu, Nepal. In the Home’s library, Jane saw for the first time how a small library could make a big difference.

Jane attended Carleton University where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Human Rights and Political Science. This provided her with a solid grounding in international development with a special focus on African politics and gender. While at Carleton, Jane completed a practicum placement at Amnesty International Canada, where she worked under the organization’s Information Coordinator. Again, she found how library and information management skills play a critical role in the human rights and international development fields.

Now at Dalhousie, Jane seeks to marry her values to a set of in-demand skills that can help address legitimate international development problems. She is currently co-chair of the Dalhousie chapter of Librarians Without Borders (LWB), an organization that seeks to eliminate the information inequality that currently exists between different regions of the world. It is with LWB that Jane sees her skills and outlook converge, as she applies what she has learned in class to real-world development scenarios. The convergence continues as Jane completes a summer internship at the United Nations Multimedia Library, located at UN Headquarters in New York City.

SIM members awarded APLA Memorial Trust research grant

SIM alumna Alison Black and faculty member Fiona Black have been awarded this year’s research grant from the Atlantic Provinces Library Association (APLA) Memorial Trust. The title of their study is “Professional Staffing for 21st Century Public Libraries:  Atlantic Canadian Perspectives.”

Public libraries are crucial players in local and regional communities, supporting the cultural, educational, economic, and social life of each province, yet there is a significant gap in the literature concerning the important individuals who work in them. APLA is helping to remedy this for Atlantic Canada, through its support of Black and Black’s qualitative, comparative study of human resources using the primary lens of hiring and retention practices. As an increasing number of experienced librarians prepare for retirement, and job descriptions are altered in response to societal and organizational changes and fiscal restraint, the topic of human resource management is of particular importance.

Dal Alumni Gathering – CLA 2012 – Ottawa – June 1st

You are invited to catch up with friends and meet other SLIS/SIM grads.  Whether you are in town for the CLA Conference or just in town, please join us.

June 1, 2012
6-8 pm
The Exchange Pub
at Rideau Centre (North West corner (main floor))

Reservation under DAL SLIS

Please RSVP at http://bit.ly/KJYz2N

To those of you from out of town.  The Rideau Centre is attached to the  Ottawa Convention Centre.

If you have a problem with the form please email Jennifer Svarckopf (1996) at jsvarckopf@yahoo.ca.

Fabulous Opportunity for an MLIS Student!

Would you like to attend Statistics Canada’s Data Liberation Initiative (DLI) annual regional training workshop to be held 26-27 April at the University of New Brunswick? (http://library.acadiau.ca/DLI2012/)

The regional training workshop is an opportunity for an MLIS Information Studies student to meet a variety of professionals who work with socio-economic and demographic data on a regular basis.  There are many job vacancies where a demonstrated interest in these areas is either an advantage or a requirement.

If you are interested in working with government documents, data, ormaps, you may find this workshop to be of particular interest; however, it would be useful for any student who wishes to work as an academic librarian.

The DLI is currently offering to reimburse the costs of travel, accommodations, and meals for one MLIS student who isinterested in attending the workshop.

If you would like to take advantage of this opportunity please send your C.V. and a covering letter by email to Ann Smith, Regional Training Coordinator Atlantic Region, Acadia University, ann.smith@acadiau.ca by Monday the 16th of April.

With warm personal regards,
Ann Smith
RTC Atlantic Region
Data Liberation Initiative
Acadia University
Voice: 902 585-1378
Email: ann.smith@acadiau.ca

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