You Said … “Quiet, please”

You Said …

“I appreciate the staffs working at the library but i hope they consider chatting at a very minimal voice. this happens many times you can hear them talking :( ”

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Borrow Your Textbook from the Library

New this Fall, the Library has purchased select textbooks for students to borrow. We recognize the financial burden of purchasing textbooks and hope that this helps ease the load for some students.

Since we can’t purchase every textbook for every class offered at RDC, these are the criteria we consider:

• high cost (over $100)
• first-year or introductory course
• large enrollment

Peer Review Week

Welcome back, and happy September! We’re kicking things off this year by marking Peer Review Week (yes, there is such a thing).

Peer review is an evaluation process where scholarly writing (like journal articles and books) are screened for quality and accuracy before they’re published.  Check out the “What Does ‘Peer Reviewed’ Mean?” section of our How to Research guide for a more detailed explanation.

While peer review is the standard method of evaluation for scholarly writing, it is not without problems.  This year, the chefs at The Scholarly Kitchen (the official blog of the Society for Scholarly Publishing) are exploring way to make the peer review process more diverse (in previous years they and others have looked at issues around transparency in the process and recognition for the work).

Something to think about the next time you use the “peer-reviewed only” limiter in one of our databases…

 

June Reading Suggestions

#IndigenousReads and Pride displays

June in Canada is National Aboriginal History Month and, in many places, Pride Month.  To go along with the book displays currently available in the library, and if you’re interested in exploring either or both of these themes as part of your summer reading, here are a few suggestions to get you started:

• Last September, for Indigenous Book Club Month, CBC Books offered a list of books recommended by Indigenous writers.
• Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada has an #IndigenousReads campaign “to encourage reconciliation by increasing Canadians’ understanding of Indigenous issues, cultures, and history through sharing Indigenous literature.” Books are being added to the lists throughout the month of June.
• Calgary Public Library created an Indigenous Reading List for Kids.
• Penguin Random House offers the Ultimate LGBT Pride Book List.
• In 2017 Time Out provided a list of the LGBT books they felt should be on everyone’s reading list.
• The 49th Shelf has a list of Queer Canadian Books.

Have a great summer, and happy reading!

Libraries doing cool things

When we hear the word “library” most of us still think of the big building filled with books.  And while that definition is still mostly true, inside those big buildings you’ll also find a lot of really different, innovative programming going on.  Check out some of the cool things different libraries have been up to lately:

• Did you know that both RDC Library and Red Deer Public Library have collections of games?  RDC’s board games can often be seen out and about during our Long Night Against Procrastination and when we’re open for extended hours around exams but they can be borrowed anytime (ask at the Library Desk).  And RDPL has a great video game collection for a variety of different gaming systems.  Though at first this idea might seem nontraditional, this article from JSTOR Daily notes games actually have a long history as a part of library collections and activities.
• The Public Library Association in the US has partnered with a company called Short Edition to install Short Story Dispensers in four public libraries across the country.  The machines dispense free short stories that can be read in either one, three, or five minutes, depending on how long the reader has.  Want to see one in action?  There’s actually one installed at the Edmonton International Airport.
• In March of 2017 San Diego Public Library ran a project called Catalog of Life @ the Library that allowed citizen scientists to check out bug collecting kits and then return them with the bugs inside.  The kits were then shipped to the University of Guelph, where the DNA from the bugs was extracted and the data added into a global DNA barcoding database.  Contributors from the SDPL project added data for 41 species of insects to the database.

What cool things have you seen libraries doing recently?

In Search of April Raintree

Quiet Book Club Meeting – Everyone welcome!
Date: June 6, 2018 from 12-1 pm
Location: Library (meet near front doors)

“Oh, I’ve read about Indians. Beautiful people they are. But you’re not exactly Indians, are you? What’s the proper word for people like you?” one asked. — (In Search of April Raintree p. 117)

Marking the month of June as Indigenous Book Club Month and in recognition of National Aboriginal History Month, we invite you to join us in reading In Search of April Raintree, a novel by by Manitoba-born Beatrice Culleton Mosionier.

April Raintree has been critically praised as an important piece of literature that explores the relationship and bond between two Métis sisters: “The powerful and moving life stories of two Métis sisters who suffer the breakdown of their family relations and the injustices of the social services system.” It has been a past selection of CBC’s Indigenous Reads Book Club.

You Said: “Please investigate the distracting noise in 2006B”

You Said: “In study room 2006B (upstairs) there is a beeping noise that consistently goes off no matter what time of day it is. It sounds like it’s coming from the side of the wall with no other study rooms on it. Either way, it’s super distracting.”

We Said: 
Thank you for reporting this issue. We checked it out and also heard the persistent beeping noise, and it is indeed coming from room 2006A, which is a secure storage room. We think the noise is coming from the security system. We will work with our campus maintenance folks to ensure this is fixed. Sorry for the distraction and inconvenience.

Fair Dealing, Freedom to Read, and Open Education Weeks

It’s been a busy couple of weeks in the library world raising awareness around a variety of issues near and dear to us.

You Said: What Happened to the Start Times for Library Study Room Bookings?

You Said:
Recently the times for the group study rooms changed from being on the half hour and the hour to every quarter hour. As a student these time frames do not correlate nicely with class schedules. I was hoping it could be changed back or if there was a reason for the change in the first place. Thank you.

You Also Said:
Recently the times for booking rooms in the library have changed from being on the half hour and hour mark and is now on the quarter hour mark. I find this does not work well with the times classes run at RDC.

We Said:
Thank you for your feedback. The change in start times for our group study room bookings (from on the :00 and :30 marks, to on the :15 and :45 marks) was an unexpected result of a software upgrade that occurred over the Christmas break. We are unable to revert back to :00 and :30 at this time, but are actively working with the vendor to fix this issue – hopefully that won’t take too long. Please continue to bear with us; sorry for the inconvenience.

New Search Engine Options

As I was catching up on my reading over Christmas, I came across this Wired article talking about search engines and how they can help you get to the full text of an article.

For a couple of years now we’ve been directing you to check Google Scholar for your article before you order it in through interlibrary loan (though you’re still welcome to order it if it’s not available).  But this article introduced me to a few new options: Microsoft Academic and Semantic Scholar.

Conducting the same search using all three tools yielded some interesting differences in results, and Google Scholar provides by far the most hits, but the other two have some fun features: Microsoft Academic lets you quickly filter by field of study and Semantic Scholar provides a nice graphic of results by year.

Check them out, and see if you like what they can do for you.