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SLAIS: The iSchool at UBC
Current News & Announcements
SSHRC to Highlight Project Led by SLAIS Faculty at Congress 2013
This year's Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences - Canada's largest gathering of scholars across disciplines - will be held at the University of Victoria.
In conjunction with the reception to launch Congress 2013, there will be a ministerial announcement on May 31 to announce SSHRC funding for the Partnership Grants and Partnership Development Grants.
SSHRC has proposed that "Trust and Digital Records in an Increasingly Networked Society", the latest phase of the InterPARES project led by SLAIS professor Luciana Duranti and involving several SLAIS Faculty, be the featured project at the event.
The project will also be highlighted in the SSHRC press release to be issued that day.Congratulations to MACL Students Stephanie Dror, Aline Frederico, Megan Harrison, Yash Kesanakurthy and Cynthia Nugent
Congratulations to five MACL students who have had papers or posters accepted at upcoming peer-reviewed conferences.
Stephanie Dror’s paper, "Katniss as Environmental Champion: Reading Nature as a Game Space in The Hunger Games," has been accepted at the Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association Conference (PAMLA 2013), taking place in San Diego this November.
Megan Harrison’s paper, “Trauma Depiction in Refugee Memoirs for Children,” has been accepted for the Society for the History of Childhood and Youth (SHCY) Conference in June at the University of Nottingham, U.K.
MACL students will also be well-represented at Congress 2013 at the University of Victoria taking place in June.
Cynthia Nugent’s paper, “Extending Picturebook Multimodal Theory to Encompass the Affordances of the iPad” has been accepted for the Association for Canadian and Quebec Literatures (ACQL/ALCQ) Conference at Congress. Aline Frederico will be presenting her paper, “The Construction of Meaning in Three Fairy Tale Enhanced Electronic Picturebooks” and Yash Kesanakurthy will be presenting her poster, “Sense, Sensitivity and Censorship: An Analysis of Gate-Keeping Behaviour in the Online Nerdfighter Community,” as part of the Canadian Association for Information Science Conference at Congress.
iSchool@UBC Faculty Member a ‘Highlight’ at WWW 2013
The International World Wide Web Conference 2013 (#WWW2013) is underway and an iSchool@UBC faculty member is already making waves in Rio. Professor Heather O’Brien, presenting with Mounia Lalmas from Yahoo! Labs and Elad Yom Tov from Microsoft Research, made the list of “Highlights from Opening Day” for her tutorial on “Measuring User Engagement.” The tutorial focused on how user engagement is currently being measured as well as future considerations for its measurement.
The World Wide Web Conference is a yearly international conference on the future direction of the World Wide Web. It began in 1994 at CERN and is organized by the International World Wide Web Conferences Steering Committee (IW3C2). The Conference runs from May 13-17 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
SLAIS Faculty Receives a SSHRC Partnership Grant for InterPARES Trust
The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada has awarded to Professor Luciana Duranti a 5-year Partnership Grant of more than 2.5 million. The research project, entitled “Trust and Digital Records in an Increasingly Networked Society,” is the fourth phase of the InterPARES Project, and will be called InterPARES Trust. Along with support from SSHRC, the project is matched by more than half million by the University of British Columbia and more than 4 million in kind by universities and organizations around the world. Co-applicants from SLAIS are Professors Victoria Lemieux, Giovanni Michetti, and Lisa Nathan, and Adjunct Professors Alexandra Bradley, Lois Evans, and Stuart Rennie. SLAIS partners at UBC are the School of Journalism, the Faculty of Law, the Sauder School of Business, the University Library and Archives, and the Media and Graphics Interdisciplinary Centre.
The goal of the InterPARES Trust research is to generate theoretical and methodological frameworks that will support integrated and consistent local, national and international networks of policies, procedures, regulations, standards and legislation concerning digital records entrusted to the Internet. The focus of this research is on the degree of 'trust' between organizations and clients or client groups regarding their Internet-based records. This research will develop new knowledge on Internet-based digital records, such as those on social media and ‘in the cloud’ and on methods for achieving balance between privacy and access, secrecy and transparency, in globally connected networks.
As Dr. Gage Averill, Dean of Arts at UBC remarked, "The more 'distanced' and global our interrelationships have become, the more we require trust in the mechanisms of global communication and exchange, and especially on the issue of how records of our transactions are stored, shared, analyzed and manipulated. This very ambitious Partnership Grant will significantly advance our understanding of how to balance reliability, access, privacy, and integrity of digital records."
Dr. John Hepburn, the UBC Vice President Research, wrote: "I am delighted that SSHRC has awarded a partnership grant to support the important work of Prof. Duranti and her collaborators on security of digital records. This partnership grant will enable the continuation of a long-standing multidisciplinary international collaboration that is helping to create international policies and standards for digital records."
The InterPARES Trust Partnership comprises universities and organizations, national and multinational, public and private, in North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, Australasia, and Asia. The academic researchers have expertise in archival science, records management, diplomatics, law, information technology, communication and media, e-commerce, health informatics, cyber security, information governance and assurance, digital forensics, computer engineering, and information policy. The empirical knowledge for this research comes from the researchers who are members of the professions having the highest stake in the questions being asked, e.g. law and law enforcement, journalism, records management, finances, health, etc. The project will employ each year thirty graduate research assistants to support the work of the co-investigators.
Sarah Ellis—Recipient of 2013 Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence
Born in Vancouver in 1952, Sarah Ellis is one of the most illustrious and admired writers for children in Canada today. As a child, she attended school in Vancouver and went on to study English and Library Studies at UBC, earning her Master’s Degree there. She continued her studies at Simmons College in Boston where she studied at the Center for the Study of Children’s Literature. She became a librarian at the Toronto Public Library, then the Vancouver Public Library and the North Vancouver District Library. During her many years as a librarian she developed her storytelling skills and puppetry. She now writes reviews and is a sought-after lecturer nationally and internationally on writing and on Canadian Children’s books.
Among her many awards, she received the first Sheila A. Egoff Award in 1987 for her first book, The Baby Project. She also won the Sheila A. Egoff Award in 1997 and again in 2007. She won the 1991 Governor General’s Award for children’s Literature for her novel, Pick-up Sticks. Out of the Blue won the IODE Violet Downey Book Award and the Mr. Christie Book Award. In 1995, she was awarded the Vicky Metcalf Award for a Body of Work and in 1999, she was asked to be the first Writer-in-Residence children’s author at Massey College at the University of Toronto. She was also a finalist for the Norma Fleck Award for her non-fiction book, The Young Writer’s Companion. In 2007, Sarah won the $20,000 TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award for her novel, Odd Man Out. In 2012, she was the writer-in-residence at the Osborne Collection of Early Children’s Books in Toronto. This year she was one of two Canadian nominees for the international book prize, The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.
Sarah has served on numerous boards and juries, internationally and locally, which include serving on the board of the Canadian Children’s Book Centre and Children’s Literature New England (current), as well as serving on juries for the Governor General’s Literary Awards, the Burt Award for Young Adult Literature, and various provincial book awards. Sarah also writes a book review column for Quill and Quire magazine and is a regular reviewer for The Hornbook.
Currently, Sarah travels widely, giving lectures on writing and children’s literature. She also teaches writing in a distance-education Master’s Degree program with Vermont College of Fine Arts while continuing to pursue her own writing in her home in Vancouver.
More information about Sarah Ellis can be found on her website http://www.sarahellis.ca/
Meet the SLAIS Grads Event – A Chance to Network and Meet Your New Community!
This event celebrates the newest graduates of The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies: The iSchool at The University of British Columbia, and offers alumni, faculty, directors, staff, and other friends of SLAIS the opportunity to meet the new graduates and welcome them as our colleagues.
All new and recent SLAIS graduates are encouraged to attend this annual event. It’s a great way to network, meet new colleagues and your new community as a professional in your field.
Where: The Alice Mackay Room, lower level VPL Central Branch, 350 West Georgia St., Vancouver, BC
When: Friday, April 12th from 5:30-8 p.m.
Tickets to the SLAIS Alumni Association's 2013 Meet the SLAIS Grads Event are now available via Eventbritehttp://www.eventbrite.ca/event/3172873149#
Basil Stuart-Stubbs Prize for Outstanding Scholarly Book on British Columbia
The annual Basil Stuart-Stubbs Prize for Outstanding Scholarly Book on British Columbia recognizes the best scholarly book published on a British Columbia subject by a Canadian author. This prize was established in 2012 to honour the memory of Basil Stuart-Stubbs, whose many accomplishments included serving as the University Librarian at UBC Library and the Director of UBC’s School of Library, Archival and Information Studies. See more details at http://about.library.ubc.ca/awards/basil-stuart-stubbs-prize/
Helene Høyrup on Literature between Bookspace and New Literacy Space: Towards a Connective Ethnography of Children’s Literature and Digital Media
The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, the iSchool at The University of British Columbia, is pleased to announce Dr. Helene Høyrup, Associate Professor inChildren's Culture, Department of Cultural and Media Studies, Royal School of Library and Information Science, Denmark, is the next speaker in our continuing series of lunchtime colloquia. She is presenting "Literature between Bookspace and New Literacy Space: Towards a Connective Ethnography of Children’s Literature and Digital Media" on Wednesday, March 20, from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm in Lillooet Room 301, Level 3, Chapman Learning Commons of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre at UBC.
How can the meeting between “old” and “new” media become a fruitful encounter? In the 20th century children’s literature research developed into a theoretically reflexive investigation of the relation between children, childhood and texts. It could be said to have undergone the linguistic “turn”, which has often been seen as a parallel to the emergence of digital media.
Digital media, however, challenge the paradigm of print culture and the theories developed under previous media ecologies. The field of New Literacy has emerged as an interdisciplinary movement aiming at analyzing the processes and “texts” of the emerging digital knowledge system. New Literacy, from a Cultural Studies point of view, can be defined as socially recognized ways of creating, communicating and negotiating meaningful content, as mediated by texts and embedded in d/Discourses (Knobel & Lankshear). The mediation between media, text and user is here studied from primarily a socio-cultural perspective.
The concept of aesthetics, as developed in theories of play, hermeneutics, linguistics, literature and “everyday” aesthetics, seems oddly absent in New Literacy research. With picture books as a case, my paper suggests that children’s literature studies and New Literacy research should be seen as a converging theoretical field. Whereas children’s literature research needs to strengthen its concepts of materiality and mediation, New Literacy research should develop its concept of “text” to also encompass the aesthetic and critical view of knowledge following the linguistic turn
This lecture is inspired by my research in the concept of knowledge media (with colleagues at RSLIS) and by the current planning of a research network on advanced literacy skills and textual competences in the new media age with participation from researchers in children’s literature and literacy from Sweden, England, Germany and Denmark. The lecture will also connect its theoretical points to trends in the development of library services for children and young adults in Denmark (e.g. based on the governmental committee work “Fremtidens biblioteksbetjening af børn” [Future Library Services for Children], in which Helene was a research member).
Dr. Høyrup is Associate Professor in Children’s Culture, Department of Cultural and Media Studies, Royal School of Library and Information Science. As Professor of children’s culture and literature, Dr. Høyrup’s research interests are situated broadly in the fields of children’s literature and culture, cultural and media studies, and the sociology of literature, knowledge and media. Her research has explored the history, poetics, theory, sociology and communication of children’s literature; children’s literacy in the light of digital literature, and verbal, visual and digital epistemologies; children’s media and culture; and childhood studies in an interdisciplinary perspective.
Present research projects include “Children’s Literature, Text and Canon: Studies in the Sociology of Knowledge,” which combines studies in the history and poetics of children’s literature with the theory and sociology of knowledge. A second project is “Children’s Library 2.0: Digital Communication, Innovation and Learning.” She has published extensively in Danish and English on children’s literature theory and canonicity, the European tradition in children’s literature, digital literature and new literacies, folk and fairy tales, Hans Christian Andersen, Rowling, Pullman and Tolkien.Congratulation to PhD Candidate, Donald Force
PhD Candidate, Donald Force, has accepted a position of Assistant Professor of Archival Science at the University of Milwaukee-Wisconsin. He will start in September 2013 after defending his dissertation.
Paul Marty on Habitat Tracker: Engaging Students with the Nature of Science through Mobile Learning at a Science Museum
The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, the iSchool at The University of British Columbia, is pleased to announce Dr. Paul Marty, Associate Professor, School of Library and Information Studies, Florida State University, is the next speaker in our continuing series of lunchtime colloquia. He is presenting "Habitat Tracker: Engaging Students with the Nature of Science through Mobile Learning at a Science Museum" on Wednesday, March 13, from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm in Dodson Room 302, Level 3, Chapman Learning Commons of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre at UBC.
This colloquium presents results from a research project designed to engage elementary school students as active participants in their own science education, before, during, and after visits to a science museum. The Habitat Tracker project (http://tracker.cci.fsu.edu/) uses online and mobile learning technologies to integrate field trips to a wildlife center with a standards-based curriculum designed to help elementary students better understand the nature of science. Along with a series of integrated classroom activities, participating students use a custom-designed iPad application and website to collect, share, and analyze scientific data about north Florida wildlife and natural habitats while on a field trip to the Tallahassee Museum, a 52-acre, outdoor natural science museum (http://tallahasseemuseum.org/). Students contribute their observations in real time to shared databases that can be accessed by other students online, and used to develop and answer scientific research questions, thereby helping students better understand the scientific inquiry process. This presentation will provide an overview of the information systems and science education modules developed for the project, and discuss results from pilot tests conducted with more than 1500 fourth and fifth grade students.
Paul Marty is an associate professor in the School of Library and Information Studies at Florida State University. His research and teaching interests include museum informatics, information behavior, and user-centered design. His current research focuses on the evolution of sociotechnical systems and collaborative work practices, digital convergence and the evolving roles of information professionals, and involving users in the co-construction of distributed, digital knowledge.
Jack Lohman on Taking Shape: Knowledge as Museum Display
The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, the iSchool at The University of British Columbia, is pleased to announce Jack Lohman, Chief Executive Officer, Royal BC Museum, is the next speaker in our continuing series of lunchtime colloquia. As keynote speaker for SLAIS Research Day, he is presenting "Taking Shape: Knowledge as Museum Display" on Friday, March 8, from 11:00 pm to 12:00 pm in Bralorne Reading Room 490, Level 4 of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre at UBC.
