Features – Page 2 – OPEN SHELF

Supporting communities through successful engagement

The pandemic has challenged the way libraries connect and engage with their local communities. Here are some of the exciting findings shared by presenters as part of the OPLA Community-Led Think Tank's Community Conversation and what they might mean for the future of community librarianship.

Features

Weeding as an anti-racist practice: A conversation with Dr. Monica Eileen Patterson

Collection management is an important component of library work in part because the materials on our shelves reflect our deepest cultural beliefs and experiences. I am learning from my colleague, Dr. Monica Eileen Patterson, withdrawing some of Dr. Seuss' books from publication is the right thing to do because children should not be exposed to racist imagery and stereotypes. And yet, there may be times when we might still need access to some of these texts in order to understand how racism operates in our communities.

Features, Uncategorized

If you build workshops, they still might not come: Notes on a not-so-successful community initiative

I first heard about The Second Chance Foundation from a segment on CBC Radio’s Sunday Edition in 2017. This interview prompted me to reach out to Bev because I knew that this was an organization I wanted to be involved in. We determined, based on her clients’ needs and my expertise, that I would offer introductory internet skills workshops focusing on information literacy.

Features

What we talk about when we talk about algorithms*

Words create reality; what we say and write makes ideas concrete. The explosion of research about algorithms has resulted in specific descriptive phrases about their nature and characteristics. Let’s take a brief tour through some of them to see how they reflect our hopes and concerns.

Features

Open to discovery: Refining metadata standards & creating a controlled vocabulary for Open Shelf

As library professionals, we are trained to understand the critical role that metadata plays in the discoverability of information in a wide range of contexts. With a shorter list of tags, the Open Shelf editorial team now has a controlled vocabulary that will enable improved discoverability of the magazine content.

Features

What’s involved with being an editor for a multiauthor volume?

Sharing our professional knowledge and experience through writing is something we value collectively as a profession. We have found that being the editor (or editors) on a collaborative project is a meaningful way to contribute to the literature related to our work and research in addition to strengthening our professional skillset(s).

Features

A sadder wiser boy: World War II letter sheds light on human resilience

While many of us couldn’t join others in a formal university ceremony on Remembrance Day, first-hand accounts of war-time events (e.g., archival letters) can help us all “apprehend the complexities of the human condition” that are central to our collective memory.

Features

L’Université de l’Ontario français : repenser la bibliothèque universitaire?

Après une longue attente, la nouvelle Université de l’Ontario français (UOF) accueillera enfin sa première cohorte d’étudiant.es en septembre 2021. Malgré tout le travail accompli, il reste encore beaucoup à faire.

Features, Publications en Français

Back to blogging: Revitalizing blogs in the age of COVID

Staff at the University of Toronto Music Library have gone "back to blogging" and this form of outreach has proven to be a successful way to keep in touch with patrons during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Features

Good-bad, bad-good: The joy of celluloid failure in the Car Hole Cinema

After the first, frigid weeks (then months) of the quarantine had passed, Douglas Davey found himself missing his old world. It was in the midst of these doldrums that he exhumed a long-buried idea: converting his sketchy garage (or “car hole”) into a movie theatre.

Features

Movie review: A “Top 9” of good-bads from Douglas Davey

If your interest in good-bad movies is piqued by the Car Hole Cinema summer season, then here's Douglas Davey's "Top 9" list of good-bad movies (but watch with discretion). Check out Troll 2, The Room, Catwoman, and more.

Features

Grey is the new black: Changing library instruction virtually

Our experience in designing and delivering a grey lit workshop tells us that grad students are eager to learn these skills and put them to use in either a face-to-face or a virtual classroom.

Features

Best laid plans: Quarterly update on the Open Shelf strategic plan

While Robert Burns laments plans gone wrong, we can celebrate a plan gone right. In late 2019, the Open Shelf editorial board finalized its first-ever strategic plan and, overall, the results in this first year are promising.

Features