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Catherine Gracey Chosen as 2023 Recipient of the Dalhousie-Horrocks National Leadership Fund

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We are pleased to announce that Master of Information (MI) student Catherine Gracey has been selected as the twelfth recipient of the Dalhousie-Horrocks National Leadership Fund. 

This Fund was established in 2007 to honour Dr. Norman Horrocks, OC, PhD, FCLIP (1927-2010) for his outstanding leadership in the field of librarianship in North America, Australia, and Europe. Over several decades Dr. Horrocks, former Director of the School of Information Management (now DIS) and Dean of the Faculty of Management at Dalhousie University, pursued a distinguished career of very active involvement in professional associations in the United Kingdom, Cyprus, Australia, the United States, and Canada. His many contributions, for which he received local, national and international recognition, have advanced the field and the careers of countless individuals. The fund supports a scholarship and an associated lecture series through an endowment donated by the many former students, colleagues, friends and admirers of Norman Horrocks. 

Catherine Gracey (she/her) is a second year Master of Information student at Dalhousie. Catherine is originally from Dundas, Ontario, and previously earned an Honours BSc. in Nutritional and Nutraceutical Science from the University of Guelph, with a minor in International Development. Her interest in a library career was sparked when she participated in the creation of an Open Educational Resource for a Human Physiology course at the University of Guelph, where she went on to work at the library. Her passion for interdisciplinary studies brought her to the Dalhousie MI program, where she has been able to explore a varied course load and work with students and faculty members from numerous disciplines. Catherine is passionate about professional service and serves as the Financial Chair of the Information Science Student Association (ISSA) executive, the student representative on the Maritime Health Libraries Association (MHLA) executive, and the Games @ the Library convener for the Atlantic Provinces Library Association (APLA). She has also been involved in research during her time at DIS, working as a research assistant both within DIS, and the College of Pharmacy. Catherine is an aspiring health science librarian and is an intern at the W.K. Kellogg Health Science Library. In the future, she hopes to work in an academic, government or industry setting helping to facilitate access to health information for clinicians, students, and patients. 

This award will be presented at the Dalhousie-Horrocks National Leadership Lecture in early 2024. Stay tuned for more details! 

MLIS alumna wins 2023 RBC/PEN Canada’s New Voices Award

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We send heartfelt congratulations to Christine Wu (MLIS ’14) on her recent award!

From CBC. Read the full article here:

Halifax writer Christine Wu has won the 2023 RBC/PEN Canada’s New Voices Award for her submission Hungry Ghosts. The $3,000 cash prize recognizes unpublished Canadian writers under the age of 30. The prize also includes a mentorship with an established Canadian author.

Writers were encouraged to submit work in any format, including poetry, short fiction and creative nonfiction.

Wu is a Chinese-Canadian poet based in Halifax. She has been published in several literary magazines and was previously shortlisted for the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for emerging writers. She holds a BFA from the University of Victoria, a MLIS from Dalhousie University and a MA from the University of New Brunswick.

Wu’s collection of poems was chosen from almost 300 entries. The jury was comprised of Canadian writers Jónína Kirton, Chelene Knight and Alexander MacLeod.

“Hungry Ghosts is a deeply moving and masterfully crafted collection of poems that surpasses the boundaries of memory, love, family, and personal growth,” the jury said in a statement. “The writer’s exquisite precision and grace, infused with profound wisdom, skillfully navigates the delicate art of letting go, effortlessly weaving the tapestry of past and present.”

Profiles: 2023 MI Interns at Dalhousie Libraries

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Many of our MI students complete internships with Dalhousie Libraries during their studies. Internships are just one of the work-integrated learning opportunities available to students in our program.

Lucy Pauker, Hailey Wills, Catherine Gracey, Alissa Kossar, and Alison Brierley all completed internships at Dalhousie Libraries this year. Click here to read their profiles, and learn more about why they came to the MI program, and what projects they worked on at their respective libraries. Their stories illustrate the breadth of experiences available in our program and the field.

Special thanks to Dalhousie Libraries for their continued support of our students!

In Memoriam: Lise Fortier (MLIS ’02)

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SIM is sad to report that MLIS alumna, Lise Fortier, has passed away.

From the obituary:

Lise Fortier, age 47, born and of Saskatoon died on June 2nd, 2023. Lise is survived by her husband, her parents (J-Michel & Dorothy Fortier), her sisters (Paula & Laura Fortier), her nephews, her niece, and loving in-laws.

After graduating from Bishop J Mahoney HS in 1993, Lise studied at USask. She then attended Dalhousie University to pursue her goal to become a librarian. Lise worked at Saskatoon Public Library for over 25 years. She enjoyed working with the public and providing them with the services they needed.