Dimensions to be addressed:
How does museum research differ from university research?
Overturning stereotypes
Mirroring societal change
Evaluating the role of the Royal BC Museum
Professor Jack Lohman is CEO of the Royal BC Museum, Chairman of the National Museum in Warsaw, Poland and Professor at the Bergen National Academy of the Arts, Norway. He is an adviser on museum development to the Russian Federation, the State of Qatar, Rwanda and the City of Rio de Janeiro. He is the former director of the Museum of London and previously CEO of Iziko Museums of Cape Town, South Africa. He is a former Chairman of ICOM (International Council of Museum) UK and a former member of UNESCO UK's Culture Committee. He is editor in chief of UNESCO's Museums and Diversity Series. He was awarded a CBE in the HM The Queen's birthday honours 2012.
DiiG Talk presents Dr. Mary F. Cavanagh on Social-Biblio.ca: Meaning and Method Behind Public Library Micro-Blogging Practices
Dr. Mary F. Cavanagh, Assistant Professor from the University of Ottawa, School of Information Studies, is presenting "Social-Biblio.ca: Meaning and Method Behind Public Library Micro-Blogging Practices" on Thursday, March 21, 12-1 pm at the Dodson Room, Irving K Barber Learning Centre, 1961 East Mall at the University of British Columbia.
Twitter is the most well-known microblogging social media application structuring public library-client information interactions. The goal of this multi-phase project is to understand how Canadian public libraries are engaging with their clients through micro- blogging and what effects these interactions may be having on the broader library-community relationships over an extended period of time. This paper reports on two preliminary content analyses of public library tweets on two separate "events" and on the research framework proposed for the next phase of research.
The platform supporting this project was launched in February 2012. Social-biblio.ca is an open curated archive and web platform tracking micro-blogging activities by Canadian public libraries with institutional Twitter accounts. Currently 130 public library Twitter accounts representing 22% of all Canadian public library systems are tracked. Various Twitter typologies across different settings have been developed based on large data sets but few address organizational micro- blogging and in particular government agencies. We tested Lovejoy and Saxton's (2012) information-community-action and early findings suggest this framework can illustrate new directions in how public libraries interact with their clients. Theoretical and methodological contributions to public sector social media and public participation research are anticipated.
William Wong on Make It Visible: Applying Cognitive Systems Engineering to Intelligence Analysis
The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, the iSchool at The University of British Columbia, is pleased to announce Dr. William Wong, Professor of Human-Computer Interaction and Head, Interaction Design Centre, at Middlesex University's School of Science and Technology in London, UK, is the next speaker in our continuing series of lunchtime colloquia.He is presenting “Make It Visible: Applying Cognitive Systems Engineering to Intelligence Analysis” on Friday, March 1st, from 12 noon to 1 pm, in Room 301 at Hugh Dempster Pavilion.
In this talk, he will discuss how principles from Cognitive Systems Engineering, CSE, might be used to design Visual Analytics systems to support intelligence analysts. In designing systems to control processes such as nuclear power generation, CSE has been used to determine and model a priori the functional relationships that relate the performance of the processes with system outcomes. Visual forms are then created to represent these invariant relationships in ecological interface designs. Can cognitive systems engineering be applied to the domain of intelligence analysis? And if yes, how might this be? And how should CSE principles be applied to the design of visual representations in intelligence analysis to take advantage of the benefits we have seen when CSE is applied to causal systems?
Dr. William Wong's research interest is in the representation design of information to support decision making in naturalistic environments. Recipient of over US$7.1 million in grants, and project coordinator for several projects, he is currently investigating the problems of visual analytics in sense-making domains with high information density and variability, in contexts such as intelligence analysis, financial systemic risk analysis, and low literacy users.
Congratulations to MACL Candidate, Cynthia Nugent
SLAIS is pleased to announce the 10th recipient of the Master of Arts in Children’s Literature Ronald Jobe Scholarship. MACL candidate Cynthia Nugent was presented with the scholarship by Professor Emeritus Ronald Jobe at the Vancouver Children’s Literature Roundtable event on February 23, 2013.
UBC iSchool Again Storms iConference
This year’s iSchools conference, “Scholarship in Action: Data, Innovation, Wisdom” was February 12-15 in Fort Worth Texas, with a large representation from SLAIS: The iSchool at UBC in attendance.
The iSchool was well represented when it came time to hand out the conference awards. Special congratulations go to the Remediating Tinker Bell crew for 1st place in the posters!!
Title: Remediating Tinker Bell: Childhood Commodification and the Transmedia Narrative
Recipients: Eric M. Meyers, University of British Columbia; Lindsey Krabbenhoft, University of British Columbia; Julia P. McKnight, University of British Columbia
Also special congratulations to the honourable mention to the NooX crew
Title: The Neighborhood Book Exchange: Community Catalyst or Media Hype?
Recipients: Kathleen Gollner, University of British Columbia; Tenny Webster, University of British Columbia; Lisa Nathan, University of British Columbia
Lists of all the awards are here
http://iconference.ischools.org/iConference13/2013index/
http://iconference.ischools.org/iConference13/awards/
Still more congratulations to the fine Social Media Expo presenters for all the work they did, and for being selected for presentation (a higher category that 'just' poster) – student Nick, Jonathan, Allison & Brigid!
The need for information gurus in online learning communities
Nick Josten, Jonathan Kift, Allison Trumble, and Brigid Winter
Welcome to Dr. Helene Høyrup, SLAIS Visiting Professor in Children’s Literature
The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies is pleased to announce that Helene Høyrup, Ph.D., of the Royal School of Library and Information Science in Denmark, will be joining us as the inaugural Dodson Visiting Professor. She will be in the position from February to April 2013.
Dr. Høyrup is Associate Professor in children's literature and digital literacy at RSLIS n Copenhagen. She is an international scholar in children's literature studies and has published extensively in the field. She is particularly interested in the theoretical development of children's literature scholarship, the interface between children's literature, art and literature for adults, and the situation of children's literature and its studies in different nations and regions. As part of her work on digital literacy, Dr. Høyrup has co-edited a research volume on "New Knowledge Media" and is currently co-editing a book on the philosophy of information and digital library functions (with Birger Hjørland and Hans Jørn Nielsen, RSLIS). Additionally, Dr. Høyrup is an international Hans Christian Andersen scholar and a partner in several Danish, Scandinavian and European research projects on children's literature and canonicity, and on theories of informal learning with digital media.
During her term as a Visiting Professor at SLAIS, Dr. Høyrup will teach, interact, and mentor students studying children's literature. In addition to teaching two one-credit classes over the term, she will give two university-wide colloquia and speak at a symposium on Maurice Sendak.
1. March 1
MACL Symposium on Maurice Sendak, Friday, March 1st, 3:30-6:30 pm, Dodson Room, Room 302, Level 3, Chapman Learning Commons, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, 1961 East Mall, University of British Columbia. The symposium includes five speakers. Registration is full. Helene Høyrup: “Maurice Sendak's Modernism for Children. A Celebration of the Signifier?”
2. March 6 -- Dr. Hoyrup will be happy to answer questions regarding Danish libraries and literature for children at this talk.
Wednesday, March 6th, 5:00 to 6:00 pm, Lilooet Room, Room 301, Level 3, Chapman Learning Commons, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, 1961 East Mall, University of British Columbia.
“The Cultural Construction of Literature for Youth in Denmark - An Insider's Historical Reading”
It has been suggested that children's literature is "an intersection of two powerful ideological positions: our ideas about childhood and our ideas about literature, ideas often conflicted beyond our knowing" (Lundin 2004: 147). In this talk I shall give an outline of the contextual history of children's literature in Denmark. In the lack of literary canonization (or, as German researchers phrase this process: decanonization) Danish children's literature became a cultural battlefield reflecting different agents' views of childhood and of literature. My talk will give an outline of this contextual history from Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales to the postmodern cross-generational aesthetics of today.
3. March 20
Wednesday, March 20th, 12:00 to 1:00 pm, Lillooet Room, Room 301, Level 3, Chapman Learning Commons, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, 1961 East Mall, University of British Columbia.
“Literature between Bookspace and New Literacy Space: Towards a Connective Ethnography of Children’s Literature and Digital Media”
How can the meeting between “old” and “new” media become a fruitful encounter? In the 20th century children’s literature research developed into a theoretically reflexive investigation of the relation between children, childhood and texts. It could be said to have undergone the linguistic “turn”, which has often been seen as a parallel to the emergence of digital media.
Digital media, however, challenge the paradigm of print culture and the theories developed under previous media ecologies. The field of New Literacy has emerged as an interdisciplinary movement aiming at analyzing the processes and “texts” of the emerging digital knowledge system. New Literacy, from a Cultural Studies point of view, can be defined as socially recognized ways of creating, communicating and negotiating meaningful content, as mediated by texts and embedded in d/Discourses (Knobel & Lankshear). The mediation between media, text and user is here studied from primarily a socio-cultural perspective.
The concept of aesthetics, as developed in theories of play, hermeneutics, linguistics, literature and “everyday” aesthetics, seems oddly absent in New Literacy research. With picture books as a case, my paper suggests that children’s literature studies and New Literacy research should be seen as a converging theoretical field. Whereas children’s literature research needs to strengthen its concepts of materiality and mediation, New Literacy research should develop its concept of “text” to also encompass the aesthetic and critical view of knowledge following the linguistic turn
This lecture is inspired by my research in the concept of knowledge media (with colleagues at RSLIS) and by the current planning of a research network on advanced literacy skills and textual competences in the new media age with participation from researchers in children’s literature and literacy from Sweden, England, Germany and Denmark. The lecture will also connect its theoretical points to trends in the development of library services for children and young adults in Denmark (e.g. based on the governmental committee work “Fremtidens biblioteksbetjening af børn” [Future Library Services for Children], in which Helene was a research member).
Høyrup Children’s Literature Courses (one credit courses; there may still be student places in the courses for registration)
LIBR 522K: Children's Literature in a New Literacy Perspective (1 credit). Taught by Helene Høyrup. Saturday February 23 [1:00-5:00 and 6:00-9:00] in IBLC 191 and Friday March 15 [9:00-12:00/1:00-5:00] in SCARF 201. In this course students will learn about a number of aesthetic and narrative developments in contemporary children’s literature and about theories of how the new media landscape and digital culture interact with our notions of children’s literature. http://www.slais.ubc.ca/courses/coursdes/libr/libr522k.htm
The AUS Presents: Arts Last Lecture with Michaelle Jean
The UBC Arts Last Lecture is back! This year, the Arts Undergraduate Society of UBC Vancouver is excited to welcome the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, former Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada, current UNESCO Special Envoy for Haiti, and Co-President of the Michaëlle Jean Foundation as our speaker for the event.
When: Friday, March 1st 2013
Time: 8:00pm
Where: The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at UBC
Open to: all UBC students, faculty, staff and general public
Mme. Jean will be talking about her foundation and UN work, with a Q & A at the end. We welcome you to join us in a thought-provoking discussion with Michaëlle Jean.
Ticket Prices:
Students: $13
UBC Faculty/Staff: $20
General Public: $25
For ticketing information, please visit aus.arts.ubc.ca/lastlecture
Questions? Contact Tanya Shum at aus.vpacademic@mail.arts.ubc.ca
Dissertation Successfully Defended
The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, The iSchool at The University of British Columbia, is pleased to announce the successful defense of the Ph.D. dissertation by student Evelyn Markwei on February 7. The title of her dissertation is: The Everyday Life Information Seeking Behaviour of Urban Homeless Youth. The defence was held February 7. Evelyn will be conferred her doctorate at the May 24 Convocation ceremony at UBC.
Anabel Quan-Haase on Serendipity Models: How We Encounter Information and People in Digital Environments
The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, the iSchool at The University of British Columbia, is pleased to announce Associate Professor Anabel Quan-Hasse at the Faculty of Information and Media Studies and the Department of Sociology, the University of Western Ontario, is the next speaker in our continuing series of lunchtime colloquia. She is presenting "Serendipity Models: How We Encounter Information and People in Digital Environments" on Wednesday, February 27, from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm in Lillooet Room 301, Level 3, Chapman Learning Commons of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre at UBC.
Much of the research on how we encounter information tends to focus on linear models of intentional information search. Recently a number of studies and frameworks have suggested that not all information individuals encounter is through goal-oriented search, but rather that individuals often find information and connect with people accidentally, without purposefully looking. A wide range of terms and models have been proposed to describe the phenomenon. The present presentation has three goals. First, it provides an overview of the current debate around the phenomenon of serendipity, presenting and contrasting various models of how serendipity occurs. Second, it discusses how technology could affect serendipity and opportunities for designing digital tools that support innovation, creativity, and resource discovery. Finally, it presents current research findings on how serendipity impacts the work of scholars.
About the Speaker: Anabel Quan-Haase is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Information and Media Studies and the Department of Sociology, the University of Western Ontario. Currently, she is the director of the SocioDigital Lab at Western. Dr. Quan-Haase holds a MSc. in Psychology from Humboldt University, Berlin and a Ph.D. in Information Studies from the University of Toronto. Her current interests also lie in how electronic resources are changing the nature of scholarship, innovation, and creativity. One key interest lies in how such factors as serendipity, insight, and work routines are changing through digital tools. She currently holds a SSHRC Insight Grant to study serendipity and digital environments in the humanities. She is the author of over 40 articles, proceedings, and book chapters. Her articles have been published in American Behavioral Scientist, The Information Society, Information, Communication, & Society, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, and Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. Dr. Quan-Haase is the author of two books Technology and Society (2013 with Oxford University Press) and Information Brokering in the High-Tech Industry (2009 with Lambert).
UW Daily Story About the Music is My Life Art Show
Former Fulbright Scholar, Jill Woelfer, was featured in The Daily of the University of Washington, an article titled "The Sound of Self-Expression", a UW Daily story about the Music of My Life art show. Jill acts as project lead within Friends of Homeless Young People, the organization overseeing the project. On May 30, 2013, some of the drawings will go on display at Molly’s Cafe in the UW’s Henry Art Gallery. The exhibit at Molly’s will consist of 15 to 20 drawings primarily addressing homelessness as a topic to be exhibited.To see story, go to http://dailyuw.com/archive/2013/01/30/news/sound-self-expression.
