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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

Dr. Colin Conrad on his new role as Interim Director (Master of Digital Innovation)

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By: Toni Beaton (First-year MI Student)

Dr. Conrad headshotDr. Colin Conrad is an Assistant Professor with the School of Information Management (SIM). He is currently serving a 6-month interim directorship for the Master of Digital Innovation (MDI) program here at Dalhousie University. I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Conrad to learn more about his new role:

Please tell us your new title and briefly explain your key responsibilities.

I am the Interim Director of the Master of Digital Innovation, and am filling in for Dr. Vlado Keselj for 6 months. The program is interdisciplinary between Computer Science and Management. The biggest things I do within this position are being responsible for cultivating both the program and the student experience, being able to regularly liaison with students on how they achieve their goals, deal with admissions, and guide the strategic vision for the program as it goes through a review.

How would you describe the MDI program to someone who is not familiar with it?

This is Dalhousie’s premier program for dealing with the intersection of technology and different applications of business. For instance, the MDI is designed to equip students to go into different areas of the economy and identify the ways in which digital technologies are transforming those areas. It’s about advancing digital technology and improving those areas of discipline. It is also a program for other professional disciplines, such as health informatics, and non-profit organizations, such as DeepSense. We have three certificates; one of them is in digital business for people primarily interested in business, there is one in health information for those who want to work in health industries, and one in data science for those interested in data science applications to other areas of society and the economy.

What courses will you be teaching in the MDI program?

I’ve been teaching a core course called “Digital Transformation;” it is the first of two core courses in the MDI program. It is a super cool course, because it involves business, management, communications, and technology. In this case, students learn about identifying problems that organizations face, how to prototype solutions using technology, and then guiding an innovation process from beginning to end. It is a very hands-on course and is taught by two instructors (one from Management and one from Computer Science). One of the features of our program is that it is very interdisciplinary; we want to offer an immersive experience where students receive mentorship. It’s been a great course, and I’m optimistic that it will once again be well received by students (this is my third year teaching it).

What connections do you see between the MDI and SIM programs?

There’s a lot! People come into MDI primarily to find a job in digital transformation; SIM students often have a broader interest. Whether that means they are working in non-profits, they really care about things like the social good. In SIM, students often come from interdisciplinary backgrounds, but especially from the Arts and Social Sciences. In MDI, students are mostly coming from Computer Science backgrounds. There’s also a different balance between international and domestic students; in SIM, there are mostly domestic, whereas in MDI, there are mostly international students.

Other than those differences, they have more similarities than anything else! They are both interested in the intersection of information in society (in the case of SIM), and digital technology in society (in the case of MDI). Those two things overlap a lot. There are opportunities for shared courses, collaboration, and social opportunities. A lot of MDI students take our “INFO 6540 Data Management” course, for example. There are students within SIM who have gotten involved and really been transformed by this community. Some of our SIM students who are more technical in their interests have taken a course called “Data Mining and Data Warehousing” offered through MDI.

Do you have any special goals you are hoping to accomplish during your time with the MDI?

I want to have a really good understanding of what motivates students to go out and meet other people. One of the things we saw during the pandemic was that it was very difficult to do that; I want to know how we can go about creating a greater sense of community within the MDI cohort. I also want to find the right way to structure the program in making everything more flexible. Right now, we don’t have a lot of flexibility within our rigid certificate programs; I want to have students use the MDI in a way that they are best able to achieve their goals. For example, if a student is passionate about user experience in health, how can we take our current structure and empower that student? Those are the two things I am looking at.

Do you have any other comments you’d like to add? 

SIM is a stakeholder in a new initiative called the College of Digital Transformation, and this is going to be an initiative related to the program. It’s a new partnership between Computer Science and Management. There will be lots of opportunities to collaborate and enrich each other’s communities. That’ll be something to watch over the next year!

If you’d like to learn more about the MDI program, please visit their website at: https://www.dal.ca/academics/programs/graduate/digital-innovation.html.

