I mentioned awhile ago that I was a new member of the Re:Generations Committee within the Canadian Association of College and University Librarians. I just posted my virgin post to their Re:Generations blog, so check it out! (Is it kosher to post a post on your site that just directs to a post you posted at another site? We’re gonna say… Yes.)
Meta-post: Post about a post
October 26, 2009 · Leave a Comment
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Uncategorized
Tagged: blog, CACUL, web 2.0
York University Open Access Policy for Librarians and Archivists
October 14, 2009 · Leave a Comment
UPDATE:
Check out this very interesting article by Michael Geist in the Toronto Star today; it mentions York Libraries’ OA policy (and the relative failure of Canadian universities to hope on the bandwagon):http://www.thestar.com/news/sciencetech/technology/article/712135–law-bytes-canadian-universities-closed-minded-on-open-access
——–
Awesome news from work!
I mentioned that I’m on the Scholarly Communications committee at York Libraries and that I heart open access. Soooo I was pretty stoked that the OA policy our Committee drafted was passed unanimously by our Librarians’ Group. My homeboys John Dupuis and Bill Denton, fellow lieberrians-in-arms blogged about it too. Here’s the announcement:
From h_pampel, Flickr. Uploaded on June 7, 2009; accessed October 14, 2009.
York University Open Access Policy for Librarians and Archivists
We are proud to announce that an Open Access Policy was passed unanimously by the librarians and archivists of York University on 1 October, 2009.
Librarians and archivists at York University recognize the importance of open access to content creators and researchers in fostering new ideas, creating knowledge and ensuring that it is available as widely as possible. In keeping with our long-standing support of the Open Access movement, York librarians and archivists move to adopt a policy which would ensure our research is disseminated as widely as possible and available in perpetuity through deposit in York’s institutional repository, YorkSpace.
Policy Statement
Academic librarians and archivists at York University1 commit to making the best possible effort to publish in venues providing unrestricted public access to their works. They will endeavour to secure the right to self-archive their published materials, and will deposit these works in YorkSpace.
The York University academic librarian and archivist complement grant York University Libraries the non-exclusive right to make their scholarly publications accessible through self-archiving in the YorkSpace institutional repository subject to copyright restrictions.
Guidelines
This policy applies to all scholarly and professional work produced as a member of York University academic staff produced as of the date of the adoption of this policy. Retrospective deposit is encouraged. Co-authored works should be included with the permission of the other author(s). Examples of works include:
- Scholarly and professional articles
- Substantive presentations, including slides and text
- Books/book chapters
- Reports
- Substantive pedagogical materials such as online tutorials
Works should be deposited in YorkSpace as soon as is possible, recognizing that some publishers may impose an embargo period.
This policy is effective as of October 1, 2009 and will
be assessed a year after implementation.
Yay us! And just in time for Open Access Week!
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Uncategorized
I am teh busy.
September 17, 2009 · 4 Comments
K, I realise I have not posted on this blog since JULY. But I have a good excuse: I am so GD BUSY. Who are the jerks that spread rumors about librarians going home at 5pm? They are big liars!
ANYWAY: I have been prepping for instruction-season at York, and it’s lots of fun and students are adorable and all but it’s ALOT OF WORK. Here’s an example of a web guide I put together that will go along with a presentation I will be giving for a class in a few weeks. I earns ma pay! (See where it says, “The handout provided in class is available here.”? CLICK ON IT. My infamous clip-art skillz live on!) (Okay, I could resist including an image of the handout. I luuuuv ma handouts!)
Clip Art Awesomeness
Also, I am taking part in a few associations.
1) FIAA: Faculty of Information Alumni Association. It’s fun! I am on the social media committee (Ooooooh!). I’d like to point out that to organize the group, Kim (Elle Presidenta) created a Huddle space. From what I can tell, Huddle is a project 
management application, and the functionality is really hot. If you’re interested in an PM app, Huddle is worth checking out.
2) I am the newest blogger for the Re:Generations blog, which is a blog hosted by the Re:Generations committee — the branch of the Canadian Association of College and University Librarians that is for the lil’uns (read: New and Emerging Librarians). I’m also the New Professionals Rep (or something to that effect), so I get to like… professionalize. And such. I just had a conference call with the group, and I’m pretty stoked!
→ 4 CommentsCategories: Uncategorized
Video Killed the Radio Star.
July 27, 2009 · 1 Comment
I get to make some Adobe Captivate videos at work and it is fun! I feel like Steven Spielberg. I sit in my office with my headphones on, murmuring, “Highlight Box goes her to underscore the name of the webpage.” And people look through the doorway and think I’m doing complex technical things. I’ve switched my office chair to a director’s chair and have taken to wearing a beret. The students mock me, but I think they’re just jealous of my genius?!
→ 1 CommentCategories: Uncategorized
Tagged: academic experience, information literacy, software, web 2.0, work experience, York University
O.A., eh oh.
July 13, 2009 · 3 Comments
As I’ve mentioned before, I was Managing Editor of the Faculty of Information Quarterly at school, but in my new capacity as an academic library, I serve on the York University Libraries’ Scholarly Communications Committee. All of a sudden, instead of just complaining about the inherent evil of journal vendors, I actually have to learn about tangible issues! Ah crap!
One of the movements sweeping the world of academic publishing is the Open Access movement. I didn’t realllly get it until I attended some sessions on the topic at the CLA Annual Conference. And then had to explain it to non-librarians (the true test of knowledge).
