Osgoode teams up with University librarian for event on digital scholarship
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University Librarian Joy Kirchner
York University Librarian Joy Kirchner will lead an event presented by Osgoode’s Standing Committee on Teaching & Learning that explores new models of digital scholarship and communications on Jan. 26.
University Librarian Joy Kirchner
“Opening up the Academy: New Models for Research & Learning in the Digital Age” takes place in Room 2027, Osgoode Hall Law School, from 12:30 to 2:15pm. It is open to all.
Kirchner has been the University librarian at York University since July 2015.
Prior to joining York U, Kirchner was the associate university librarian for Content & Collections, and the interim associate university librarian for Research & Learning at the University of Minnesota. A major focus in the last year included implementing a new vision for content services that included a publishing operation to support eLearning, and overseeing the roll-out of the provost’s open access policy. She has also held a number of leadership positions at the University of British Columbia, where she was most recently in charge of UBC’s Scholarly Communications & Copyright Office.
Kirchner has been involved in many cross-institutional collaborations throughout her career that include invitations to serve on several task groups to develop national policies on open scholarship in consultation with the Tri-Council funding agencies. She has been a faculty member with the ARL/ACRL Institute for Scholarly Communications, where she assisted other North American institutions with their scholarly communications and open access campus programming needs. In addition, she was the program lead and one of the initiators of the Association of College & Research Libraries’ much lauded Scholarly Communications Road Show Program.
Her research and scholarship is focused on new models of digital scholarship and scholarly communications, and she lectures widely on these topics.
York University introduces a new online study resource
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Library lounge
York University has launched a new online study resource that brings together academic support services available on campus in one centralized place — the Study Hub.
The Study Hub provides an online study resource for students. It aggregates all of the online resources for students that are offered by the University.
The Study Hub is the brainchild of Stephanie Christopher, Myda Kavazanjian and Pam Smith, counsellors and educators with Counselling and Disability Services (CDS) at York University. When students turned to them for help with academic challenges or to build their learning skills and habits, they realized that York offered no lack of resources — but that finding them was an altogether different matter.
At a large university, with 11 Faculties, nine colleges and two campuses, the dispersion of resources comes as little surprise. Yet the three counsellors, with technical support from York University Information Technology’s Rod Potter in particular, wanted to alleviate the stresses that students might experience while attempting to locate suitable academic support and collaborated to create a central access platform. The Study Hub directs students to workshops on anything from note taking to essay writing to improved time management hosted by a variety of York entities such as York Libraries, Learning Skills Services or the Career Centre. Likewise, the website lists study groups or peer-mentoring services from all colleges and Faculties.
Students can also learn how to set up their own study groups, how to recognize early signs of academic struggle and what to do about it and how to go about finding or advertising one-on-one tutoring services. While much of the website is accessible to the public, students must use their Passport York logins to view the tutor and study group listings on a Kijiji-like bulletin board.
Above: From left, Pam Smith, Stephanie Christopher and Myda Kavazanjian
Christopher, one of the site’s originators, notes that the Study Hub has a further advantage beyond helping students understand course material better, improving their academic skill set or aiding in their personal development: the creation of a sense of community for those attending York.
“We see students, particularly in first year, who are commuting to York feeling isolated and not knowing any people in their class, so the Study Hub offers a new way to engage with the York community.” The network of assistance in fact stretches from freshly minted Lions who are just beginning their academic journey to upper-year students and alumni, the latter of whom can advertise their tutoring services.
Before launching the project, Christopher and her colleagues conducted research on other universities and what they offered students in terms of study help. At York, the Study Hub is the first to house in one place multiple resources that already exist on campus.
“We invite students to go to the website and try it out,” Christopher says. “We hope that students find it helpful, and that it reduces the frustration of not knowing where to get assistance.” The more people make use of the new resource, her colleague Kavazanjian adds, the better it will become, potentially making it a York household name for academic support in the near future.
York University honours B. R. Ambedkar, India’s iconic champion of social justice
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Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar as a young man. “I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress women have achieved.” Dr.B.R.Ambedkar (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
York University honoured a pioneering thinker and leader in the realm of social justice and equality, Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, with the installation of a bronze bust in the Scott Library. The event took place Dec. 2 at the University’s Keele campus.
