SIM alumni, Lee Wilson (MLIS ’16) was married in Moncton on August 5th. Congrats Lee and Erica on a beautiful wedding day! We send you best wishes for a happy future together.
SIM is happy to celebrate significant life events with our alumni. Do you have something to share? Submit it to inform@dal.ca anytime.
It is with great sadness that the School of Information Management notes the passing of Karen MacNeil (MLIS 2002). Below is a copy of her obituary, which can also be found at: http://www.inmemoriam.ca/view-announcement-2274385-karen-macneil.html
MacNEIL, Karen
Of Sydney, passed away unexpectedly on Saturday, August 5th, 2017, in St. Martha’s Regional Hospital in Antigonish. Her passing was quiet, and she was surrounded by loved ones.
Karen was born on January 4th, 1945 in Halifax to Thilmond and Patricia Landry, and grew up in Arichat. She graduated from Mount Saint Vincent University with a Bachelor of Arts, and went on to obtain her MLIS from Dalhousie University. Karen was a Librarian at the Sydney Regional Library before she retired. This was the best possible career for someone who loved to read and research everything as much as Karen did.
After retirement, Karen and her husband James enjoyed hiking the Cape Breton Highlands, and walking the beaches of Mexico whenever they could. She enjoyed a variety of needlework crafts, and her art can be found throughout her family’s homes. She always enjoyed the company of friends and family (particularly when food was involved), and was well-loved by both. Karen adored her eight grandchildren and loved to spend time with them. She will be greatly missed.
Karen is survived by her husband of 51 years, James; her children, Chris (Shelley), Terry (Charlene), and Michelle (John) Whidden; her cherished grandchildren, Eric, James ‘JT’, Ian, Jessica, Megan, Danica, Evan and Breanna; her siblings, Michael (Janet), Elaine and Faye; and numerous nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by their infant son, Michael; and her sister, Bette. Funeral mass will be held 11 a.m. on Thursday, August 10 in St. Marguerite Bourgeoys, with Father Duaine Devereaux officiating.
Memorial donations may be made to St. Martha’s Regional Hospital Foundation in Antigonish. The family would like to express their sincere thanks to the staff at St. Martha’s for the kindness they received while Karen was in their care. Words of comfort may be made to her family by visiting
www.twcurry.com.
Dalhousie University’s School of Information Management has recognized Heather Berringer of the University of British Columbia with the 2017 Outstanding Alumni Award. This annual award honours a member who has made an outstanding contribution to Library and Information Management.
Heather is the Chief Librarian at the University of British Columbia (UBC) Okanagan Campus, and an Associate University Librarian at UBC Library. Throughout her time with UBC, Heather has demonstrated outstanding leadership skills and established strategic relationships within the university and the wider community. Under her leadership, the library developed a Writing and Research Services Unit, an Inclusive Technology Lab, and recently launched a multi-million dollar building expansion.
Heather’s collaborative and inclusive approach to librarianship has led to many successful community partnerships, including the UBC Innovation Library, which is embedded in the Kelowna branch of Okanagan Regional Library, a Leader in Residence Program, and the Okanagan Region Historical Digitization Project.
In the words of one of her many supporters, through Heather’s efforts UBC’s Okanagan Campus Library “has become a stand-out success, valued by students and faculty alike as a centerpiece of the University’s education and research activity in the Okanagan, and engaged with communities on terms that those communities value.” Her determination, sense of humor, and accomplishments make her an outstanding alumna of the School of Information Management.
SIMAA invites you to join us in congratulating Heather on her award at the SIMAA Welcome Reception on September 27th, 2017 at the Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building, Rm 3089. An invitation with RSVP will follow.
Read the full post on CFAME Connection. You can also read a synopsis of the research findings here:
A paper, entitled “Strengthening Deeper Learning through Virtual Teams in E-learning: A Synthesis of Determinants and Best Practices”, by Joyline Makani (MLIS Instructor), Martine Durier-Copp (CFAME), and co-researchers Deborah Kiceniuk and Alieda Blandford (MLIS ’15) has received the IJEDE Best Paper award for 2016. The award was announced at the CNIE conference May 18, 2017 in Banff, Canada.
