Join us for SIM Research Day on April 7th!

March 23, 2016 Kim Humes

Come hear about the exciting research projects our graduate students are working on! See names and topics below. All are welcome – no cost – no RSVP required.

EVENT SCHEDULE (check back regularly for updates):

11:00am > First poster viewing + mingling (Room 3087)

Presenters

Daniel Gouthro: Sentiments Toward the Islamic State on Twitter within Canada
Leah Boulos: Measuring the Impact of Mandatory Research Requirements on Medical Student Information Seeking Behaviour
Hannah Steeves: Canadian Legal Professionals’ Information Activities: What do they do and how do they tweet?
Andrew Moore: The Human Factor in Digital Recommender Systems
Charlotte MacKeigan: Evaluating Content Management Systems in Academic Libraries – A Pilot Study of the Novanet Consortium
Anne Hvidsten: Corporate Information Management – Core Concepts & Best Practices

11:10am > Intro to lightning talks, Dr. Sandra Toze (Room 3089)

11:15am > Lightning talks + Q&A (Room 3089)

Presenters

Robyn Gray: Young Adult Use of E-Books: An Analysis of Public Library Information and Resource Offerings
Jenna Knorr & Elizabeth O’Brien: Community-Led Services: A Partnership between Dalhousie University, Shelter Nova Scotia, and Halifax Public Libraries
Zoe Dickinson: Search Engine Visibility for Canadian Public Library Resources: Motivators, Barriers, and Enablers
Katie Bowers: Cooperative Preschool Programming at Halifax Public Libraries
Tess Grynoch: Research Data Management on Three Fronts: Working with Researchers, Libraries, and an Information School
Chantel Ridsdale: Strategies and Best Practices for Data Literacy Education
Domenic Rosati: Programming, Scripting, Coding: How and Why Librarians Engage in Computer Programming
Elham Alghamdi: Social Media Based Businesses in Saudi Arabia
Lama Khoshaim: Measuring User Engagement in the Context of Second Screening

12:35pm > Closing remarks, Dr. Sandra Toze (Room 3089)

12:40pm > Second poster viewing + mingling (Room 3087)

Academic Support Series #7 – Academic & Public Library Work. Friday, March 11, 12-1:30pm

March 4, 2016 Lindsay

Please join me for the LAST Academic Support Series workshop of the 2015/2016 year! Community Librarian and SIM grad Amanda Fullerton will be joining Lindsay McNiff, for a discussion on employment issues and experiences in two types of libraries: public and academic. Although we’re meeting in Rowe 4001 for consistency, the session will be discussion-based rather than hands-on. See below for the full description:

Friday, March 11, 2016, 12-1:30pm in Rowe 4001

Is a career in public libraries calling your name? Not sure how to go about getting your foot in the door? Embarking on a career as a librarian can seem daunting, especially if you’ve never worked in a library before, but don’t fret, it is possible. All those years working in customer service may be more valuable than you imagined! Public libraries across Canada are shaking things up by sending librarians to work directly in their communities and these types of jobs require lots of skills beyond those required for traditional library work. Community Librarian Amanda Fullerton, will share her story of working in one of these unique and exciting library positions.

Using her OLA panel presentation as a springboard, Lindsay will discuss and answer questions regarding contract working in academic libraries, beginning with questions such as What’s the deal with contract work? Will I have to work a contract before I get a permanent job? What can I expect from a temporary contract? How can I make the most of contract work? What steps should I take as the contract winds down?

During this session, Amanda and Lindsay will speak to these issues, provide insight from our experiences, and talk openly about some of the realities of public and academic library work.

IM Public Lecture & Workshop: Vincent Larivière & Dr. Stefanie Haustein (University of Montreal)

February 26, 2016 dm531650

We are happy to welcome Dr. Vincent Larivière & Dr. Stephanie Haustein (University of Montreal) to SIM for two special events, co-sponsored by the Dalhousie President’s Office, SSHRC (Research Development Fund), and Dalhousie Libraries:

WORKSHOP: From Bibliometrics to Altmetrics – Current Challenges in the Measurement of Scholarly Activity

Monday, March 7th, 2016 from 12:00pm-1:30pm*

Room 3089, Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building, 6100 University Avenue

*A light lunch will be served at 11:45am in Rowe 3087

Abstract: Since the creation of the Science Citation Index in 1963, sociologists of science and information scientists have developed methodologies to quantify various aspects of scholarly activity based on papers and citations. The digital era, which makes it easier for knowledge to be diffused, accessed and used, has led to a diversification of the means for communicating scholarly information, but also increased the traces it leaves online—especially on social media. This workshop will provide an introduction to bibliometrics and to the new family of social media-based indicators of scholarly activity currently grouped under the umbrella term of “altmetrics”, emphasizing possibilities and limitations.