Facilitated by the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS), the bust was donated by the Ambedkar International Mission (AIM) Canada, Toronto. It was unveiled in the Scott Library by the High Commissioner of India to Canada, Vishnu Prakash.
“I am humbled at the opportunity to unveil the bust of Bharat Ratna Dr. Ambedkar at York University, one of the greatest temples of learning in Canada,” said Prakash. “A great son of India and architect of the Indian Constitution, Dr. Ambedkar devoted his life to the cause of social justice, gender equality and the promotion of education. York University has not only honoured a great Indian, a jurist, an educationist, a humanist, a social reformer, but it has also honoured 1.2 billion people of India.”
Ambedkar was born in 1891 into a Dalit (untouchable) community in India
“Having begun life as a child who had to sit separately so that other children would avoid his touch, Dr. Ambedkar became a leading voice in India’s anticolonial struggle, its struggle for justice, equality and democracy and freedom from discrimination. He not only overcame the obstacles in his own path, but he changed the path for others,” said Professor Ananya Mukherjee-Reed, dean of the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. “For our Faculty, Dr. Ambedkar’s trajectory is of special significance. He derived his understanding of equality and justice from an exploration of many disciplines — history, philosophy, religion, economics and sociology. He then became an academic, an activist, a practitioner of law and finally a legal luminary who drafted the constitution of the world’s largest democracy. Our Faculty tries to achieve exactly this kind of seamless interconnection between liberal and professional education, between scholarship and practice, between active citizenship, activism and critical thought that Dr. Ambedkar’s life portrays.”
In 1990, he was posthumously awarded India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna (Jewel of India), for his role in supporting justice, freedom, equality and fraternity.
The bust of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar
“Celebrating luminaries like Dr. Ambedkar always serve as a reminder of the work we still need to do to address critical questions of justice, locally, regionally, nationally and globally,” said York’s Vice-President of Research & Innovation Robert Haché said in his speech. “York University has a well-known mandate for social justice, which it strives to realize through its teaching, scholarship, creative activities and engagement.”
After the unveiling, Professor Emeritus Sukhadeo Thorat from Jawaharlal Nehru University delivered his keynote speech. Thorat is a renowned scholar on Ambedkar’s life and is currently Chairperson of the Indian Council of Social Science Research in New Delhi, India. Thorat explored Ambedkar’s thoughts on some of the central contradictions of political equality co-existing with structural inequality in the economic and social realms.
“As a scholar of multiple disciplines, Dr. Ambedkar has inspired many to undertake studies on several issues, particularly on problems of discrimination and on social institutions like the caste system, which exists not only in India, but in many countries around the world,” said Arun Kumar Gautam, president of the Ambedkar International Mission, Canada, Toronto. “We hope that his presence will inspire students and scholars of York University to undertake research on areas to which Babasaheb Ambedkar dedicated his life.” (Babasaheb is the name by which his supporters fondly refer to him.)
Professor Lorne Sossin, dean of Osgoode Hall Law School and special advisor to the president on Community Engagement, also spoke at the ceremony. He mentioned that in a recent popular opinion poll in India, Ambedkar was voted by the people as the “Greatest Indian since Gandhi.” Twenty million votes were cast in this poll.
The installation “has happened in a very auspicious year — Ambedkar’s 125th birth anniversary,” said Mukherjee-Reed. “As we step out of this room and go our different ways, let us remind ourselves of the tasks that lie ahead of us. If Dr. Ambedkar’s presence in our midst is to have any real meaning… I hope we will come together as a university, a community, scholars, activists, thinkers to take forward the issues of social justice.”
Call for applications for the 2016 Undergraduate Research Fair
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Applications for participation in the 2016 Undergraduate Research Fair are now open. Faculty who are currently grading final assignments are asked to watch for particularly strong research or creative art projects and to encourage the students responsible to apply to York University’s fourth annual Undergraduate Research Fair, being held on Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016, from11am to 1:30pm in the Scott Library Collaboratory.
