181 comic books published during the 1940s serve as a trove of research possibilities
Olivia Wong, Special Collections curatorial specialist, takes us through the comics. Photo credit: Photos by Ryan Walker.
Everyone knows Batman, Superman and Spider-Man, but thanks to a generous anonymous donation, TMU students and researchers can get a glimpse of Canada’s own comic book history and heroes.
In February 2015, TMU received a donation of 181 rare Canadian comic books from the Second World War, featuring such legends of Canadian pop culture as Nelvana of the Northern Lights and Canada Jack.
“It’s the holy grail of Canadian comics,” says TMU Professor Andrew O’Malley, who has used the collection for his own research, including his project “Comic Books, Children’s Culture and the Crisis of Innocence, 1940-1954.” Classes in the English department have also used the collection for curations.
As Toronto Metropolitan University’s Chief Librarian, Mark Robertson will support students, programs and initiatives as well as scholarly, research and creative activities, and the continued development of undergraduate and graduate programs.
Accomplished leader joins TMU from Brock University
From the Interim Provost and Vice-President, Academic
I am very pleased to announce the appointment of Mark Robertson as Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU)’s chief librarian effective July 1, 2023.
With more than 24 years of experience working in academic libraries, Mark joins us from Brock University where he has been university librarian since 2016. As a member of Brock’s senior administrative council, Mark developed a new strategic plan and master space plan for the library, saw the opening of a new makerspace and provided leadership for the establishment of an open access policy. Further, his work to strengthen the library acquisitions budget resulted in a significant rise in the library’s performance in the Maclean’s Magazine rankings of comprehensive universities in Canada.
Prior to Brock, Mark spent 17 years at York University, including eight years as associate university librarian for information services.
“Over the years I have had opportunities to collaborate with such talented people at the TMU libraries,” said Robertson. “I have always been struck by the spirit of creativity and innovation. I am excited and honoured to be joining as chief librarian.”
In his new role Mark will work collaboratively with more than 100 internal library staff as well as academic units across the university and the external community to facilitate new opportunities for innovation and excellence in library services. His portfolio will support a growing academic community and provide crucial academic learning, creation and research resources, programs, services and spaces to the university.
“While I’ll be new at the university,” he said, “in many ways coming to TMU brings my career full circle. My first professional job was only blocks from the campus, and I’ve always felt deeply invested in Toronto. It’s exciting to me the way that the university has carved a unique niche for itself in its mix of academic programs, commitment to innovation, social justice, and for its role in city-building. I am thrilled to be joining the TMU team.”
An active member of the board of directors for the Canadian Research Knowledge Network, Mark also chairs the Canadian Association of Research Libraries Impact Framework Working Group and is a longtime member of the Ontario Council of University Libraries and Canadian Association of Research Libraries directors.
Mark earned his bachelor of arts from the University of Toronto, followed by a master of arts in philosophy from McMaster University, and a master of information studies from the University of Toronto. He attended the Harvard Leadership Institute for Academic Librarians in 2009 before participating in the prestigious Association of Research Libraries Leadership Fellows Program.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dana Thomas, whose leadership as interim chief librarian has contributed greatly to our community.
Thank you to all committee members for their significant contributions to this successful search:
Kelly Kimberley
Acting Associate Chief Librarian, Teaching and Learning
Richard Lachman
Associate Professor, The Creative School; Director, Zone Learning; Research Development; Experiential Media Institute
Raquel Lashley
Student, Master of Nursing
Lisa Levesque
Assessment Librarian, Law Library
Rosalynn Mackenzie
Archival Technician
Jen McMillen
Vice-Provost, Students
Jason Nolan
Associate Professor, Early Childhood Studies
Nazia Sheikh
Business Liaison Librarian
Fangmin Wang
Computer and Data Science Liaison Librarian
Please join me in welcoming Mark to TMU and offering best wishes in his new role.
Roberta Iannacito-Provenzano
Interim Provost and Vice-President, Academic
This year, TMU Libraries, Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, and the Chang School are celebrating Open Education (OE) Week, March 6-10, 2023, by highlighting work being done at the university in support of open education.
Join us for a series of OE week events. Hear from faculty who have developed open textbooks and course materials, explore the latest open educational resources in your discipline, and learn more about how to create new and innovative open teaching materials that can improve students’ educational experience.