LECTURE: On Transformations of Scholarly Communication in the Digital Era (Dr. Vincent Larivière)

Tuesday, March 8th, 2016 from 4:15pm-5:15pm

Room 3089, Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building, 6100 University Avenue

Abstract: This year marks the 350^th anniversary of the creation of the first scientific journal, the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. At the beginning of the 19^th century, journals became the fastest and most convenient way of disseminating new research results, outranking correspondence and monographs with which they had happily coexisted until then. They consolidated this position throughout the 20^th Century, especially in the sciences. The advent of the digital era then challenged their traditional role and form. Indeed, digital technologies, which are easy to update, reuse, access, and transmit, have changed how researchers produce and disseminate knowledge, as well as how this knowledge is accessed, used, and cited. Drawing on historical and contemporary empirical data, this talk will address the past and current transformations of scholarly communication, with an emphasis on how these transformations have affected the speed at which knowledge is disseminated.

BIOS

Vincent Larivière holds the Canada Research Chair on the Transformations of Scholarly Communication at the Université de Montréal, where he is an associate professor of information science. He is also the scientific director of the Érudit platform, associate scientific director of the Observatoire des sciences et des technologies (OST) and a regular member of the Centre interuniversitaire de recherche sur la science et la technologie (CIRST). Vincent holds a bachelor’s degree in Science, Technology and Society (UQAM), a master’s degree in History (UQAM) and a Ph.D. in Information Science (McGill), for which he received the 2009 Eugene Garfield Dissertation Scholarship award.

Stefanie Haustein is a post-doctoral researcher at the Canada Research Chair on the Transformations of Scholarly Communication at the University of Montreal. Her current research focuses on social media in scholarly communication and making sense of so-called “altmetrics” and is supported by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. She is co-chair of the NISO Working Group on altmetrics data quality. Stefanie holds a Master’s degree in history, American linguistics and literature and information science and a PhD in information science from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany.

For more information on both events, visit the Public Lecture page of our website.

IM Public Lecture: Mark McCumber (New Brunswick Public Library Service)

February 17, 2016 Talha Hashmi

The Information Management Public Lectures give attention to exciting advances in research and professional practice. The topics are diverse reflecting the importance and global extent of Information Management in today’s society. The lectures are open to all members of the Dalhousie campus and surrounding community. When feasible, recordings of the lectures are posted for wider circulation. For the full schedule, visit the Public Lecture page of our website.

Choosing Food: Exploring Consumers’ Use of Ingredient Information

Lecture Details
Thursday, February 25th, 2016 from 5:35-6:35pm
Room 3001, Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building, 6100 University Avenue

Abstract: Food labelling is designed to help consumers make better food choices. Understanding how this information is used becomes increasingly important as relationships between diet and diseases are recognized. Research on food label use has left the list of ingredients under-explored, despite its identification as an important component of the food label. As an internal cognitive process, information use during food choices is difficult to measure without influencing behaviour. This lecture will present the results of mixed-methods research designed to gain insight into cognitive and behavioural aspects of food choices. A survey measured self-reported nutrition behaviours of 518 university students. A screening tool identified surveyed volunteers likely to use ingredient information, 11 of which completed a simulated shopping task that produced rich qualitative data relating to food label information use. A theoretical approach to thematic analysis revealed that participants focused on avoidance of negatives when making food choices, employing various strategies to accomplish this goal.