Jointly sponsored by York University Libraries and the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation, the multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research Fair honours undergraduate student researchers and provides students with the opportunity to share their work by designing a poster and presenting the results of their research to the York community in a friendly, cross-curricular environment. Fair applications are due by Jan. 21, 2016, but students are encouraged to apply now. Students wishing to present a poster can apply by submitting a graded, research-based project or honours thesis that was prepared between January and December 2015, along with a 250-word abstract. A workshop on designing and presenting a poster will be offered to participating students, and the University Libraries will arrange to print the posters at no cost to the participants.
It was standing room only at the 2015 Undergraduate Research Fair
New this year, undergraduate students who have created a piece of artwork for a 2015 York credit course may apply to have their work displayed in an Art Walk in Scott Library during the fair. One artwork submission will be chosen to grace the cover of York’s newest e-journal, Revue YOUR Review (York Online Undergraduate Research), associated with the Undergraduate Research Fair.
Monetary prizes of $200, $500 and $600 will be awarded to poster session presenters deemed to have the best lower-year project, best upper-year project, best honours thesis and best poster presentation. In addition, the University Libraries offer an Information Literacy Award of $600 to the researcher who develops and explains his or her information research strategies best. In addition, fair attendees will select a People’s Choice winner. All student presenters will receive an invitation to submit an article on their project, to be considered for publication in Revue YOUR Review.
Last year’s Undergraduate Research Fair drew a large audience of students, faculty and administrators from across the York community, as well as friends and family of student presenters. The 2016 fair welcomes applicants from all York Faculties, including Glendon College.
The fair offers an opportunity for undergraduate students to participate in several components of the cycle of knowledge production and dissemination.
For more information about the Undergraduate Research Fair, participant eligibility and how to apply to present a poster or display artwork, visit the Undergraduate Research Fair website.
York U Librarian Nick Ruest on research team awarded with SSHRC Insight grant
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An visual example of the research the team is doing. Here, an image depicts web archived content from 50 political parties and political interest groups, from October 2005 to March 2015
York University Digital Assets Librarian Nick Ruest is part of a research team developing easy access to history for future historians.
Nick Ruest
The research project, which was awarded a five-year Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight grant, will link history and big data to give historians the tools to find and interpret digital sources from web archives.
It addresses how historians will study the 1990s and 2000s by using web archives of old websites, academic sites, discussion boards and more – all of which form a part of our cultural record.
The project, “A Longitudinal Analysis of the Canadian World Wide Web as a Historical Resource,” is headed by team of scholars based at York University (Ruest), the University of Waterloo (Ian Milligan, principal investigator) and Western University (William Turkel), and a growing team of graduate students and research associates.
A visual example of the research the team is doing. Here, an image depicts web archived content from 50 political parties and political interest groups, from October 2005 to March 2015
Ruest oversees the development of data curation, asset management and preservation initiatives. He creates and implements systems that support the capture, description, delivery and preservation of digital objects having significant content of enduring value.
Turkel, a professor at Western University, works on integrating the project with the Mathematica programming language; the earliest fruits of this can be seen in his new open-access textbook Digital Research Methods with Mathematica.
Milligan, a York PhD graduate, leads the Web Archives for Historical Research Group at the University of Waterloo and has several federally and provincially funded digital history projects underway.
This grant supports graduate student researchers, computational infrastructure, and research dissemination. Since receiving the Insight award in June, the team has already launched the WebArchives.ca portal, which has received coverage on CBC.
WebArchives.ca is housed at York University Libraries, administered by Ruest and others in the York University Libraries’ computing department. The team’s goal is to work on an ever-larger dataset, exploring various research methods and approaches to working with archived web material.
Libraries host student events in November for financial literacy
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The York University Libraries are bringing Financial Literacy Month to York students by holding a series of events during the month of November and promoting a variety of financial literacy resources.
Financial Literacy Month is a national event that was established five years ago by the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada. During the month of November, a variety of Canadian businesses and not-for-profit organizations participate in this celebration of financial literacy in Canada by creating resources and hosting workshops that help Canadians learn how to make responsible financial decisions.
“Like it or not, financial decisions are part of our daily lives,” says Jodi Letkiewicz, assistant professor in York’s School of Administrative Studies. “Unfortunately, many students experience financial stress and don’t have the knowledge, skills or help to manage that stress.”