Lise loved stories in all formats: books, movies, TV shows, and told. Hearing stories and recommendations for books, movies, and TV shows from friends and strangers always entertained her. It was a great way to expand her knowledge and expose her to new interests.

Gaining new experiences was something Lise sought. Learning new skills was always a pursuit. Lise learned how to sew, which allowed her to add dresses to her already extensive collection and to create items for her home. She had a friend teach her how to cross stitch so she could make fun gifts for the people she knew. She also took Spanish lessons to use on her travels. Lise looked for adventurous activities to try as well, like ziplining in the mountains, surfing, and white-water rafting. She was open to new experiences. Lise enjoyed cooking and baking. She kept growing her recipe collection. She and her husband were fond of supporting local restaurants and searching out new places to eat. On their travels, they would seek out good places to eat with a focus on local cuisine. Sometimes Lise would be inspired to try to make similar meals at home, as long as it was not too complicated. Lise loved food.

Lise was lucky to make good long-time friends, many who live in other parts of Canada. This allowed her the opportunity to visit almost every province and territory, all except the Yukon. She loved to travel and explore new places. Lise’s husband was a wonderful travel planner and arranged for them to visit many of the destinations that they wished to see. She also had some friends who would travel with her or invite them on their excursions. They knew Lise would often take them up on these offers. Lise had fond memories of traveling with her family to Maui and spending time with her in-laws in Mexico. She appreciated these moments to spend time with family in new environments and have shared adventures.

A prayer vigil will be held on Wednesday, June 7th at 7:00 p.m. Funeral service will be held on Thursday, June 8th at 10 a.m. Both are to be held at St. Anne’s Catholic Church on Lenore Drive. All are welcome.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Friendship Inn (https://friendshipinn.ca/donations/), Saskatoon Food Bank & Learning Centre (https://saskatoonfoodbank.org/donate) or Saskatoon Public Library (saskatoonlibrary.ca/donate-now).

 

Alison Brown Featured in 2023 Dalhousie ‘Open Think’ Initiative

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Dalhousie’s Open Think Initiative highlights PhD researchers each month from across Dalhousie University. They draw on their studies to publish articles that provide context for the world’s toughest challenges, highlight thorny issues we’ve not even begun to contemplate, and open up fascinating worlds to inspire our spirits.

Alison Brown is an Interdisciplinary PhD student, and Lecturer in SIM.

Click here to learn more about her research. Click here to read her first post. Keep an eye on the website here for future posts.

From the Open Think website:

Alison Brown studies how bringing people together to read aloud and discuss compelling literature can strengthen wellbeing and build social inclusion in our diverse communities.

“For many, reading is deeply personal. We read to make sense of our lives, escape into the unknown, find companionship in the familiar, discover what we and others are capable of. All of this can be amplified when we read aloud together.”
 @QuillAndSpade

Antiracism & Decolonization in Archives & Records Management: Open Classroom Series (Winter 2023)

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Join us for the Winter 2023 edition of the open classroom series on antiracism and decolonization in the information professions, with a focus on archival and records management in this academic term. The first session takes place on Wednesday, March 15 and features a lecture by Jesse Boiteau, Head of Archives, National Centre for Truth & Reconciliation.

Check out the full details here.

Registration is free and open to all!

The Winter 2023 open classrooms are co-hosted at Dalhousie’s School of Information Management (SIM) and the University of Manitoba’s Archival Studies M.A. Program at the History Department. They are taking place as part of graduate courses taught by Dr. Jamila Ghaddar and Krystal Payne, which are: INFO6370 Records Management (Winter 2023) at Dal’s SIM and the HIST7372 History of Archiving & Archival Records (2022-2023) at the UofM’s Archival Studies M.A. Program.

Contact: Dr. Jamila Ghaddar at director@archiveslab.org.

Winter 2023 Schedule:

Wed 15 March @ 1pm ADST (Halifax, NS) / 11am CDST (Winnipeg, MB): “Community connections: plural provenance theory & the role of archives and records in Indigenous community-led research,” a lecture by Jesse Boiteau, Head of Archives, National Centre for Truth & Reconciliation. Co-hosted with Dr. Greg Bak, Associate Professor, Archival Studies M.A. Program, History Dept., University of Manitoba. Register today!

