Nam Jin Yoon joins TMU Libraries from Columbia Law School where he was the Head of Public Services at the Arthur W. Diamond Law Library. While at Columbia, he was also a Lecturer in Law teaching Legal Research & Writing and Advanced Legal Research Techniques. Prior to becoming a librarian, Nam Jin practiced as an associate at Latham & Watkins LLP, where he represented clients in a diverse array of commercial litigation matters and maintained an active pro bono practice with a focus on representing underserved youth.

Nam Jin holds a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School (2016), a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Washington (2019), and a BA in English from Amherst College (2012).  

As Head Law Librarian, Nam Jin will be responsible for continuing to build a robust and innovative law library branch that includes a rich collection of quality legal resources, an outstanding legal research instructional program, and student focused services customized to meet TMU’s unique law curriculum. 

Nam Jin moves into the position following John Papadopoulos’ inaugural term as Head Law Librarian. John remains at the Law Library continuing to provide legal research expertise to faculty and students. 

“I’m delighted to join TMU Libraries in its ongoing work to support the students and faculty of the Lincoln Alexander School of Law,” says Nam Jin. “I’m honored to have the opportunity to continue John’s vision of developing a unique law library dedicated to furthering the law school’s innovative curriculum.”

Nam Jin joins the Libraries’ leadership team, reporting to Mark Robertson, dean of Libraries, while also working closely with Donna Young, dean of Law, as well as the law faculty and the library team. 

“We’re thrilled to welcome Nam Jin as our new Head Law Librarian,” says Mark. “He is an exceptional librarian and promises exciting developments for the Law Library’s services, collections, and spaces.  We are all looking forward to working with him.”

Fun fact about Nam Jin: he is a freelance crossword writer for the New York Times!

 

 

The Bikram S. Dhillon and Family Medical Library will be the School of Medicine’s gateway to learning, an essential resource for study, research and collaboration.

Toronto, July 10, 2025 – Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) today announced that Bikram Dhillon, CEO of BVD Group, and his family have made a transformational donation to the TMU School of Medicine in Brampton. The school welcomed its first cohort of future physicians earlier this month with the launch of its Postgraduate Medical Education (PGME) programs.  Over 100 residents began their training in 16 newly accredited residency programs. The Dhillon family’s multi-million dollar contribution will support the establishment of the university’s new Medical Library along with two new student awards.

Recognizing that the costs of undertaking a medical education can be a challenge for many promising candidates, the Dhillon family established two new awards programs. The Bikram S. Dhillon and Family Scholarship—worth up to $50,000 each—will be awarded to five outstanding students  demonstrating commitment to health in their community. And, each year, five incoming students of high academic standing will receive the Bikram S. Dhillon and Family Award, providing $5,000 to each student toward their medical education.

TMU is proud to recognize the generosity of Bikram Dhillon and family through the naming of the Medical Library. The Bikram S. Dhillon and Family Medical Library will be the School of Medicine’s gateway to learning, an essential resource for study, research and collaboration. The Dhillon family’s generous donation to the TMU School of Medicine aligns with their notable history of giving back to the community, and their keen awareness of the need to strengthen medical education and local health care.

Learn more:

Media release : Bikram Dhillon and family make landmark gift to TMU School of Medicine

Toronto Met Today; Bikram Dhillon and family make landmark gift to TMU School of Medicine

 

The Toronto Metropolitan University Libraries is pleased to announce this year’s 2025 Open Educational Resources (OER) Grants, supporting the creation and adoption of openly licensed learning materials.

Open Educational Resources (OER) are educational materials that are free to use, adapt, reproduce, and share. These resources can take many forms, including courses, modules, textbooks, multimedia, assessments, and other supplementary content.

The OER Grants program aligns with TMU’s commitment to open education, innovation, inclusive teaching, and enhancing student learning. It builds on the Libraries’s strengths in digital scholarship, Open Access, and OER publishing and dissemination. 

The Libraries is pleased to be offering three types of OER Grant opportunities. In addition to a grant offered solely by TMU Libraries, two additional grants are being offered via a Partnership grant model, with TRSM and CELT. 

2025 Toronto Metropolitan University Libraries Open Educational Resources (OER) Grants

Offered and supported by The TMU Libraries, these Open textbook and multimedia creation grants have been offered by TMU Libraries since 2018. A total of $30,000 is available in two categories of grants. 