Announcing 2012 UBC SLAIS Co-op Students of the Year
Arts Coop is pleased to share the winners of this year’s SLAIS Co-op student of the year awards.
MAS Co-op Student of the Year: Helen Brown for her S2012 work term at Playwrights Theatre Centre.
MLIS Co-op Student of the Year: Danielle Watters Westbrook for her F2011/W2012 work term with the Collections Management & Planning Unit of Technical Services at UBC Library.
MLIS Honourable Mention: Mayu Ishida for her F2011 and W2012 work terms at the University of Alberta Libraries.
Each year,Arts Coop awards two prizes of $1000, one to a MAS student and one to a MLIS student who excelled in their co-op work term(s) in the preceding year. A sub-committee of the Arts Co-op Advisory Committee—composed of SLAIS employer representatives, SLAIS Co-op alumni, and co-op staff—adjudicated the awards. The awards were made possible with funding donated by the Members of the former Central Vancouver Librarians' Group (CVLG). Congratulations to Helen Brown, Danielle Watters Westbrook and honourable mention for Mayu Ishida.
Anatoliy Gruzd on Automated Discovery and Visualization of Communication Networks from Social Media
The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, the iSchool at The University of British Columbia, is pleased to announce Assistant Professor Anatoliy Gruzd in the School of Information Management and Director of the Social Media Lab at Dalhousie University is the next speaker in our continuing series of lunchtime colloquia. He is presenting "Automated Discovery and Visualization of Communication Networks from Social Media" on Tuesday, February 5, from 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm in Room 461, on the fourth floor of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre at UBC.
As social creatures, our online lives just like our offline lives are intertwined with others within a wide variety of social networks. Each retweet on Twitter, comment on a blog or link to a Youtube video explicitly or implicitly connects one online participant to another and contributes to the formation of various information and social networks. Once discovered, these networks can provide researchers with an effective mechanism for identifying and studying collaborative processes within any online community. However, collecting information about online networks using traditional methods such as surveys can be very time consuming and expensive. The presentation will explore automated ways to discover and analyze various information and social networks from social media data.
About the speaker: Dr. Anatoliy Gruzd (http://AnatoliyGruzd.com) is an Assistant Professor in the School of Information Management and Director of the Social Media Lab (http://SocialMediaLab.ca) at Dalhousie University, Canada. His research initiatives explore how social media and other web 2.0 technologies are changing the ways in which people disseminate knowledge and information and how these changes are impacting social, economic and political norms and structures of our modern society. Dr. Gruzd is also actively developing and testing new web tools and apps for discovering and visualizing information and online social networks. The broad aim of his various research initiatives is to provide decision makers with additional knowledge and insights into the behaviors and relationships of online network members, and to understand how these interpersonal connections influence our personal choices and actions.
SLAIS Alumna Pam Fairfield Celebration Of Life
SLAIS alumna Pam Fairfield, co-editor of YAACING, children's librarian, and friend to many alumni, died on Saturday, January 26, 2013 after a long bout with cancer. There will be a service and celebration of life at Van Dusen Botanical Gardens, in the Great Hall, 5251 Oak Street, this Wednesday, January 30th - A gathering of friends is at 2:30 and the service begins at 3:00 pm.
Carol L. Tilley on Children, Comics, Critics, and a Researcher
The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, the iSchool at The University of British Columbia, is pleased to announce Assistant Professor Carol L. Tilley of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is the next speaker in our continuing series of lunchtime colloquia. She is presenting "Children, Comics, Critics, and a Researcher" on Wednesday, January 30, from 11:45 am to 12:45 pm in the Chilcotin Room, on the second floor (Room 256) of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre at UBC.
This presentation draws from manuscript collections at the Library of Congress and the archival record of the 1954 Senate hearings to document and analyze some of the ways young readers challenged and protested adults’ understanding of comic book reading.
About the speaker: Carol L. Tilley is an Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she teaches courses in comics’ reader’s advisory, media literacy, and youth services librarianship. Part of her scholarship focuses on the intersection of young people, comics, and libraries, particularly in the United States during the mid-twentieth century. Her research has been published in journals including the Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (JASIST), Information & Culture: A Journal of History, and Children’s Literature in Education. A former high school librarian, she is also co-editor of School Library Research, the peer-reviewed online journal of the American Association of School Librarians.
Two MLIS Alumni Featured in Parksville Qualicum Beach News Article
Two MLIS alumni Eileen Gillette and Janet Dilgatty were featured in the January 10, 2013 article in the Parksville Qualicum Beach News. “Death of Library Greatly Exaggerated” examines all the services modern libraries offer for public libraries. The technology is improving access which people can now access without going to the physical library. The article was published by Auren Ruvinsky - Parksville Qualicum Beach News, available at http://www.pqbnews.com/news/186330982.html.
Schrödinger’s Cat Wondering In the Archive
Assistant Professor Giovani Michetti presented his paper called “Schrödinger’s Cat Wondering in the Archive, ” at the Ninth International Conference on Technology, Knowledge and Society at UBC Robson Square on January 13-14, 2013. The paper describes "Archivists "measure" archives and change their nature through the very act of observation and description. Such bias should be recognized and mitigated through a more dynamic approach to archival representation." For more information about the Technology, Knowledge and Society, visit http://techandsoc.com/.
As a faculty member in the School of Library, Archival & Information Studies, The iSchool at The University of British Columbia, Assistant Professor Michetti teaches Archival Science. He holds a degree in Mathematics, and a PhD equivalent in Archival Science from the University of Rome. His research area is focused on contemporary and digital archives, and his main research interests are records management, archival description and digital preservation. He has been involved in international initiatives on digital preservation. He is deeply involved in standardization processes: within the Italian Standards Organization, he is President of the Subcommittee on “Records Management”, and Vice-President of the Technical Committee on “Documentation and Information”. He is the Italian representative within a few ISO Working Groups on records management. He is author of articles and essays on scholarly journals.
Colloquium: Values, Human Identity and Technology: An Interdisciplinary Discussion
Hosted by: The Media and Graphics Interdisciplinary Centre, the iSchool@UBC and Colloquium
February 6th, 2013 at 5:30-7pm.
Location: Forestry Sciences Building, Room 1005
Please RSVP to Lavana@magic.ubc.ca
Digital media technologies are opening a world of possibilities in communications, in the economy and in personal relations. These technologies allow us to communicate and process information with unparalleled ease, and to spread ideas, learn, offer help, resolve problems, connect with people, and develop new businesses in unprecedented ways. The changes coming in the next 10 to 20 years in the further development of ubiquitous technologies, augmented and virtual reality, persuasive technologies, mobile technologies, and cognitive systems, to name but a few, will transform how we live, work and learn, just as programmable computing did previously. As positive as the possibilities afforded by these technologies are, many have growing concerns about the velocity of change and our ability to properly adapt to it; about potential threats to privacy and security; and about increasing risks of social isolation, technology addiction, and mental health risks. These concerns raise important philosophical and practical questions, such as: what does it mean to be human in the digital era? What is human identity and how do these technologies contribute to its formation? If human identity is linked to the preservation of individual and collective memory, how can we preserve it in the context of these new technologies? What values are being, and should be, designed into technology and how transparent should these values be to users of the technology? Where does intentionality reside when cognition is distributed between human and machine? Should individuals have the right to control their own data? Should they have the right to be forgotten? Is privacy necessary and, if so, how do we protect it? How are these technologies affecting the rhythms of rest, silence and reflection which are necessary for healthy human development? Can we trust these technologies? How can we, and who can we, hold to account when harm is caused in using these technologies? Given the transformations that we are already seeing in society in the digital era and the further transformations we can expect, the challenge is urgent to provoke thinking and interdisciplinary dialogue on the theme of values, human identity and technology.
Panellists:
Izak Benbasat is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and Canada Research Chair in Information Technology Management at the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia. He received the LEO Award for Lifetime Exceptional Achievements in Information Systems from the Association for Information Systems in 2007, and was conferred the title of Distinguished Fellow by the Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences (INFORMS) Information Systems Society in 2009. He was awarded the UBC Killam Research Prize in 1998 and the Killam Teaching Prize in 1996.
Luciana Duranti is Chair and Professor of Archival Studies at SLAIS. She is Director of the Centre for the International Study of Contemporary Records and Archives (CISCRA – www.ciscra.org) and of several research projects about digital records, among which InterPARES, Digital Records Forensics, and Records in the Cloud.
Caroline Haythornethwaite is Director and Professor, School of Library, Archival and Information Studies (The iSchool@UBC), University of British Columbia. She has an international reputation for research on social networks, computer media, and e-learning, and is a founding member of the Society for Learning Analytics Research. She is co-author and editor of E-learning Theory and Practice (2011), and the Handbook of E-learning Research (2007) with Richard Andrews, and The Internet in Everyday Life (2002) with Barry Wellman.
Eric Meyers is an Assistant Professor at the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies (The iSchool@UBC). He teaches and conducts research on the digital media practices of young people in academic and everyday contexts. His research in children’s virtual environments explores how human values (e.g., privacy, autonomy, agency, and sustainability) are reflected and instantiated in children’s immersive technologies and their related textual ecosystems.
Reverend Joseph Soria is is a native of Spain (1932). He graduated as a physician from the University of Valladolid, and attained his doctorate in Canon Law from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas (Angelicum) in Rome. After his ordination as a Catholic priest he worked nineteen years in Rome. He has been professor of Pastoral Medicine and of Catholic Doctrine at the Pontifical Lateran University of Rome, Apostolic Examiner of the Clergy in the Vicariate of Rome, professor of the Diocesan Centre of Theology also at Rome, and General Postulator of Opus Dei. He is the author of several books on topics of spiritual, moral and pastoral theology.
Articles Featured in Canadian Journals
A number of students, faculty and alumni have published articles in the past few weeks - four are featured in the winter 2012 edition of Partnership: The Canadian Journal of Library and information Practice and Research, and three are featured in the December 2012 edition of Feliciter, published by the Canadian Library Association.
In Partnership, alumnus Karim Tharani is the author of the peer-reviewed article "Collections Digitization Framework: A Service-oriented Approach to Digitization in Academic Libraries." Karim, MLIS 2010, is currently Information Technology Librarian at the University of Saskatchewan. Current MLIS students David Waddell, Morgan Barnes and Stefan Khan-Kernahan are also featured in the same issue, authors of "Tapping into the Power of Twitter: A Look at its Potential in Canadian Health Libraries." Links to both articles are available from the issue's table of contents at http://journal.lib.uoguelph.ca/index.php/perj/issue/view/149/showToc.
In Feliciter, Sabrina Wong, who just completed her MLIS studies and will be conferred her degree in May, is the author of "Shared Print, Shared Knowledge," which examines the Shared Print Archive Network (SPAN) develoepd by COPPUL, the Council of Prairie and Pacific University Libraries. Also in the same issue is "Further Connections: A Multilayered Cultural Parntership" by current MLIS student Ksenia Cheinman, addressing a set of programming initiatives presented by the North Vancouver City Library in collaboration witht he Collective for Advanced and Unified Studies in the Visual Arts (CAUSA). Finally, adjunct faculty member Guy Robertson is the author of "Out! A Guide to Emergency Evacuations." All three articles are linked from the issue's table of contents at http://www.cla.ca/feliciter/2012/58-6/index.html#p=4.
Children's Novel Wins Latin American Honour
A children’s novel written by SLAIS MACL student Laura Quintana Crelis has won an Honorable Mention in the Latin American Awards for Literature for Children and Youth (Premio Latinoamericano de Literatura Infantil y Juvenil 2012). The honourable mention, for her children’s novel, A Very Unusual (Un maestro muy raro), was given by the Peruvian Academy of Literature for Children and Youth (Academia Peruana de Literatura Infantil y Juvenil). Jurors made their decisions from books published in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay.
The iSchool@UBC, invites UBC faculty and students to join us in sharing the depth and breadth of our research endeavours at the intersections of information, people and technology. Our 4th Annual Research Day will be held on Friday, March 8, 2013. This event will showcase recent and ongoing research by faculty and students, a day set aside for reflecting on our work as designers, scholars and stewards of infrastructures of knowledge.
The day's agenda will consist of an inspiring array of presentations and demonstrations. For submission details please visit:
http://slais.sites.olt.ubc.ca/2012/12/20/ischoolubc-research-day-call-for-participation-all-students/
Inspiring Libraries Summit Reports, Video Now Online
The iSchool at UBC joined the British Columbia Library Association and Libraries & Literacy, B.C. Ministry of Education, in hosting Changing Times: Inspiring Libraries, a gathering of leaders in library innovation and community engagement in early December. The reports and speeches, including videos of some speakers, have been posted at http://commons.bclibraries.ca/inspiringlibraries2012/ . Explore the links and be part of the important conversation on libraries in BC communities.
Professors Saltman and Meyers Featured in UBC News
Two iSchool faculty members have been featured this month in two different University of British Columbia publications, available in both print and online editions.
Professor Judith Saltman, who chairs our multidisciplinary Master of Arts in Children’s Literature degree program, offers her thoughts on young adult fiction and its appeal in an interview feature in the December 2012 edition of UBC Reports, a publication for the 50,000 members of the UBC Community, as well as the wider community in Vancouver and British Columbia.
Assistant Professor Eric Meyers is interviewed The Changing Library, a feature that examines how libraries are positioning themselves by focusing on services, spaces and technology as well as content. The article in published in the fall/winter edition of Trek Magazine, published and delivered to UBC alumni.
Our thanks to both faculty members for taking the time to be interviewed for these high profile publications within the UBC community.
FNCC Program Option Now Open to Dual Students
The iSchool@UBC is pleased to announce that students enrolled in the Dual program may now participate in the school's First Nations Curriculum Concentration (FNCC). The change follows the revision to the MAS core coursework, permitting greater flexibility in course selection, including external courses. For further information about the concentration please visit the FNCC webpage http://www.slais.ubc.ca/programs/first-nationS.htm.