OE Week events at the Library
Open Education Resources (OER) and treats
Date: March 7 Time: 1 p.m. – 2 p.m.
Students are welcome to drop by the OE Week Table (main floor of the Library) to grab a treat and learn more about Open Education Resources, including free textbooks and teaching resources that are high quality and can save students money.
Discover open educational resources (OER) to use in teaching. Learn how to search for the latest open educational resources in specific disciplines, and contribute to the online book of OER related to TMU curriculum:Now Is The Time For Open Educational Resources.
This panel discussion, moderated by Sean Kheraj, Vice-Provost Academic, brings together open champions from around TMU to share their experiences developing or supporting open educational resources (OER).
Moderator:
Sean Kheraj, Vice-Provost Academic
Panelists:
Cynthia Holmes, Associate Dean, Faculty & Academic, Ted Rogers School of Management
Nadia Prendergast, Assistant Professor, Daphne Cockwell School of Nursing
Megan Omstead, Graduate Program Coordinator, School of Nutrition
The Chang School’s Virtual Lunch & Learn: Let’s Talk OER!
Date: March 7 Time: 12 p.m. – 1 p.m.
The Chang School’s Teaching & Learning Committee and Open Education at TMU team invites you to a virtual Lunch & Learn on Tuesday, March 7 at 12:00 p.m. During this hour-long session, hear from panelists who were awarded The Chang School’s Open Education Resource (OER) Grants. These grants support creation and/or adaptation of Open Textbooks and Open Educational Resources in collaboration with students and colleagues across disciplines. The panel will share their experiences in actively creating OER, as well as their perspectives on using OER in their teaching. Please RSVP.
International Love Data Week is a global event held annually in February to raise awareness of the importance of research data management, sharing and reuse.
This year’s theme is Data: Agent of Change – a prompt to think about how data can be used to bring about positive impact and change.
Toronto Metropolitan University Libraries is hosting the following workshops during Love Data Week 2023:
Exposing the complex history of data collection and the Census of Canada
Looking for data to support research on racialized people and Indigenous groups in Canada? It might be worth a long scroll through the history of the Census of Canada–its origins, practices, terminology and evolution as it defines, in part, how we view and explain Canada.
Data Librarian Kevin Manuel, with co-authors Data Services Coordinator Alexandra Cooper, Queens University Library, and Data Services Librarian Rosa Orlandini, York University Libraries, recently had their 2022 research article “Who is counted? Ethno-racial and indigenous identities in the Census of Canada, 1871-2021” published in the open access journal International Association for Social Science Information Service and Technology (IASSIST) Quarterly’s special issue on Systemic Racism in Data Practices.
Outlining obstacles researchers face when looking at datasets, the authors review the Census’s modifications to terminology and the ways in which it has asked entho-racial origin questions, noting that “the collection of racial, ethnic, or Indigenous data has changed throughout the years and from Census to Census.”
Since 1871, the Census has been used to collect socio-demographic data, and as a tool to understand where, how and who lives in Canada. Information collected is used to help direct funding for resources and inform policy. However, who is included and how, has significantly impacted the snapshot(s) of Canada, and has created obstacles for researchers working on understanding Indigenous and racialized groups, and their experiences.
Going back to the beginning, Manuel et al., examine when and how Indigenous and entho-racial identities started to be included, and how. In 1911, the Census began collecting information on new settlers, but excluded racialized and Indigenous groups. As it evolved, data collection expanded to include ethno-racial groups and with it changes to terminology and questions. Terms, at different times, included: place of origin, racial origin, ethnic origin, ethnic or cultural group, but distinctions between these terms has not been clearly defined. While expanding, confusion regarding what that meant, remains.
For researchers looking to the Census for data specifically on Indigenous groups, understanding its history is equally important. It wasn’t until 1986 that questions related to Indigenous identities were asked separately from racial and ethnic origin questions. Previous to 1986, questions regarding Indigenous identity appeared under ‘origin’ as ‘Indian.’ A term in which immigrants from India would have also related.
Further confusing datasets, the Census required Indigenous peoples to follow ancestral lineage, but how varied from year to year. For example, in 1941 and 1951 respondents could mark ‘Indian’ or ‘Eskimo’ based on their father’s origin. Other years, ‘origin’ was based on maternal ancestry.