Biography: Mark McCumber graduated from the MLIS program at Dalhousie in 2015. For a devoted vegetarian and conscious consumer who is eternally suspicious of our food production industries, it was the natural choice to incorporate some aspect of food security into his pursuit of the MLIS. Having become intrigued by the study of information seeking behaviour, he determined to combine this field with his natural interests, designing a study intended to explore how people use food label information when making food choices. Mark currently works for New Brunswick Public Library Services as the Public Services Librarian for the York Region. Residing in Fredericton, New Brunswick, he still reads every food label of products that he’s considering purchasing, as well as many that he is not, and is somewhat dissatisfied that he can only wear denim on Fridays and weekends.

NOTE: We encourage you to attend in person, but if that is not possible you can access an audio recording + slides on our website following the lecture (a notice will be sent when posted). Web streaming is not currently available.

IM Public Lecture: Dr. Jamshid Beheshti (McGill University)

February 17, 2016 dm531650

The Information Management Public Lectures give attention to exciting advances in research and professional practice. The topics are diverse reflecting the importance and global extent of Information Management in today’s society. The lectures are open to all members of the Dalhousie campus and surrounding community. When feasible, recordings of the lectures are posted here for wider circulation. For the full schedule, visit the Public Lecture page of our website.

Designing Virtual Environments for Children and Teens: Challenges and Opportunities

Lecture Details
Monday, February 22nd, 2016 from 2:30-3:30pm
Room 3001, Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building, 6100 University Avenue

Abstract: Virtual environments (VEs) provide the unique experience of a sense of being within a 3D space, where the user is involved by interacting with objects. In education, immersion and presence can have strong motivational impact for students, who can actively be engaged in building their own internal models of the world. VEs may also be used as an alternative information retrieval tool by presenting a more engaging browsing environment for children and teens. Creating informational and educational VEs, however, can be perplexing, requiring multitudes of experts, advanced technologies, funds and time. In this presentation the challenges and opportunities in the design process of two different VE projects will be discussed.

Biography: Jamshid Beheshti, in collaboration with his colleagues, has produced more than one hundred publications, and has obtained close to three million dollars in research grants from SSHRC and other organizations over the past two decades. His research has focused primarily on investigating the information behavior of children and youth, and on designing and developing tools to assist them in their information seeking in the academic milieu. The culmination of his experience has led to the publication of two books on the topic of information behaviour. He served for five years as the Interim Dean and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Education, and for six years as the Director of the School of Information Studies at McGill University.

Congratulations to the Information Without Borders team for their very successful 2016 Conference

February 12, 2016 Talha Hashmi

By Talha Hashmi (SIM Co-op Student)

Neither snow nor construction could stop IWB 2016. Information Without Borders (IWB) is an entirely student run conference initiated by students of The School of Information Management in 2007. Over the past 9 years it has grown in scope and size, and continues to be a model of professionalism. This year’s conference continued this trend, successfully bringing together a large and diverse audience interested in exploring “Managing Health Information: Technologies and Strategies for the 21^st century”. The IWB committee lead by co-chairs Tess Grynoch and Chantel Ridsdale did an outstanding job organizing speakers that engaged their audience and informed them about how health information is being currently managed, as well as possible alternative solutions. It was refreshing to see an event where knowledge was so actively shared and discussed, both within the room and virtually (#iwb2016).

With almost 200 students and industry professionals in attendance, the 2016 IWB conference committee exceeded their expectations growing attendance by 25%. The day moved smoothly through speakers, breaks, lunch, the silent auction and a poster session without a hitch. All the speakers, including the students, highlighted the breadth of the field of health information, highlighting the challenges and opportunities. The opening Keynote speaker was Gail Crook, CEO of CHIMA (Canadian Health Information Management Association) who spoke about “Profiling the HIM profession and Information Governance” and the closing Keynote speaker was Dr. Robert Strang, Chief Public Health Officer for Nova Scotia, who spoke about “Health Information in the 21^st Century: Opportunities and Challenges”. A highlight of the day was the integration of research talks by three students Leah Boulos, Nora McGruer and Scarlett Kelly, who shared topical and interesting presentations on managing health information resources, using non-traditional channels for communicating healthcare information to individuals and the state of electronic health records in Canada. This broad spectrum of presentations allowed attendees to gain a broad exposure to the issues within the field, and provided a call to action. This added to the success of the conference.