The prestigious IJEDE Best Paper Award seeks out cutting-edge research that responds to current realities. “Strengthening Deeper Learning…” offers an e-learning framework, one that could serve as the foundation of future empirical studies in e-learning. Congrats to all!
We are pleased to announce the launch of the Louis Vagianos Medal gallery on the SIM website. This Medal, named for the first Director of the School (1969-70), is presented annually to the graduating student who “combines the capacity for blending originality with practical thinking and the courage to seek solutions to professional problems outside the mainstream”. Louis Vagianos emulated these characteristics in all his endeavours.
The gallery features profiles of award winners from 1990 to present. We encourage you to explore these profiles, as they contain some fantastic advice and insights, as well as illustrate the breadth of opportunities available to graduates of the MLIS program.
The purpose of this gallery is to celebrate Vagianos’ legacy (more on that below), and the accomplishments of the medal winners, who not only were successful as students but have gone on to forge strong paths in the profession after graduation.
In fact, the first winner was none other than Dalhousie University Librarian, Donna Bourne-Tyson. She says: “I didn’t know Louis personally, but I am in awe of his many accomplishments and talents, and also his generosity in creating this award. It is interesting to be serving as University Librarian, a post he also held, and working in the Killam Library, a building that he helped to design and build. When I was informed that I was to receive the Medal, it was very affirming for me to know that out-of-the-box thinking was valued in the profession. I am honoured to be a Vagianos Medal recipient.”
During his career at Dalhousie, Dr. Louis Vagianos held the senior positions of University Librarian and Vice-President (Administration). He returned to a leadership role in the School in 1994-1995 when he served as Interim Director. He was instrumental in establishing the innovative vision of the Master of Library Service (now Master of Library and Information Studies), which emphasized systems thinking and the broad relevance of professional information work across organizational types. Forty years on, his vision also influenced the design of the mid-career Master of Information Management program as a complement to the MLIS. He was an inspirational instructor who advocated and encouraged “outside the box” thinking. Unfortunately, Louis Vagianos passed away in 2014 (you can read the full obituary here), but the School continues to be indebted to his vision for the fields of information management and librarianship .
From Dr. Sandra Toze (SIM Director): The School of Information Management (SIM) joins others within our community mourning the loss of Lawrence J. (Lou) Duggan (MLIS 2000). Since his arrival at SIM, Lou became one of our most active and accomplished members. His impact has been tremendous. Lou was an outstanding student, receiving the Research Award, and was awarded a position as Associate Fellow at the National Library of Medicine, Washington, DC. As an alumni, Lou was an ever-present contributor to our School, and our students. He guest lectured in classes, pushing students to think in new ways, actively participated in our committees, was a professional partner, researched with faculty, and was Chair of our SIM Associated Alumni. When he was not supporting SIM, Lou was actively involved in APLA, and other key organizations across Canada. Lou’s dedication to research as a vehicle for moving our profession forward was constant throughout his life. Lou was awarded the SIM Associated Alumni Award in 2014, recognizing his leadership within the School, the region, and across the country.
I have been fortunate to work with Lou in his many different roles, and was much enriched by the experience. Dr. Bertrum MacDonald, who collaborated with Lou on several research projects, speaks for all of us when he says, ” I have considered it a distinct privilege to have been his research colleague and friend.”
Lou – we will miss your intelligence, your passion, your creativity and your music. You have left us far too soon.
Lou’s obituary can be found here. There will be a celebration of his life at the Halifax Central Library, Paul O’Regan Hall, Friday June 30 at 7 pm. I am sure we will see many of you there.
By Michelle Boychuk (MLIS ’16)
See Michelle’s interview about the project on Global Halifax.
I moved Halifax 3 years ago—I braved the 4 day drive from Edmonton to Halifax to pursue a Master of Information and Library Studies at Dalhousie University. I succeeded in that regard, and stayed in Halifax to work on a project for the Council of Nova Scotia Archives titled “Community Albums.” The project launches on June 27th. Please keep an eye on the Council of Nova Scotia Archives Facebook for the link!