MACL Student Defends Thesis on Korean Folktales
Congratulations to Master of Arts in Children’s Literature candidate Sae Yong Kim, who has successfully defended her thesis, “An Analysis of a Selection of English-Language Korean Folktale Picture Books.” In her study, Sae Yong draws from the fields of folktale and fairy tale studies, Korean studies, and translation studies to examine the changes that are made to Korean folktales when they are retold in English and published in North America in the form of picture books. The thesis was supervised by SLAIS faculty member Professor Judith Saltman, who is the chair of the MACL program; also on the committee was Margot Filipenko of the UBC Department of Language and Literacy Education in the Faculty of Education.
Prof. Lisa Nathan Featured for Aboriginal Initiatives Workshop
UBC iSchool Assistant Professor Dr. Lisa Nathan joined Dr. Daniel Heath Justice in presenting a workshop for university faculty members on engaging students with a new web resource called Indigenous Foundations. The workshop was part of the Aboriginal Initiatives offered through the Centre for Teaching and Learning Technology at UBC, known as CTLT. Dr. Nathan and Dr. Justice were interviewed and featured in the November 2012 issue of the CTLT newsletter.
CTV News Features Eric Meyers on Apps for Kids
Assistant Professor Eric Meyers is featured in a news segment on book apps for children, which aired on CTV News last week. In it he addresses the value of enriching children’s literacy experiences through apps, calling for more evidence before determining if apps provide children with a better experience, and encouraging parents to make careful choices.
Professor Lemieux Publishes New Book on Finance and Risk
The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, the iSchool at The University of British Columbia, is pleased to announce the publication of a new book by Assistant Professor Victoria Lemieux. Financial Analysis and Risk Management: Data Governance, Analytics and Life Cycle Management (Springer 2012) draws attention to weaknesses in financial records, information and data related to the Global Financial Crisis, noting that these weaknesses have led to operational risks in financial institutions, flawed bankruptcy and foreclosure proceedings following the crisis, and inadequacies in financial supervisors’ access to information needed for effective financial analysis and risk management.
The unique contribution of the volume is in bringing together researchers in distinct domains that seldom interact to identify theoretical, technological, policy and practical issues related to the management of financial records, information and data. The book will be of interest to researchers or advanced practitioners in the field of finance and those with an interest in risk management, computer science, cognitive science, sociology, management information systems, information science, and archival science as applied in the financial domain.
Students Elaine Goh, Elizabeth Shaffer Win Piternick Research Awards
UBC iSchool doctoral students Elaine Goh and Elizabeth Shaffer have been name co-winners of the Anne and George Piternick Doctoral Student Research Award for 2012. This award of $1,000 promotes scholarship at SLAIS by helping doctoral students meet expenses incurred during their research.
The award to Elaine Goh is in support of her study, “From the Trenches: An Exploratory Study of the Impact of Archival Legislation on Records Management in Commonwealth Countries,” which involves travel to the U.K., Canada and Singapore to examine records and interview participants.
The second award is to Elizabeth Shaffer, in support of her study, “Social Media in Government: An Exploratory Study of the Nature of Social Media Digital Artefacts and the Implications for Public Policy,” which involves travel to research sites in Ottawa and Victoria, and the use of specialized software and recording equipment.
Congratulations to Elaine and Elizabeth on receipt of this award, which recognizes the scholarly contributions of former SLAIS faculty members Anne and George Piternick.
MACL Alumna Kallie George Signs Book Series with Disney
Master of Arts in Children’s Literature alumna Kallie George has signed a multiple book deal with Disney-Hyperion for her chapter book series, the Magical Animal Adoption Agency. In the first book, Clover's Luck, the title character accepts a volunteer position at an unusual pet adoption agency, and soon finds herself in a world of fairy horses, dragons with temperamental snouts, wizards, princesses, and witches. The first book is scheduled for publication in Summer 2014, with The Enchanted Egg to follow in Spring 2015, and The Magic Malady in Summer 2016.
Congratulations to Kallie for this achievement.
Speaker Addresses Effects of Collaboration and Place in Search
The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, the iSchool at The University of British Columbia, is pleased to host George Buchanan of City University London for a lunch-hour Colloquium, co-sponsored with the UBC Media and Graphics Interdisciplinary Centre (MAGIC). Dr. Buchanan will discuss “Finding Information: The Effects of Collaboration and Place” on Wednesday, November 21, 12 noon-1 p.m. in the Dodson Room, on the third floor of UBC’s Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. This is a free event and open to the public.
When seeking information, either within a document or in a large collection of materials, the contexts of collaboration and place have a strong influence on user performance. While those studying human behaviour have noted these factors, there is at present only a limited understanding of how to provide features that exploit these contexts in computer-based information discovery systems. In this seminar, Dr. Buchanan will report on a series of projects that have uncovered how each factor can be leveraged in new interactions between people and technology, and indicate how the interplay between social and location contexts can provide opportunities neither can on their own.
George Buchanan is a Reader in the Centre for Human-Computer Interaction Design at City University London. His main areas of research encompass information seeking and mobile technologies. His work has received a series of best-paper awards, and he is currently Research Chair of the British Computer Society Special Interest Group (SIG) on Interaction.
Ingrid Parent Interviewed on Changing Library Model
Constantly evolving technology and dramatic changes in student and faculty research habits has forced academic libraries to rethink how they collect, manage information and create knowledge in the digital age. UBC has embarked on a major restructuring of its collections and services, and University Librarian Ingrid Parent, a SLAIS alumna, discusses these changes with UBC Reports, explaining how the Library is taking action to to strengthen its position on campus, as a partner in the University’s business of conducting research, teaching and learning. The interview is presented in the November issue, at http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/2012/11/01/a-university-library-for-the-21st-century/.
MACL Faculty, Grad Publish Paper on Québecois YA Lit
Professor Theresa Rogers, a faculty member from UBC Department of Language and Literacy Education and part of the interdisciplinary faculty for the Master of Arts in Children’s Literature, and recent MACL graduate Geneviève Brisson have published “Reading Place: Bodies and Spaces in Québecois Adolescent Literature.” The original paper appears in Children's Literature in Education “Online First” at http://www.springerlink.com/content/g3w2rv4034436457/. It examines “the representation of adolescent bodies in space and movement” in two YA novels, translated from French into English.
Jill Woelfer Speaks on Homeless Youth and Library Use
Fulbright Scholar Jill Woelfer will be speaking at Vancouver Public Library next week on her research into homeless youth and library use. Jill is a PhD student at the University of Washington, where her research has focused on the role of information systems and technologies in the lives of homeless young people in Vancouver and Seattle. Jill spent her Fulbright year in Vancouver at the UBC iSchool, in support of her research into the activities of Vancouver youth. She is speaking on Tuesday, November 20, at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. In her one-hour talk, she will represent the results of her findings as it pertains to Vancouver and specifically, Vancouver Public Library. Aimed at VPL staff, the talk has been opened to the public. Please RSVP to debra.mcgerrigle@vpl.ca, indicating which presentation you wish to attend. You can read more about Jill and her work at http://dub.washington.edu/people/jill-woelfer.
Ubyssey Article Examines Library's Changing Role
UBC’s student newspaper, The Ubyssey, takes a look at how the UBC Library is changing as it transforms into a collaborative learning and research space. The article, "Turning a Page: The Changing Role of the University Library,” examines a number of issues that are driving the changes, from increasing pressures for study space and a recognition that print resources are languishing to soaring demand for electronic resources.
Faculty, Students Alumni Featured in the News
Several members of our UBC iSchool community have been making the news lately. Faculty member Victoria Lemieux is featured for her work in visual analytics in the current issue of Innovations, the newsletter of the UBC Institute for Computing, Information and Cognitive Sciences. The article is titled “Tools for Thought: Using Visual Analytics to Gain Insight into the Deluge of Data,” by Mari-Lou Rowley.
An paper written for LIBR 504 Management has been published as a peer-reviewed article in the Fall 2012 issue of PNLA Quarterly. Sarah Fallik, Devin Soper and Kaitlyn Sparks wrote “Green Libraries on the Cheap,” examining inexpensive but effective measures resulting in greener libraries. Sarah completed her MLIS requirements over the summer and will be conferred her degree in November, while Devin and Kaitlyn are in their final year of study in the MLIS program. PNLA Quarterly is the official publication of the Pacific Northwest Library Association.
Finally, Kevin Read, who completed his Dual MAS/MLIS program this summer and will be conferred his degrees at Convocation later this month, is featured as one of the four 2012-13 Associate Fellows who have joined the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, MD. The highly competitive program prepares information professionals for future leadership roles in health sciences libraries and in health services research.
Geoffrey Bowker on New Configurations of Knowledge Expression
The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, the iSchool at The University of British Columbia, is pleased to announce Professor Geoffrey C. Bowker of the University of California at Irvine is the next speaker in our continuing series of lunchtime colloquia. He is presenting "Emerging Configurations of Knowledge Expression" on Wednesday, November 7, from 12 noon to 1 p.m. in the Chilcotin Room, on the second floor (Room 256) of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre at UBC.
Since the Enlightenment, we have built up a knowledge production system which assumes that prime form of expression should be the printed word. However, in a number of fields in the sciences, social sciences and humanities, this model is breaking down. In this presentation, Professor Bowker will explore the contours of the breakdown and discuss possibilities for the future.
About the speaker: Geoffrey C. Bowker is Professor at the School of Information and Computer Science, University of California at Irvine, where he directs a laboratory for Values in the Design of Information Systems and Technology. Prior to that, he was Professor of and Senior Scholar in Cyberscholarship at the University of Pittsburgh iSchool and Executive Director, Center for Science, Technology and Society, Santa Clara University. He is co-author, with Leigh Star, of Sorting Things Out: Classification and its Consequences; his most recent book is Memory Practices in the Sciences.
Professor Bowker's talk will be recorded and made available on the School's Video Resources page, at www.slais.ubc.ca/news/video.htm. There you will find links to recordings of most of our past colloquia and other events since early 2010.
SLAIS Alumni Association Holds AGM and Election
The SLAIS Alumni Association held its Annual General Meeting on Thursday, October 25. Guest speaker was Dean Giustini, a 2011 Distinguished Alumni Award winner. He spoke on the topic Living Our Professional Values in Disruptive Times, generating lively discussion on managing change and planning for an uncertain future. For those who were unable to attend, Dean kindly provided a link to his slides: http://www.slideshare.net/giustinid/living-our-professional-values-in-disruptive-times-2012
Dawn Ibey, Chair of the Alumni Association, provided a summary of the year’s past events, which included the annual Meet the Grads event, a celebration of the Master of Archival Studies’ 30th anniversary, and the launch of the association’s blog, hosted on the UBC Blogs platform.
One board position was open, as member-at large. Elected to the position is Mark Huff (MLIS). He joins the following continuing members of the association board of executive: Chair Dawn Ibey (MLS), Vice-chair Jennifer Borland (Dual MAS/MLIS), Treasurer Chris Middlemass (MLS), Secretary Daniela Esparo (MLS) and members-at-large Melanie Hardbattle (MAS) Leanna Jantzi (MLIS) Kathryn Shoemaker (MACL) and Jill Teasley (MAS). Michelle Mallette (MLIS) remains on the board as the SLAIS liaison.
UBC iSchool Faculty, Students at ASIS&T 2012 Conference, Baltimore
The University of British Columbia's School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, the iSchool@UBC, will be represented by several faculty, staff and students at the American Society for Information Science & Technology Conference (ASIS&T 2012) in Baltimore, which starts this weekend.
Assistant Professor Eric Meyers is part of a panel discussion on Tuesday, October 30 at 8:30.m. Understanding Informaiton and Knowledge sharing in Online Communities: Emerging Research Approaches, with Hsin-liang Chen, Anatoliy Gruzd andZiaozhong Liu. www.asis.org/asist2012/abstracts/34.html. He is also presenting a Lightning Talk tomorrow (Saturday October 27) the SIG-USE symposium, entitled "Using Machinima to Study Information Exchange in Children's Virtual Worlds." siguse.wordpress.com/2012/07/30/ asist-sig-use-symposium-2012-call-for-participants/
At the Monday evening poster session, Assistant Professor Luanne Freund and MLIS students Mary Jinglewski and Kristof Kessler are presenting "Introducing FRED: Faceted Retrieval of E-government Documents." www.asis.org/asist2012/abstracts/310.html
Also attending ASIS&T 2012 as delegates are Professor Edie Rasmussen, Assistant Professor Aaron Loehrlein, and student services coordinator Michelle Mallette, who will be staffing the School's information table. Potential applicants to master's or PhD programs are encouraged to stop by the table, or join the faculty and students at an informal pub night for alumni and other friends of the School. This is a good opportunity to find out more about the research interests and activities of the School, while enjoying a beverage and appetizers. It is at the Alewife Pub, 21 North Eutaw St. (4 blocks north of the conference hotel), 5-7 p.m. on Sunday, October 28.
For more information on ASIS&T 2012, visit www.asis.org/asist2012/.
Speaker Addresses Information Overload, 100 Years Ago
Ellen Gruber Garvey of New Jersey City University is the next speaker in the 2012-13 Colloquium Series presented by the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, the iSchool at UBC. "What the 99 Percent Read, and What They Did With It, a Hundred Years Ago" is presented as part of Celebrate Learning Week at UBC, co-sponsored with UBC Departments of English and History, the U.S. Studies program, Green College, and Celebrating Learning UBC. The talk will be presented Wednesday October 31, 12 noon to 1 p.m. in the Dodson Room in the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.
What did ordinary people such as farmers and janitors have in common with extraordinary ones like Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Mark Twain, and Susan B. Anthony? This talk explores how nineteenth-century Americans created scrapbooks to document, share, critique, and participate in a rapidly changing world of information overload. Like us, they felt overwhelmed by the written material in their lives; their ways of coping with it offer new ways to understand the history of LexisNexis, bookmarks, Google, and other ways we now manage information.
Dr. Garvey is the author of The Adman in the Parlor: Magazines and the Gendering of Consumer Culture and Writing with Scissors: American Scrapbooks from the Civil War to the Harlem Renaissance. She is also the author of recent articles on American abolitionists' use of newspapers as data, the advertising of books, and on women editing periodicals. A Professor of English at New Jersey City University, she also co-edits the journal Transformations: The Journal of Inclusive Scholarship and Pedagogy.
UBC Features Co-op Students Alex Dawkins, Tracey Vantyghem
MLIS students Alex Dawkins and Tracey Vantyghem have been featured in the UBC In Your Community newsletters for Fall 2012, as a result of the UBC Co-op positions they held as SLAIS students.
