InsideOCULA

The York University Scholarly Communications Initiative held the inaugural event in the Scholarly Publishing Speaker Series on Wednesday April 16, 2008. The speakers, Jean-Claude Guédon from the Université de Montréal and Leslie Chan from the University of Toronto at Scarborough presented on the topic “Open Access: what it means for research, teaching, and one’s career.” Jean-Claude Guédon and Leslie Chan explored the open access movement in the scholarly context. In particular they discussed how the open access movement challenges traditional models of scholarly publishing and provides opportunities for new forms of evaluation, discourse and discovery. The main goal of open access is to improve research usage and enable scholarship in a networked environment. The Scholarly Communication Initiative at York University was established to promote alternative publishing models such as open access and to address issues related to scholarly publishing like authors’ rights to the York University community. This event was well attended by members of the York University community, including university officials, faculty, graduate students, librarians and staff. Sixty-one percent (61%) of attendees were faculty and graduate students. Comments on the presentation were enthusiastic and favourable. The group is now planning to build on the success of this event with a second talk tentatively scheduled for September 2008.

From Left to Right: Jean-Claude Guédon (Speaker), Stacy Allison-Cassin (Co-Chair Scholarly Communication Initiative), Andrea Kosavic (Co-Chair Scholarly Communication Initiative), Leslie Chan (Speaker)

DATE & TIME:
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
7:30pm

LOCATION:
Ryerson University
Library Building/Besse Commons, Room LIB 72
350 Victoria Street, Toronto

COST:
$8.00 - register online or pay at the door (cash preferred) Students Free!!

The Hollywood Librarian is the first full-length documentary film to focus on the work and lives of librarians. Using the entertaining and appealing context of feature movies, the film will have some surprises for people who may think they know what librarians do! American film contains hundreds of examples of librarians and libraries on screen — some positive, some negative, some laughable and some dead wrong. Films such as Sophie’s Choice, Philadelphia and It’s a Wonderful Life show librarians as negative stereotypes. The librarians in Lorenzo’s Oil, Desk Set and The Shawshank Redemption, on the other hand, are competent and professional. Dozens of interviews of real librarians will be interwoven with movie clips of cinematic librarians and serve as transitions between the themes of censorship, intellectual freedom, children and librarians, pay equity and funding issues, and the value of reading.

You will meet the dedicated children’s librarian, the witty library director, the high-tech corporate librarian, the smart medical librarian, and the dedicated cataloger. You will see a prison literacy program, an elementary school library, a town faced with the most severe library crisis in decades, and much more!

See more descriptions and comments from sites that have screened the film at www.hollywoodlibrarian.com

Developed by the Ontario College and University Library Association (OCULA) and the Ryerson University Library.

Liz Bayley,a graduate of McMaster University (B.A. French & Russian, 1972) and of the University of Western Ontario (Masters of Library Sciences) has been appointed Director of the McMaster Health Sciences Library effective April 15, 2008..  She began her library career at McMaster in 1982, moving to the Health Sciences Library in 1986.  Since then she has had a variety of positions, most recently as Acting Director / Head of Systems, since January 2008.

In 2005,  Bayley was recognized for her significant contributions to McMaster with the MUFA Faculty/Librarian Award for Outstanding Service.

She holds a part time appointment as an Assistant Clinical Professor in the School of Nursing.  Bayleyhas tutored in the nursing and medical programs, coordinates special evidence-based medicine activities for nursing and medical students and has contributed to international workshops on evidence-based practice.

A well known member of her profession, Liz participates in a number of professional associations and is a past President of the Canadian Health Libraries Association.  Her research interests include information literacy, lifelong learning, educational assessment and evidence-based practice.

Ms. Leslie Weir, President of the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) announced the appointment of Mr. Brent Roe as Executive Director effective April 14, 2008. Brent Roe has held the post of Associate University Librarian, Information Services, York University since 2003. He has a MLIS from the University of Alberta as well as a BA in Psychology and MA in Ancient History. Brent is an alumnus of the Northern Exposure to Leadership Institute and the ACRL/Harvard Leadership Institute for Academic Librarians.
http://www.carl-abrc.ca/new/pdf/brent_roe_ex_dir_april-2008-e.pdf

Maria Buda has been appointed to the Dentistry Library with responsibility for reference and circulation services, including library instruction and courseware support. Maria is also the Faculty of Dentistry’s webmaster. Maria completed her Masters of Information Studies degree at the University of Toronto in 2007. Before joining the Faculty of Dentistry Library, she worked as a Records and Information Management Assistant at the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care’s Strategic Planning and Implementation Branch. As a student, she worked for the Bora Laskin Law Library, Faculty of Music Library, and Caven Library at Knox College.

Pauline Rousseau has recently joined the University of Toronto Scarborough Library as a part-time Reference Research and Instruction librarian. She is a recent graduate of the Master of Library and Information Science programme at the University of Western Ontario, and holds an Honors B.A. in Art History and History from the University of Toronto. Her previous experience includes positions at King’s College Library, University of Western Ontario, the Dorothy Hoover Library at the Ontario College of Art and Design, and the Planning and Development department of North York Central Library.

Miriam Ticoll is the new Executive Director, Health Science Information Consortium of Toronto (HSICT), effective January 7, 2008. Miriam has an extensive background in management and strategic planning and broad experience as a consultant on health information projects. She has led projects for organizations such as the Canadian Health Network, the Canadian Mental Health Association (Ontario), CIHI, Canada Health Infoway, the Wellesley Institute, the Ontario Women’s Health Council, and the Canadian Breast Cancer Research Alliance, to name a few. Prior to consulting, Miriam was the Director of Information Services at the Roeher Institute, a research institute which focuses on issues affecting people with intellectual disabilities.

