The Spring 2012 issue of Nexus, the library’s newsletter, is now available online!
This will be the last issue of Nexus for this academic year. Have a safe and enjoyable summer. We’ll be back with another issue in the fall!
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Staff Pick – Page One: Inside the New York Times
Page One: Inside the New York Times
Page One looks at the future of print media in America. The documentary takes us inside the New York Times at a time when newspapers are going bankrupt and folding at an alarming rate. The Times tries to adapt to the digital age and a generation with new attitudes toward what “news” is, while trying to maintain the ethics of fact-based, professional journalism. The newspaper competes with blogs, social media, Wikileaks, and the aggregation of mainstream media through sites such as The Huffington Post and Gawker.
You may also like:
The Paper
The Third Element: Canada’s Diverse Media
Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism
Page One : Inside the New York times and the Future of Journalism (the book)
Increasing Laptop Thefts in Library
With the exam period in full swing and students studying in the library in large numbers, we remind you to be aware of your surroundings and to keep a close eye on your belongings. Although our security staff patrols the library regularly, they cannot be on every floor at once.
In the last week alone, there have been no less than 4 laptop thefts reported in the library! If you have to leave your study area for any reason, take your belongings with you. We understand that it may be difficult to find study space at this busy time of year, but theft can occur in just a few seconds, especially is a thief is watching a particular area. Please do not rely on others around you to watch your belongings, as they may be distracted by their own studying.
Make this exam period less stressful by protecting yourself against theft. Watch your belongings and encourage others to do the same. Report any suspicious activity to security and library staff.
Keep Toronto Reading: Author Reading in the Library
In celebration of the Keep Toronto Reading Festival, the library is pleased to host Susan Siddeley for a reading from her memoir, Home First: A Memoir in Voices.
From the Introductory and Cover Sheet:
“In Home First: A Memoir in Voices, Susan Siddeley traces her life; growing up in Yorkshire, falling in love with Foreign, emigrating to Canada and travelling to further-flung postings to which her husband’s job takes her and their family. In all these places, unexpected connecters crop up: lakes in Ontario, violins in Jamaica, boats in Bolivia and cowboys in Chile. With pinafores, picnics, blackberries, tea, sea, books and babies everywhere. She wonders then, if these are just co-incidences or because everyone’s existence is an amalgam of their ancestral landscapes and life experiences.
During a trip home to see her aging mother and tickled by a chance remark of her aunt, Susan seeks out the burial plot of her older sister, Pauline, unmentioned until then, who died the night she was born. After her mother’s death, remembering the revelation, Susan ventures into the local Registry Office and discovers a second shocking death, one which helps explain aspects of her early life.
Sitting under an ancient chestnut tree in a lovely old cemetery, talking and telling tales to a person she never knew with tongue-in-cheek humour, and a crossword craving to solve and explain things, Susan pieces together the forces at work beneath the lives of a family of women, spanning four generations and three continents.”
The reading will take place on Thursday, April 19 at 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. in LIB489B, with refreshments being served at 5:15 p.m. All are welcome!
Spring … by the numbers
Did you know that 8.6 million gallons of maple syrup and maple syrup products were produced in Canada in 2011? That’s enough maple syrup to fill 13 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
For more statistics on springtime, see Statistics Canada’s ‘By the Numbers.’
Aboriginal Graduate Students Showcase
In collaboration with Ryerson Aboriginal Student Services, the library is pleased to host the 3rd Annual Aboriginal Graduate Students Showcase! This will be a wonderful opportunity to see a selection of graduate and senior student projects and to talk with the students about their creative works. The Showcase will take place on Friday, March 30 from 10 a.m. until noon in LIB489B. Refreshments will be available.
Freedom to Read Week
The Book and Periodical Council has declared February 26 – March 3 Freedom to Read Week! Each year, countless books and magazines are challenged on the basis of their content. This week is meant to bring awareness to these challenges and celebrate our freedom to read them, regardless of social opposition.
Check the list of challenged publications this year and see which of your favourites (old and new) were challenged and why!
Release of 2011 Census Population and Dwelling Counts
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
Staff Pick: Just Kids
Just Kids by Patti Smith
In her beautiful memoir Just Kids, poet, artist and punk rock godmother Patti Smith writes about her early years in New York City with her lover, best friend and lifelong source of inspiration, Robert Mapplethorpe. Theirs is a story of true love: for each other, for the streets around them and for the art that they created and inspired in each other. Smith’s poetic prose transforms the reader to iconic places such as the artist’s haven that was the Hotel Chelsea and Max’s Kansas City, a hangout of Andy Warhol and his gang.
If you like this, try:
Mapplethorpe : a biography / Patricia Morrisroe
Life / Keith Richards, with James Fox
Girls like us : Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon–and the journey of a generation / Sheila Weller
Student Learning Centre Design Wins Award
The design for the new Student Learning Centre has won an award from Canadian Architect magazine! Of 211 submissions nationwide, the design was chosen as one of eight award winners.
The article outlines all eight winners and provides an overview of the building’s layout.
The architects behind the design, Zeidler and Snøhetta, were honoured for their work. The building is expected to change the face of Yonge Street and will create more student space.
Construction is set to begin this semester, with a projected completion date of Winter 2014. For more information about the building and updates on the project, visit the Ryerson Builds website.