SIM Alumni News (2022-2023)

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Here are some miscellaneous recent alumni updates. Are we missing something? Send your alumni announcements, updates, awards, and other news to sim@dal.ca. We love to hear about all the exciting things our grads are doing.

  • From Tammy Whynot (MLIS ’12): “I pursued and got a publishing contract for multiple books–about librarians! They are romantic comedies I write under a pen name, and can be found here if you have any interest: www.annwhynot.com/books2. I put my collections class to good use in building a collection for the Mental Health Inpatient Unit here at our small hospital on the South Shore (South Shore Regional Hospital). Because of my training, I was able to take into account things like adults with a range of reading levels, and included items such as picture books and high-low books, something I wouldn’t have known existed without my time at SIM. I also made an effort to have a diverse collection with both BIPOC and LGBTQ2+ representation. I made a video which should you have interest, is available here: https://youtu.be/EHM_Nnx5qoA. Again, thank-you for the education I received. Good things are happening to me because of my MLIS, and I am very happy to be able to say SIM is part of my happiness in life, even all these years later. “
  • Mikylah Gillis (MLIS ’20) joined the team at the Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia in Fall 2022 as Archives Assistant. Her work will focus on preserving knowledge and understanding of built heritage in Nova Scotia, assessing and beginning a general organization of a wide range of archival material collected by the Heritage Trust over the last six decades and making them accessible.
  • Dr. Toni Samek (MLIS ’91) was chosen as one of 10 recipients of the Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee medal by the Library Association of Alberta. Dr. Samek is a professor at the University of Alberta SLIS program. She convened the CLA’s Advisory Committee on Intellectual Freedom, was the debut Library Journal Teaching award recipient in 2007 and is the recipient of the 2017 LAA’s President’s Award, which recognizes her major impact on a provincial level.
  • Vinson Li’s (MI ’22) award-winning paper “Mapping the health science librarianship research field in 2012-2022” was published in the December 2022 edition of the Journal of the Canadian Health Libraries Association. The paper won the JCHLA student paper prize in spring 2022. Full paper details can be viewed here: https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/jchla/index.php/jchla/article/view/29626

You’re Invited: 2023 Dalhousie-Horrocks National Leadership Lecture

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This event is virtual, free, and open to all. Please share throughout your networks.

The 2023 Dalhousie-Horrocks National Leadership Lecture

Rita Tjien Fooh
Director of the National Archives Suriname

Perspectives from the global south (Suriname) on archival repatriation: challenges and opportunities

Monday, February 13th, 2023
5:30pm (Atlantic Standard Time – AST)
Online

REGISTER HERE
RSVPs are required

Respondent (providing a brief interactive response to the lecture): Ir. Arjan Agema from the National Archives of the Netherlands

Endorsed by: Association of Canadian Archivists, International Council on Archives (Expert Group on Shared Archival Heritage), Library & Archives Canada, Nova Scotia Archives.

Abstract: Over the past five decades there has been a  growing consciousness  among archival institutions from the global south that the construction of their history and identity were based on the sources and narratives compiled by former colonial powers. The dominant storyline and perspectives in the archival sources were determined by the entity who held the power at that time. Access to these archival sources that are held in the repositories in Europe, USA , Canada and other countries are therefore of utmost importance for researchers and institutions in order to decolonize the archives . At the same time local acquisitions and recordings of oral history  are  important methods  for institutions to  control their own narratives and move beyond sources of the colonial archives.  In my presentation I will elaborate on the archival collaboration between the National Archives Suriname and the Netherlands, with a focus on the repatriation of colonial archives between 2010 and 2017 and the various projects both institutions undertook since then.  In addition, this lecture will also be centered around subjects linked to fostering archival collaboration with regional and international archival institutions and organisations, initiating conversations about best practices, and the role of archives in reparatory justice.  Lastly, in the age of repatriation of paper archives and digital collaboration, the global south is becoming increasingly dependent on hosting in the global north where different regulations apply with regard to open access, free reuse of archives, etc. How will this increasing sphere of influence of the global north affect the future of digital heritage?  

