The Archer Library is the perfect spot to study for your final exams, and to have a creative study break in the Archer Alcove. Visit the Archer Alcove (just past the main floor elevators) to find various library bookmarks which are available to colour.
Once you’ve done that, enter to win one of three library goody bags! Just upload your coloured library bookmark by Tuesday April 9, 2024 (before midnight). Three lucky winners will be notified by email on April 10th, 2024.
There will also be a “Spring Into Books” display in the area outside the Pasqua room (LY 107.1) to mark the end of the cold weather (which will hopefully happen any day now.)
Our Honours Project students in History had some fun field trips recently. Mariko Sawa (image 1) is seen consulting with a framer for an exhibit of Herbarium specimens that she is working on. Christina MacKinnon (image 2) is with a display she put together for a recent Faculty of Media, Art and Production Studies event. Hurray for experiential learning!
Ramadan, which runs from March 10th to April 9th this year, is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (sawm), prayer, reflection and community. A commemoration of Muhammad’s first revelation, the annual observance of Ramadan is regarded as one of the Five Pillars of Islam and lasts from one sighting of the crescent moon to the next.
Pictured are some relevant film titles from our online collection to watch during Ramadan. To find these movies, go to our home page and do a Quick Find search for the titles. Follow the links to the streaming content, and be sure to have your university username and password handy.
The 70-thousand plant specimens collected by the late University of Regina biology professor George F. Ledingham are getting a new lease on life in a student exhibit at the Archer Library that blends art with science. Listen below to a clip from today’s Morning Edition on CBC Radio to hear host Stefani Langenegger in conversation with Dr. Mel Hart (Associate Dean, Faculty of Science), professor Risa Horowitz (Faculty of MAP) and university student Elizabeth Dow.
One Book One Province is a province-wide program that launched in 2017. It aims to increase literacy and create a reading culture by providing opportunities for residents to become more socially engaged in their community through a shared story. One Book One Province encourages Saskatchewan’s social, economic and cultural development while supporting libraries and collaboration.
The 2024 One Book One Province title is Miss G and Me by Jennifer S. Wallace, a French immersion teacher, judo sensei, writer, artist, and author from Saskatoon, Treaty 6 Territory.
Wallace will visit the Archer Library, Monday, April 8th, 2024, from 2 – 4 PM, for a hybrid Meet-the-Author event. Books will be available for sale and signing by the author.
The Archer Library is honored to be part of the 2024 “One Book One Province, Saskatchewan” program organized by the Saskatchewan Library Association. This year’s book selection is Jennifer S. Wallace’s “Miss G and Me,” a daughter’s memoir of her mother in anecdotes, journal entries, poetry, and personal essays.
The Archer Library Anti-Oppression Book Club (AOBC) will meet via Zoom to discuss the book on March 14th and March 28th, 2024. You are welcome to join the conversation, whether you’ve started or finished reading the book.
“Goodbye, Old Country – Count Esterhazy and Hungarian Immigration,” Feb. 29th to March 8, 2024. The Corner Gallery, Riddell Centre room 233, University of Regina.
Dive into the enigmatic world of Count Esterhazy, an immigration agent who brought Hungarians to settle in Saskatchewan. This exhibition unveils their early immigration history while revealing the scandals and questions about Esterhazy’s aristocratic origins.
Join us at the Archer Library March 6th, 1:30 – 3 pm, for “New Light on the Mystery of Count Esterhazy,” presented by speaker William Smith. A curatorial talk with MFA Candidate Robyn Jensen will follow at 4 pm at The Corner Gallery, RC 233, at 4 pm.
Recently, I was on vacation where I listened to the excellent podcast “If Books Could Kill,” specifically their episode on the book The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker. The book, published in 2011, explores why violence has decreased worldwide over time and posits reasons for why the decline has occurred. The book suggests that violence decreased as humans (although his work focuses primarily on Western Europe and western/colonial worldview in North America) became more empathetic through exposure to education, democracy, wealth, and social norms. The podcast discusses valid critiques of the book and most importantly discusses why it is difficult to discuss how and why societies change. It’s worth a listen.