A goal of the conference is to showcase student research. In addition to three student speakers highlighted above there was also a Student Poster Competition. The poster competition allowed students to showcase their research in progress, and gain valuable insight from the audience. The winner of the competition was SIM thesis student Zoe Dickinson, for her Poster on “Libraries, Search Engines & The Deep Web: Barriers to Visibility”.

Overall the conference was a great success due to the IWB committee’s strategic planning, organization and hard work. They created an event for like minded individuals to discuss and learn more about information management. We are sure the IWB conference will continue to grow and we hope to see you again in 2017!

Reflections on Dr. Ingrid Parent’s Horrocks Lecture “Driving Influential Leadership in a Global Context in the Information Profession.”

February 10, 2016 dm531650

By: Domenic Rosati (MLIS Candidate 2017)

Listen to a video/audio recording of the lecture here.

This year’s Horrocks National Leadership lecture was given by Dr. Ingrid Parent, University of British Columbia’s University Librarian and past president of the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA). Dr. Parent’s lecture shared her insights about successful leadership within libraries. One of the key take away’s for me was that leadership in every sphere is always related to the values that we hold in common, such as (in the case of librarians and information professionals) access to and preservation of information.

Leadership in the community

Dr. Parent began by discussing one of the key issues that libraries and other memory institutions face: the democratization of access to information through technology. Before, libraries, archives, and museums could count on their roles as gatekeepers to the information and heritage universe. Now, individuals harness and expect instant access to information anytime, anywhere.

She asks us to think about how libraries and other memory institutions can deal with this through leadership in the community, using roles the library and information science community plays on a global level as an example. First, she spoke about the efforts of setting international standards and policies for our profession, and that we are often unaware that standards and policies made on a global level effect our local practices.

Dr. Parent illustrates this by telling us about her experiences with IFLA, specifically her involvement in an international intellectual property meeting. Her example spoke to the vital advocacy role that information professionals have in international discussions. As IFLA president, she had only three minutes to speak to the interests of our profession regarding fair copyright and intellectual property standards. Conversations she had with representatives of other professions were also important to continuing the borrowing and lending missions of libraries. Dr. Parent also spoke about her involvement with The Platform to Enhance the Sustainability of The Information Society Transglobally (PERSIST), and how she advised which resources and content were going to be selected for preservation.

Another value important to our profession is bringing the public together for a common cause. She gave two examples of successful library programming in two different cultural locations, Botswana and Brisbane, Australia, that demonstrated the value of access to resources and teamwork in very different contexts. Turning to her home institution, she spoke to how UBC has been able to apply some of those common values to support their aboriginal community, through truth and reconciliation initiatives, a free First Nations borrowing card, and partnerships to provide resources and spaces for indigenous communities for the digitization of heritage materials.

Unfortunately, the contemporary scholarly publishing model, with its increasing subscription fees and electronic access limitations, is threatening long term access to research. She argues that, with our library consortiums, we can advocate for alternatives, such as open access, or for consortia sized purchases and negotiation power.

Leadership in the Profession

Dr. Parent then spoke about the challenges library and memory institutions face as a whole. Those in our profession have developed contemporary information seeking practices, from innovative spaces that emphasize inclusiveness, to models of embedded librarianship to manage these challenges. The international advocacy that she has been involved in, such as getting the UN to adopt public access to information as one of its international goals, requires hard work that demonstrates action.

Leadership in the Library

First, Dr. Parent recommends that libraries inspire and lead with a strategic vision that is developed in consultation with all library stakeholders, translated into concrete deliverables, and able to get the various library units and staff to feel like it directly applies to their work.

Then it is important to cultivate and nurture teams. In particular she spoke about the necessity to cultivate a good workplace morale, which is everyone’s responsibility because leadership is actually a broad activity that encompasses all staff. Leaders are agents of change and part of that change is taking a 10 steps ahead approach. Since looking 10 steps ahead is inherently risky, she advised that thinking hard about risk is important to library leadership.

She also related some of the hard choices library leaders have to make, especially when libraries are hard-pressed financially. She spoke to this using the example of her oversight of a 3 year deficit reduction plan at UBC, which caused many hard choices to be made. Leadership in that circumstance required working through each negative scenario very thoroughly in order to make the best decision.

Dr. Parent emphasized the unique role the library can play in the field of advocacy. She eluded to an OCLC report that people are starting to think of libraries more and more as an enabling space. Dr. Parent argues that we can make the most of this role and advocate for important issues such as access to copyrighted material, or access to the internet.

