Sara Holder
Sara Holder is Associate Professor and Head of Research and Information Services at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library. Prior to joining the…
What’s new in Open Shelf: December 2020
Dear Santa, We’re the Open Shelf editorial team. Our favourite things to do are to engage with our friends in the OLA community. We write, we provide feedback, we get creative with pictures and tweets, we play tag all the time, and just basically have lots of fun. We’ll be snuggled at home during the holiday season, hopefully taking a break from work but still dreaming of new stories we can tell in Open Shelf in 2021. Although this has been a crazy year—the “Year of COVID”—we’ve still been able to play with our Open Shelf contributors and they have sent us lots of great stories to print in the magazine.
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.
From the editor: Time for a 1% change
1% daily improvement or, have big dreams, set big goals, and then do a little bit everyday to make these dreams and goals a reality”. Chris Nikic’s approach to athletic training is clearly a good one, for triathletes as well as editorial teams.
Memespiration: What do you want from Santa?
With the winter season on the horizon, those of us in academic libraries are well into the “final assignment” season and answering research questions such as, “Can you check my citations?”
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.
Needs-based public libraries
The thinking of Comrade F. Dobler from the early 20th century remains relevant and even prescient: those who need open access to information may be those who are fundamentally excluded from public libraries.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
< Code of conduct/ >: Call for coding stories
These days, library staff in many departments have an interest in related issues, including coding. Pitch us your coding story ideas about HTML, Twine, Python, Jupyter Notebook and more.