Alex did a co-op term earlier this year with Touchstones Nelson, Museum of Art and History, located in the Kootenays, wihle Tracey spent the summer working in the library at the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre on Vancouver Island. You can read about Alex’s contributions at http://governmentrelations.ubc.ca/files/2012/10/UBCIYC2012OctTHKO.pdf, and about Tracey’s experience at http://governmentrelations.ubc.ca/files/2012/10/UBCIYC2012OctPOAL.pdf.
Panel Discussion for School Library Day
The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, the iSchool at University of British Columbia, is pleased to present a panel discussion as part of School Library Day in British Columbia.
"Engaging Youth with Indigenous Materials in Libraries and Classrooms" will be held on Wednesday, October 24, from 4:30-6 p.m. in the Dodson Room, in the Irving K. Barker Learning Centre at The University of British Columbia.
Assessing and incorporating teaching and learning resources by and about First Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples is critical for librarians, educators and parents. Awareness of diverse epistemologies, notions of cultural authenticity and historical accuracy, and the influence of colonialism, are essential when considering books, films and interactive media for library and classroom collections. This panel will address challenges facing Indigenous and non-Indigenous librarians, educators and parents when drawing upon materials representing Indigenous peoples and cultures. They will offer insights about such issues as cultural appropriation, stereotypes, addressing colonialism and what to do with dated resources. This session is ideal for teacher candidates, classroom teachers, teacher-librarians, youth librarians and parents.
Panelists are:
- Debra Martel, Associate Director, First Nations House of Learning
- Jan Hare, Associate Professor, UBC Department of Language and Literacy Education
- Allison Taylor-McBryde, Adjunct Professor, School of Library, Archival and Information Studies.
Convenor for the panel is Jo-Anne Naslund, of the UBC Education Library, and moderator is Lisa P. Nathan, Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the First Nations Curriculum Concentration, School of Library, Archival and Information Studies
This event is free and open to all members of the community. For more information on this presentation and other events in the 2012-13 Colloquium Series, visit http://www.slais.ubc.ca/news/colloquia.htm.
UBC iSchool Team Wins 2012 HCIR Challenge
The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, the iSchool at UBC, is proud to announce that the iSchool team has won the 2012 HCIR Challenge. Part of the Sixth Symposium on Human-Computer Interaction and Information Retrieval Conference, held Oct. 4-5 in Cambridge, MA, this year’s Challenge was to design a system to provide efficient discovery of experts and expertise, using a dataset of more than a million researcher profiles from Mendeley. Check out the winning entry from UBC: http://diigubc.ca/virtu. Dubbed Virtu, the search system takes a task-based approach, using sliders to give the searcher control over six dimensions of expertise. Congratulations to all members of the team: Professors Luanne Freund and Edie Rasmussen, post-doctoral researcher Michael Huggett, and MLIS students Kristof Kessler and Schuyler Lindberg. For more information on the system, visit the UBC team’s Challenge Report: "Exposing and Exploring Academic Expertise with Virtu.”
ALA Student Chapter Does Virtual Readout for Banned Books Week
For Banned Books Week 2012, the UBC Student Chapter of the American Library Association created a Virtual Readout of the picture book And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, with illustrations by Henry Cole. Since its publication in 2005, it has regularly made the top 10 list of the most challenged books list, compiled by the American Library Association. Click to watch the video created by students from ALA@UBC.
Melanie Feinberg on Personal Digital Collections
The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, the iSchool at University of British Columbia, is pleased to welcome Dr. Melanie Feinberg of the University of Texas at Austin as the next speaker in our 2012-13 Colloquium Series. She is speaking Wednesday, October 17, from 12 noon to 1 p.m., on the topic of "Personal Digital Collections as Creative Expression.”
Dr. Feinberg will describe her continuing project to examine how personal digital collections, such as Pinterest boards, Amazon wishlists, and GoodReads shelves, work as manifestations of creative curatorship, and how best to support the design of such expressive personal collections. Initial work took a humanities-oriented approach to propose a set of expressive characteristics--an eclectic purpose, a unique authorial voice, and emotional intimacy--that enable personal digital collections to achieve what Umberto Eco describes as "the poetry of lists." A subsequent user study suggested that the design space of personal digital collections includes multiple document genres that make use of the same form: collections that serve as personal information management tools, for example, coexist in the same systems with collections oriented toward public expression in the same environment. A second user study illuminated the notion of framing devices in facilitating a design reorientation to the genre of public expression, as opposed to personal information management. These findings contribute to our understanding of personal digital collections as expressive media and to the design of authoring environments for expression-oriented collections.
Melanie Feinberg is an assistant professor at the School of Information at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research considers collections as a form of creative expression, and the means by which collections apply an interpretive frame to the resources that they gather, enacting a particular viewpoint onto their contents. She received her PhD from the University of Washington, a MIMS from the University of California at Berkeley, and a BA from Stanford University.
The talk will be given in the Dodson Room, in the Chapman Learning Commons of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre at UBC.
Virtual Information Session for PhD at UBC
Have you ever considered doing a PhD at SLAIS? Now is the time to find out if it’s for you. UBC iSchool is hosting a Virtual Information Session for the Doctor of Philosophy program in library, archival and information studies at The University of British Columbia next Friday, October 19. This will be held from 1-2:15 p.m. PT using a browser-based software (link below). We are welcoming interest from those interested in doing doctoral research in one of our core areas of inquiry: Digital Information Systems and Interaction; Management and Preservation of Digital Records; and Creation and Use of Cultural Materials. The session will include information on the program of study, application procedures and funding, and an opportunity to discuss questions with faculty.
To participate, visit http://ubc.wimba.com/main/classroom.html?channel=iSchoolOpenHouse. For those using Wimba for the first time, or for those using a Mac, ensure software compatibility by using the wizard at http://ubc.wimba.com/wizard/launcher.cgi?wc=wms.
For those who cannot attend, the session will be captured as a video and the link will be posted at http://www.slais.ubc.ca/admissions/openhouse.htm.
Alexander “Sandy” Slade Passes Away
The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, the iSchool at The University of British Columbia, regrets to announce the sudden passing of one of its well -known alumni, Alexander “Sandy” Slade. Sandy died unexpectedly on Wednesday, October 3, shortly after returning from a trip to Italy with his wife Margaret. He was 62 years old.
Considered an early expert on distance library services in Canada, Sandy Slade is perhaps best known for his work on Library Services for Off-Campus and Distance Education: An Annotated Bibliography, now in its fifth edition under the title Library Services for Distance Learning. Sandy first proposed the idea of an annotated bibliography in 1987, when he was part of the Canadian Library Association’s Library Services for Distance Learning Interest Group. The first edition, written by Sandy along with Sheila Latham and Carol Budnick, was published in 1991 by the American Library Association and from England, the Library Association. For the second and third editions, published by Libraries Unlimited, Sandy was author with Marie Kascus, and he was sole author for the fourth edition, published in electronic format only in 2005.
He graduated with a BLS from UBC in 1971, and went to the University of Waterloo to work as a reference librarian. In 1981, he was hired by University of Victoria Libraries as the Program Director for Library Extension Studies, later renamed Continuing Studies, and it was there he developed his passion for library services to distance students, for which he received the CACUL Outstanding Librarian award. He returned to UBC to complete his MLS in 1990, and later served as executive director of the Council of Prairie and Public University Libraries (COPPUL) from 2001-2011. He retired in December 2011.
A private family service is planned.
Children’s Literature Critic and Historian Leonard Marcus to Speak
We are pleased to announce Leonard Marcus, American children’s literature critic and historian, will be the guest speaker at the second of our Fall 2012 Colloquium Series. Leonard Marcus will present his talk, “‘Let the Wild Rumpus Start’: Maurice Sendak as Storyteller and Psychologist,” on Friday, October 12, 4:30-5:30 p.m., in the Lillooet Room of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre at UBC.
Maurice Sendak, foremost picture-book creator of the 20th century, died on May 8th 2012. Noted children’s book historian Leonard Marcus, drawing on his incisive research, conversations with members of the psychological community, and wide-ranging interviews with Sendak, the creator of Max, Mickey, and friends, presents a rare glimpse into the life and work of the most original children's book artist of our time.
Leonard Marcus is a world-renowned children’s literature critic, children’s book historian, curator of children’s book illustration exhibitions, and interviewer of authors and illustrators. Described as “one of the children’s book world’s most engaging speakers,” he is a children’s book reviewer for the New York Times, a columnist on illustrated books for The Horn Book Magazine, a judge on national American children’s book juries, and a prolific author who has written highly acclaimed books and hundreds of articles on children’s literature and publishing.
Among his over 20 books are: Minders of Make Believe: Idealists, Entrepreneurs, and the Shaping of American Children’s Literature, winner of the Children’s Literature Association Book Award; Show Me A Story: Why Picture Books Matter; The Annotated Phantom Tolbooth; Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom; Golden Legacy: How Golden Books Won Children’s Hearts, Changed Publishing Forever, and Became an American Icon Along the Way; and Magaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon.
Leonard Marcus has been a consultant to the Whitney Museum of American Art, National Book Foundation, All for Kids Foundation, Norman Rockwell Museum, National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature, and Book Globe Company Ltd (Japan). He is a member of the national board of the National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature (www.nccil.org) and the Mazza Museum national advisory board.
He holds degrees in history from Yale and poetry from the University of Iowa Graduate Writers' Workshop. In 2007, Leonard Marcus was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the Bank Street College of Education. He lives with his family in Brooklyn, New York.
Alumni Hold Annual General Meeting and Election
Alumni of the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, The iSchool at UBC, are invited to attend the 2012 Annual General Meeting SLAIS Alumni Association. Guest speaker at the AGM is Dean Giustini, MLS, who was a 2011 Distinguished Alumni Award winner, and also serves as an adjunct faculty member for the School. He will share his thoughts on “Living our professional values in disruptive times.”
The AGM will be held Thursday, October 25, in the 7th floor boardroom of the Vancouver Public Library’s Central Library, at 350 West Georgia Street in Vancouver. Light refreshments will be served. The evening begins at 6 p.m., with the guest speaker expected to start at about 6:30 p.m.
The current board will continue, with the exception of one position as member-at-large. The committee is seeking nominations to fill that position for a two-year term. Graduates of any SLAIS program may stand for election. If you are interested in being nominated for this position, please contact the Nominating Committee chair, Michelle Mallette, at michelle.mallette@ubc.ca.
Alexandra Bradley Named ARMA International Fellow
Congratulations to adjunct faculty member Alexandra "Sandie" Bradley, who has been named to the ARMA International Company of Fellows. She is the fourth Canadian to receive this distinction, the highest honour in the records management profession. She is ARMA International's 47th Fellow since the award was created in 1990, honouring members who have "distinguished themselves through outstanding achievements and contributions in records and information management as well as noteworthy accomplishments in all levels of the association." Only members in good standing with reputation for ethical integrity, professional responsibility and a high attention to professional standards may be considered for the award. For more information, visit www.arma.org/myarma/awards/fellows.cfm
Dr. Julienne Molineaux to Discuss LAC After Merger
We are pleased to announce Julienne Molineaux , lecturer at the Auckland University of Technology, will be the guest speaker at the first of our Fall 2012 Colloquium Series. Dr. Molineaux will present her talk, “Library and Archives Canada, Ten Years After the Merger,” on Wednesday, October 3, 12-1 p.m., in the Dodson Room of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre at UBC.
Integration of collections and institutions in the libraries, archives and museums sector is almost commonplace now, but in the early 2000s the merger of Canada’s National Archives and National Library to create Library and Archives Canada /Bibliothèque et Archives Canada (LAC-BAC), was novel. Ten years since that process formally began it is worth asking, how is this institution faring? Restructuring does not always solve the problems it sets out to solve. Additionally, new problems are created along the way. This talk addresses two questions: have the problems that prompted the LAC merger been solved and what new problems have emerged?
Dr. Molineux completed her PhD in 2009, examining the machinery of government reforms for New Zealand’s official archives. She continues to research government reforms in archives, focusing her study on archives policy in both Canada and New Zealand. For more information about the Fall 2012 Colloquia, please visit http://www.slais.ubc.ca/news/colloquia.htm.
Student Defends Thesis on ABC Books
We are pleased to announce that Lara LeMoal has successfully defended her Master of Arts in Children’s Literature thesis, “Rendering the Visible World: A Critical Examination of Internationalization, Representation, Order, and Naming in a Selection of Contemporary Metafictive Alphabet Picturebooks.” Her thesis committee members were Professor Theresa Rogers of the Department of Language and Literacy Education in the UBC Faculty of Education, and Professor Judith Saltman of the iSchool, who also supervised Lara’s thesis. Congratulations to Lara on this achievement.
Prof. Judith Saltman Featured in Vancouver Sun Article
Professor Judith Saltman, who chairs the UBC iSchool’s Master of Arts in Children’s Literature program, is featured as an expert in an article examining the value of popular series fiction for teens. She provides her perspective on why popular titles like Hunger Games and Harry Potter resonate with teen readers. “We have a hunger in us, and children who are non-readers still have the same hunger – which is we’re hardwired for narrative,” she told The Vancouver Sun. Professor Saltman notes popularity and film adaptions can serve to spark an interest in reluctant readers, but can also serve to spur family member to read together. Click here to read the full article.
Faculty, Alumni, Students Featured at UNESCO Conference
The UNESCO Memory of the World Conference will be held in Vancouver September 26-28, sponsored in part by the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, the iSchool at The University of British Columbia. The theme is The Memory of the World in the Digital Age: Digitization and Preservation. The conference will be held at the Sheraton Wall Centre, and benefits from many contributions by iSchool faculty, alumni and students, as well as support from UBC Faculty of Arts and the University Library.
- iSchool Director Dr. Caroline Haythornthwaite and University Librarian Ingrid Parent, an alumna of the School, are serving on the planning committee and as local conference organizers.
- Dr. Luciana Duranti is the chair of the program committee and a keynote speaker in the opening plenary on Wednesday September 26, addressing Trust and Conflicting Rights in the Digital Environment.
