Technology Training

If you have been wanting to design posters, brochures, and other documents, but haven't had the time to learn advanced software, this workshop might be your answer. Canva is a free, browser-based layout software loaded with pre-designed templates for creating items such as posters, tri-fold brochures, business cards, flyers, newsletters, slideshow presentations, etc. You can also start with a blank document and build from scratch. It’s linked to free image libraries such as Pexels and Pixabay, or you can upload your own images and logos, or images you’ve downloaded from places such as Unsplash. Your designs are auto-saved, and can be shared with others to collaborate on as a team. This workshop covers: Attendees can apply the skills learned in this workshop to the other layouts available on Canva.
Workshop Recording:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d0qAwCh_JJdsyTLcDkyinuF4jzci-rlj/view?usp=sharing

The University of Victoria Libraries Digital Scholarship Commons (DSC) is a digital lab and academic makerspace that provides access to digital tools, offers free introductory workshops on how to use those tools, and provides consultation services for students and staff who need direction or support using the tools. This session will briefly review the tools and services the DSC offers, and then explore research conducted at the DSC about student perceptions of digital fluency workshops and the democratic role the academic library plays in providing access to digital tools and instruction on a multi-disciplinary campus. https://uvic.ca/library/dsc

In this session, three Librarians from the University of Victoria Libraries and two colleagues from the ETCL will share their insights and perceptions of the hands-on-training in open knowledge creation they experienced as Open Knowledge Practicum (OKP) Fellows. The OKP is a 12-week practicum offered every semester through the Electronic Textual Cultures Lab (ETCL) at UVic, located within the Digital Scholarship Commons. The practicum invites all members of the Greater Victoria Region to bring any public-facing project or project of community importance to the ETCL. During the practicum, community members or university staff, students, or faculty work with ETCL staff to bring their projects to completion and publish them in an open access format. The OKP also allows fellows to contribute to Wikipedia or similar open resources and share their knowledge in an online space.
In addition to a brief overview of the OKP and the practical and experiential learning opportunities it provides, presenters from ETCL and the UVic Libraries will share their projects, discuss key elements and briefly demonstrate the digital presence they created during their practicums. Ying Liu, Linguistics, Pacific and Asian Studies and Religious Studies Librarian, will speak about her digital exhibition of two Chinese Canadian community newspapers: the World Journal and New Republic newspapers, and the original Wikipedia article she created. Pia Russell, Education, Children's Literature, and Indigenous Studies Librarian, will discuss the BC Historical Textbooks project. Aditi Gupta, Engineering & Science Librarian, will discuss her work on information literacy resources for librarians in South Asia. Caroline Winter, Open Scholarship Facilitator in the ETCL along with Randa El Khatib, Assistant Director (Open Knowledge Initiatives) of the ETCL will provide an overview of the ETCL, the OKP and other initiatives such as DHSI.
This panel discussion will be of interest to those wanting to know more about how to effectively engage in cross-disciplinary, collaborative research projects in multimedia settings.

Inspired by recent events at our own library in which some patrons have been challenging the additions of new technologies (especially those for children), this presentation aims to share practical ways in which libraries can defend their choice of tech to patrons, coworkers, management, investors, and the public in general, obliterating the simplified and outdated concept of libraries that prevails in the consciousness of many even today. Featuring engaging and humorous illustrations by the author to accompany each concept, this presentation will be impassioned, fun, and full of viable ideas for any library. Allocate! Advocate! Illuminate! Demonstrate! We must selectively allocate suitable tech in our libraries according to our physical space, our funds, and the various needs of the communities we serve. We must proactively advocate for our tech selection through policy, marketing, staff training, and mission statements. We must tactfully illuminate those who do not understand the valid addition of new technologies by educating them on the role libraries play in providing equal access to information and entertainment to all, and assuring them that technologies are not a threat to books- technologies are an addition to library offerings, not a subtraction. We must actively demonstrate the usefulness of technologies in our libraries to patrons and stakeholders in programming, 1 on 1, through written words and statistic keeping.