The Library’s Digital Media Experience Lab (DME) was recently featured on both RyersonianTV and Daily Planet. See the clips here: RyersonianTV and Daily Planet and also visit the DME’s website to learn more about the lab and how it can improve both your teaching and learning experiences here at Ryerson.
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Back to school… by the numbers
Did you know that the average household expenditure on education in 2014 was $1502? For more information on this topic, check out Statistics Canada’s Back to school… by the numbers.
For more information about data and statistics resources available at the Library, contact librdata@ryerson.ca or visit the Library’s Geospatial Map & Data Centre (GMDC) website.
New Computers in LIB393A & LIB667
Two labs in the Library now have brand new Dell all-in-one computers available! LIB393A, located on the 3rd floor, and LIB667 on the 6th floor, are available for drop-in use when not booked for a class. To view real-time computer availability in these labs and in other locations in the Library, please visit the Library website.
Welcome Alison Skyrme!
After working as
Curatorial Specialist at RULA, Alison Skyrme was recently appointed to the position of Special Collections Librarian. Alison holds a BFA in Photography Studies from Toronto Metropolitan University (2002) and a Master of Information from the University of Toronto (2015). Alison is also a 2007 alumnus of the Photographic Preservation and Collections Management (PPCM) graduate program, and has been an active instructor with the program for several years. She specializes in collections management and documentation in the heritage sector and has over 15 years of collections experience in galleries, libraries, archives and museums.
April 26th is World Intellectual Property Day
April 26th is World Intellectual Property Day and is celebrated around the world. Launched by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 2000 the day was created to raise awareness about how intellectual property like patents, trademarks and copyright are both used and in turn foster creativity. This year’s theme is Digital Creativity: Culture Reimagined.
Universities are both creators of intellectual property through faculty, instructor, researcher and student output, but are also consumers of intellectual property. Toronto Metropolitan University Library and Archives spends millions of dollars per year on book and digital journal subscription purchasing. Most of these on-line journal articles are not publicly available to those outside of a university environment without a fee. At universities we are digitally privileged because we pay a substantial amount yearly for access to this content.
The purchases universities make support publishers and at the same time give instructors, researchers and students timely access to the latest scholarly information that can be used in their courses and for their research. Ryerson researchers are also part of the creative cycle as they create and publish new works citing the work that has gone before them.
More about:
World Intellectual Property Day
WIPO
Graduating Student Employees Make Their Mark
Congratulations to our graduating student employees! The Library annually recognizes their contributions by giving them the opportunity to suggest items to add to the collection. The items selected by the students have been purchased and are now available at the Library, with a mention of the contributors in the catalogue records, as well as in each of the chosen items themselves. In the photo, recent graduates Sethlina Adusei (left), Leyan Saleh (middle) and Jason Chow (right) display their requested titles, now part of the Library collection.
Requested titles include Unspoken Feelings of a Gentleman (2014), Mornings in Jenin (2010), and Food Inc. (2009) (DVD).
Chief Librarian Elected to OCLC Board of Trustees
Congratulations to Chief Librarian, Madeleine Lefebvre, who was recently elected to the OCLC Board of Trustees during the OCLC Global Council earlier this month. OCLC is a global library cooperative that provides shared technology services, original research and community programs for its membership and the 
library community at large. As an elected member of the Board of Trustees, Madeleine will be working on behalf of participating libraries worldwide to ensure that the cooperative meets the needs of individual institutions, and the profession at large. In addition, the Board is responsible for recruiting and working with the OCLC President and CEO, and for monitoring the cooperative through a dedicated audit process. Madeleine is the first Canadian to be elected to the Board of Trustees.
FACETS: New Canadian Open Access Journal
Faculty members looking for a new venue for sharing research will want to know about FACETS, a new multidisciplinary, peer reviewed open access journal published by Canadian Science Publishing. The journal publishes articles in the biological sciences, biomedicine and health, environmental science, engineering, physical sciences, and integrative sciences (such as ethics, public health, science policy, sustainability, etc.).