The project takes advantage of the digital medium to provide anyone with an internet connection a glimpse into a variety of communities across Nova Scotia through their archives. Using a virtual exhibit format, readers can delve into albums to see the stories and images that archives have curated to tell the story of their communities since 1867. Although many communities already have their rich histories up for display through their museums, their archives are often left unexplored by those who are not enthusiasts or researchers. Giving archives a chance to shine on their own was one of the things that originally drew me to this project. Readers will be able to search for names, places, industries, or anything they can imagine in a specific album, or even across all albums at once, allowing readers to see connections between seemingly disparate communities.
1 Map of Current Participants
The beginning of this project was a whirlwind lesson on Nova Scotian history and geography. I visited over 20 archives who had responded to a call for applications in 2015 and early 2016. These trips took me to every edge of Nova Scotia, from Bridgewater to Church Point to Port Greville, and from Antigonish to Lake Ainsley to Isle Madame and back. I was welcomed into each archives and told stories about each community; I gave them the tools to share those stories through this project. One of my fondest memories from this part of the project was being invited for tea after consulting with Cathy Maclean for Lake Ainsley Historical Society and being told the latest goings-on of the area.
2 Submission from the Girl Guides of Canada
Putting the project together has been mostly a combination of data entry, discussion, and scanning. After the initial consult, I left each participant to run wild in their archives, limited to choosing only 50-60 items out of their extensive collections that they felt could encapsulate their communities over the last 150 years. To foster a replication of the uniqueness I saw in the communities I visited I did not place many limits on how the albums were created. Standard metadata elements, archival scope, and a set time period provides a conceptual structure that allows the project to have one cohesive purpose, but the standards are loose enough to allow for the natural differences between each community to be displayed. The organizational structure, temporal focus, item types, and topics covered all come together to create a vast array of combinations which serve to delineate each community, while the structural and thematic similarities between albums will serve to bring them together as part of a provincial whole.
Congrats Donna (MLIS ’90), from everyone at SIM! We look forward to following your initiatives over the next two years.
From the Dalhousie Libraries Blog: The Canadian Association of Research Libraries has elected Donna Bourne-Tyson, Dalhousie’s University Librarian, as CARL President for a two year-term, 2017–2019. “It’s a great honour to serve the research library community in Canada in this capacity,” said Donna. “Academic research libraries are at the vanguard of technology as the sharing and dissemination of information shifts to digital environments. It’s a time of rapid change and growth for libraries.”
Donna has recently commenced her second term as the University Librarian at Dalhousie and has been in the role since 2011, previously having served as the University Librarian at Mount Saint Vincent University. Currently, she oversees a team of 120 librarians and staff and ensures Dal Libraries meet the needs of the Dalhousie community through supporting initiatives such as open access, scholarly communications, research data preservation and learning communities.
As President of CARL, Donna will work collaboratively with 29 of Canada’s largest university libraries plus Library and Archives Canada and Canada’s National Science Library. CARL supports Canada’s research community by providing improved access to research services, promoting effective and sustainable scholarly communication and advocating public policies that enable broad access to scholarly information. CARL member libraries spend over $335 million annually on information resources to support learning, teaching and research and act as a foundation for Canadian-led innovation by providing access to knowledge, as well as preserving vital information required to support Canada’s research community.
As CARL’s president, Donna will be joining an impressive group of university leaders who have served in this role, including: Tom Hickerson, Vice-Provost for Libraries and Cultural Resources at the University of Calgary; Gerald Beasley, Vice-Provost and Chief Librarian at the University of Alberta, soon to become the Carl A. Kroch University Librarian for Cornell University; and most recently Martha Whitehead, Vice-Provost Libraries & Digital Planning at Queen’s University.
Congrats Joyline Makani (SIM lecturer and alumna, Dalhousie Librarian) on your award. Learn more about Joyline’s research successes here.
Creighton Barrett – SIM alumnus (MLIS ’11), instructor and Digital Archivist at Dalhousie University – recently stopped by CBC Radio to discuss ways librarians like him are using police forensic techniques to solve the mystery of data storage in the 21st century.