In conclusion, Dr. Parent said we need to learn from each other both on a global and local scale. Learning from each other and taking care of each other are key ways in which we can start to understand our roles and responsibilities in being a force for change internationally, in the profession, and in our local institutions.

Lecturer, Ingrid Parent with Horrocks Award winner, Leah Boulos (MLIS ’16)

Upcoming Presentations on Big Data by Dr. Mike Smit

February 3, 2016 Kim Humes

SIM Assistant Professor, Dr. Mike Smit, will be discussing Big Data at two upcoming events, hosted by Dalhousie University Executive Education & the Halifax Chamber of Commerce:

1. Wednesday, March 9th, 11:30am to 1:30pm, Halifax Harbourfront Marriott Hotel

ASR Distinguished Speakers Series: “The Rising Tide of Big Data (and some swimming lessons)”

We’re used to the trendy topics in technology being solutions; solutions that create their own problems, perhaps, but at least solutions! Big Data is a bit different. It’s not happening because of us; rather, Big Data is happening TO us. Since it is pervasive across industries and sectors, it’s worth understanding the technical and business reasons behind this phenomenon, and some ways to both manage its growth and extract data with real value. We’ll talk about data analytics, the value of a data literate workforce, and how we can learn from the mistakes of others.

Read more information here.

2. Thursday, May 26th to Saturday, May 28th

The Executive Workshop in Big Data Analytics (also featuring Faculty of Management professors Dr. Michael Bliemel and Dr. Hossam Ali-Hassan)

Leverage Big Data. Make Better Decisions: Companies are struggling to manage the opportunities and challenges created by big data. Buried within the data sources are new insights about customers, products, and operations that can drive revenue, profit growth, innovation, and productivity. Taught by award winning faculty from Dalhousie University, the Executive Workshop in Big Data Analytics is an intensive 3-day experience intended to help companies understand and define where and how big data and advanced analytics can transform their business.

Participants receive an official Certificate of Completion in Executive Education from Dalhousie University.

Read more information here.

Good luck, Mike! SIM is fortunate to have experts in this increasingly important field as part of our faculty.

Jan 21st Exhibition Launch: The Emergence of Artist-Run Culture in Halifax

January 21, 2016 Kim Humes

From Creighton Barrett (SIM Lecturer & Digital Archivist, Dalhousie University Archives):

I thought I’d share some details about an exciting exhibition project I’ve been working on with Peter Dykhuis, Director/Curator at the Dalhousie Art Gallery. The project features a selection of posters, invitations, and administrative records from two archival fonds held at the University Archives. Mariah Blackmore (MLIS ’16) has done some tremendous work with some of this material and will be providing archival reference services in the gallery on Fridays from 12-4.

We’re having an opening reception on Thursday night at 7 PM. Please come if you can!

22 JANUARY TO 17 APRIL

“Why are we saving All these artist publications + Other Galleries stuffs?” – THE EMERGENCE OF ARTIST-RUN CULTURE IN HALIFAX

OPENING RECEPTION Thursday 21 January at 7 PM

Curated by Creighton Barrett, Digital Archivist, Dalhousie University Archives, and Peter Dykhuis, Director/Curator, Dalhousie Art Gallery

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Canadian artists began to self-organize and establish independent spaces for creating and presenting contemporary art. These spaces were called “parallel galleries” or “alternative spaces” and are now known as artist-run centres. Halifax is home to some of the oldest artist-run centres in the country: between 1970 and 1975, Charlotte Townsend-Gault organized the artist-run Mezzanine Gallery at NSCAD. In 1972, a group of female artists established the Inventions Gallery, but the gallery closed after a fire in 1973. A few former members of Inventions Gallery collaborated to found Eye Level Gallery in 1974. The burgeoning interest in video and installation art led to the establishment of Centre for Art Tapes (CFAT) in 1978.