2025 Toronto Metropolitan University Library and Ted Rogers School Of Management OER Partnership Grant

The TMU Libraries and Ted Rogers School Of Management 2025 OER Partnership Grant  encourages the creation and adoption of open educational resources (OER) with a focus on 100-level and 200-level business courses. This grant also was offered in 2020 and 2022, and to date the projects produced have saved TMU students an estimated $1 300 000. A single $40,000 two-part grant that runs over two years will be available to the successful proposal. 

2025 Teaching with OER Grant: A partnership between TMU Libraries and the CELT

New this year TMU Libraries and the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) are pleased to announce a new joint Teaching with OER Grant to encourage the creation and adoption of open educational resources in large enrolment classes. The grant will also be supported by CELT’s Digital Learning Team (DL) which will provide pedagogical / instructional design and multimedia production services. A single $15,000 grant will be available to the successful proposal. 

The deadline for all three grants this year is September 30th, 2025. 

 

Madison Hall just completed her first year as a graduate student in TMU’s Photography Preservation and Collections Management at the Creative School. This summer, through the Young Canada Works program, she’s gaining experience researching and handling special collections at the Libraries’ Archives and Special Collections. 

The Libraries’ Special Collections are home to a growing mass of prominent photography collections that include: the student First Edition Photobook Collection; the Kodak Collection; and the Collingwood Collection–composed of photos taken in Ontario between 1940s and 1990s. The latter is especially appealing to Hall as she notes she has, “a particular interest in early-to-mid twentieth century photography.”

Her role at the Libraries’ Archives and Special Collections is not the first opportunity Hall has had to work with older materials. She previously held positions at local history museums and a municipal archive, which she credits as giving her a solid foundation in collections handling and archival research. However, this is her first time working with special collections at a library, a different environment that adds to her breadth of experience. “My current role at TMU Libraries’ Archives and Special Collections is particularly valuable in order to consider how library-based collections operate differently from other cultural/heritage institutions–especially in terms of descriptive standards, and the emphasis on serving academic as well as public audiences,” she says.

In this role, Hall is working towards an internship credit–a requirement of her graduate program–while gaining valuable experience in an area that she may one day be interested in working in. “I have aspired to become either an archivist or collections manager since my first job in a museum, and have a keen interest in how primary sources, especially photographic materials, can help shape or change our understanding of history,” says Hall. 

Not only is Hall gaining experience handling photography collections, but she is also receiving mentorship from Special Collections Librarian Alison Skyrme to whom she reports. “It’s been wonderful to work with Madison and see her put into practice the archival and photographic preservation skills she has learned in theory,” says Skyrme. “She has naturally adapted classroom concepts to the real challenges of working with an archive collection with all the attendant preservation issues. She is becoming a thoughtful steward of our visual history.”

Hall’s goal throughout the summer is to learn as much as she can about making collections accessible and engaging to the public, “while preserving the quiet legacy of vernacular photography,” she says. In working with the Collingwood Collection, she is gaining hands-on experience with rehousing, condition assessments, description, digitization, and public outreach with photos that require careful handling and contextual research. In so far as the experience relates to her studies, Hall adds “these are things that I have developed a theoretical grasp on.” Through her role at the Archives and Special Collections she is able to take that theoretical knowledge and put it into practice.

 

 

Recent Master of Professional Communication graduate, Zahra Entezami, has been teaching a peer-to-peer workshop at the Library Collaboratory. The workshop has further developed her teaching skills, while giving her the opportunity to share her research interest and knowledge on text mining. 

Entezami, who also holds an MBA, first became interested in text mining in her Creative School graduate degree when she began working as a research assistant with Professor Charles Davis—a collaboration that has shaped her research focus on bibliometrics and text mining.

Since working and taking a course with Davis, she’s co-authored a paper and has developed text mining and topic modeling approaches that offer scalable applications in both academia and industry.

While presenting on the free, open-access data mining tool Orange3 during a research meeting in her role as a research assistant, she was encouraged by Davis to develop the presentation into a workshop. 

She took the advice to heart and taught her first workshop at The Creative School’s Catalyst. Encouraged by its positive reception, she decided to look for additional opportunities to teach and share her workshop. That brought her to the TMU Library Collaboratory where her workshop was met with enthusiasm, openness, and support.

