University of Victoria

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

Join Lisa Abram, Sue Bengtson and Lisa Petrachenko from UVic Libraries as they share their strategies, observations and assessment from collaborative efforts to host student wellness events. Sue Bengtson will discuss the ideas and execution behind providing students with a series of Pop Up Relaxation Stations during final exam week. Lisa Abram will share strategies and tips for effective social media contesting and promotion of your wellness activities. Lisa Petrachenko will talk about planning and hosting events at UVic Libraries as part of the cross-campus campaign, UVic Wellness Week. Presenters will discuss the benefits of collaborating with campus partners to create a successful event. Participants are encouraged to share their own experiences during the session.

Wikidata is a global collaboratively-edited knowledge base created by the Wikimedia Foundation. It was launched in 2012 to contain structured data (in the form of linked data) for use in other Wikimedia projects like Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons. This presentation will outline how Wikidata has been used in GLAM institutions around the world, how UVic Libraries has begun to integrate it into its archival and library metadata workflow, and discuss benefits and challenges related to Wikidata involvement.

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.

Looking for background on a company you want to work for, invest in, or approach as a client? Starting your own venture and wanting to check out the local market and competitive landscape? There are many reasons for seeking business information and many people can be daunted at the prospect. Thinking about who is most likely to gather and publish the information you are seeking can help make your search more efficient and manageable.
Join Emily Nickerson and Sue Bengtson as they share their approach to business information research and some of their favourite types of key information resources and how best to use them. Emily is the Law & Business Librarian and UVic and Sue is the former business librarian at UVic, both have also previously worked in the private sector. Combined, they have 20+ years of business research experience to share. We also invite you to bring your favourite business information sources to share with us.

In order to build and maintain a healthy community, members need to understand their past. The Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria Libraries is home to the world's largest collection of trans, nonbinary, Two-Spirit, and gender-diverse history. In December 2019, we proudly launched an online discovery tool to search our collection of publications, which include articles written by trailblazing community members, and historical events that shaped trans activism and history. In this presentation, Michael Radmacher (MLIS, MA) and Shahira Khair (M.Sc, MIS) will tell the story of this project, and will offer a demonstration of the new discovery tool.

Have you ever wondered how academic libraries support distance education students and programs? Join several distance librarians to find out more about their services and how they keep their patrons happy, even in different time zones!  Come away with a brief history of serving this distinct population, an overview of current services and challenges, and a few funny stories in betweeen.  The session will conclude with a Q & A session.

Libraries depend on the successful collaboration of workers across employee groups to ensure high-quality and patroncentred services. Using the development of a digital library of British Columbia's Historical Textbooks as a case study, this presentation will hear from co-op student, CUPE, and librarian team members as they reflect upon how each contributes unique skills and strengths towards the management of a large-scale project. Library workflows of selection, acquisition, digitization, cataloguing, and exhibition development all rely upon the specialized skills of each team member. When such collaborations are productive, library work thrives. Presenters will outline lessons learned throughout the project and discuss the key elements of successful collaborations across library employee groups. This presentation will be relevant to those wanting to know more about the development of a digital library and those interested in multi-employee group team success.

n the past five years, UVic Libraries has engaged children, families, and youth in an increasing variety of ways, as part of our strategic plan to be Open, Engaged, and Enduring.
We offer:

• A community borrower's card and temporary netlink ID to provide access to our materials
• high school class visits to the Libraries as part of our High School Outreach program
• librarian visits to schools for engagements arranged through the Speakers' Bureau
• librarian support for middle and high school Heritage Fair Projects
• family-friendly events such as our "Book Arts Interactive" event at Ideafest 2018
• collaboration with faculty members on public speakers' series such as "Treasures and Tea"
• Youth Summer Camps oriented to university study, such as TextBytes
• opportunity for community contributions to our collection decisions, as has been the case with our Transgender Archives
• Direct engagement with community groups such as the Canadian Book Artists' and Bookbinders' Guild 

This panel will draw together a number of UVic librarians to describe these efforts and get into the why and how of what has made this work successful.

In this presentation, Kehoe and Boudinot will share the findings of their research on “double dipping” occurring in the ebook marketplace. A number of well known and fringe publishers with Open Access (OA) ebook publishing models are offering these titles freely on their own publisher platforms, as well as for sale on third party aggregator platforms. This publisher practice has implications for library budgets, approval plan ordering, authors, and vendor relations. Strategies will be shared on how to identify “double dipping” publishers, how to block OA titles from approval, and questions to ask when you are reviewing publishers’ OA publication agreements.