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Council of NS Archives “Community Albums” Project Launches June 27th

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By Michelle Boychuk (MLIS ’16)

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

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

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.

Thank You from the 2016-2017 Researcher in Residence

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Public Lecture 10_17_Ken Field PhotoBy Kenneth Field (Librarian, Trent University Durham)

This past year, I have had the great good fortune to be Researcher in Residence at the Dalhousie School of Information Management. Thanks to the wonderful Faculty and Staff at the School, I have been welcomed, engaged, and exposed to many new people and ideas.

My work this year has been primarily focused on a citation analysis of resources used by faculty in the humanities and social sciences at Trent University between the years 2012 and 2016. Thanks to guidance from Dr. Ryan Whalen, I was able to efficiently gather citations to the articles of the target group and begin the job of extracting the data from the cited references. Having access to Dal’s information resources expanded the data available for the analysis; I the scope of data would not have been as broad at my home institution. Dr. Whalen also provided me with some data visualization software that I hope to use as my research progresses.

Dr. Lori McCay-Peet enlisted me early on in my tenure to present a guest lecture on copyright in her Information and Society class and to do a research presentation as part of the IM Public Lecture series. These opportunities to share my knowledge and talk about my research with students and faculty greatly enriched my work and would not have been available to me otherwise. It was also Dr. McCay-Peet who suggested I contact Dr. Vincente Lariviere at the University de Montreal. Prof. Lariviere does research in the areas of scholarly publishing and citation analysis and through this contact, I obtained a trove of data related to Trent faculty citation practices that will provide much greater insight into journal use by Trent faculty.

Dr. Bertrum MacDonald had several conversations about citation analysis, and he exposed me to very current work being done in the area of bibliometrics that will definitely inform my work. On a tangential note, through Dr. MacDonald that I had the opportunity to sing in the choir for the Symphony Nova Scotia performances of the Messiah, a great privilege and pleasure.

Thanks to Dr. Sandra Toze (SIM Director), I was included in the regular life of the School; I was invited to attend and participate in regular faculty meetings, and included in social events. I was made to feel a part of the community by all its members.  Thank you also to Kim Humes (SIM Administrative Assistant) for so ably providing me with the facilities and the resources that made my work possible.

Lastly, a big thank you to Prof. Carla Heggie for sharing her knowledge and expertise on privacy and access to information with me.

All in all, being Researcher in Residence at SIM has been tremendously rewarding. I have had opportunities to engage with new scholars, researchers and students, and I have been a part of a wonderfully collegial and active community. Once again, thank you to everyone at Dalhousie’s School of Information Management for a wonderful year.

Three SIM Faculty Receive University-Wide Teaching Awards

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Teaching Excellence

Three SIM faculty have been recognized with University-Wide Teaching Awards for their outstanding commitment to teaching and learning at Dalhousie University. Read the full announcement here.

  • Jennifer Grek Martin (MLIS ’11) received the Contract and Limited-term Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching: “A lecturer in the School of Information Management, Jennifer Grek Martin is receiving Dal’s award celebrating teaching from contract and limited-term faculty. The selection committee was impressed by Dr. Martin’s breadth of teaching experience with positive student and peer feedback, as well as her commitment with curriculum design and creative learning. ‘In a short period of time,’ the committee writes, ‘[Grek Martin has] built an outstanding portfolio and has demonstrated evidence of leadership beyond the expectations of contract and limited-term faculty.'”
  • Dr. Mike Smit received the Early Career Faculty Award of Excellence for Teaching: “An Associate Professor in the School of Information Management, Mike Smit is this year’s recipient of Dal’s award celebrating exceptional teaching and educational leadership at the onset of one’s career. A two-time Dal alumnus (both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Computer Science), Dr. Smit was cited by the selection committee for his strong commitment to students, the high standards he sets for learning, and his concern for individual student success. The selection committee writes that the praise and thanks Dr. Smit has received from his students, ‘speaks to the impact [his] instruction has had on their education.'”
  • Dr. Vivian Howard (MLIS ’95) received the Alumni Association Award of Excellence for Teaching: “Vivian Howard, this year’s recipient of the university’s top teaching award, first joined Dal in a full-time role in 1999 as one of the original instructors in the then newly launched Bachelor of Management program. Since then, she has built a reputation as an outstanding teacher and community leader. An associate professor in the School of Information Management, Dr. Howard is being recognized for her scholarly contributions on teaching and learning and for her commitment to community engagement and helping boost retention efforts for international students. She has also provided consistent support for peers across faculties on major initiatives such as the development of the Indigenous Studies minor, which launched in the fall of 2015.”

These awards will be formally presented this Fall. We are very proud of our dedicated and passionate faculty here at SIM. Congrats to all!

Donna Bourne-Tyson Named President of the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL)

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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.”

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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.

 

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