A faculty and graduate multidisciplinary research hub at TMU Libraries, the Collaboratory brings together researchers and graduate students, helping to expand their research opportunities while also providing access to cutting-edge technology. At the Collaboratory, Entezami connected with Operations Specialist Cristina Pietropaolo, who also has an extensive research background, as well as experience developing and teaching advanced peer-to-peer research based workshops. 

Soon, what had started as a passion for Entezami turned into one of her most impactful experiences at TMU. The Library Collaboratory provided more than just a space to teach. It provided a platform. Pietropaolo and the Library team helped her promote her workshop, supported her teaching ambitions, and gave her a chance to build experience as a researcher, educator, and analyst.

The opportunity also gave her access to community members from different disciplines, amplifying her workshop’s reach and connecting her to new learning and teaching collaborations.

“Thanks to the resources and welcoming environment at the Library Collaboratory, I’ve grown in ways I never anticipated. I’ve had the opportunity to share my knowledge with the community I love, expand my academic toolkit, and make complex technologies more accessible to others,” says Entezami.  

 

 

As the academic term has ended, we are reaching out to remind you to clear any outstanding library fines or return borrowed items as soon as possible.

Graduating students with library fines or borrowed items have a hold placed on their account by the Registrar. While this hold does not prevent graduation, it will delay access to key graduation documents such as your diploma and transcripts, and you will not be able to view your grades until your account is cleared.

To avoid delays:

• Visit My Library Account to check for any borrowed items or fines.
• Return borrowed materials and pay any outstanding fines promptly.

How to Pay Your Fines:

• Fines can be paid at the TMU Libraries Circulation Desk using: VISA, MasterCard, AmEx, and OneCard. Note: Personal cheques are not accepted.
• We also accept credit card payment by phone. Please call: 416-979-2149.

If you have any questions or concerns about your account, please contact the Libraries Circulation team at access@torontomu.ca.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter, and congratulations on your graduation!

 

 

 

In the Fall term of 2024, Toronto Metropolitan University Libraries launched a survey asking the TMU community to provide their feedback on what is important to them and how we are performing across four categories: communication, service delivery, facilities & equipment, and information resources.

Thank you to all who completed our survey, we very much appreciate the feedback, and congratulations to our ten winners of the $50 Best Buy gift cards: Cristen A (undergraduate student), Caitlin C (graduate student), Khadijah H (undergraduate student), Liaba M (undergraduate student), Shivani J (JD student), Onyinyechi D (graduate student), Amara L (JD student), Mya I (undergraduate student), Siam C (undergraduate student), Sarah B (faculty).

Since receiving the survey results, we have been analyzing the data including comments received. Below is an overview of the key findings and how we are responding.

Where We are Performing Well

The TMU community identified many  areas where the Libraries are performing well, here are the top five:  

• Wireless access
• Off-campus access to Library resources and services
• Library hours of operation
• Users feel comfortable asking for help in the Library
• The Library provides a safe environment

Further, faculty rated the Library’s Course Reserves service (eReserves and Print Reserves) very highly — demonstrating that our investment in this service translates into excellence for faculty teaching and student learning support. 

Top Priorities for Improvement

Students’ top two priorities for the Libraries demonstrate clear opportunities to provide more and quieter study spaces in addition to more spaces for group study and collaborative work. These are:

• Finding a quiet place in the Library to study
• Finding a place in the Library to work in a group

Other Areas for Improvement 

The survey results identified a few other areas where the Libraries can make improvements:

• Faculty, contract lecturers, and PhD students: Information resources (e.g. books, articles, databases, streaming media, datasets) that meet teaching, learning and/or research needs
• Faculty and contract lecturers: The Library search box
• Cleanliness and maintenance of the Library

How We are Responding

In certain cases, the survey results confirmed our current course of action, as areas needing improvement had already been targeted for enhancement prior to receiving the survey results:

