As required by the Tri-Agency Research Data Management Policy, each post-secondary institution and research hospital eligible to administer CIHR, NSERC or SSHRC funds is required to create an institutional RDM strategy by March 1, 2023.
In response to this requirement, Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU)’s Institutional Research Data Management Strategy Working Group has completed a draft of the TMU Institutional Research Data Management Strategy for consultation. More information about this work is available here.
The Toronto Metropolitan University community is invited to read the draft and contribute feedback via a series of virtual Town Halls in November 2022. The Town Halls will be organized by research themes, but everyone is welcome to attend any or all of the sessions:
Medicine and Health: Tuesday, November 8, 1 – 2 p.m. Register
Natural Sciences and Engineering: Thursday November 10, 1 – 2 p.m. Register
Social Sciences, Humanities and Creative: Wednesday, November 9, 1 – 2 p.m. Register
Indigenous Data Sovereignty: (Date and registration forthcoming)
At the Town Halls, the draft strategy will be introduced, background information will be provided and its key recommendations will be highlighted. Your feedback will help us ensure that the strategy is aligned with the RDM needs of our diverse research community. If you are unable to attend any of the Town Halls, you can send in your feedback to rdmstrategy@ryerson.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.
Overleaf is an online collaborative scientific writing and publishing tool. It is designed to make the process of writing, editing, and producing scientific papers much quicker for authors.
The Toronto Metropolitan University Libraries is providing Overleaf Professional upgrades for all students, faculty, and staff who would like to use a collaborative, online LaTeX/Rich Text editor for their projects. Overleaf Professional upgrades include real-time track changes, unlimited collaborators, and full document history.
Overleaf Professional upgrades provide:
Real-time collaboration in your browser for working together on a single version of a project, with an unlimited number of authorized users. You can add and remove collaborators at any time throughout the lifecycle of your document.
Real-time track changes and visible collaborator cursor(s) ease work on collaborative documents.
Enjoy real-time PDF preview of your document while editing and writing – type on the left and see your typeset document on the right.
Full history view of your documents – see all changes made for the entire life of the document, with the ability to revert to any older version.
Integrated, streamlined publishing – allows you to publish easily and directly to a number of integrated submission systems, including dozens of publishing partners.
Toronto Metropolitan University resource portal available – including easy sign up, templates, FAQs, and resource links.
Claim your Overleaf Professional upgrade by signing up (or signing in) via the Toronto Metropolitan University resource portal. https://www.overleaf.com/edu/torontomu
We hope everyone is having a successful exam period – the spring/summer term is now nearly complete!
Please clear any outstanding fines and return overdue items as soon as possible. Head to the renewals page to see if you have overdue items or fines greater than $25. Students with fines greater than $25 will not be able to view their grades until their accounts are cleared.
All fines can be paid to the Library in person or by telephone, either by VISA, MasterCard, American Express or with your OneCard – please contact us at access@ryerson.ca to arrange a call in time when on site staff are available. We do not accept personal cheques.
We understand that this is a trying time, if you have questions or concerns about fines or overdue items, please contact Library Circulation at access@ryerson.ca .
As part of the University Renaming process, we have scheduled a change to the Search Everything (Summon) URL from ryerson.summon.serialssolutions.com to torontomu.summon.serialssolutions.com. This change will take place the morning of Wednesday July 13. As a result of this change, saved Search Everything URLs may need to be updated or recreated.
Updating Your Links:
Saved Summon links that needs to be updated will start like this:
Update the link by replacing the text ryerson.summonwithtorontomu.summonin the URL. When updating URLs keep in mind that you may need to update both the text you see and the underlying link it’s associated with.
Shortened URLs – Search again
Search Everything (Summon) created shortened URLs will also no longer work. These may be found in saved emails, citation managers, documents, etc.
Shortened URLs look something like this: https://go.exlibris.link/fxMY7Dj9
When a shortened URL fails, it will redirect the user to the default torontomu.summon.serialssolutions.com webpage where you will have to search for the item again. Searching by title is often the fastest method of locating a known item.
Saved Citations
Citations that reference DOIs as the URL will work without any issue.
Citations that have been saved with the shortened URLs will have to be searched again. Some citation managers will let you search for more metadata (including a new link) which may be something to try before executing a known item search on Summon again.
Step 1: Locating the option to Search for additional metadata in Citation Manager.Step 2: Once you have a new URL, you can delete the broken short URL.
If you have questions, or need to refer to more expertise with troubleshooting issues as a result of this change, please email refdesk@ryerson.ca.
The Toronto Metropolitan University Library is still accepting submissions for the inaugural Virginia Edinger Walker University Library Research Award. This award recognizes student achievement in original research with a special focus on the critical use of library resources and research skills. Three awards of $2000 each are available to third and fourth year students across all disciplines and areas of study who were registered full time during Fall 2021/Winter 2022.
Applicants are asked to submit an in-course research paper, a short reflective essay regarding the research process, and a brief statement of support from the course instructor. Additional details are available on the AwardSpring platform.
This award celebrates the legacy of Professor Virginia Edinger Walker, who taught art history at the University for more than 20 years. It has been established by Petros Dratsidis, the love of her life and husband of 50 years, in recognition of her great respect for history, art history, books and libraries. Professor Walker’s dedication to her students exemplified her unflagging passion and commitment to scholarship and research, which Mr. Dratsidis is commemorating through this award to inspire future generations of scholars.
It is important to Mr. Dratsidis to commemorate his wife’s legacy and passion for teaching and learning – indeed, for life. In creating this award at the University Library for original student scholarly, research and creative (SRC) work, it is his desire that Professor Walker’s contributions to the Toronto Metropolitan University academic community are not forgotten. For more information about Professor Walker’s life and legacy check our previous blog post.
For more information, contact:
Joanna Beyersbergen Director of Development Library 416-879-5084 jbeyersb@ryerson.ca
We hope everyone is having a successful exam period – the winter term is now complete!
Please clear any outstanding fines and return overdue items as soon as possible. Head to the renewals page to see if you have overdue items or fines greater than $25. Students with fines greater than $25 will not be able to view their grades until their accounts are cleared.
All fines can be paid to the Library by telephone or in person, either by VISA, MasterCard, American Express or with your OneCard – please contact us at access@ryerson.ca to arrange a call in time when on site staff are available. We do not accept personal cheques.
We understand that this is a trying time, if you have questions or concerns about fines or overdue items, please contact Library Circulation at access@ryerson.ca