It is important to note that today Métis, Inuit and First Nations are recognized as Indigenous peoples.
As a data librarian, Manuel is all too familiar with the complexities and systemic racism present in collecting, finding, researching and understanding how data is organized, as well as how it varies between sources and from country to country (there are no international standards).
“It is challenging for researchers comparing Census data over time to examine Indigenous and ethno-racial data as the classifications have changed significantly from the colonial era to the present,” says Manuel.
To help address some of the issues in researching historical data, Manuel, Cooper and Orlandini created a ‘Data on Racialized Populations’ guide available publicly on the Scholars Portal.
The guide is “a curated list of datasets that include ethnicity and race variables which can be used to facilitate anti-racism research in Canada,” and is intended as a starting point for researchers.
“Our goal in developing the guide on Indigenous and ethnoracial data was to contribute to building and designing equitable, inclusive, and anti-racist data communities,” says Manuel.
While the guide provides an invaluable resource, there remains much work to be done in identifying and understanding systemic racism in data collection and bringing about change. In addition to this work, Manuel is the program co-chair of this year’s IASSIST 2023 Conference. The theme of the 2023 conference is Diversity in Research: Social Justice from Data.
In continuing to work towards building more equitable data communities, the conference’s theme intends to address issues in data collection, and shine a light on obstacles faced in searching datasets. “We hope to achieve greater inclusivity of presentations and discussions about data that is collected regarding people that are marginalized, and set a precedent for embedding more diversity in our conferences going forward,” says Manuel.
Data Librarian Kevin Manuel is hosting a presentation and discussion (Feb. 16) during Love Data Week titled: Who is counted? How to use the Census of Canada timeline to search for ethno-racial and Indigenous identities
2022 Virginia Edinger Walker University Library Research Award recipients.
“Research is about building on previous knowledge and expanding on new ideas,” says psychology student Omega L. who received one of three 2022 Virginia Edinger University Library Research Awards.
The award recognized student achievement in original research with a special focus on the critical use of library resources and research skills. Established by Petros Dratsidis and TMU Libraries for the 2021/2022 academic year, the prize celebrated Dratsidis’s late wife Professor Virginia Edinger Walker– an art historian who taught at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University) for more than 20 years.
Recent TMU graduates Omega L.,Tara R. and Carmina T., were selected for their outstanding 2022 essay submissions, receiving an award of $2000 each.While honouring the legacy of Professor Walker, the award also shone a bright spotlight on the academic excellence of these three students.
Omega L.
Described by her supervisor, Professor David Day, as having a passion for learning and the motivation to work hard, Omega L received the prize for her thesis that examined domestic assault by a female perpetrator and the perception of the severity of the incident, attribution of blame and the similarity of effects on the study participants. Omega’s work was “a unique study in a literature that has previously only examined such defined characteristics as gender, age, and ethnicity/racialized groups as the independent variables,” says Day
Making extensive use of library resources, Omega conducted a comprehensive literature and critical review of the established research. In doing so, she learned the effectiveness of a literature review in providing a coherent account of current research and data. “It helped to further develop critical thinking skills when analyzing the methods used in articles and assessing the articles’ strengths and weaknesses,” she says. The review ultimately helped her develop a new area of investigation.
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Tara R.
Recent TSRM graduate, Tara R. submitted her fourth-year paper, in which she argues that the Ontario Employment Standards Act (ESA) should be amended to address representation gaps. The paper not only thoroughly impressed her professor, but also the award adjudicators. In her letter of support for Tara’s submission, TRSM Professor Pnina Alon-Shenker reflects that her “paper demonstrated outstanding research skills and allowed (Tara) to advance an argument, which was well supported by rich and compelling literature on the subject matter.”
Tara feels the experience of writing the paper helped her refine research skills, which she’ll continue to use in future academic work. “This paper informed my scholarly development, inquiry, critical thinking, and research skills by challenging my ability to conduct comprehensive research,” she says.
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Carmina T.
