Please read about MLIS student James Rothwell here: https://blogs.dal.ca/libraries/2013/08/19/intern-profiles-2013-james-rothwell-sexton-design-technology-library/
Robert Munsch Award
The Guelph Public Library and the Friends of the Guelph Public Library are pleased to announce the Robert Munsch Award. Robert Munsch is an enormously successful children’s writer and Canada’s best-selling author. He has published more than 50 individual titles, and his books have sold many millions of copies in more than a dozen languages.
Robert Munsch makes his home in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. He is arguably Guelph’s most famous living citizen and much loved. In his honour, the Guelph Public Library has launched The Robert Munsch Discovery Portal and in partnership with the Friends of the Guelph Public Library will offer The Robert Munsch Award, a $1000 Cdn award for the best short essay or position paper discussing the place or the impact of the writings of Robert Munsch in English Language Children’s Literature.
As part of this celebration of all things Munsch, the Guelph Public Library, in partnership with the Friends of the Guelph Public Library, will offer The Robert Munsch Award, a $1000 award for the best short essay or position paper discussing the place or the impact of the writings of Robert Munsch in English Language Children’s Literature.
Eligibility:
Submissions are invited from undergraduate and graduate level university students in Library and Information Science, Children’s Literature, Early Childhood Education and related areas of study. Eligible submissions should be between 1000 and 2500 words in length, must include a short letter of support from a university faculty member in an appropriate subject area and must not have been published previously.
Eligible submissions must be received no later than April 15, 2014.
Applicants will retain copyright of their submissions but must agree to give the Guelph Public Library permission to exhibit selected papers in the Library and on its website. All submissions will become part of the GPL Archives.
To submit:
Papers, together with a short note of faculty support, should be submitted to: munschaward@library.guelph.on.ca. Please include “Munsch Award” and the name and location of the applicant in the subject line.
For further information, please contact: munschaward@library.guelph.on.ca.
Request for interest for a potential MLIS reading course: Development of a SIM taxonomy
The collections of theses and reading courses taken by students in the Master of Library and Information Studies and Master of Information Management programs are organized according to the following taxonomy of research areas. This taxonomy was developed originally by the Association of Library and Information Science Education a number of years ago. While this taxonomy is valid in its own right, it may not fully reflect the areas of interest of the two SIM programs. The goal of this reading course is to develop a SIM taxonomy by which to organize the School’s collection of reading courses and theses. The student will:
- Conduct a literature review on existing taxonomies or vocabularies that reflect the information management field
- Conduct an analysis of the titles and abstracts of the collection of SIM reading courses and theses to extract key concepts and areas of study
- Analyse the existing taxonomy in light of steps (a) and (b) above
- Interview SIM faculty and staff about concepts to be included in the taxonomy
- Create a final taxonomy to be reviewed by SIM for official use.
This reading course will contribute to student learning and experience related to:
- Literature search skills
- Structure and development of taxonomies and controlled vocabularies
- Client engagement
Term: Winter, 2014
Interested students should contact Dr. Louise Spiteri
New websites for SIM
Our new SIM and MLIS websites have been launched . This transition is part of a Dalhousie-wide initiative as the university moves from one content management system (CMS) to another. The new CMS is much more versatile and will provide a more user-friendly web experience for users. SIM’s other program website, the Master of Information Management site, went live last year; it was among the first sites launched in the Faculty of Management.
Access Conference 2013
Access is Canada’s premier library technology conference bringing librarians, technicians, developers, programmers, and managers together to discuss cutting-edge library technologies. Access is a single stream conference featuring in-depth analyses, panel discussions, lightning talks, hackfest, and plenty of time for networking and social events. Join us in St. John’s Newfoundland, September 23-26 for Access 2013.
SIM announces two new faculty positions
The School of Information Management is pleased to welcome our new faculty member, Dr. Mike Smit, who will be joining us at the rank of Assistant Professor on July 1, 2013. Dr. Smit has a PhD from the University of Alberta, and Master and Bachelor of Computer Science from Dalhousie University. Dr. Smit’s research examines the intersection of software engineering, software systems, and people. The overall theme is studying and mitigating the complexities of emerging technologies, particularly cloud computing and adaptive systems and the technology they enable. This includes a) managing the increasing complexity of software and the underlying infrastructures to protect and improve the relationships among people, technology, and information, and b) envisioning the next generation of these emerging technologies, particularly the architecture, design space, design patterns, and development support required. Dr. Smit has been a Post-doctoral Fellow at York University (Toronto), serves as the Program Director/Manager/Faculty with Shad Valley at Dalhousie University, and has held a Research Fellowship at IBM Centers for Advanced Studies in Toronto. Dr. Smit has published and presented his research in several computer science and knowledge management venues, such as the IEEE International Symposium on Integrated Network Management, the International Conference on Data Warehousing and Knowledge Discovery, and IEEE CLOUD Application and Experience.