A graduate of the library science program at Université de Montréal, Miriam also has a B.A. from York University. Miriam’s office is located in the Gerstein Science Information Centre. She can be reached at 416-978-6359, or by email at miriam.ticoll@utoronto.ca.

Spiros Tsonis is serving as the Acting Manager of the UTL at Downsview high density storage and preservation facility, while Mark Phillips is on leave during 2008. Spiros is a graduate of Seneca College, from the small business management programme. He has supervised in a variety of shipping, warehousing, and construction environments and has a part-time contracting company of his own. He has worked in the U of T Library since 2004, as a member of the library patrol staff and as the Supervisor of the Extended Hours service in the Access and Information Services Department of Robarts Library.

Submitted by Julie Hannaford

The OLA Super Conference 2008 was two months ago and already we are planning for 2009!

To continue with the tradition of great Super Conferences we need your help. Please consider submitting a proposal for a session or a topic that you’d like explored at next year’s conference.

**Call for Proposals Submission Deadline - April 30th, 2008**

2009 SUPER CONFERENCE
January 28-January 31, 2009
Metro Toronto Convention Centre

What topics is OCULA looking for?
We are looking for presentations that reflect the challenging and exciting times in college and university libraries. This is a great opportunity to present your ideas, research or experience to your peers.

How do I submit a proposal?
You can submit a proposal for a session you would like to PRESENT; however, you can also submit a proposal for a topic that you would like to see covered but that you don’t want to present. To submit your idea: http://www.accessola.com/ola/bins/form_page.asp?cid=5-2050

To ensure that your submission does not get lost in the online universe, please also email the title of your submission to: caroline.stewart@guelphhumber.ca

What if I have other questions?
Feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns caroline.stewart@guelphhumber.ca or khoffma8@uwo.ca

We look forward to seeing all your great session ideas!

Collegially,

Caroline Stewart
caroline.stewart@guelphhumber.ca

Kristin Hoffmann
khoffma8@uwo.ca

OCULA Super Conference 2009 Coordinators

Registration is now open for the 3rd annual Canadian Learning Commons Conference, to be held in Fredericton N.B. June 8-10, 2008. Please visit our web site at http://www.lib.unb.ca/CLCC3/

Our pre-conference workshop will be given by Steve Hiller, Director of Assessment and Planning, at the University of Washington Libraries in Seattle, Washington. This half-day workshop will review practical approaches to assessment that can be applied successfully in different library settings and organizational structures. Examples will be drawn from different types of libraries and show how libraries can effectively demonstrate and document the value they add to their communities. Participation is limited to 50, and will be reserved for conference delegates until May 01.

Our keynote speaker will be Richard Sweeney, University Librarian at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, who will discuss what research says about Millennials and their communication, consumer, and learning preferences, as well as their behaviours and attitudes. Following this discussion, Richard will conduct a live focus group with 12 to 14 local Millennials to prove or disprove the research. The audience will also have the opportunity to ask the Millennials questions.

Conference sessions will offer a blend of panel discussions, formal presentations and idea swaps on significant aspects of Learning Commons enterprises, with an emphasis on maintaining the momentum and success of the Learning Commons approach.

We look forward to seeing you here, in June!

Joanne B. Smyth (jsmyth@unb.ca)
Reference and Distance Education Librarian
UNB Fredericton Libraries

To register:
http://www.thepartnership.ca/partnership/
bins/calendar_page.asp?cid=85-2067

Meet and mingle with your colleagues and hear a talk from Dr. Kevin Stolarick.

Kevin Stolarick, PhD, is the Associate Director and Research Associate at The Martin Prosperity Institute at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. He combines a depth of knowledge with an appreciation of the importance of finding and sharing the knowledge or “pearls of wisdom” gained from his comprehensive understanding of the Creative Class and the Creative Economy. Kevin provided quantitative research and analytical support to Richard Florida during the development of his books The Rise of the Creative Class and The Flight of the Creative Class. He continues in collaboration with Richard and other researchers. Kevin will speak to us about the creative class; what we mean when we say “prosperity”, what the goals are and how we can achieve them.

When:
Thursday, April 24, 2008

Where:
Faculty Club, University of Toronto
41 Willcocks Street
Toronto, M5S 1C7

Time:
5:30

Cost:
$40 per person (GST inclu.)

Menu - when registering please submit the meal choice preference form to indicate your choice of:

• Breast of chicken with caramelized apples, sundried cranberries, toasted almonds and calvados sauce
• Grilled Vegetarian Lasagna with tomato basil sauce

OCULA council has been making some efforts around mentoring library school students and an age old question has arisen - students we’ve spoken to recently seem to be under the impression that they need a subject area or second master’s degree to work in an academic library.  We’re throwing together a survey, so please be on the look out for it, here on the blog, and on our mailing list.  Until the survey comes out, comments here would be welcome.  We’re specifically interested in library hiring policies (formal and informal) but opinions on the subject are welcome too.

PS:  For the record, I work at the library at Mohawk College in Hamilton. We don’t look for a second Master’s degrees formally or informally.  I’d say, if anything, we’re really interested in technology skills.  Regardless of the position we’re filling, people who can bring “techie” skills to the table are extra welcome.

**Please note we are experiencing intermittent issues with the OCULA listserv. If the message you sent to the listserv has not appeared, please contact membership@accessola.com**