On Tuesday, January 20th, please visit the 4th floor of the Library to watch live television coverage of the inauguration of Barack Obama, beginning at 10 a.m.

The random draw winner of the holiday photo contest held by Special Collections is Daniella Guida for her photo shown here. To see more photos from this contest, check the Special Collections Holiday Photo Contest blog.

If you are looking for something light to read over the holidays, check our Popular Reading Collection located on the main floor of the Library behind the LCD panel. We have added new books to this collection which now consists of over 150 titles.

Submit your holiday photos online and see them displayed in Special Collections on the Library’s newly redesigned 4th floor, alongside traditional collections of Christmas advertisements from the Kodak Canada Corporate Archives and winter scenes from the Historical Photograph Collection. A $50 bookstore gift card will be awarded to one of our holiday photo contest participants to help start the new semester in January. Contest closes January 5th , 2009 and the prizewinner will be announced January 6th .

Thanks to the Ryerson Student Union (RSU)for providing free massages in the Library during the exam period. We hope to have this available next term as well.

The Library is holding a series of Advanced RefWorks workshops for graduate students and faculty.

In this session, you will learn how to make the most out of RefWorks to organize your research, cite your sources and create bibliographies. Topics to be covered include customizing your account, sharing your RefWorks references, editing output styles to meet publication requirements, advanced RefWorks searching, and creating and storing RSS feeds.

As this session is targeted to users with RefWorks experience, please attend if you have been to a previous RefWorks workshop OR if you currently have a RefWorks account, can export references from library resources and can create a bibliography with RefWorks.

No registration is required. The workshops will be held in L393A on the 3rd floor of the Library on the following dates:

Wednesday November 26th – 5:30-6:30
Thursday, December 4th – 5:30-6:30
Tuesday, December 9th – 5:30-6:30

The winners of our recent cell phone survey draw were Theresa, a 3rd year nursing student, and Vanessa, a 4th year computer science student seen above receiving their iPods from Madeleine Lefebvre, Chief Librarian. Thanks to everyone who participated. Selected results of the survey are available on the Library’s website.

Three new portable DVD players may now be borrowed from the Circulation or AV/ILL Desks during the hours that the Library is open. They may be borrowed for 3 hours, long enough to view a feature film.
For more information about borrowing the equipment, see the DVD Player Lending Policy.

20 new iMacs have been installed on the west side of the Learning Commons on the main floor of the Library. Along with the usual Mac offerings, including the Safari browser, these machines also provide access to the Microsoft Office and Adobe CS3 suites of software.

Looking for a good book to read? This fall, the Library has selected nearly 75 novels and paperbacks for a new leisure reading collection. In addition to current novels, we’ve also purchased mysteries, sci-fi, romance, and some historical fiction. You’ll find all these titles on a bookcase behind the flat panel display on the main floor of the library. There are comfy chairs beside the collection. We encourage you to take a break, browse the shelves and relax with a good read. All titles are available for the standard loan period of two weeks. Keep checking as new titles are added. We will also be implementing a virtual suggestion box … stay tuned for more developments!