A month dedicated to this important topic, she says, gives students access to information and help to better manage their financial lives.
Moshe Milevsky, associate professor at the Schulich School of Business, adds that this initiative is extremely important and timely.
“Very few programs or Faculties at York University mandate a personal finance or wealth management course,” says Milevsky, “so the general level of financial literacy on campus is quite low. Kudos to the staff at the Libraries for attacking this task with gusto.”
The Libraries will be hosting three events for students on the Keele campus:
Tax Planning for Postsecondary Students – Nov. 4, 12:30 to 1:30pm
Joanne Magee, associate professor in York’s School of Administrative Studies and School of Public Policy & Administration, will give a talk on why it is important for students to file a tax return every year and how students can use certain tax rules when filing their returns to help offset the cost of university.
The Amazing Financial Race Workshop – Nov 11, 12:30 to 1:30pm This game-based workshop will be run by Credit Canada Debt Solutions and will help students build their financial literacy skills by learning about topics such as budgeting, using credit cards, fraud and identity theft.
Own Your Financial Future: Managing Debt & Making Credit Work For You – Nov. 18, 12:30 to 1:30pm
Hosted by CPA Canada, this workshop will help students develop a better understanding of what credit is, how it works and the value of having a good credit rating.
Students can register online. A light lunch will provided at each event.
While the above events will help students hone specific financial literacy skills, the Libraries also created a website that highlights financial literacy resources, a personal finance book display in the Peter F. Bronfman Library, and an online guide that showcases both York U resources and free online resources that discuss financial literacy.
Open Access Week film screening of ‘Citizenfour’
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Edward Snowden (image: Wikimedia Commons)
Celebrate Open Access Week with York University Libraries by attending a free public screening of the Oscar-winning film Citizenfour on Oct. 28.
Edward Snowden (image: Wikimedia Commons)
The film depicts the disclosure by Edward Snowden of National Security Agency (NSA) spying secrets to the film’s producer Laura Poitras, as well as to journalists Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill.
The documents leaked by NSA insider Snowden to the media led to an international scandal concerning the extent and illegality of the NSA’s surveillance programs. This film expands on the themes of Open Access Week by exploring what it means to pursue radical openness on matters of intense public interest in the face of government opposition.
“The Libraries are pleased to present this important film to the York community,” said Joy Kirchner, University librarian. “We also hope that people will use this event as an opportunity to learn more about the Open Access movement.”
The screening will take place on Wednesday, Oct. 28, from 2:30 to 5pm in the Sound & Moving Image Library screening room on the first floor of Scott Library.
Open Access Week is an annual international celebration of the principles of the Open Access movement, which asserts that the public has the right to freely access research online, particularly research that has been produced with public funds.
York University Libraries supports Open Access publishing in a number of ways, including through the York University Open Access Author Fund and institutional memberships with various Open Access publishers. For more information, visit the York University Libraries’ Open Access Publishing Toolkit.
York University celebrates Ada Lovelace’s legacy
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Ada Lovelace, English writer and mathematician (1815-1852) daughter of Lord Byron and friend of Charles Babbage.
BJ5F25 ADA LOVELACE –
Ada Lovelace, English writer and mathematician (1815-1852) daughter of Lord Byron and friend of Charles Babbage
Ada Lovelace Day, an international celebration of women’s achievements in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) took place on Oct. 13. Lovelace was a 19th-century English mathematician and writer who also happened to be the very first computer programmer. She wrote what were essentially computer programs for the analytical engine that Charles Babbage, computing pioneer, was designing, but never actually created. Her contributions and achievements had been largely overlooked: an issue that continues to exist for women in many fields, especially science.
York University is joining this international celebration for the first time with two informative Ada Lovelace Day events on Oct. 26 and 29 that are open to everyone with an interest in STEM subjects and the contributions of women.
On Monday Oct. 26, Ryerson University Faculty of Science Dean Imogen Coe will talk about the role of “STEMinism” in the mission to recruit more women into stem fields. Coe was previously the chair of the Department of Biology at York University. She will discuss the ongoing challenges to increasing the percentage of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and why we must all learn to be STEMinists. She regularly blogs about this topic with Huffington Post Canada. Her lecture will take place at 1:30pm in Room 217, Bergeron Centre for Engineering Excellence, Keele Campus.
