February 20 to 26, 2011 is Freedom to Read Week, an annual event that encourages Canadians to think about and reaffirm their commitment to intellectual freedom, which is guaranteed them under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Additional resources are available on the Library’s website – please take this opportunity to celebrate your freedom to read!
February is Black History Month! There are a number of events organized on campus to discuss issues relating to black history and black culture, including Black Out: Who’s Missing in Criminal Justice?, a panel discussion on criminal justice and its relationship to racialized communities. This panel discussion will be held on Wednesday, February 16 from 5:30 – 7:30 on the 7th floor, Heaslip House.
A selection of books relating to this topic are on display in the glass case near the Reference collection on the main floor. To see additional books on this topic, click here.
The Library is pleased to host What’s on the Table: The Designer’s Response, an exhibition featuring the work of students from the School of Interior Design, curated by Professor Lorella Di Cintio.
Students partnered with The Stop Community Food Centre to design a fund-raising item for their annual gala, which helps raise money for The Stop’s critical anti-hunger programs and services. The results of this experiential learning opportunity, the Objet de Cuisine studio, are on display in LIB497 on the Library’s 4th floor from February 13 to 18. Students who created the pieces will be available in LIB497 during selected times to discuss their work. They will also make a formal presentation discussing the exhibit in LIB 489 on Tuesday, February 15 at 12:30p.m. – all are welcome. Selected items will also be available for viewing in the Special Collections display case, also on the 4th floor, from Feb 22nd to March 7th.
Please join us for this wonderful celebration of student creativity in support of community outreach! For more information, contact Sonny Banerjee, liaison librarian for Interior Design, at sbanerje@ryerson.ca or x4834.
January 25th is Robbie Burns Day! To celebrate the life and work of Scotland’s famous poet, a selection of books from the Library’s collection are on display in the glass case near the Reference collection on the main floor. To see additional items in the collection by Robbie Burns, click here.
The Ryerson Library has a variety of short videos designed to help you make the most of our collection and services. These tutorials include:
For a full list see our Video Tutorials Page
The Ryerson Library also has a YouTube Channel
In the bookstore? Need to quickly see if the Library has the book you want? The Toronto Metropolitan University mobile app on iOS and Android now includes the ISBN/QR barcode scanning application.
This application can be used to interpret QR and ISBN barcodes. Scanning the ISBN of a book will look for the item in the Toronto Metropolitan University Library & Archives (RULA) catalogue to see if it is available.
Scanning a QR code will interpret the data and display the results on screen or if the data contains a URL, it will launch that website. QR codes are now available in the Library catalogue.
The RULA brains behind this application recently won the OLITA Award for Technical Innovation for 2011 – congratulations to Graham McCarthy, Innovative Technologies Librarian, and Steven Marsden, Junior System Programmer!
Have to see it to believe it? Watch this video to see how its done.
There’s still time to enter the Special Collections Photo Contest! The contest deadline has been extended until January 21st, with winners announced on January 23rd!
View the online hints or visit us on the 4th floor of the Ryerson Library to view photos, books and prints of famous people from history on display. If you think you recognize the portraits, take our quiz online to be entered for one of two prizes: a $50 Bookstore gift certificate or a $25 Starbucks gift card.
Names and faces will be revealed after the contest closes.
http://library.cf.ryerson.ca/forms/faces/
For more information, call or email Special Collections at 416-979-5000, x4996 or specialcollections@ryerson.ca.
The 3rd Annual Special Collections Holiday Photo Contest is underway – with a twist!
This year, the elves in Special Collections have decided to take some of their own pictures for the annual Holiday Photo Contest, and the result is a guessing game with famous faces and great prizes! Visit us on the 4th floor of the Ryerson Library to view photos, books and prints of famous people from history on display. If you think you recognize the portraits, take our quiz online to be entered for one of two prizes: a $50 Bookstore gift certificate or a $25 Starbucks gift card.
Don’t have time to visit us this holiday season? You can still participate in the contest by using the online hints to help you identify the people pictured in our display cases. We even added our Bonus Question picture to our poster (okay, okay, our poster model works in the Ryerson Library, and while she’s not that famous yet, we think you ought to get to know her).
Names and faces will be revealed after the contest closes.
http://library.cf.ryerson.ca/forms/faces/
For more information, call or email Special Collections at 416-979-5000, x4996 or specialcollections@ryerson.ca.
Happy Holidays!
Experience a touch of the past by taking a look at the real photo postcard exhibit on the main floor of the Library, near the Reference collection. Real photo postcards were popularized in the early 20th century, and enabled people to make postcards from any picture they took. Their popularity was aided by Kodak releasing an affordable, folding pocket-sized camera in 1903, designed for postcard-size film.
A sampling of books, and some examples of real photo postcards are on display. To learn more about real photo postcards and to see some additional examples, please view the following library resources. Special Collections, located on the 4th floor of the Library, also contains the Kodak Canada Corporate Archives and Heritage Collection, which consists of photographs, negatives, advertising records, magazines, pamphlets, daily record books, recipe books, cameras and other photographic equipment produced by Kodak Canada Inc. and other Kodak manufacturing facilities around the world. The camera collection includes an example of the folding camera used to make real photo postcards.
Special Collections is accessible Monday – Friday, 10 am – 5 pm by appointment only – please contact Beth Knazook, Photographic Specialist at eknazook@ryerson.ca or phone x4996.
The Fall issue of NEXUS, the Library newsletter, is now available online
. Highlights from this issue include the Library’s involvement in the Faculty Teaching Chairs initiative, Open Access initiatives at the Library, and an update from our Learning Commons partners.
Happy reading!