Abstract: It is no longer a secret or revelation in the wider archival community that western or colonial archives and records played a role in the colonization of Indigenous peoples around the globe. The process of reconciling this fact has been handled differently by archives in various regions, and for the most part has been a tentative and slow process in fear of not engaging the right way or making a misstep in connecting with the Indigenous communities and peoples represented in their holdings. In May of 2021, this tentativeness changed forever. When the 215 potential gravesites of children were identified by Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc at the Kamloops Residential School site, the urgency for archives and records to build meaningful relationships with Indigenous communities was sent into overdrive. Read more

Wed 22 March 22 @ 1pm ADST (Halifax, NS) / 11am CDST (Winnipeg, MB): “When there is no archives: decolonial archiving and oral records in Mau Mau history,” a lecture with Rose Miyonga, PhD Candidate, University of Warwick. Co-hosted with Cameron Welsh, student in the Master of Archival Studies program, School of Information, University of British Columbia. Register today!

Abstract: In the 1950s, the British colonial government launched a brutal counterinsurgency against the revolutionary Mau Mau movement in Kenya. In an effort to quash the anticolonial uprising, British colonialists imprisoned over 150,000 people without trial in detention camps where torture and murder were commonplace. In the early 1960s, as the British began their exit from empire in Kenya, they took with them the evidence of this brutality. Hundreds of thousands of archival documents detailing their atrocities were destroyed, and many more were stolen away to a secret archive in the United Kingdom. Read more

Wed 29 March @ 1pm ADST (Halifax, NS) / 11am CDST (Winnipeg, MB): “Digitality, crowdsourcing and the photographic record: archival losses and alternatives in Kenya in the shadow of repatriation,” a roundtable with Chao Tayiana (co-founder of Digital Heritage, Museum of British Colonialism and Open Restitution Africa); Maureen Mumbua (Digitisation Coordinator, Book Bunk) and Max Pinckers (Artist and Guest Lecturer, School of Arts KASK & Conservatorium) in conversation with Rose Miyonga (PhD Candidate, History Dept., University of Warwick). Register today!  

Abstract: In conversation with Rose Miyonga, this roundtable brings together trailblazing and innovative practitioners and scholars working to address the many gaps, silences and erasures in Kenyan archival memory and documentary heritage due to the history and legacies of British colonial rule and its brutal counterinsurgency practices in the country. With a focus on resistant and marginalized histories and perspectives, participants will share their experiences with a range of alternative approaches to address the archival gaps and silences, from crowdsourcing and “imagined records” to living archives and participatory documentary projects. Read more  

MLIS Graduate Chosen as 2023 Black Changemaker

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We are pleased to share that Randolph White (MLIS ’20) was chosen as one of CBC’s 2023 Black Changemakers for Nova Scotia.

Click here for full article.

Randolph White: The mission is “yes”

Randolph White’s plan was to be a math teacher.

He had a facility with numbers, and wanted to make the subject easier for people who were struggling. But his calling to help others took a slightly different path when he started working at the library to pay for school. He began to realize that the library was a hub for the community, and he could have a meaningful and lasting impact on people’s lives through simple, small actions. When a young man approached him, saying, “We need support, we’re hurting. I think we need to get together,” White didn’t hesitate, and they formed a men’s group for African-Nova Scotians.

Whether through that group, or youth programming or his volunteer work with the African Nova Scotian Social Innovation Lab, White found he could contribute to changing the trajectory of people’s lives for the better.

“I always think of it as just illuminating what’s already there, so I’m just the one holding the flashlight on what the potential is so that they can see it themselves.”

Now the branch manager at the Halifax North Memorial Public Library, White makes it his mission to say “yes” when someone needs something.

Dal SIM Appoints Two New Professors Emeriti

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For immediate release: Dalhousie SIM Appoints Two New Professors Emeriti

Thursday, February 9th, 2023 (Halifax, NS) – SIM is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Fiona Black and Dr. Bertrum MacDonald as Professors Emeriti with the School.

Dr. Fiona Black joined Dalhousie in 2001 as an Assistant Professor in what was then called the School of Library and Information Studies. She was Director of the School from 2003 until 2010. During her tenure, Dr. Black championed the development of a mid-career blended learning graduate degree, the Master of Information Management (MIM), which has been a significant factor in SIM’s increased national profile. Dr. Black also served as Associate Dean (External Programs) as well as Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Management before joining the Office of the Provost in 2012 and being appointed Associate Vice-President Academic in 2013. Dr. Black was awarded the Faculty of Management’s (FOM) Senior Administrator Exceptional Service Award, in 2010, and the Dean’s Award for Academic Leadership, in 2007. In 2018, she received the School of Information Management Alumni Association (SIMAA) Outstanding Alumni Award. Many of her nominators and supporters spoke of Dr. Black’s “generosity with time and advice, even when busy with her administrative duties for the university,” and remembered how she inspired them with her trademark statement, “information managers are going to take over the world.” Dr. Black is recognized as a leading innovator in research methods relating to digital humanities. She was awarded an Honorary Fellowship in the United Kingdom’s Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals and is one of only a few Canadians to win this award since it was established in 1896. She also received, along with Dr MacDonald and others, the Bibliographical Society of Canada’s Institutional Award in 2010, for the major SSHRC-funded, bilingual project for a History of the Book in Canada/L’histoire du livre et de l’imprimé au Canada.

