Are you passionate about social equity issues and interested in learning more about digital technology? The Library’s Isaac Olowolafe Jr. Digital Media Experience (DME) Lab is offering the DME Creators Grant to undergraduate students who want to create innovative, sustainable, and interactive digital experiences that address social equity issues.

The five successful applicants will receive grants of up to $3000, which will be distributed upon project approval and the successful completion of performance milestones. Each grant recipient will be paired with a mentor to help them articulate their project purpose/thesis, advise on project management, ensure that recipients are meeting their milestones, and work with the DME to document and evaluate project progress.

To learn more and submit an application, visit the DME website. Applications are due on March 8, 2019. If you have any questions, please email us at dme@ryerson.ca or drop by the DME Lab on the 3rd floor of the Student Learning Centre (SLC) from 10 am to 8 pm, Monday to Friday.

You’re invited to a Ryerson Library Think Tank Series event – Virtual Reality: a Powerful Technology that Enables us to Step into Lost Environments of the Ancient World

In this lecture, Dr. Simon J. Young will discuss the potential of Virtual Reality (VR) as an educational and research tool for education. VR provides us with a powerful tool to present and visualize the results of these investigations in a 360 stereoscopic immersive digital environment. This talk will explore some particular implications of these possibilities, and will feature spectacular digital reconstructions of the ancient world. There will be a chance to experience the VR at the end of the talk.

When: Friday, January 11, 2019 from 4-6PM
Where: Collaboratory, Library 3rd Floor

Refreshments provided. Please RSVP by January 10, 2019.  For more information, view the digital poster for this event.

We hope everyone is having a successful exam period – the Fall term is almost complete!

• Please clear outstanding fines and return overdue items as soon as possible to ensure access to grades over the holiday break. Head to the renewals page to see if you have overdue items or fines greater than $10. Students with fines greater than $10 will not be able to view their grades until their accounts are cleared.

• All fines can be paid to the Library at the Circulation Desk, either by cash, debit, VISA, MasterCard, American Express or with your Ryerson OneCard. The Library also accepts credit card payment by phone – please call 416-979-2149. We do not accept personal cheques.

• If you have questions or concerns about fines or overdue items, please contact the Library Circulation Desk by email at access@ryerson.ca or by phone at 416-979-5055.

• Please note that the Library will operate on reduced hours starting Saturday, December 15th. Check the Library website for all of our hours over the next two weeks.The university and the Library will be closed from Sat Dec 22, 2018 – Sun January 6, 2019.

From all of us here at RULA, thank you and we wish you a safe and happy winter break!

Toronto Metropolitan University Library is embarking on an external review, and the external review team will be conducting a series of meetings with faculty, students, staff, administrators, and partners from across campus with the goal to inform the Library’s future focus and strategic priorities.  The review team will be seeking input into how the Library can continue to evolve and provide leadership to advance student engagement and success, SRC innovation and impact, and help build an vibrant digital academic ecosystem focused on exceptional learning and teaching and city building.

Your insight, perspective, advice, and feedback is greatly appreciated and is be invaluable to our work. Thank you in advance for taking the time to share your ideas and thoughts.

The faculty / instructor meeting will be held on Thursday December 13 2018 – 10:15 am – 11:15 am in LIB-386C (Library, 3rd floor)

The undergraduate student meeting will be held on Thursday, December 13, 2018 – 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm room LIB386C.  

The graduate and Chang School student meeting will be held on Friday December 14th – 12:15 pm to 1:15 pm in room LIB386C 

We know it is a busy time of year, but your thoughts and ideas are critical in shaping the Library’s future direction and priorities. We look forward to your participation in the review process.

Faculty members, graduate students and staff are invited to register for a workshop where they will receive an overview of ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID), as well as hands-on assistance in setting up and populating an account.

ORCID is an open, non-profit, community-driven effort to create and maintain a registry of unique researcher identifiers and link research activities and outputs to these identifiers. Many publishers and funding agencies now require or encourage authors to create an ORCID account.