The School of Information Management is pleased to announce that Professor Sandra Toze will be starting a five-year limited-term position on July 1, 2013. Professor Toze has a Master of Library Science from the University of Toronto, and a Bachelor of Arts from Queen’s University. Professor Toze is a PhD candidate at Dalhousie University. Professor Toze has been a lecturer at the School since 2003, and has served as the marketing manager of the Master of Information Management program since 2010. Prof. Toze’s research interests emerged from her experience as an information professional. Professor Toze’s research examines how humans find and integrate information to effectively accomplish knowledge based work tasks, and to help design tools and practices to facilitate and enhance this process. Professor Toze’s PhD research looks at a particular type of collaboration, namely how student groups find and integrate information to accomplish complex assignments. Professor Toze has presented her research at several scholarly conferences, including the International Symposium on Collaborative Technologies and Systems, the American Society for Information Science and Technology Annual Conference, and the European Conference on Digital Libraries.
ARMA International Educational Foundation scholarships
The ARMA International Educational Foundation (AIEF) scholarship programs encourage development of the international records and information management community with an appropriately educated records and information management workforce.
Graduate scholarships leading to the Masters or PhD degree were first offered in 2006. To apply, click AIEF Graduate Scholarship Application Form. Nine scholarships are awarded each year.
Dr. Anatoliy Gruzd awarded Major SSHRC Insight Grant
The School of Information Management is pleased to announce that Dr. Anatoliy Gruzd and co-applicant Caroline Haythornthwaite of the University of British Columbia, have been awarded a $478,622 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight grant for their new research initiative “Learning Analytics for the Social Media Age.” This grant will directly benefit graduate students at SIM and is a reflection of the growing research strength at SIM and the Faculty of Management. Read more on the Social Media Lab website.
Deadline extended: Dal SIM Outstanding Alumni Award
There’s still time to nominate a fellow SIM alum to be honoured this fall. The deadline for nominations for Dalhousie School of Information Management’s Outstanding Alumni Award has been extended to Friday, June, 14, 2013.
Each fall the Associated Alumni of Dalhousie University’s School of Information Management present the Outstanding Alumni Award (OAA) to honour a member who “has made an outstanding contribution to Library and/or Information Management.” In selecting the winner of this award, the Associated Alumni seek to honour remarkable records of professional responsibility, scholarship and publishing, innovation and leadership, service to our professional community and to the community-at-large. All of this, along with a demonstrated healthy dose of enthusiasm, commitment and dedication to our field that are characteristic of SIM alumni.
Do you know of an alumnus that you feel should be honoured? We’re sure you do. Please consider taking the time to review the brief guidelines linked off the OAA page below and put together an application to draw our attention to a great colleague. The more of you who do this the better; in short, we are asking you to make our task a tough one.
Submissions and deadline:
Nominations will be received by email only, dated no later than Friday, June 14, 2013.
Receipt of submissions will be acknowledged by email.
Nominations of persons previously nominated but not chosen may be resubmitted.
Please send all nomination materials to:
Monique Woroniak
Chair, Associated Alumni Outstanding Alumni Award Committee
We look forward to hearing from you
Dr. Peter Wells selected for the Susan Snow-Cotter Leadership Award.
Dr. Peter Wells, Adjunct (Faculty of Graduate Studies) at the School of Information Management, has been selected for the Gulf of Maine Council 2013 Susan Snow-Cotter Leadership Award. This award is bestowed in memory of Susan Snow-Cotter, former Director of the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management, whose unwavering passion, enthusiasm, and > pragmatic approach to coastal management served to overcome many challenges. This award honors coastal management professionals for outstanding leadership and exceptional mentoring in the Gulf of Maine watershed.
Our heartfelt congratulations on this honour, Peter.