The second event on Thursday, Oct. 29, is a drop-in Women in Science Wikipedia Edit-a-thon, which is essentially a workshop that will take place from 10am to 5pm in Room 021 Steacie Science and Engineering Library, Those interested in this event are invited to drop by any time during the day.
“Wikipedia is a great starting point for students to conduct research for their projects. Although the source provides a fountain of knowledge and is rigorously edited and maintained, the community of Wikipedians is mostly made up of male voices, and fails to represent contributions from women. The lack of female voices leads to certain biases in what articles are created, which articles are maintained and updated and which articles are challenged for ‘notability’ or other criteria,” said John Dupuis, York science librarian. “One of the most critically under represented groups in Wikipedia are articles about notable women, in particular women scientists.”
In order to develop a balance and create a positive change, an interdisciplinary team of faculty and students will create, expand and improve Wikipedia entries for women in STEM. This informal workshop will critically examine the information represented on Wikipedia, while at the same time offer hands-on experience on editing articles on the website.
First-year students can meet personal librarian at open house
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First-year students will be assigned a personal librarian
For York University librarians, student success is personal.
This year, for the first time, all incoming first-year undergraduate students will be paired with a librarian as part of the Personal Librarian program running at York University Libraries (YUL).
Launched in 2014 as a pilot project, the program is one of several student success services offered through the libraries.
First-year students will be assigned a personal librarian
Starting this week, and continuing through the fall and winter terms, first-year students will receive timely, targeted messages from their personal librarian. Each message will be tailored to the academic calendar and offer point-of-need tips and suggestions, with such topics as academic literacies, understanding assignments, and taking notes and studying.
As well, the program strives as much as possible to match students with a subject specialist in their declared major.
“We know that the transition for first-year students can be overwhelming,” says Mark Robertson, associate University librarian. “Such things as finding your way around library resources or tackling your first paper can be a real hurdle for students new to the University. The purpose of the Personal Librarian program is to give our new students a personal connection to help break through some of the anonymity students sometimes feel.”
The Personal Librarian program works to alleviate the stress by helping first-year undergraduate students develop the skills to succeed while engaging with library, faculty and staff who can serve as important partners in academic achievement. For more, visit http://personal.library.yorku.ca.
This innovative program is designed to expose students to the myriad resources and support services offered by the libraries, which will also be showcased at an open house event on Sept. 29.
First-year students are invited to drop by the Scott Library Atrium (second floor) on Tuesday, Sept. 29 from 11:30am to 1:30pm for the Discover YUL Open House, where they will have the opportunity to meet their personal librarian in the ‘PL Lounge’.
Students will also have a chance to mix and mingle, discover what the libraries have to offer, and ask any questions they may have about the libraries. Library branches and departments will be on hand to showcase what they do, and a few will offer satellite events designed to encourage students to explore other library locations and services.
York University Libraries has launched a new web page for the Learning Commons
York University Libraries has launched a new Learning Commons website this fall to offer a more enriched experience for students.
York University Libraries has launched a new web page for the Learning Commons
The Learning Commons is a physical and virtual space where learning services collaborate to offer enhanced support and resources for students. Services include library research support, writing instruction, learning skill and career services.
During the summer, the Learning Commons redesigned its web page, http://learningcommons.yorku.ca, to make it more user friendly and to highlight services and resources available to students.
The new web page provides information on the services offered on the second floor of Scott Library, as well as workshops and online resources such as SPARK (Student Papers and Academic Resource Kit) www.yorku.ca/spark.
These services support students as they develop the many skills, tactics, and strategies required for success in university and beyond.
The site also offers resources for faculty and teaching assistants on how to address academic literacies (i.e. writing, research and learning skills) in the curriculum.
Professor Lorne Sossin, dean of Osgoode Hall Law School and special advisor to the president on Community Engagement, also spoke at the ceremony. He mentioned that in a recent popular opinion poll in India, Ambedkar was voted by the people as the “Greatest Indian since Gandhi.” Twenty million votes were cast in this poll.
