The Toronto Metropolitan University Library and Archives (RULA) was selected to receive up to 100 books from the Nippon Foundation as part of its 100 Books for Understanding Contemporary Japan initiative. In October of 2009, we received 73 new titles on Japanese politics, government, international relations, economics, business, society, culture, literature, the arts, and history. The books have been chosen to help non-experts gain a basic understanding about Japan.

Several of these titles are on display in the glass case near the Reference area on the main floor. Many of them are available for borrowing, and can be viewed in the Library catalogue.

Submit photos of yourself, friends, family members, pets, co-workers and acquaintances having a ball to be entered to win one of TWO prizes this year: a $50 bookstore gift certificate or a $25 Starbucks gift card. This contest is open to all Ryerson staff and students and photos will be posted to Flickr. The winning photo will be featured in Ryerson Today!

The deadline has been extended to Friday, January 8. Contest submissions can be made online.

The Special Collections Holiday Photo Contest is having a PARTY this year! Submit photos of yourself, friends, family members, pets, co-workers and acquaintances having a ball to be entered to win one of TWO prizes this year: a $50 bookstore gift certificate or a $25 Starbucks gift card. This contest is open to all Ryerson staff and students and photos will be posted to Flickr. The winning photo will be featured in Ryerson Today!

Contest submissions can be made online until January 4, 2010.

Take your library research skills to the next level. This session will provide an overview of traditional journal databases, federated search engines (including open access portals to research/institutional depositories) and cited reference searching. An advanced RefWorks presentation will also be included. This session is highly recommended for graduate students who are planning to complete a major research paper (MRP) or thesis. A basic knowledge of Library research and RefWorks is required.

The session will take place on Thursday, November 26th from 1:00-3:00 p.m. in the ILC Lab on the main floor.

Please register online.

The Fall issue of NEXUS, the Library newsletter, is available online.

This is an electronic issue only, with embedded links to additional content – click on any of the underlined text and you can connect from within the document.

Highlights include the launch of Digital Commons @ Ryerson, an update from the Chief Librarian on the Strategic Plan, and much more.

Enjoy the read!

To accommodate widespread global interest in the movement towards open access to scholarly research results, SPARC has declared October 19 – 23 to be Open Access Week.

As part of Open Access Week, the Library is launching its open access institutional respository, Digital Commons @ Ryerson. Please join us for a demo of the repository and a discussion on open access and its impact on scholarly publishing on Thursday, October 22 at 10-11 a.m. in LIB489B, on the Library 4th floor. Please e-mail bcameron@ryerson.ca if you would like to attend. Refreshments will be served.

Please register to attend the first university-wide Book Fair to celebrate the achievements of Ryerson’s creators and innovators. Ryerson faculty who have published scholarly, scientific, professional or creative/artistic works in 2008 or 2009 will show their publications during this Book Fair. The Book Fair will take place on Thursday, November 12 from 4 – 6 p.m. on the Library 4th floor.

The Learning Success Centre in LIB 272K at the north end of the Library main floor provides free, drop-in learning support and tutoring for science and engineering. Click on the above links to view the schedules for all three services.

The general learning support services available to all students includes help with time management, doing group work, test prep, improving mental focus, effective presentations, learning styles and tackling a writing project. To learn more about the Learning Success Centre, please visit their website.

Learn all about Ryerson’s Computing services and everything it has to offer you to succeed. Discover tips and tricks in this hands-on workshop that covers email, printing, wireless services, virtual applications (for example, accessing Microsoft Office from home) and effective use of the computer labs on campus. All workshops are free but you do need to register for each workshop.