- Dr. Lisa Nathan is chairing the session Giving a Permanent Digital Voice to the Silenced later in the afternoon, and doctoral student Corinne Rogers is presenting Shared Perspectives: Digital Forensics and Ancestral Computing. On Thursday, Dr. Nathan and doctoral student Elizabeth Shaffer are presenting Social Media, Records and Cultural Heritage: Revealing Tensions and Informing Design.
- Also on Thursday, Dr. Victoria Lemieux is chairing the session The Economics of Preserving Digital Information, and then presents Financial Records and Their Discontents: Safeguarding the Records of Our Financial Systems. Corinne Rogers returns as session chair for Technology as the Mediator of Heritage and Its Relations with People.
- Dr. Giovanni Michetti chairs the session Digital Curation: Convergence of Challenges, Institutions and Knowledge; and doctoral student Elaine Goh presents on Strengthening Regulatory Frameworks in the Digital Environment. On Friday, Dr Michetti presents two papers: It FITS the Cultural Heritage! Formats for Preservation: From Spatial Data to Cultural Resources, and then Archives Are Not Trees: Hierarchical Representations in the Digital Environment.
- Also on Friday, doctoral student Jessica Bushey presents Born Digital Images: Creation to Preservation; doctoral student Adam Jansen presents Challenges and Triumphs: Preserving HD Video at the UBC School of Journalism; and Dr. Duranti and doctoral student Sherry Xie are co-presenters of a showcase on The Indian Centre of Excellence in Digital Preservation and InterPARES.
- Dr. Duranti will also take part in the Closing Session, presenting the Vancouver Declaration about Digitization and Digital Preservation.
- Download the full conference program.
Celebration of Life Planned for Former Director Basil Stuart-Stubbs
A Celebration of Life will be held Sunday September 16 to honour Basil Stuart-Stubbs, University Librarian at UBC from 1964 to 1981 and the Director of the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies from 1981 to 1992. Friends and colleagues are invited to attend, with a request to arrive by 2 p.m. at Sage Bistro (the former UBC Faculty Club) located at the University Centre. The nearest parking is the Rose Garden Parkade. No RSVP is required.
Students Win SSHRC, ARMA, ARL Awards
UBC iSchool students are distinguishing themselves as scholars on the national and international stage, earning several awards for academic promise and excellence. Scott Owens is the third UBC iSchool student to win a Canada Graduate Scholarship from the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council this year. Seven students - Kane Klemic, Valérie Léveillé, Lara Mancuso, Victoria Ostrzenski, Kevin Owen, Joy Rowe, and Isabel Taylor - have won awards from the ARMA International Educational Foundation, and two students, Ebony Magnus and Amber Saundry, were selected as Diversity Scholars under the Association of Research Libraries’ Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce.
Scott Owens, a student in the Dual MAS/MLIS program, joins returning MAS student Isabel Taylor and new MLIS student Erin Peters in winning a Canada Graduate Scholarship at the master’s level from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the major funding body for social science research in Canada. Only 61 awards were given to UBC master’s students in total, so this is a significant achievement.
ARMA International Educational Foundation, which recently chose the School's Master of Archival Studies as the inaugural winner of its Academic Excellence Award, presented ten graduate awards for 2012. Of the seven Graduate Education Awards, six went to UBC SLAIS students (Kane, Lara, Victoria, Kevin, Joy and Isable), all in either the Dual MAS/MLIS or the MAS program. Valérie, a Dual MAS/MLIS student won the Mavis Eppes Scholarship for Excellence in Records Management Scholarship. Read the full announcement for information on each of the award winners and their research.
The Association of Research Libraries annually selects Diversity Scholars from across North America. This year, 14 scholars were chosen, with two winners from UBC. Ebony Magnus is a current student in the MLIS program, entering her second year. Amber Saundry is beginning her studies this month in the MLIS program. In addition to funding, the award includes leadership development and short placement at Purdue University Libraries. View the full announcement. New MLIS graduate Jennifer Garrett, who was a Diversity Scholar for 2011-12, has accepted a two-year position as a Library Fellow with the North Carolina State University Library, in Raleigh NC.
SFU Library Features Exhibit Curated by Chelsea Bailey
Dual student Chelsea Bailey completed a practicum in the Simon Fraser University Library Special Collections this summer. As part of her learning experience there, she curated an exhibit on Gerald Giampa, a British Columbia printer who founded Cobblestone Press, producing book bindings, ornamental prints and stationery such as wedding invitations. The display is featured in Special Collections at UBC, and is described in a feature article at the SFU Library website.
Faculty Article Named to Top 20 List
An article co-authored by UBC iSchool faculty member Dr. Luanne Freund has been included in LIRT’s Top Twenty library instruction articles of 2011. The article, “Student Perceptions of the Information Professions and their Master’s Program in Information Studies,” is co-authored with Professors Joan Cherry and Wendy Duff of the University of Toronto, and librarian Nalini Singh. It was originally published in 2011, in Library & Information Science Research. The authors examine student attitudes toward their professions and career futures, as well as their programs of study. The top 20 selections are made by the American Library Association’s Library Instruction Round Table (LIRT), which considered more than 200 articles published in 2011. The judges commended the authors for providing “great insight into how students view the library profession and their education.” The article is summarized and evaluated on pages 10-11 of the June 2012 issue of LIRT News, available at http://fleetwood.baylor.edu/lirt/lirtnews/2012/jun12.pdf.
UBC iSchool Website Gets New Look
Welcome to the newly redesigned website of the iSchool at The University of British Columbia, more formally the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies. Our new design incorporates our new brand as an iSchool, promotes upcoming events and alerts our community to news from the iSchool. At the same time, it continues to provide access to all the important information needed by students, applicants, faculty and alumni. Finally, the site boasts a clean and elegant look with better functionality, using the UBC-wide drop-down menus as well as quick links on inside pages. Incorporating the UBC branding into the iSchool site reminds visitors that we offer an award-winning faculty within a world-renowned research institution, located in one of the world's most beautiful cities.
Students are also getting a new interface, as we are launching the iSchool Central portal, providing one-stop access to courses, job postings, news and announcements, ending years of reliance on email for communicating with our community members. And whether you are a new or returning student or a member of our larger community, take a moment to read the 2012-13 welcome by Director Caroline Haythornthwaite.
Have a look, explore the links and features, and let us know what you think. We are calling this a "beta" iteration. In fact, it is fully functional but we are welcoming feedback, and will be incorporating changes as needed. Send your thoughts to slais.info@ubc.ca
Student Defends Thesis on Canadian YA Literature
Congratulations to Master of Arts in Children’s Literature candidate Karen Taylor, who has successfully defended her thesis, “’Her Knowledge of Flora and Fauna Came Mostly from Fiction’: The Adolescent as Green Subject in Three Canadian Young Adult Novels.” Using the lens of ecocriticism, this thesis focuses on the literary portrayal of nature in three contemporary realistic Canadian young adult novels Mistik Lake by Martha Brooks, The Lightkeeper’s Daughter by Iain Lawrence, and The Uninvited by Tim Wynne-Jones. Her thesis supervisor was Judy Brown and Margot Filipenko served as thesis committee member.
Dual Student Eden Marchand’s Experience Featured at SFU
Dual student Eden Marchand has been putting her archival studies theory to practice this summer doing a professional experience for academic credit with Simon Fraser University Library. Working in the Library’s Special Collections division, she is organizing a recently acquired collection of archival material from Canadian sprinter Harry Jerome, who earned a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. See the feature at http://www.lib.sfu.ca/node/11375
Webcast of Telling Stories with Data
What good is open data if we don’t know how to find and use it? The digital age has ushered in new opportunities to better understand our communities and demand accountability from our governments. In an intensive two-day master class, digital publishing expert Phillip Smith introduced some of the “working with data” tricks he has learned in over 15 years working with advocacy organizations, publishers and groups such as Civic Access and the Electoral Data Consortium. UBC iSchool graduate students Josh Rose and Jonathan Kift attended the two-day class, and summarized what they learned in a presentation to UBC librarians on how organizations make sense of data and how to use data to tell compelling stories. Introduction by Gordon Yusko, Assistant Director of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. A video of the presentation is available at http://www.ikebarberlearningcentre.ubc.ca/jonathan-kift-and-josh-rose-telling-stories-with-data.
Grads’ Work Featured in Online Journal
Three recent UBC SLAIS graduates have articles published in the current issue of Evidence-Based Library & Information Practice. Bailey Diers (MLIS 2011) and Shannon Simpson (MLIS 2012) authored the article “At Your Leisure: Establishing a Popular Reading Collection at UBC Library,” and Mê-Linh Lê (MLIS 2009) provided a summary of evidence of the impact of instructional activities on resource selection by undergraduates in her article, “Undergraduate Library Instruction in the Humanities Increases the Use of Books Over Journals.” Bailey and Shannon’s article was based on a project they did during their programs of study at the iSchool. Their report to UBC Library resulted in a pilot project for a leisure-reading collection at Koerner Library, now implemented as Great Reads. It’s since been expanded to the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre as well.
As the journal is open source, the articles are available online at http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/EBLIP/issue/view/1358.
Ph.D. Student Poster Chosen for Conference
UBC iSchool Ph.D. student Elaine Goh has won an honourable mention for her poster, “Strengthening the Regulatory Framework in a Digital Environment: A Review of Archives Legislation,” at this year’s Archival Educational Research Institute (AERI). Elaine’s poster was one of 21 posters at this year’s Institute, representing research from Ph.D. students and faculty from institutions across the world. Along with the poster contest winner and another honourable mention, Elaine’s poster will be displayed at this year’s Society of American Archivists (SAA) conference in San Diego (August 6-11) as part of the AERI information booth. Information on all 21 posters presented is available at http://aeri2012.wordpress.com/conference-schedule/poster-session/.
SLAISMatters Summer Newsletter Now Online
The Summer 2012 edition of SLAISmatters, the newsletter of the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, The iSchool@UBC, is now available in PDF format as a downloadable file. In this issue you'll find a feature on the UBC iSchool's new Roberta F. Greig Research Laboratory, an article on changes to the MAS curriculum, news of the DiiG Symposium and UNESCO conference in September and more. Current and past issues are always available on the SLAISmatters page of our site. The print version of the newsletter is being prepared for mailing. For a print copy, send an email to slais.reception(at)ubc.ca.
Nursery Rhymes and Calligraphy
The iSchool at UBC is pleased to announce a free public lecture by Professor Judith Saltman on Thursday, July 26, from 5-6 pm in the Lillooet Room, of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.
Professor Saltman will present “Nursery Rhymes and the Art of Calligraphy: When Poetry Meets Art” as part of a public program celebrating “A Pocketful of Rhymes,” a month-long exhibition at the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. A Pocketful of Rhymes is presented by the Westcoast Calligraphy Society. For more information about the exhibition, visit http://www.ikebarberlearningcentre.ubc.ca/pocketful-of-rhymes.
As a faculty member in the School of Library, Archival & Information Studies, The iSchool at The University of British Columbia and Chair of the Master of Arts in Children's Literature Program, Professor Saltman teaches courses in children's and young adult literature and public library services for youth. Her research areas include Canadian and international literature for children and young adults, publishing and the book trade for children in Canada, illustrated books, and services for children and young adults in public libraries.
Registration for this free event is at http://nursery.eventbrite.com/. For more information, please contact: Susan Andrews (susan.andrews@ubc.ca) or Allan Cho (allan.cho@ubc.ca)
Faculty Named Acting Director of MAGIC
SLAIS, The iSchool at UBC, is pleased to announce that Dr. Victoria Lemieux has been appointed Acting Director of MAGIC, the Media and Graphics Interdisciplinary Centre. She will remain on the SLAIS faculty as she is taking up the Acting Director position from Dr. Sidney Fels who is on leave for one year. As Acting Director, Dr. Lemieux will be responsible for the organization and activities of MAGIC, including developing and supporting research initiatives associated with MAGIC, working with the human computer interaction subcommittee on its HCI specialization, and exploring synergies with the iSchool.
“This leading presence with MAGIC is a great opportunity for us all, extending the reach of SLAIS and further solidifying our position as an iSchool,” Director Caroline Haythornthwaite said in announcing the appointment. “I look forward to building these connections, and congratulate and thank Vicki for taking on this challenging position.”
MAGIC was created at UBC to foster research covering the entire spectrum of new computer-based and computer-associated media. Some examples include multimedia, mobile computing, computer animation, 3-D modeling, interactive Web-based applications, hypermedia, computer music and computer-based tools for collaboration in education, medicine and entertainment.
Students Win National Fellowship, Scholarships
Students at SLAIS, the iSchool at UBC, continue to earn national and international awards and accolades at all stages of their programs of study. Congratulations are in order for graduating Dual MAS/MLIS student Kevin Read, selected for a prestigious 2012 National Library of Medicine Associate Fellowship, MAS student Isabel Taylor and incoming MLIS student Erin Peters for earned Canada Graduate Scholarships for master’s students from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), and to incoming Dual MAS/MLIS student Grant Hurley, who has won the Dafoe Scholarship from the Canadian Library Association.
Kevin, who is completing his Dual MAS/MLIS program this summer and will be conferred in November, is one of only four candidates selected for the prestigious NLM Associate Fellowship program in Washington D.C. He will take up the fellowship in September, spending a year with NLM exploring the role of research and development in providing biomedical information services to the health professions, and examining current issues and trends affecting the library and information fields.
Isabel applied for the SSHRC scholarship last fall, having just begun her MAS program, while Erin applied while still completing her BA at the University of Alberta. SSHRC scholarship program is highly competitive, and fewer than 60 were awarded to UBC students at the master’s level.
Grant’s selection for the Dafoe Scholarship was one of two made by CLA. In announcing the 2012 awards, CLA scholarships jury member Karen Darby noted competition was intense, but that the two final winners “stood out as having the potential to make outstanding contributions to the field.”
Students Publish Info Policy Papers
Several student papers are featured in the latest issue of the BCLA Browser, the newsletter of the British Columbia Library Association. “Bill C-11: A Guide for Academic Instructors” by Devin Soper, “Open Access Policies on Scholarly Publishing in the University Context” by Christie Hurrell and “Censorship Issues in School Libraries” by Shannon Mills are were published in Vol. 4 Issue 3 (2012) of the Browser. All papers were submitted as assignments for LIBR 561 Information Policy, taught by Dr. Lisa Nathan.