I had to sum up my job to parents, and in doing so, found myself explaining in the simplest terms possible, the whole “Open Access” movement. I told them this:
→ 3 CommentsCategories: Uncategorized
Tagged: academic experience, Copyright, information management, open source, software, work experience, York University
FIAA Student Conference Grant (a.k.a. dolla bills, y’all)
July 10, 2009 · Leave a Comment
In the short space of one week, my alumni association forked over a cool grand to me so that I could attend CLA, and then for the Jubilee Award. I officially love my alumni association! I applied for the FIAA student conference grant and got $500 to support my attendance at the CLA 2009 Conference and Trade Show. Here’s my write-up about the conference grant:
“As a recent MISt graduate and new academic librarian, this experience allowed me to gain invaluable insights about the newest trends in my field, giving me a significant advantage as I attempt to establish myself as a new librarian. The CLA Conference allowed me to see myself in this new profession, and gave me guidance for where to focus my own research and programming efforts. Furthermore, presenting at the poster session was a wonderful experience. I enjoyed the exercise of seeing through a research project that involved survey-creation, collection, analysis and synthesis of the research for our presentation, and it allowed me to network with others in the field, to create key professional relationships, and learn more about the vendors and their presence in librarianship. I’m very appreciative of FIAA for providing generous financial support for what was an excellent professional opportunity.”
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Uncategorized
Tagged: awards, conferences, Faculty of Information, i-school, librarians
In case you forgot I’m so great, here’s a reminder.
June 24, 2009 · 4 Comments
So this is sort of an obnoxious post, but it makes Pa and Ma proud, so let’s live with in. I won these two award thingies this year, which are each awesome in their respective ways.
Sort-of ugly pic of me, plus Gordon Cressy, and the UofT president, David Naylor.
1) Gordon Cressy award: Student leadership, blahblahlbah. Nothing like being in a room with 200 UofT try-hards to make you question humanity.
HOWEVER: The event had tons of free Diet Coke, and I stole a bunch of cans. And Wendy Newman, my former instructor nominated me, which was very touching and thoughtful and awesome.
Also, we had a delightful convo with Gordon Cressy in the coatroom and dude is seriously charming and funny and great. So I don’t mind have a giant plaque with his name on it next to my couch.
2) Student Jubilee Award: More student leadership! Only not also given to 200 other people. Also, accompanied by a cash prize, which I’m pretty sure I managed to spend ENTIRELY on cured ham during a recent trip to Spain. Thanks to the Faculty of Information Alumni Association, for funding the award!
Slightly nicer pic of me with Kim, the FIAA representative who presented me with the award.
→ 4 CommentsCategories: Uncategorized
Tagged: awards, volunteer activities
Thoughts on educashun and learnin’ stuff.
June 12, 2009 · 4 Comments
I read a fascinating article in the New York Times several weeks ago, which I’m eager to write about – and not just to show-off the fact that I read the New York Times.
The op-ed “End of University as We Know It” is written by Mark Taylor, chairman of the religion department at Colombia University (Read it! It’s a fascinating piece). He argues that academia is broken, and has several recommendations for how to fix it. He states that the current arrangement of faculties creates divisions where there should be collaboration. Faculty encourage their graduate students to pursue research within narrow areas of work –subfields within subfields within subfields – ultimately robbing these students of an opportunity for a real stab at a teaching position upon graduation. These students are attempting to enter academia at a point when there is a glut of graduates and a diminishing number of openings, and they are completing doctoral work without a broad understanding of the field they’ve been studying, or the implications of their research beyond their own area of study (Taylor tells of attending a meeting of political scientists who had gathered to discuss why international relations theory had never considered the role of religion in society. “Given the state of the world today,” he writes, “this is a significant oversight.” Uh, yeah dude. I’d say so).
→ 4 CommentsCategories: Uncategorized
Tagged: conferences, Faculty of Information, i-school, social context
CLA! Yay yay yay! Gooooo librarians!
June 3, 2009 · Leave a Comment
I just got back from the CLA Annual Conference and Trade Show 2009 in Montreal. What a busy weekend!
The CLA Conference was held here, at the Palaise de Congress in Montreal. Colourful!
Bruce Harpham and I presented at the poster session. Our topic – near and dear to my heart – evaluated students’ perceptions of professional development opportunities at the Faculty of Information. We looked at whether students were successful in securing employment during the summer between first and second year, and whether their career aspirations changed throughout their MISt degree. It was a great experience to follow from a research problem and design, right through to synthesis and presentation of results.
"Hello, welcome to our poster! Please, take a handout!"
I went to a full roster of sessions pertaining to all sorts of cool stuff – Joseph Janes being hilarious about the future of libraries, Mount St. Vincent developing a credit-course on Information Literacy, a video-game developed to teach students about academic integrity, and how copyright is ruining everyone’s lives and destroying the whole world – delightful, fascinating topics!
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Uncategorized
Tagged: academic experience, conferences, Copyright, information literacy
I honestly thought this day might never come.
June 1, 2009 · Leave a Comment
The Housing Memory Conference Proceedings have been published! After a long, rigorous editorial process (some of which was done in the weeks after I had started work – yikes), the latest volume of the Faculty of Information Quarterly has arrived. Read the publication announcement:
We are extremely pleased to announce the third volume of the Faculty of Information Quarterly: The Housing Memory Conference Proceedings (http://fiq.ischool.utoronto.ca/index.php/fiq)!
This issue is the collection of articles submitted from presenters of the Housing Memory conference, held at the Faculty of Information during March, 2009. The event – which brought together students from across North America, and featured a keynote address from Geoffrey Bowker of Santa Clara University – was a great success, and the provocative, compelling presentations given are captured through these proceedings.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Uncategorized