Carmina T. was selected for the undergraduate honours psychology thesis stream and worked on a research project and paper with Professor Sarah Dermody. Her paper titled Examining the Relationship between Drinking Motives and Minority Stress in Transgender Adults who Drink, received top marks for its demonstration of outstanding research and quality of paper. Dermody describes Carmina as “highly skilled in identifying relevant research literature from TMU Library resources and incorporating them into a cohesive and convincing narrative,” noting that her literature review was one of the “best [she’d] reviewed” by an undergraduate student. Carmina also notes that “writing the thesis proposal was a great learning experience in terms of research adequacy and preparation for graduate school.”
For all three undergraduate scholars, the Virginia Edinger Walker University Library Research Award rewards their pursuits in undertaking rigorous, new research. The skills acquired in searching, finding, reviewing and analyzing studies in order to understand and build new areas for inquiry, are celebrated with this award.
“Papers and studies are often recognized, but the research skills, resources and work undertaken for those papers and studies is often overlooked, particularly with regard to awards,” says Dana Thomas, interim chief librarian. “The Virginia Edinger Walker University Library Research Award celebrates that work in pursuit of academic excellence. We are so pleased to be able to acknowledge these young scholars in honour of Professor Walker.”
TMU Libraries offers monthly research skills workshops. Open to all TMU students, workshops are designed to instruct students on topics that range from understanding literature and systematic reviews to managing data to search skills for specific databases and online resources. To learn more and register for upcoming workshops, visit: TMU Libraries – Workshops
With the update of all TMU email addresses from @ryerson.ca to @torontomu.ca, logins to some Library resources have changed. If you have created accounts for some of the specialized databases, or if you log in with your full email address, you may want to update your email address. In some cases, we have been able to make the update for you! Please see below for details on specific electronic resources.
Email addresses already updated for the following databases (Login with your new email address)
Capital IQ
Scifinder-n
Conference Board of Canada (updated mid-January)
Fashion & Race
SimplyAnalytics
Toronto Star (updated mid-end of January)
WRDS
Databases that require users to manually update email (Login with your old email address and add the new email address)
Uptodate: Log into your account and update the email on file by clicking on your name at the top right. Click on MyAccount and go to Contact information.
Overleaf: You can add your torontomu.ca email address to your Overleaf account on the Overleaf Account Settings page. See Managing your Overleaf emails.Note: Once single sign on (SSO) is enabled (in early February), you will see a notification in your Overleaf dashboard to log in with SSO and confirm your torontomu.ca email address. For now, while you can add your new address, please keep your old ryerson.ca email address associated with your Overleaf account in order to maintain access to the Toronto Metropolitan Overleaf subscription. Later, when your torontomu.ca address is linked with SSO, you can remove your old ryerson.ca email and maintain the Overleaf subscription with just your torontomu.ca email address.
New York Times: Log in. Go to nytimes.com and click on the account button near the upper right hand corner. Click on the account setting button. Click “update” next to your email address.
SciVal & Scopus: Log in and click your initials at the top right. From there, you can use the “Elsevier account” option to change your primary email address or add a secondary one.
Web of Science & InCites: Sign into Web of Science and click on your username that appears on the top right corner. Select “settings” and then “account settings.” You will be redirected to a new page. On that page, add your new email ID under the “Email” tab.
WGSN: Log in and click on your initial in the top right corner. Click on “My Account”. You may need to check a box to acknowledge the user agreement. Click on the link that says “change email” and then enter your new email address and click “save.”
For questions or additional assistance, please email refdesk@torontomu.ca
Open access materials are academic materials that are legally accessible and distributed online, free of cost. This year’s theme for Open Access week is Climate Justice. This year the focus of the week is to:
“encourage connection and collaboration among the climate movement and the international open community. Sharing knowledge is a human right, and tackling the climate crisis requires the rapid exchange of knowledge across geographic, economic, and disciplinary boundaries.”
It is vital that Climate Justice research and climate change research be open access so that the public has access to peer-reviewed information that is based on the latest science and research. Open access publishing is one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, adopted in 2016.
We encourage faculty and graduate students to attend open access events and learn more about how open access can improve the knowledge mobilization of TMU research. This week, TMU Libraries in collaboration with Faculty Affairs is hosting an event that shows you how you can post your research outputs to Rshare, TMU’s institutional repository.