The emergence of artist-run culture is part of a larger historical narrative of 1960s counterculture, cultural policy debates, and widespread interest in communications and technology. This exhibition explores the formative years of artist-run culture in Halifax, from 1970 through the mid-1980s, by presenting posters and invitations from the Mezzanine Gallery fonds, Eyelevel Gallery fonds, and the Centre for Art Tapes fonds in an integrated chronology. The order is periodically disrupted by thematic groupings of textual records and ephemera clustered around quotations from these early archival documents that capture the growing pains and aspirations of this nascent culture.

“Why are we saving All these artist publications + Other Galleries stuffs?” is the only question scrawled on a list of Eyelevel Gallery members present at a board meeting sometime in 1979. There is no record of an ensuing conversation (unless it remains to be discovered among the linear metres of administrative records). The exhibition will also feature a temporary Archives Room with the archives of Eyelevel Gallery and the Centre for Art Tapes presented in the way in which they are permanently stored in the Dalhousie University Archives. These materials will be available for supervised consultation on Tuesdays and Fridays from 12 to 4 p.m. Visitors are invited to perform research in the gallery and craft their own answer to this everlasting question.

Eyelevel Gallery and the Centre for Art Tapes have been invited to present contemporary programming alongside this historical retrospective, which complements the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia’s exhibition The Last Art College: Nova Scotia College of Art and Design 1968-1978.

——————————————————————–
Creighton Barrett
Digital Archivist
Dalhousie University Archives
Tel: 902.494.6490 | Email: Creighton.Barrett@Dal.ca
www.dal.ca/archives

IM Public Lecture: Lee Wilson (Dalhousie)

January 20, 2016 Kim Humes

The Information Management Public Lectures give attention to exciting advances in research and professional practice. The topics are diverse reflecting the importance and global extent of Information Management in today’s society. The lectures are open to all members of the Dalhousie campus and surrounding community. When feasible, recordings of the lectures are posted here for wider circulation. For the full schedule, visit the Public Lecture page of our website.

Bridging the Gap: The Communication of Information in Complex, Multi-sectoral Networks

Lecture Details
Monday, January 25th, 2016 from 1:00-2:00pm
Room 3001, Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building, 6100 University Avenue

*embedded in the class INFO 6100: Information in Public Policy and Decision Making

Abstract: Research has shown that the development of strong communication and information-sharing networks is essential to the success of natural resource developments, particularly those taking place in highly active, and often hotly contested, coastal areas. In the Bay of Fundy region, tidal power offers a source of clean, renewable energy, as well as a means to strengthen local economies. The implementation of tidal power affects many stakeholders, e.g., municipal, provincial, and federal government agencies; non-governmental organizations (NGOs); environmental groups; industry both domestic and foreign; universities; and community groups, including First Nations communities. This lecture will present the results of a mixed-methods case study that used Social Network Analysis (SNA) and semi-structured interviews to examine tidal power stakeholder communication networks operating in the Bay of Fundy region of Nova Scotia. Understanding how, and indeed if, stakeholder organizations are communicating yields insights into how communication channels may be improved, which can also be applied to similar contexts, e.g., the offshore wind and wave energy industries. Among the many findings emerging from this research, the importance of “bridger” organizations, particularly from the NGO sector, in facilitating the flow and use of information among diverse organizations is highlighted.

Biography: Lee Wilson recently defended his Master of Library and Information Studies (MLIS) thesis which investigated tidal power communication networks operating in the Bay of Fundy region of Nova Scotia. He has been employed as a research assistant with the Environmental Information: Use and Influence (EIUI) research program (www.eiui.ca) since 2014. His work with EIUI focused on understanding the information pathways in complex networks, particularly in the context of natural resource management occurring in coastal and ocean regions. In addition to being an active member of the EIUI team, Lee has begun work on a new research initiative with Dr. Mike Smit (School of Information Management) and the Marine Environmental Observation Prediction and Response Network (MEOPAR – www.meopar.ca/) about the state of ocean data management in Canada.

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Category: Events

Come hear about the exciting research projects our graduate students are working on! See names and topics below. All are welcome – no cost – no RSVP required.

Presenters

Presenters

22 JANUARY TO 17 APRIL

“Why are we saving All these artist publications + Other Galleries stuffs?” – THE EMERGENCE OF ARTIST-RUN CULTURE IN HALIFAX

OPENING RECEPTION Thursday 21 January at 7 PM

Bridging the Gap: The Communication of Information in Complex, Multi-sectoral Networks