Speaker Bio: Rita Tjien Fooh is currently the Director of the National Archives Suriname. Since taking office as national archivist in 2010, she was involved in a seven year project (2010- 2017) for the repatriation of the colonial archives from the Netherlands to Suriname. This project is considered to be one of the large successful repatriation project on international level. She is member of the Foundation for the Historical Database Suriname and Curacao (HDSC) that was launched in 2018 after the successful implementation of the database of the enslaved people. Furthermore she serves in various national committees for the preservation of cultural heritage.

Mrs. Tjien Fooh is also actively involved in regional and international professional organizations. From 2015- 2019 she was  the President of the Caribbean Branch of the International Council on Archives (CARBICA).  During her CARBICA presidency she launched a three year project (2016- 2018) ‘Archives at Risk: Advocacy & Capacity building in the Caribbean’, a project funded by the International Council on Archives (ICA). In her capacity as CARBICA President she represented the Caribbean region in the Executive Board of the ICA.  Until recently (2021) Mrs. Tjien Fooh served the ICA in various roles. From 2015- 2017 she was the President of the UNESCO Memory of the World Program for the Latin American and Caribbean Region. Since January 2018 she was appointed by the Secretary General of the UNESCO, as a member of International Advisory Committee (IAC) of  the Memory of the World Programme of the UNESCO. Currently Mrs. Tjien Fooh is a part time lecturer at the History Department of the Anton de Kom University of Suriname. She is still actively involved in projects related to the preservation and safeguarding of the Caribbean cultural heritage.  In her role as co-chair of the Caribbean Heritage Emergency Network (CHEN) she is currently preparing a project to launch a Caribbean hub for Cultural Emergency response in 2023. Rita Tjien Fooh holds a Archivistiek A degree from the University of Amsterdam and a Master degree in Public Administration from the Erasmus University of Rotterdam.

Following the lecture, the Dalhousie-Horrocks National Leadership Fund will be presented to MI student, Maddie Hare. 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 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.

Respondent Bio: Ir. Arjan Agema is head of the Digitization department of the National Archives of the Netherlands and member of the management team. His team digitizes 1700 meters of archive every year. He is also responsible for the International Heritage Cooperation-program which emphasizes cooperation, exchange of (digital) collections and capacity building with a number of priority countries with special relations with the Netherlands. Since 2015 he is president of the board of Archives Portal Europe Foundation and he is a member of the ICA Expert group on shared archival heritage (EGSAH). Being educated as a non-western rural sociologist, Agema has work in development cooperation, and has had several leading positions in museums and archival institutions.

Diverse Career Paths: An Ottawa Alumni Gathering

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Edited by: Toni Beaton (First-Year MI Student)

Content Provided by: Dr. Bertrum MacDonald

The graduate programs offered by the School of Information Management are noted for encouraging students to “keep their options open” for career paths. Why? Because information facilitates the operation of every organization and managing information is essential for efficient and effective administration. As Dr. Fiona Black, former Director of the School, has said: “information managers are taking over the world!”

Diverse career paths were clearly evident among the grads who attended the alumni gathering at the Sir John A Pub on Elgin Street in Ottawa on a cold fall evening on 16 November 2022. From Acting CEO of a national museum, to Communication and Engagement Manager of a senior medical researcher’s office and lab, to Research Data and Information Managers in government departments, to Head of Intelligence in a national organization, to new owner of an IM company, the diversity of career paths was evident in the conversations. Dalhousie grads enjoyed getting together to network, catching up, and learning about new projects and career directions.

Faculty also enjoyed meeting with grads. Dr. Bertrum MacDonald, long-time faculty member, was in Ottawa attending the Canadian Science Policy conference and welcomed the opportunity to update grads about developments at the School. Alumni are encouraged to keep in touch with the School and to watch for future grad events in their area.

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