Directors Discuss Future of LIS Education
Two directors of Canadian schools of library and information studies will share their perspectives on the direction of LIS education in the 21st century at an event this week at The University of British Columbia. Professor Caroline Haythornthwaite, Director of the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, the iSchool at UBC, and Associate Professor Louise Spiteri, Director of the School of Information Management at Dalhousie University, will present "Breathing New Life into the Profession: LIS Education in the 21st Century" on Wednesday, June 27.
Libraries and library roles are undergoing rapid transformation in the 21st century. In the face of such enormous change, some libraries are choosing non-library trained professionals to fill key new roles; others are looking to non-library professional programs to help train library professionals in new roles, while still others are demanding library education change immediately to meet the demands for new skill sets required for new library positions. Dr. Haythornthwaite and Dr. Spiteri will speak to the many challenges facing library and information professional programs in preparing professionals for 21st century roles.
To register for this free event, visit http://www.eventbrite.com/event/3680829460. If you can't make it in person, watch the live webcast, starting at 10 a.m., at http://mediasite.mediagroup.ubc.ca/MediaGroup/SilverlightPlayer/Default.aspx?peid= 3bc48faa3dd74c40a37941ae4dc2e9ba1d.
Basil Stuart-Stubbs Featured
Canada's national newspaper, The Globe and Mail, features a full-page article on the life of Basil Stuart-Stubs, SLAIS Director from 1981 to 1992, who passed away May 29. In the article, they describe him as "one of the last great scholar librarians." Among his many accomplishments were the founding of UBC Press, the establishment of the Public Lending Right providing payment to Canadian authors when their books were borrowed in libraries, and the launch of the Master of Archival Studies degree at SLAIS.
SLAIS Earns Inaugural Education Award from ARMA Foundation
The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, The iSchool at The University of British Columbia, is proud to announce the Master of Archival Studies program at SLAIS has been awarded the inaugural Award for Academic Excellence in Records and Information Management Education by the ARMA International Educational Foundation. Dr. Luciana Duranti, chair of the MAS program, accepted the award on the School’s behalf at the ARMA Canada 28th annual Conference being held this week in Nanaimo B.C.
The award was presented by Christine Ardern, a trustee of the ARMA International Educational Foundation, a Fellow of ARMA International and an Emmett Leahy Award winner. In presenting the award, she commended the School for having “kept pace with the changing nature of records, information and technology,” and for its outstanding success “in achieving academic excellence through rigour and relevance.” She concluded by saying, “The MAS program of SLAIS and Professor Luciana Duranti have contributed significantly to the growth of education in RIM at an international level, and their graduates have had a voice at the highest levels in local, regional, and international public and private organizations with regard to the administration and management of records, archives and information and have brought distinction to the profession. The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies is therefore deserving of the first ARMA International Educational Foundation Award for Academic Excellence in Records and Information Management Education in the combined areas of outstanding teaching, outstanding research accomplishments, and outstanding contribution to the university and college communities, governments, the private sector, and the global citizenry as a whole.”
The Master of Archival Studies program began in 1981 as a new program in the School of Librarianship, which subsequently changed its name to the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies. Terry Eastwood, now a Professor Emeritus with UBC, was the first faculty member hired for the program, and he served as program chair until 1999. Luciana Duranti joined the faculty in 1987, followed by Heather MacNeil, now a faculty member at the University of Toronto, Francesca Marini, currently Archives Director with the Stratford Festival in Ontario, Victoria Lemieux in 2008 and in 2012, Giovanni Michetti. Many adjunct faculty have contributed to the growth and development of the MAS curriculum offerings over the years as well.
Basil Stuart-Stubbs Passes Away
The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, The iSchool at The University of British Columbia, regrets to announce the passing of its former director, Basil Stuart-Stubbs, who died in hospital May 29, 2012. His wife, Brenda Peterson, a librarian with UBC Library, and his family were at his side.
Professor Stuart-Stubbs served as Director of the School from 1981 to 1992. His career with UBC began in 1956, when he joined the UBC Library as a librarian. He was named Coordinator of Collections in 1962, and appointed as University Librarian in 1964, serving in that position until 1981 when he accepted the position of Director of the School of Librarianship, soon renamed the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies. Under his leadership, the School admitted its first class in the brand-new Master of Archival Studies program in September 1981, alongside the already well-established Master of Library Science program. He oversaw construction of the School’s first computer laboratory, which quickly expanded. That work caught the attention of the American Library Association, which sent Professor Stuart-Stubbs a letter in 1988 commending the School for increasing the use of computerized information services for LIS students in an era of economic restraint.
As University Librarian, Professor Stuart-Stubbs was a key player in the creation of the University of British Columbia Press in 1971, and in 1977 he oversaw the creation of an inter-library lending network for provincial universities and colleges on behalf of the B.C. Ministry of Education.
During his career, he contributed as an author, editor and conference presenter on the topics of library history and education, publishing, copyright, and resource sharing. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, he was recognized with several awards over the years, including the Canada Medal in 1967, the Outstanding Academic Librarian Award from the Canadian Association of College and University Libraries in 1987, and the Order of Canada in 2005. He was presented with the Gray Campbell Distinguished Service Award in 2004, for tremendous contributions to the British Columbia publishing industry, and was named a Professor Emeritus of UBC following his retirement from the University.
Helene Høyrup Chosen as Inaugural Dodson Professor
The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, The iSchool at The University of British Columbia, is pleased to announce that Helene Høyrup, Ph.D., of the Royal School of Library and Information Science in Denmark, will be joining us as the inaugural Dodson Visiting Professor. She will be in the position for the second Winter Term, February to April 2013.
Dr. Høyrup is Associate Professor in children's literature and digital literacy at RSLIS n Copenhagen. She is an international scholar in children's literature studies and has published extensively in the field. She is particularly interested in the theoretical development of children's literature scholarship, the interface between children's literature, art and literature for adults, and the situation of children's literature and its studies in different nations and regions. As part of her work on digital literacy, Dr. Høyrup has co-edited a research volume on "New Knowledge Media" and is currently co-editing a book on the philosophy of information and digital library functions (with Birger Hjørland and Hans Jørn Nielsen, RSLIS). Additionally, Dr. Høyrup is an international Hans Christian Andersen scholar and a partner in several Danish, Scandinavian and European research projects on children's literature and canonicity, and on theories of informal learning with digital media. The Royal School of Library and Information Science is a member of the iSchools caucus.
During her term as a Visiting Professor at SLAIS, Dr. Høyrup will teach, interact, and mentor students studying children's literature in the Master of Arts in Children’s Literature, Master of Library and Information Studies, and Dual Master of Archival Studies/Master of Library and Information Studies programs. In addition to teaching two one-credit classes over the term, she will be a guest speaker in other classes and at a university-wide colloquium on children’s literature.
The Dodson Visiting Professorship is named in honour of Suzanne and Earl Dodson. This fellowship provides funds to enable the successful candidate to spend a term engaged in teaching and research at the iSchool and with the UBC community. For the inaugural fellowship, candidates in the field of children’s literature were invited to apply.
Making Sense – and Stories – With Data
What good is open data if we don't know how to find and use it? The digital age has ushered in new opportunities to better understand our communities and demand accountability from our governments. SLAIS MLIS students Joshua Rose and Jonathan Kift have been invited by the UBC Irving K. Barber Learning Centre to present a talk on how organizations make sense of data, and to use data to tell compelling stories. This event will take place on Friday June 15, from 2-3 p.m. in the Lillooet Room on the 3rd floor of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre (1961 East Mall, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z1). To attend this event, please register here. For more information visit http://www.ikebarberlearningcentre.ubc.ca/telling-stories-with-data-slais-presentations.
SLAIS Supports Day of Action
The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, the iSchool at The University of British Columbia, offers its full support to the Library and Archives and Federal Library Day of Action planned for this Thursday, May 31. Supporters are encouraged to wear a white shirt and/or a black ribbon to express their objection to the Canadian government’s cuts to Library and Archives Canada. The School is also participating in drafting a letter of concern with the Canadian Council of Information Studies. For more information, visit:
CAUT Campaign on Library and Archives Canada: http://www.savelibraryarchives.ca/
Canadian Council on Archives: http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/action2012.html
Canadian Library Association statement: http://www.cla.ca/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.
cfm&CONTENTID=12946
Alumna’s Novel Wins B.C. Book Award
The children’s novel Black Dog, Dream Dog by MACL alumna Michelle Superle has been selected as the 2012 Chocolate Lily Award winner in the chapter book category. Black Dog, Dream Dog, published in 2010 by Tradewind, is a children's novel for readers age 8-12. The interconnected storyline follows 11-year-old Sam as she tries to find a home for the lost dog that mysteriously appears in her yard one day and the elderly Stella Sylvan as she recovers from a stroke. The Chocolate Lily Award honours the best in British Columbia literatur for children. Details of the award announcement may be found at http://chocolatelilyawards.com/ (scroll down to see the list of winners).
Michelle, who completed a Ph.D. in literature at Newcastle University following the completion of her Master of Arts in Children’s Literature at UBC, is also the author of Contemporary, English-language Indian Children's Literature (Routledge, April 2011) which examines the ways Indian children's writers have represented childhood in relation to nation, cultural identity, and girlhood. From a framework of postcolonial and feminist theories, children's novels published in India are compared with those from the United Kingdom and North America, considering the differing ideologies and the current textual constructions of childhood at play in each. More information on both titles is found at her website, www.michellesuperle.com.
Degrees Conferred on 70 Graduates
The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, The iSchool at The University of British Columbia, is pleased to congratulate 70 graduates being conferred their degrees as part of the 2012 Spring Congregation Ceremonies.
Degrees are being conferred on 48 Master of Library and Information Studies graduates, 7 Master of Archival Studies graduates, 12 graduates of the Dual Master of Archival Studies / Master of Library and Information Studies program, two Master of Arts in Children’s Literature graduates, and one graduate of the Doctor of Philosophy program. Convocation Day for the SLAIS graduates was Friday, May 25.
Student Published in ACA Bulletin
Dual MAS/MLIS student Valérie Léveillé has published an article in the Spring 2012 edition of the Association of Canadian Archivists’ Bulletin. The article, “Controversy and Consequences of Bill C-19: An Act to Amend the Criminal Code and the Firearms Act,” was based on a paper she wrote for Dr. Victoria Lemieux in ARST 516 Management of Current Records. The article examines Clause 29 of the Bill and provides an analysis of the impact the law will have on archives and recordkeeping.
Visiting Student Wins Grad School Medal
Jill Palzkill Woelfer, a Fulbright Canada Scholar who has chosen to spend her research year at the UBC iSchool, has been selected for the prestigious Graduate School Medal at the University of Washington, where she is working on her Ph.D. Only one student is selected each year for this award, which recognizes "Ph.D. candidates whose academic expertise and social awareness are integrated in a way that demonstrates an exemplary commitment to the University and its larger community." Jill's research for her dissertation examines homeless young people's use and access to technology, and the restrictions imposed by agencies in teens' lives. She is in Vancouver collecting data on homeless youth here, examining factors related to technology use, risk-taking behaviours, mental health, and music preferences.
For more information, see the article at the University of Washington iSchool site at http://ischool.uw.edu/feature/jill-woelfer-awarded-graduate-school-medal.
Ninety Attend UBC Children's LIterature Conference
MACL and MLIS students and alumni --along with graduate students in LLED, Creative Writing and English -- organized and presented papers at Stranger in a Strange Land: Exploring Texts and Media for Young People Across Cultures and Continents, the 2012 Graduate Research Conference on Children’s Literature and Media, held April 28 at UBC Barber Learning Centre.
The all-day conference, which attracted over 90 participants from across Canada, the U.S., the U.K., and France, was co-chaired by MACL students Rob Bittner and Stacey Matson and MLIS student Rachel Balko. The conference organizing committee included MACL students and alumni, Saeyong Kim, Lara LeMoal, Phoebe Li, Laura Quintana Crelis, Kathie Shoemaker and MLIS students Anita Chan, Katie Kinsley, Alice McGougan, Megan Sorenson, and Justin Unrau, as well as representatives from other departments.
Papers were presented by MLIS students and alumni Rachel Balko, Kate Conerton, Eleanor Crumblehulme, Devon Greyson, Katie Kinsley, Lindsey Krabbenhoft, Julia McKnight, Megan Sorenson, Justin Unrau, and Rachel Yaroshuk, and MACL students and alumni Rob Bittner, Naomi Hamer, Phoebe Li, Stacey Matson, Cynthia Nugent, Karen Taylor and Kay Weisman.
Papers were also presented by students from across UBC departments, nationally and internationally.
Congratulations to all involved.
Graduate Chosen for Dance Heritage Fellowship
MLIS student Jessica “Penny” Huffman, who will be conferred her degree at the May 25 convocation ceremony at UBC, has been chosen one of seven North American recipients of Dance Heritage Coalition Fellowships for 2012. The DHC’s mission is to preserve and document dance history by developing partnerships among the dance, library and scholarly communities. The DHC Fellowships in Dance Documentation and Preservation offers those recipients interested in dance history and preservation to gain experience processing dance materials in two dance library, archives or companies. As a DHC Fellow, Penny will be working with dance materials at the Museum of Performance & Design in San Francisco.