Learn more about the RShare digital repository including how to set up your profile, tie it to your ORCID account, and deposit your academic work and data. This workshop will show you how to use the RShare knowledge mobilization platform hosted by the Library.
Presented by Nora Mulvaney and Brian Cameron, TMU University Libraries
You can find a full list of Open Access Week events on SPARC’s OA week events page. Highlights include:
Variety of materials displayed from TMU Libraries’ physical Material ConneXion collection. Photo credit: Karla Ledesma.
Researching materials for design development and implementation can be challenging without the benefit of working with, holding, and comparing physical items. Online resources provide in-depth information on properties that make up materials, while having a tactile understanding of the actual material can be essential to innovation.
That heightened physical awareness is now possible with the installation of TMU Libraries’ new Material ConneXion (MCX) research collection—the second only physical materials collection at a Canadian academic institution.
Interest in this collection has grown quickly as librarians work with students to unlock new potential for their work. Students from academic fields ranging from interior design and fashion, to engineering and entrepreneurship, have been exploring materials that address real product and design problems they face in courses, research and in practice.
This new physical resource hosts 1000 material samples to discover in person, with 10,000 additional materials online, ensuring a collection that supports academic quality and innovation across multiple disciplines and programs, while enabling new avenues for discovery of unique and practical samples.
Student browse materials during an instructional workshop of TMU Libraries’ Material ConneXion onsite collection. Photo credit: Karla Ledesma
TMU librarians are using the collection to enhance instruction of this onsite resource and engage in new types of research collaborations with students and faculty.
Business librarian, Reece Steinberg, has conducted specialized course instruction and workshops to help students and researchers discover optimal material options for product design.
He’s worked with entrepreneurship students exploring potential lightweight, waterproof and flexible food packaging options that include sustainability features. He’s also consulted with Zone Learning students examining moldable materials for a commissioned outdoor furniture piece.
“Students have commented on how challenging this type of research is without the ability to physically access the materials, along with in-depth information about their specifications. This collection bridges that gap,” says Steinberg.
Acting Head of Borrowing and Lending Service, Sonny Banerjee was instrumental in acquiring and installing the physical collection. He and a team of librarians, including Naomi Eichenlaub Reece Steinberg, Nora Mulvaney, Alison Skyrme and Lei Jin selected physical samples that would meet the current needs of the university community.
Materials are held and displayed on rolling shelves in TMU Libraries’ Material ConneXion collection. Photo courtesy of TMU Libraries.
“The collection will change over time as we bring in different materials and swap out others. It is a very flexible collection that can be adapted with collaboration from the community,” says Banerjee.
With this physical collection, TMU Libraries has expanded a resource that truly reflects the innovative and creative research pursuits of the community.
“Bringing this collection onsite gives our community direct access to a collection that is so essential to so many TMU programs,” says Dana Thomas, interim chief librarian. “It is very exciting to see bold and innovative research, designs and ideas come to life in the Library.”
Material sample included in TMU Libraries’ physical Material ConneXion collection. Photo courtesy of TMU Libraries.
Material sample included in TMU Libraries’ physical Material ConneXion collection. Photo courtesy of TMU Libraries.
Material sample included in TMU Libraries’ physical Material ConneXion collection. Photo courtesy of TMU Libraries.
Librarian Reece Steinberg providing course instruction on TMU Libraries’ Material ConneXion collection.
The Jack Layton Chair, Toronto Metropolitan University Libraries, Faculty of Arts and Faculty of Community Services and Toronto Metropolitan University present Crafting Community: A Symposium on Arts Practice & Research.
The symposium brings together artists and scholars to explore intersections of arts practice and academia – how they clash and/or converge. The symposium features hands-on workshops on Oct. 19, hybrid panel discussions on Oct. 20, ending with a roundtable session on Oct. 21 to discuss emerging themes and reflect on the symposium.
Crafting Community reimagines how to engage community arts in/with the humanities and social sciences to bridge between community and the university
The symposium takes a community arts based approach that works to connect the creative and scholarly work of artists, community workers, students and educators. Through a community arts framework, participants engage with community, research and pedagogy during hands-on interactive workshops and panel discussions.
Crafting Community: A Symposium on Arts Practice & Research is supported by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
Exposing the complex history of data collection and the Census of Canada
