This is a very busy time of year for our community, and with exams being right around the corner, we thought it would be a good time to highlight some of our options for de-stressing around campus.

The Ryerson Students’ Union has a new Wellness Centre where you can focus on your mental wellbeing and overall wellness on campus. There are various programs and resources which provide the ability to relax, decompress, and talk. Programs include peer-to-peer counselling, creative workshops, Netflix marathons, and puzzles and board games. A full list of programs can be found here.

Did you know that you can cuddle with RU Therapy Dogs every Wednesday on campus? It’s amazing what a cuddle from a sweet pup can do for your wellbeing. Stay up to date on when and where the therapy dogs can be found by following them on Facebook and Twitter.

Ryerson Recreation offers yoga and meditation classes for beginners and experts alike at the RAC. There are 5 free group fitness classes a week (highlighted in yellow on the schedule) as well as the the option to pay a flat fee for the full range of classes.

You may just want to curl up in your favourite spot in the library or SLC with a good book. We have many books in the library on managing stress. Or you may want to pick up one of the books from our popular reading collection, located on the first floor of the library near the elevators. We curate these books with the intention of allowing you to escape the real world with a good read.

However you choose to take care of yourself at this time of year, RULA wishes you all the best with your final projects and exams!

Valentine’s Day happens during the coldest time of year so why not curl up somewhere warm with a classic love story?

Some classic romantic books we have in our collection include:

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Blue is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh

Grey by E.L. James

Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman (coming soon)

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

We also have a vast number of movies available in our collection including:

Casablanca

Moonlight

Brokeback Mountain

The Notebook

Lady and the Tramp

It Happened One Night

You can also check out the list of romance movies that the Ryerson community has access to through Kanopy streaming, including indie films, documentaries, and classics:

Kanopy 

Happy Valentine’s Day from RULA!

We are pleased to share a video that Scholars Portal has produced about the Accessible Content ePortal (ACE), a service that students registered with Ryerson’s Student Learning Support services can use: https://youtu.be/QsURuUpnqTc

 This video shows how Accessible Content ePortal (ACE) service support staff convert library print materials into accessible formats, following the progression of a digitization request from the initial meeting with an accessibility coordinator to the moment the library user is able to read the book using their preferred technology.

The Accessible Content E-Portal (ACE) supports users with print disabilities at participating Ontario universities and colleges by making library collections accessible through an online platform. ACE contains a variety of library books which have been digitized and made available in accessible formats. Eligible users can also request books to be digitized and added to the collection on demand through our on-demand digitization service.  A centralized and standardized production centre is provided by our digitization partner Internet Archive Canada, allowing participating schools to access high-quality digitized materials in five accessible formats.

For more information about ACE, please visit: http://guides.scholarsportal.info/ace/portal

If you have any questions or comments, please contact ace@scholarsportal.info

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsURuUpnqTc&feature=youtu.be

Sixty new Dell Latitude 3340 laptops have been added to the Library’s mobile learning programme.  They are now available for borrowing from the Circulation Desk.  All the new laptops are equipped with Windows 7 and include the Adobe Creative Suite and Microsoft Office.  Check our website for a complete list of software available on these machines.

Laptops may be borrowed for a four hour period during the hours that the Library is open. The first time you borrow a laptop, you will need to complete and submit an online Laptop Loan Agreement Form.

Want to keep up to date with the Olympics in Sochi? The Library has created an innovative mash-up that integrates automatic updates of medal standings with Google maps, statistical data and historical images of the Olympics from Library collections. Olympic Watch uses RSS feeds to provide instant updates of medal counts as they are reported on the official Olympic website. You will also be able to view the geographic location of the country, as well as statistical data and selected images.

Olympic Watch has been designed for viewing on a wide screen, so please drop by either the Geospatial Map and Data Centre (2nd floor) or the 4th floor of the Library to view it on an LCD panel throughout the Games.

To learn more about Olympic Watch please contact Dan Jakubek, Map and GIS Librarian.

The first data from the 2011 Census, covering the population and dwelling counts has been released and presents the population counts, counts for total private dwellings and counts for private dwellings occupied by usual residents. Coverage ranges from Canada, provinces and territories down to the dissemination block. Information is also available for land area, population density; population rank and percentage change from 2006. Data are available from the Census Canada website.

For more information, please contact librdata@ryerson.ca

Did you know that 1.77 million real Christmas trees were exported from Canada in 2010? For more interesting facts about Christmas trees, check out Statistics Canada’s “By the numbers“

Photo by Clairity