The creation of this journal is part of a larger shift in academic publishing away from traditional for-profit commercial publishers to an open access landscape that permits faculty members to retain copyright over their intellectual property and facilitate wider sharing of the results of their research. These and other open access benefits prompted the drafting of the Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications, which now requires that research funded by NSERC, SSHRC, and CIHR be made open access.
Dr. Imogen Coe, Dean of the Faculty of Science at Ryerson and one of the editors for the new journal, notes that “The classic routes of publication are extraordinarily expensive for new researchers, for small labs with limited funds and for individuals all over the world who want access but get stuck with expensive paywalls.“
As a new journal, FACETS does not yet have an impact factor, a metric that reflects the average number of citations to articles recently published in a specific journal. Dr. Coe advises emerging researchers to “find a balance between impact factor and other measures of impact and contribution.” She also points out that some researchers mistakenly rely on impact factors as a measure of article quality. “Publication in the highest impact journal in the world – with no subsequent citations suggest that there was really no impact of the contribution. Publication in a low impact journal combined with huge numbers of citations suggests a truly impactful contribution.”
A major challenge for libraries supporting open access publishing is finding sustainable funding to support article processing fees (APCs). FACETS will charge an APC of $1350, which is less than most other APCs. The Ryerson Library provides some support for open access author fees via memberships with Biomed Central, the Public Library of Science, and Hindawi. For more information about open access publishing, the library’s open access author fund, and our Digital Repository, please see: http://learn.library.ryerson.ca/scholcomm.
LibQual+ Survey Begins April 4
Once again, the Library will participate in the LibQUAL+ survey, along with several other Canadian university libraries. The Library participated in LibQUAL+ in 2007, 2010, and 2013. Please visit the Library website to view results from the previous survey.
Starting the week of April 4th, a random sample of students, faculty and staff will receive an e-mail invitation to complete the web-based survey. Participation is completely voluntary and the process is entirely confidential. Students may choose, if they wish, to submit their email for a chance to win one three $50 Starbucks gift cards. Neither the email address nor any other personal identification will be transmitted with the survey responses.
Your participation in LibQUAL+ 2016 will be particularly valuable as we now have the Student Learning Centre as part of our space. We sincerely hope that you will complete the survey if you receive an email invitation.
Thank you for your support. If you have any questions, please email: libqual@ryerson.ca
RULA’s Recent Award-Winners
It’s award season, and time to celebrate and recognize the contributions of our fabulous library staff!
At the recent Ryerson Awards Night celebration, the university recognized excellence in teaching, research, administration, service and leadership. The 2016 event honoured 118 staff and faculty members.
Simon Ly, the Library’s long-time IT Technician, was the recipient of a Julia Hanigsberg Make Your Mark Staff Award for his 22 years of excellence in service and leadership. Librarians Lucina Fraser, Kelly Kimberley, Fangmin Wang and May Yan were recipients of the Librarian Award, for their varied contributions to student support and engagement, and innovation in library services.
In addition to the Ryerson Awards, our talented staff have also received external recognition for their efforts. Librarian Mandissa Arlain, who recently received a Viola Desmond Award, was also awarded an International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) Fellowship to attend the World Library and Information Congress in Columbus, Ohio in August. Mandi was one of only 15 librarians in Canada to receive a fellowship, which pays all conference expenses, including travel.
Our student staff have also made their mark at Ryerson. Jason Chow, a work study student who helps make library resources available in accessible formats, as well as supporting the One Stop Copyright Service, recently received an Experiential Learning Work Study Award. This award recognizes a work study student who has made an impact in fostering a collegial environment, using exceptional interpersonal skills to proactively seek out collaborative ways to work with colleagues in their department and/or across the community. Jason will receive his award at the Student Experience Awards Ceremony on Tuesday, March 29th.