Category: Uncategorized

Your weekly links to interesting stories from the world of libraries and archives, books and publishing, and information science.

Got a hot tip? Please send it to Kate.Cushon@uregina.ca (tipsters will be credited!).

The scholarly community is becoming more and more cognizant of predatory publishing, but how libraries help scholars assess journals? The Canadian Association of research Libraries has released a collaboratively-developed guide on How To Assess a Journal (also available as a PDF) with clear guidelines for those deciding whether to use articles, or publish with a journal. (Hat-tip to Cara Bradley!)

A reflection on students and the academic library, and how to plan for the experiences of future students.

On how university teaching, a career in academia, and how failure can be the most fulfilling part of being a professor.

Libraries are spaces for cultivating literacy, and in today’s world that means multiple literacies, literacy gaps in user populations, and even “literacy literacy.”

A lecturer reflects on initial impressions of students, and what we can get wrong about students.

85-78 Photo 1 Student Asleep In Empty Lecture Hall

University of Regina Archives and Special Collections

University of Regina Photography Department

Your weekly links to interesting stories from the world of libraries and archives, books and publishing, and information science.

Got a hot tip? Please send it to Kate.Cushon@uregina.ca (tipsters will be credited!).

Mobile libraries, a.k.a. bookmobiles, have been around since at least the 1850s! Here are some rare vintage photos of early-era bookmobiles. (Hat-tip to Lisa Bayne)

The American Libraries Association has published its Top Ten Most Challenged Books of 2016.

In the post-truth era, information-sharing among post-secondary institutions is crucial.

A study of US colleges shows which ones circulated the most digital and online material as a percentage of their total circulation.

A pair of librarians has conducted research on library bathrooms (including academic libraries), their impact on user experiences, and what they say about libraries’ priorities.

Your weekly links to interesting stories from the world of libraries and archives, books and publishing, and information science.

Got a hot tip? Please send it to Kate.Cushon@uregina.ca (tipsters will be credited!).

Responses to Saskatchewan’s provincial budget cuts and their impact on public libraries continue. The Saskatchewan Libraries Association has issued an open letter to Premier Brad Wall. Letters to the editor in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix and Regina Leader Post have addressed the recent cuts and their impact. Library officials have announced that the cuts will require the closure of the province’s inter-library loan system, while Education Minister Don Morgan has requested that the program continue without offering any funding to support the program despite the budget cuts. If you are interested in getting involved or keeping up with news around this issue, consider following the Support Saskatchewan’s Public Libraries group.

How one college put information literacy into its curriculum. Integration and cooperation at all levels of instruction are key.

On the lack of women writing popular histories, despite being the primary readers thereof.

The province of Ontario is investing in digital and online learning for students.

80-2 Photo 90 French Class in Session 1945

Your weekly links to interesting stories from the world of libraries and archives, books and publishing, and information science.

Got a hot tip? Please send it to Kate.Cushon@uregina.ca (tipsters will be credited!).

The Saskatchewan Library Trustees’ Association (SLTA) has posted a number of advocacy pieces in response to provincial budget cuts to Saskatchewan’s public libraries.

Save our Libraries has launched a campaign of advocacy for Saskatchewan public libraries, which includes a number of ways to support public libraries or get involved.

Some thoughts on faculty outreach for librarians and library staff, and how it really can be like herding cats.

The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations asks: “Are books ready for the dustbin of history?”

How universities and libraries are working to increase digital literacy and combat fake news.

Your weekly links to interesting stories from the world of libraries and archives, books and publishing, and information science.

Got a hot tip? Please send it to Kate.Cushon@uregina.ca (tipsters will be credited!).

Here is a breakdown of how students are expected to write a research essay, as told from an instructor’s perspective, aimed at the librarians and library staff who might help the student in the research.

The “culture of helplessness” among students, and what it means for staff and faculty at universities.

How to use skills from an experienced salesperson during a reference encounter.

The “millennial side hustle,” and how universities are preparing students for a world in which stable employment is not always the norm. (Features the University of Regina’s UR Guarantee Program!)

Finally, for fun: the library at Grey Gardens is apparently just as eccentric as one would expect:

“In a sunroom off the living room, we discovered a trove of cloth-covered adventure and romance books tucked onto low shelves: mostly from the twenties and thirties, they had in many cases swollen to twice their size, their pages thickened with sea air and salt and decades of gin-and-tonic fumes. These books we left alone: they were less for reading than beholding as disheveled, candy-colored artifacts, and somehow they pleased me more than the others.”

80-2 Photo 77 Tower Room Lounge Regina College circa 1950

– University of Regina Archives & Special Collections