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.

As part of post-orientation, the university-wide Information Fair will profile the various services available to students on campus. The Information Fair will take place in the Quad from 11-5 p.m., Tuesday Sept 22 and Wednesday Sept 23.

Follow the Library on Twitter, find out the word of the day, and visit the Library tent at the Information Fair. The first 10 visitors with the word of the day will win a sweet prize!

The Toronto Metropolitan University Library and Archives (RULA) is organising a university-wide Book Fair, an event which will celebrate the achievements of Ryerson’s creators and innovators. Ryerson faculty who have scholarly, scientific, professional or creative/artistic works published in 2008 or 2009 are invited to submit their information to the Toronto Metropolitan University Book Fair Planning Committee. Eligible publications include books, book chapters, edited books and dedicated journal issues.

The Book Fair is scheduled to take place on Thursday November 12, 2009 in the Library. Please fill out the online submission form.

Please note that the latest date to submit information is October 15, 2009.

Couldn’t make it to one of our scheduled tours? Or maybe you just prefer checking things out on your own?

Then download our podcast tour of the main floor of the Library, designed to help get you ready for September.

To download to your iPod or other mobile device, right click on Library tour (mp3)

The NRC’s Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information Discover is a new service for finding articles. Discover puts millions of peer-reviewed scientific, technical, medical and some business journal articles at your fingertips. Discover also offers clients the ability to create alerts. CISTI Source will no longer be available after August 31.

Searching Discover is free but you will incur credit card charges if you order items directly from Discover. Toronto Metropolitan University Library does not pay these direct credit card charges. To avoid these credit card charges, search for free on Discover and then, from your search results, request items Ryerson does not own by using RACER, our interlibrary loan service. RACER is available to Ryerson students, faculty and staff with a valid library account.

More information about Discover is available from the NRC-CISTI Discover website.