• Quiet study in the Main and Law Libraries: Survey data reinforced anecdotal and staff observations about elevated noise levels in our library spaces. Through their survey participation, students demonstrated a clear need for more quiet space that is better enforced. Improvements such as clearer signage, furniture layouts supporting more options for individual and quiet study, installation of sound masking systems, and collaboration between library staff and key stakeholders, have been undertaken to support students and ensure quieter study environments in the Libraries. In addition, changes to the Law Library have been implemented to ensure a quiet study environment for Law students. 
• Collections and information resources: we continue to work with University Administration on budget planning for Library acquisitions, with the goal of ensuring sustainability. Despite budget cuts and inflationary pressures, our Collection Services team continuously works to enable access to information resources of all types that our community needs to be successful.
• Library search box: In June 2024, the TMU Libraries migrated to the Omni platform that is shared by most universities in Ontario. This shared catalogue has significantly enhanced access to over 25 million physical books across 19 Ontario university libraries. With this enhancement comes a learning curve with using the new Omni academic search tool. TMU Librarians are dedicated to teaching students, faculty, contract lecturers, and other members of our community on how to use Omni through workshops and other research help services. Learn how to use Omni here or feel free to reach out to your subject librarian.

Further Action

For certain areas of concern, further investigation and exploration are needed to identify and develop successful solutions. For example, TMU Libraries has embarked on a new strategic planning process; additionally, we identify annual assessment projects that represent the needs of the TMU community. Going forward, the survey results will help us prioritize projects and implement solutions that will improve the overall experience for all members of our community. We will be sharing these projects and outcomes with the TMU community as we move forward.

We are thankful for the survey feedback and we look forward to making enhancements to improve the research, learning, and teaching experience of our users in order to ensure the overall success of the TMU community. We are grateful for the messages of support from our users:

“I have only taught here for 3 terms so far, but I have reached out to librarians to help me teach and give presentations to students each term since I figured out what a fantastic resource they are and what the students have access to for their research. I wish that every first year class in every school could get such a presentation. I have had 3rd year students ask me why did they not learn about this at the beginning of their studies as they could have saved themselves a lot of struggle. I love our librarians!”

“Excellent resource. I would never have been able to get through my graduate work without the library at TMU”

“Our library staff is wonderful – kudos for professionalism and being supportive”

“Honestly, for me, the Library is at the best it could be. Thank you for all the helpful resources readily available!”

For any questions or comments about the survey results and how we are responding, please feel free to contact Nazia Sheikh, Assessment Librarian (n3sheikh@torontomu.ca).

 

 

 

As the Winter term wraps up, please ensure any outstanding fines are paid and overdue items are returned. Students with fines of more than $25 will not be able to view their grades until their account is cleared.

You can pay fines at the Circulation Desk (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or OneCard) or by phone at 416-979-2149. We do not accept personal cheques.

For questions, contact us at Libraries Circulation access@torontomu.ca

Good luck with your exams!

 

Toronto Metropolitan University Libraries has received a $140,000 gift from Ryerson Centre, a charitable foundation operating within the Toronto Metropolitan University Community since 1953, to support the preservation and cataloguing of archival materials related to the Centre, campus student groups, and university community organizations.

“For 70 years, our organization has been dedicated to fostering activities that support students, staff, faculty, alumni, and the broader community—both on and off campus,” said Michael Walton, Urban and Regional Planning alumnus, Ryerson Centre president, and 1971-72 students’ union president. “This gift ensures that our rich history and contributions will be preserved for future generations.”

The aim of the donation is to preserve past records of the university’s student governing bodies, groups and communities, and to demonstrate the importance of continuing to archive student organizational activities and records to maintain legacies, voices, and narratives on an ongoing basis.

“This generous donation not only provides welcome support for the university’s archives, but it also allows us to acknowledge the significant legacy of Ryerson Centre,” says Joanna Beyersbergen, director of development, TMU Libraries. “This organization has played a vital role in the evolution of the university and its student body. TMU Libraries is pleased to help tell this story.”

The gift specifically supports three areas. Firstly, it provides the Archives with designated funding to create a one-year project archivist position focused on organizing uncatalogued or under-catalogued archives of the Centre, campus community organizations, and students’ unions and groups. 

Campus community partnership positions will also be developed giving students opportunities to work with the Archives and project archivist to further build relationships with present campus community organizations, and student unions and groups, encouraging them to contribute their records and narratives to the Archives.

Lastly, the donation will support an annual award for a student research paper. The paper will centre around the use of archival research on a topic related to the University’s campus community organizations, student unions and groups. The award will be given out each year, over a five year period.