In order for scholarly work to be found in a global network of researchers, it is essential to differentiate authors. ORCID makes this easy by attaching an unambiguous identity to publications, funding and other research activities. As researchers collaborate across disciplines, institutions, and geographic borders, having a unique author or researcher ID ensures credit for your scholarly output.  Please see this video for more information about ORCID.

Workshop dates and location (Please RSVP for the workshop you plan on attending):

If you are not able to attend these sessions and would like to schedule a one-to-one appointment, please contact Brian Cameron at bcameron@ryerson.ca or Naomi Eichenlaub at neichenl@ryerson.ca.

A public digitization event on Saturday, November 17th from 1-4 p.m. on the Library’s 4th floor to preserve Toronto hip hop cultural artifacts and discuss data justice & digital culture. We will be working towards capturing Toronto’s analogue hip hop history and preserving many items such as copies of the Fantastic Voyage Show, street magazines like Word, and flyers from events. Come thru and get your VHS transferred, cassettes digitized and flyers/photos preserved. 

We’ll have digitizing stations available, with the assistance from Toronto Metropolitan University librarians and library staff, including two stations dedicated to audio cassettes, two stations with scanners and two stations with VHS players. Librarians will also be educating the community on the need to digitize and preserve content because all tape-based formats created in the 20th century are becoming obsolete.

LCD panels we will be broadcasting the documentary 1-4, which chronicles the 1-4pm Radio time slot on CKLN where 4 critical Hip-Hop shows were broadcast. Guest speakers will include former VJ Michael Williams and a representative from the Digital Justice Lab. Register to let us know you’re coming!  All are welcome.

You’re invited to the Ryerson Library’s Think Tank Series event: Using Genocide Testimony and Technology to Counter Identity Based Hatred.

Dr. Kori Street is the Senior Director of Programs and Operations at the University of Southern California Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education.  Dr. Street will be discussing technological innovation, including natural language recognition and virtual reality, to provide multiple pathways and resources for students, educators, scholars, and communities around the world to counter identity-based hatred.

When: Wednesday, November 14, 2018 from 5PM-6:15PM
Collaboratory, Library 3rd Floor – please RSVP

You’re invited to the Ryerson Library’s Speaker Series event:  What is Stronger Than Hate? Building Empathy in an Increasingly Violent World.

Wednesday, November 14, 2018 from 11-12PM in Library 405, on the Library’s 4th floor. No RSVP required.

For close to 25 years, the USC Shoah Foundation has been collecting, preserving and making accessible human stories from survivors and witnesses of genocide and mass violence. That collection is being used in education in more than 80 countries worldwide. The institute’s research shows that localized testimony based education programs can build empathy and inspire action among youth, particularly those who may be marginalized.

Dr. Kori Street is the Senior Director of Programs and Operations at the University of Southern California Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education.  She oversees education and research programs around the world that help to understand the causes and consequences of identity-based hate and genocide and the power of the human story to counter hatred.

If you have any questions or any particular accommodation please contact Anna Tassone (atassone@ryerson.ca)

In celebration of GIS Day, the Library’s Geospatial Map and Data Centre (GMDC), in collaboration with the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies and ESRI Canada,  is hosting an event for Ryerson students, faculty, staff, and the local community to explore and celebrate GeographicInformation Systems (GIS) research and applications.

When: Wednesday November 14th, 2018 from  10am-3pm

Where: SLC 508, 5th floor of the Student Learning Centre

Presentations will include a series of academic and technical demonstrations highlighting institutional research and the following ESRI products: ESRI Insights, ArcGIS Pro, and CityEngine. The full agenda is available here.

No RSVP required, please drop-in as your schedule allows.

When: Tuesday, November 20 from 12 p.m. – 2 p.m.

Where: LIB386C, Library’s 3rd floor

We want to hear from you about your experiences buying and using textbooks and course readings. Please plan to drop in and have your say.  We’ll have pizza and refreshments.

A digital copy of the poster is also available for sharing.