Dr. Bertrum MacDonald joined SIM in 1987. He served as SIM Director from 1995 to 2002, Associate Dean (Research) within the Faculty of Management from 2002-2007, and Interim Dean, for the Faculty of Management in 2015-2016. Dr. MacDonald has also continuously held research funding from SSHRC since the mid-1990s and Ocean Frontier Institute funding since 2017. He is the recipient of the 2021 Faculty of Management Research Impact Award, the Marie Tremaine Medal (the highest honour awarded by the Canadian Bibliographical Society), a Dibner Resident Scholar Fellowship at the Smithsonian Institute, and SSHRC and CFREF research grants totaling nearly $1 million. His leadership of the interdisciplinary EIUI: Environmental Information: Use and Influence research group (EIUI – www.eiui.ca) over the past two decades is one of the most significant accomplishments. Along with teaching the timely course, “Information in Public Policy and Decision Making,” Bertrum is known for his analytical rigor and attention to detail, and also for his incredible curiosity and joy in the research process. Dr. MacDonald served three terms on Dalhousie Senate, chaired the Senate Review Committee for the Faculty of Agriculture in 2018, chaired the Research Development Fund Committee in the Faculty of Graduate Studies, and chaired the Dalhousie Research Ethics Board and the Research Ethics Appeal Board. He served on several accreditation reviews of programs in Canada and the United States, as the Canadian member of the ALA accrediting unit from 2000 to 2004, as Executive Member at Large and Program Officer of the international Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing, from 2009 to 2015; President of the Royal NS Historical Society from 2011 to 2014, President of the Canadian Science and Technology Historical Association from 2008 to 2011, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Public Archives of NS in 2010 and Chair of the Board from 2014 to 2017,  as well as a member of the Board of Governors at Crandall University from 2008 to 2015. He has been a member of the award-winning chamber choir, the Halifax Camerata Singers, since 1991.

From Dr. Sandra Toze (Director, School of Information Management): “Drs. Black and MacDonald have both made significant contributions to the School, the Faculty, the University, and the profession as a whole. Through her many leadership positions, Dr. Black was responsible for creating change, and for supporting the University’s initiatives related to equity, diversity, inclusion, and decolonization. Dr. MacDonald has been instrumental in creating and sustaining an enriching, supportive, and productive research culture in SIM. I can’t think of any two people more deserving of this honour.”

When asked about their new appointments, Drs. Black and MacDonald said the following:

Dr. Fiona Black: “I am humbled by this wonderful honour and thank Dr Toze and Dean Brooks for their work to submit my name. I am thankful for all of the opportunities afforded me by faculty and staff of SLIS/SIM, and Dalhousie more generally, from 1991 onward. I would note especially the early impact of Dr Bertrum MacDonald’s counsel and persistent encouragement regarding research and doctoral study. Coaching from wonderful colleagues and students at the University of South Florida, Dalhousie, Edinburgh and elsewhere informed many aspects of my career and my memories are heart-warming, hilarious and humbling! Years of reference service at Regina Public Library lit the spark that first led me to study at Dalhousie and filled me with a joy that served me well throughout my academic career. I am a professor emeritus only because of other people, and I thank them all!”

Dr. Bertrum MacDonald: “It is definitely a privilege to be appointed as Professor Emeritus and I am very grateful to the School for this recognition. For a person who receives inspiration from the successes of students, graduates, and faculty colleagues, the School of Information Management has been a wonderful location for an academic career. For a person who often sees and facilitates connections between people and who benefits from interdisciplinary approaches to research and real-world problems, the School, the Faculty of Management, and wider Dalhousie University have provided an immensely productive setting for research initiatives and for encouraging advancements of professional fields. As Professor Emeritus, I hope to continue to contribute to successes of students, faculty, and graduates, and to seek solutions to professional and societal issues. Maybe, too, I will find increasing opportunities to spend time at my family farm, growing trees, and, yes, even picking stones!”

Media contact:
Dr. Sandra Toze
Director, School of Information Management
Dalhousie University
Sandra.toze@dal.ca

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