The final papers will become part of the Archives’s outreach activities to educate campus communities and students about the importance and value of archiving records to preserve legacies.

The generous donation provides an opportunity to acknowledge archival gaps related to campus community organizations, student unions and groups, and to take vital steps to remedy those gaps. “The Ryerson Centre donation will allow the Archives to enhance access to our collections, raise awareness about the importance of the archives, and help us preserve and amplify underrepresented voices in archives such as student voices,”  says Tanis Franco, archivist, Archives and Special Collections, TMU Libraries. “This interesting and colourful history will no doubt be a source of research for years to come,”

Throughout the project, the Archives will conduct workshops and seminars using the Archives for research and storytelling. “One area of interest we often get asked about is on student history and activism on campus,” notes Franco. “The Ryerson Centre material will no doubt illuminate this history and provide us with ample opportunities for research and archival workshop activities.” 

The underlying goal for this donation and collection is to build and maintain relationships among university community organizations, student groups and the Archives, and to continue growing archival collections related to these entities that provide students and faculty access to their important history.

–
Learn more about the Archives and Special Collections, and search through archival collections.

 

 

TMU Libraries is reaching out to encourage faculty, researchers and graduate students to create an ORCID account or affiliate a current account with the university.

Why the push? While accounts reflect the depth of research conducted at TMU, ORCID iDs are increasingly required by funding agencies. Plus, they help your research get noticed!

Q & A with Research Impact Librarian, Toby Malone

 

What is ORCID?

An ORCID iD is a unique identifier that distinguishes you and your work from other researchers. It allows researchers, faculty and graduate students to highlight and control access to their data, research, grants and collaborations.

Why create or affiliate an ORCID account with TMU?

ORCID is becoming the industry standard for profiling academic research. It allows researchers to list their affiliations, publications, and grants. Many funding agencies are starting to require ORCID iDs be included in grant applications. In Europe this has long been a standard.

At the Libraries, we are working hard to ensure TMU researchers are properly affiliated with the university so we can celebrate their achievements and research impact–an ORCID profile makes this much easier.

ORCID is excellent for distinguishing researchers with similar names and ensuring everyone is easily identified in the academic community.

The Libraries have also incorporated ORCID’s Affiliation Manager tool, making it seamless for established accounts to connect with TMU. The ease of using this tool has resulted in a 75% affiliation rate on campus–an increase from 25% in 2024!

How does having an account connected to TMU help a researcher, faculty member, grad student?

A major factor in every researcher’s career lies in Knowledge Mobilisation, or the way a researcher’s work is published, read, shared, and cited. ORCID provides an official platform to showcase research with an institutional affiliation that reassures readers as to their veracity.

An ORCID profile travels with you, through changes in positions, institutions, and names, and is a persistent identifier, which differentiates you in a crowded academic landscape.

Does it help with funding, tenure, professional advancement, and research collaborations?

Being able to showcase academic work in a centralised location is crucial to the visibility of an academic profile. Visibility leads to greater success in discovering future opportunities, or having opportunities find you.

The stronger a faculty member’s academic profile, the stronger their influence.

Do ORCID profile affiliations help the University?

ORCID profile uptake is a notable tenet in TMU’s ongoing effort to improve in the world university rankings. The greater the ORCID uptake, the stronger the faculty group presents to the wider academic community, which has a generative effect for future collaborations, presentations, and publications. Our goal is to achieve full uptake of ORCID across campus.

Are ORCID accounts required?

It is not required, but it is strongly recommended as a means of showcasing faculty work and by extension the university’s productivity.

If there are concerns about time management, TMU Librarians are available to work with faculty members to set up and automate their accounts.

Do (or, will) ORCID accounts help generate national, international attention for research?

The universality of ORCID in most academic communities means that this has become an expected standard when it comes to applications, presentations, and granting processes. As such, ORCID is becoming an increasingly important forum for showcasing academic excellence, and absence from that environment risks missing major opportunities. Having a robust, complete, and exhaustive ORCID account ensures our faculty members are presenting themselves in as strong a fashion as possible, as we look to build on collaborations and other international opportunities.

 

For more information on ORCID iDs and to sign up, visit the Libraries’ ORCID research guide.
Fill out the addition request form for the Affiliation Manager.