Student Perspectives on IFLA Meeting
SLAIS MLIS students Alice MacGougan, Samantha Mills and Ehlam Zaminpaima provided student perspectives as part of the 2012 IFLA Presidential Meeting on Indigenous Knowledges, held April 12-14 at UBC. They attended all three days of the event, listening to a variety of speakers from around the world discuss the intersection of library and information science with indigenous information and materials. The students interacted with information professionals from a variety of backgrounds and fields and were exposed to the major issues in indigenous knowledge organization, preservation, and revitalization, as well as to alternatives to mainstream thinking about information, through speeches, case studies, stories, and songs. As the volunteer Student Perspectives team, they crafted and presented a short talk to help conclude the conference, offering their perceptions of the issues surrounding the preservation and revitalization of indigenous knowledge, and of what they learned throughout the weekend. Additionally, Samantha served as a volunteer writer for the weekend, and created newsletters summarizing the two main days of the meeting. Both the talk and the newsletters were well received by the delegates in attendance. The newsletters are slated to be republished on the main IFLA website in preparation for this summer’s conference in the Hague, and will also be translated into Spanish to reach a wider section of IFLA’s membership. The Student Perspectives talk, as well as the newsletters, and other presentations by delegates, are available at http://iflaindigenousknowledges2012.ok.ubc.ca/. The students’ newsletters, presentation and other webcasts are available at http://iflaindigenousknowledges2012.ok.ubc.ca/Webcast%20and%20Publications.html
Alumnus Honoured for Distinguished Service
SLAIS alumnus Paul Whitney, recently retired as the Vancouver City Librarian, has been chose for the 2012 Gray Campbell Distinguished Service Award by the Association of Book Publishers of B.C. The award recognizes people who have made a significant contribution to the book industry in B.C. In an interview with The Vancouver Sun, Paul said he was honoured to be chosen for the award. “"It is especially rewarding when you receive this kind of recognition from outside your professional community," he said, adding, "I have always believed in the important role that books play in shaping people's lives. The award is named for pioneering publisher and founder of Gray's Publishing, Gray Campbell. The full article is available at http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Former+city+librarian+honoured+
contribution+publishing/6459883/story.html.
Dissertation Successfully Defended
The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, The iSchool at The University of British Columbia, is pleased to announce the successful defense of the Ph.D. dissertation by student Talal Al-Haji on March 26. The title of his dissertation is: Exploring the Relationship between Research in Information Retrieval and Information Seeking Behavior, 1979-2008. The defence was held March 26, and only minor revisions were required. Talal will be conferred his doctorate at the May 25 Convocation ceremony at UBC.
Ann Curry Named UBC Professor Emerita
The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, The iSchool at The University of British Columbia is pleased to announce Dr. Ann Curry has been named a UBC Professor Emerita. Dr. Curry was a faculty member at SLAIS from 1990 to 2007, and is also an alumna of the School, earning her MLS from UBC in 1980. She holds a BA and BLS from the University of Alberta, and her Ph.D. is from the University of Sheffield. Dr. Curry is renowned for her inspirational teaching, for which she received both the prestigious UBC Killam Teaching Award and the ALISE Award for Teaching Excellence in Library & Information Science. Her research focuses on censorship and intellectual freedom, as well as access to information issues associated with controversial topics and with restricted access for specific groups. She has a lengthy and successful association with the Library Association of Alberta, the British Columbia Library Association and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, where she worked to defend and promote the principles of intellectual freedom in Canada. Currently she is examining information ethics and the influence of the internet and social media on the changing nature of information access. Dr. Curry left the University of British Columbia in 2007 to take the position of Director for the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alberta. She served in that role until 2011, and is currently a Professor in the Faculty of Extension Graduate Program in Communication and Technology at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.
Student Wins Haycock Conference Award
MLIS student Nicole Brazeau has been awarded the 2012 Ken Haycock Student Conference Award by the British Columbia Library Association, in support of her attendance to the British Columbia Library Conference May 10-12. The award includes a cheque as well as full conference registration, and Nicole will provide volunteer time to the BC Library Association at the conference. Named in honour of Ken Haycock, Director of SLAIS from 1992-2002, the award is for a BCLA student member and is intended to encourage leadership and professional activity among students.
MACL Students Presenting at Conferences
Faculty and students in the Master of Arts in Children’s Literature (MACL) program are presenting papers at various conferences in the next few weeks. Student Lara LeMoal is attending the Children’s Literature Society conference May 24-27 in San Francisco, where she will present paper based on her MACL thesis, "Rendering the Visible World: A Critical Examination of Order, Internalization, Representation and Naming in a Selection of Metafictive Alphabet Books." Classmate Kay Weisman is presenting a paper at the Children’s Literature Association Conference in Boston June 14-16, one of four iSchool representatives presenting at the conference. Her paper, "Alice-Heidi, Dollegates, and Donkey Contests: The Child Audience and Horn Book," was done in conjunction with her thesis on Horn Book reviews, supervised by Judith Saltman. Also at CLA, MACL graduate Robert Bittner is presenting his paper, “‘I'm Just Human!’: Twenty-First Century Young Adult Bodies as Sites of Binary Gender Rebellion.” Faculty member Professor Judith Saltman is presenting her paper, “Reworking Canonical Poetry Texts as Picture Books: Kids Can Press Visions in Poetry Series,” and adjunct faculty member Gail Edwards, who is Chair of the History Department of Douglas College, is presenting “Erasing the Other: Aboriginality, Wilderness and the Construction of History in Canadian Children’s Print Culture.”
Video Recreates iSchool Research Day Energy
Students, faculty and guests presented posters, talks, and demos at the iSchool's 3rd annual Research Day on March 2. Working with still images of the event, student Jonathan Kift has recreated a sense of the energy and excitement of the day. Watch at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOeOqYTzlew.
iSchool at WLA Conference, Texas Grad Schools Fair
Potential applicants considering graduate studies at the iSchool are invited to attend one of the information booths the iSchool is hosting in April, in Washington and Texas. Meet a SLAIS representative and find out more about our programs, admissions, research, faculty, funding and other topics of interest. We are hosting a booth at the Washington Library Association Conference April 19-20 at the Tulalip Resort Conference Center in Tulalip WA, just north of Seattle. Show hours are 10 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 19, and 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Friday, April 20. For more information, see http://2012conference.wla.org/. The following week, UBC and the iSchool will have a booth at the 2012 Graduate Schools Fair at University of Texas at Austin. The fair is open 1-3:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 28. View the Grad Fair poster for more information at http://www.nagap.org/conferences/documents/NAGAPGradFairposter.pdf.
Students Win Conference Travel Awards
Four students are getting financial support from the iSchool@UBC to support their travel to national conferences. Jessica Flank (Dual MAS/MLIS) and Joy Rowe (MAS) have each received the SLAIS ACA Travel Award, in the amount of $250 each, to assist with travel costs. Both are attending the Association of Canadian Archivists annual conference in Whitehorse, YT; Joy is presenting a paper and Jessica is presenting a poster. Anna Babluck (MLIS) won the Student to CLA Award. This year's conference will be held May 30 -June 2 in Ottawa. The award, presented by the Canadian Library Association, provides Anna with a full conference registration and shared accommodation with another Student to CLA. She will also receive SLAIS funding to help cover her travel to Ottawa. While at the conference, she will be volunteering for the CLA as well as benefiting from the conference activities and networking opportunities. And Lara LeMoal (MACL) is attending the Children’s Literature Society Conference May 24-27in San Francisco, where she is presenting a paper.
Thesis Analyses Impact of Horn Book Reviews
MACL Candidate Kay Weisman has successfully defended her master’s thesis, titled “Shaping the Children’s Literature Canon: An Analysis of the Editorials from the Horn Book Magazine, 1924 – 2009.” Her supervisor for the thesis is SLAIS Professor Judith Saltman, and committee members were Gail Edwards, Chair of the History Department at Douglas College and Theresa Rogers, Professor with the UBC Language and Literacy Education Department and a member of the Master of Arts in Children’s Literature program committee.
Congratulations to Kay on her achievement. She will be conferred the degree of Master of Arts in Children’s Literature at the May 2012 convocation ceremony.
Faculty Members Defend Dissertations
The UBC iSchool is pleased to announce two faculty members have successfully defended their doctoral dissertations. Aaron Loehrlein has formally submitted his dissertation, entitled “Priming Effects Associated with the Hierarchical Levels of Classification Systems” to the University of Indiana Bloomington after defending in January. He will be conferred his doctorate at the Spring Commencement Ceremony in Indiana in June, and holds the rank of Assistant Professor at UBC.
Rafa Absar defended her dissertation, entitled “Enhancing Navigation using Auditory Feedback: A Case Study of a Hierarchical Information Visualization System”, at McGill University last month. She is currently making minor revisions, and expects to be conferred her doctorate at Spring Convocation at McGill in June. She holds a 12-month Lecturer position at the iSchool, for a leave replacement.
Congratulations to both Dr. Loehrlein and Dr. Absar on their achievements.
SLAIS Co-op Awards Two Students of the Year
The UBC Arts Co-op Program has chosen two SLAIS students as Co-op Students of the Year. Each year, two prizes of $1000 are awarded to SLAIS Co-op students, one to an MAS student and one to an MLIS student, for excelling in their co-op work term or terms in the preceding year. A sub-committee of our Arts Co-op Advisory Committee—composed of SLAIS employer representatives, SLAIS co-op alumni, and co-op staff—adjudicated the awards. The sub-committee members noted an impressive level of quality among the applicants, but ultimately decided on the following:
MAS Co-op Student of the Year: Dan Gillean (Dual MAS/MLIS) for his Summer 2011 work term at Records Management Operations for the Ministry of Labour, Citizens’ Services and Open Government. Read his profile at http://artscoop.ubc.ca/2012/02/02/dan-gillean/.
MLIS Co-op Student of the Year: Naomi Schemm (now an MLIS graduate) for her Winter 2011 and Summer 2011 work terms with Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada. Read her profile at http://artscoop.ubc.ca/2012/02/02/naomi-schemm/.
MAS Honourable Mention: Helen Brown (Dual MAS/MLIS) for her Summer 2011 work term at Library and Archives Canada.
Congratulations to all three for their achievements of excellence in their SLAIS Co-op work positions.
Alumna Receives ACRL Innovation Award
Dual MAS/MLIS Alumna Adrienne Lai has been chosen as one of three recipients of the 2012 ProQuest Innovation in College Librarianship Award
The award is also being presented to her North Carolina State University Library colleagues Anne Burke and Adam Rogers, as the award is to all three for their work on the NCSU Mobile Scavenger Hunt. It is awarded annually by the Association of College and Research Libraries’ College Libraries Section, honouring an American Library Association member(s) who demonstrates a capacity for innovation in their work with undergraduates, instructors, and/or the library community. ProQuest will present the $3,000 award and plaque at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 23 during the CLS program at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim. The NCSU Mobile Scavenger Hunt combines the use of the iPod Touch and the free app Evernote to create a dynamic experience for the students as they are oriented to the library and its services. Prompts lead the students to different areas of the library in order to complete tasks or to answers questions. Responses are submitted in real time via text or photographs using Evernote.
More information regarding the ACRL CLS ProQuest Innovation in College Librarianship Award, including a list of past recipients, is available at http://www.ala.org/acrl/awards/achievementawards/clsproquest.
Join Us for Research Day at the iSchool
SLAIS is joining The University of British Columbia’s Celebrate Research Week March 2-9, an engaging public showcase of events and activities that represent UBC’s strengths and diversity in research.
The iSchool is helping to kick off the week-long research showcase with its 3rd Annual Research Day this Friday, March 2. The day's theme is "Information & Power: Designers, Disseminators, and Stewards". This event is a yearly showcase of iSchool faculty and student research, as well as the work of researchers from related areas associated with the school. It is be a day of sharing ideas – as well as food and a bit of fun – and a time for reflecting about the work of designers, disseminators, and stewards of information.
Organized by iSchool assistant professors Lisa Nathan and Aaron Loehrlein, Research Day will explore how, as designers, disseminators, and stewards of information, we seek to discover and shape the relationship between power and information in individual’s lives, community institutions, and the wider world. The day begins with a keynote address by Professor Cheryl Metoyer, Associate Dean of Research at the University of Washington Information School. The title of Dr. Metoyer’s talk is "All Things Connected: Relationality in Native American Knowledge Organization." The full Research Day program includes posters, presentations, and demos featuring the work of the school's Masters and Doctoral students, faculty, adjunct instructors, and professional colleagues. See the full schedule at http://sipstudio.ca/researchday2012/index.php/slais/2012/schedConf/schedule
Coffee and a light lunch will be served. Please RSVP to slais.reception@ubc.ca.
‘Green Washing’ Poster Wins at iConference
Congratulations to UBC iSchool Assistant Professor Eric Meyers and MACL graduate Robert Bittner, whose poster presentation “Green Washing the Digital Playground: How Virtual Worlds Support Ecological Intelligence...or Do They?” was one of five chosen for a Best Poster Award at the recent 2012 iConference in Toronto. The iConference is an annual gathering presented by the iSchools organization, a worldwide collective of 33 Information Schools dedicated to advancing the information field, and preparing students to meet the information challenges of the 21st Century.
UBC iSchool Storms iConference
SLAIS, The iSchool at UBC is making a big entrance at iConference 2012, the first iConference held since UBC joined the iSchools Consortium in March 2011. This year’s conference, “Culture – Design – Society,” is February 7-10 in Toronto, and a total of 19 faculty, students and others from the UBC iSchool are attending, with more than a dozen of these presenting.
Faculty presenting papers, posters and workshops are Luanne Freund, Rick Kopak, Aaron Loehrlein, Eric Meyers, Lisa Nathan, Edie Rasmussen and Judith Saltman. Adjunct faculty member Gail Edwards, chair of the history department at Douglas College, post-doctoral fellow Michael Huggett, and MACL graduate Robert Bittner are also presenting.
Students Danielle LaFrance (MLIS), Jade Guan (MAS), Jacqueline Huck (Dual MAS/MLIS) and Schuyler Lindberg (MLIS) are also presenting. Attending but not presenting are students Justyna Berzowska (Ph.D.), Florian Ehrensperger (MLIS) and Alex Garnett (Ph.D.), and faculty members Caroline Haythornthwaite and Vicki Lemieux.
MLIS Student Chosen for ALA Conference
Sarah Fallik (MLIS) is one of 40 students chosen from American Library Association student chapters to assist ALA staff during the 2012 ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim. In exchange for working four hours a day during the conference, these students participating in the ALA Student to Staff Program receive conference registration, housing, and a per diem for meal expenses. The ALA student chapter at SLAIS, The iSchool at UBC, is one of 60 student chapters of ALA. It was formed in 2010, with Dr. Eric Meyers serving as faculty supervisor. Find out more at the association’s site, http://blogs.ubc.ca/alaplace/.
iSchool Research Work Featured
The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada has chosen to feature SLAIS faculty member Dr. Luciana Duranti's research in its spotlight on The University of British Columbia. One of three projects featured for UBC, the article notes the work involves developing guidelines "for the creation, maintenance and preservation of digital records." The article then provides a link for readers to learn more at Dr. Duranti's research page on the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council site.