Looking beyond the book, what stuck with me is the general messiness of trying to determine historical cause and effect. In short, explaining past historical change is incredibly difficult because we cannot clearly explain causation, as there are often multiple factors and variables that influence the change. As well, there are also numerous correlations and it’s difficult to determine how much influence the correlation had on the historical change.
A quick review. When we consider causation, we are looking at the relationship between cause and effect and trying to identify how variables influence outcomes. Through experimentation, we can determine causation by isolating a specific variable and measuring the effect on another variable. If we have too many variables, we can’t determine causation because we don’t know which variable is causing the outcome and the strength of the variable. So, instead we have correlations, which measure the relationships between two variables. We can’t determine cause and effect, but we can determine the strength of the relationship between the two variables. There’s a lot of experimentation and data analysis required to determine causation and there’s specific formulas to measure correlations.
But, here’s the thing, humans are hardwired to identify patterns, are superstitious, have loads of biases and worldviews influencing our thoughts, and generally like simple explanations for complex issues, so it’s easy for us to think two variables are in a causal relationship when they are, in fact, a correlation. The other issue is properly studying a large cultural trend often requires time and distance from the trend to properly get the scope of factors. As more time goes by there’s potential data loss, we need to consider the data collection methods (the eternal question of “Who is being counted and why?”), and determine potential biases.
So with that in mind, let’s look at one of the example from recent history: the Crime Drop of the 1990s. The U.S., Canada, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand all reported large drops in violent crimes throughout the 1990s. I’m going to cherry pick my three favourite theories for the Crime Drop and in Part 2 of this post, we’ll look at why these theories are an appealing explanation, but also why they don’t work as stand alone theories. If you’d like detailed resources on all the theories, check out these articles (these are focused primarily on the American crime drop):
Graham Farrell, Nick Tilley, and Andromachi Tseloni, Why the Crime Drop?, University of Chicago Press
Theories to be discussed in Part 2:
The Lead Reduction Theory – Starting in the 1970s, more efforts were made to reduce the amount of lead in gasoline, paint, and water pipes. Lead exposure is pretty dangerous to humans (here’s a great video from YouTuber Veritasium on the dangers of lead exposure) and is known to cause cognitive decline and increase aggressive behaviour. The reduction of lead exposure in children born after 1975 (said children hitting the peak age for criminal behaviour in the 1990s) would mean they had better cognitive function wouldn’t have wanted to commit crimes.
The Abortion Theory – In 2004, Steven D. Levitt (author of Freakonomics) proposed that access to legal abortions in the 1970s in the US meant that less unwanted children were born and less children were exposed to neglect, abuse, or poor environments; therefore, less children would be exposed to environments and conditions that correlate with criminality.
The Technology is Keeping Us Inside Theory – New technologies including televisions, gaming consoles, cell phones, and the internet mean more people are staying inside for entertainment purposes; therefore, creating less potential victims and offenders on the street.
Congratulations to the 2024 “Blind Date with a Book” Contest winners: Maitri Shah, Irene Zadnik and (pictured here) Jessica Singh.
A total of 83 individuals borrowed 123 “Blind Dates.” Contest participants rated their date for a chance to win the prize pack donated by the University of Regina Press and the poetry book “Earth Skin” by Peace Akintade.
Thank you Peace Akintade for sharing the power of your poetry!
Last Thursday, February 22nd, the African-Canadian poet, public speaker and playwright Peace Akintade-Oluwagbeye presented an author talk at the Archer Library. She read from her book Earth Skin, a poetry collection about the joys and woes of human connection, as well as spoke with Archer Library Librarian Mary Chipanshi.
Akintade’s talk was presented as part of Black History Month 2024.
