Information Services Team Blog

Looking for Help with Homework Topics? Try Canada in Context

Canada in Context is a good place to start to find information on topics like Canadian history, government, science, geography, literature, people and more.  You can browse by topic or search using keywords.  You can also limit your search by news, images, audio, videos or magazine articles.

If you click on the Resources tab you can find video tutorials on how to search, tips on using the database  or download the app for your smart phone.  If you click on the Curriculum Standards tab, you can find links to the standard topics covered from grade 6-12 by province.

Find the Canada in Context database through the Toronto Public Library’s A-Z list of all databases http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/databases/. Sign in with your Toronto Public Library card and start searching today.

 

 

 

Digital Public Library of America

Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) has just been launched by Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet Society.

Digital Public Library of America website

Like the Europeana library, DPLA collects digital objects and their metadata from libraries, archives, universities, and other cultural institutions and makes it all available through an online portal. Contributing institutions so far include the Smithsonian, the National Archives, the New York Public Library, Harvard University, and several others across the United States.

You can search DPLA by keyword, browse by subject, map, or timeline, or explore curated exhibitions, which are organized by theme (e.g.: Activism in the U.S.) and sub-theme (e.g.: Civil Rights Movements; LGBT Activism; Women's Activism). If you register for an account, you can save your searches and items and create "playlists" to refer to or share with others.

You can also access all of the related metadata, which DPLA has decided to make freely available under the CC0 Public Domain Declaration. DPLA and Europeana have already worked together with that metadata to create an app that allows for a combined search of both resources. The metadata has also been used by the awesome Harvard's Library Innovation Lab to create DPLA StackLife, an app that makes (parts of) the virtual collection visible and discoverable.

At this point, DPLA is still pretty buggy and not yet completely formed. But it is an impressive start. Librarian and historian Robert Darnton, and one of DPLA's founders, describes the DPLA in an article in The New York Review of Books: 

"How to think of it? Not as a great edifice topped with a dome and standing on a gigantic database. The DPLA will be a distributed system of electronic content that will make the holdings of public and research libraries, archives, museums, and historical societies available, effortlessly and free of charge, to readers located at every connecting point of the Web. To make it work, we must think big and begin small. At first, the DPLA's offering will be limited to a rich variety of collections - books, manuscripts, and works of art - that have already been digitized in cultural institutions throughout the country. Around this core it will grow, gradually accumulating material of all kinds until it will function as a national digital library."

You can read more about DPLA in this Library Journal interview with Executive Director Dan Cohen, including his response to concerns that DPLA will replace some of the functions of public libraries. For some initial reaction to DPLA from librarians, take a look at this Library Journal article. And don't forget to take a look at the DPLA website itself and share your thoughts (I'm thinking, hm, what about a Digital Public Library of Canada?) in the comments section below.

CONDESCENDING SUPERFILLIOUSAND CONNIVING

FBI Records: the Vault is one of the free reference websites on the 2012 list "Best free reference websites" compiled by a RUSA committee and published in the fall 2012 issue of Reference & User Services Quarterly .

The site serves, according to the notes on its entry in the list, "as an online 'vault' to thousands of declassified FBI documents and spans many decades. Visitors can search or browse the collection to find digital copies of scanned FBI files including memos, reports and other materials."

There are categories for browsing, e.g. "gangster era," "unexplained phenomenon [sic]," "violent crime"; and, for browsers with quieter tastes, "administrative policy procedures" and "bureau personnel."

Focused researchers can use the site search window and unearth not only reports on e.g. Brecht ("the author of an 'educational play'", a lengthy summary of which follows, interesting to those bored with the apolitical summaries offered by the Coles Notes of the academic world) but also reports on others in which his name figures (Joseph Losey was "anxious" to direct a play by Brecht).

But no matter how serious a visitor one is it is impossible to steer completely clear of "titillating tidbits" such as the Washington Post had been saying, an FBI report drily states, were contained in the files on Rock Hudson's divorced wife's whereabouts.

"Mr. Hudson made a telephone call in the presence of the SAs [?], FBI, and confirmed that his divorced wife is reported to be in Europe".

Having steered into the middle of such tidbits, one can find oneself unwilling to steer clear of them too quickly.

The FBI became briefly involved when the law firm representing Robin Gibb's wife in a divorce received the alarming telegram below. But the "investigation did not go beyond the initial stages as the law firm did not wish to pursue the matter." (FBI Records) The titillation is brief and, one's willpower not too enervated by it, one is able to return to soberer research.

 

Life on MaRS - Home Grown Tech: Start It Up

 

Hyun-Duck Chung (MISt, Information Specialist) and Helen Kula (MISt, Data Product Manager) of MaRS Discovery District put together a showcase of startups for the OLA Super Conference 2013.  They handpicked them to appeal to and reflect the library interests and needs and succeeded in providing a wonderfully  varied and relevant group of products from Canadian companies. 

Have you a group of writers that crave to be published?  Wattpad is a great platform for discovering and sharing stories.   You can write one chapter at a time, or share a full novel.  Whether you love romance, humorous short fiction, futuristic sci-fi or paranormal mysteries, Wattpad is for you.  Authors range from Cory Doctorow to Shawn from Lethbridge. Margaret Atwood is the judge of the Atty's, the Wattpad Poetry Awards.  Wattpad offers a truly  social, and entirely mobile reading experience in over 20 languages.

 

  

 

Spongelab's mission: we believe that cutting-edge technology and stunning interactive media should be available to everyone, regardless of fiscal constraints.  

If you register with them you have free access to a huge range of science resources from the ubiquitous water cycle diagram, to  a video of what happens when lava is poured on ice to a dragon breeding genetics game.  Often you will be given a link to the Canadian  textbook this is alligned with.

 

 

SoapBox is a customer feedback mechanism that integrates into your webpage.  It automatically tags and categorizes the  ideas.  It also finds similar ideas and prompts you to merge your idea before submitting it.  On top of its voting and comments, SoapBox is fully integrated into Facebook with more social networks coming.   For a look at this program in operation check out Indigo, scroll to the bottom of the page and select Indigo Ideas. This would be a nice addition to the TPL website. 

 

Sciencescape  is a tech startup providing an end-to-end research discovery and management platform for the Life Sciences .  Sam Molyneux, PhD Student at the Ontario Cancer Institute, found there  are  2,000 to 4,000 research papers coming out every day.That's one and a half million peer reviewed papers every year.  The goal of this project is to organize all of the literature that comes in a way that makes sense. They look at labs, journals, places, and authors to have breaking research and community activity pushed directly to your newsfeed based on your profile.  There is no need for repetitive searching and you can quickly scan new publications, read abstracts, and download the full article text

This year's Global Startup Battle took place across 137 events in 60 countries with 10,000 entrepreneurs participating. The winner was Ontario-based Groupnotes.  It is a collaboration tool for groups who do research. As users browse the web, they can annotate pages, take notes, and leave comments—and when other members of their group browse, they can see these and add their own.

Tabillo  offers a web-based business collaboration tool that enables small to medium-sized companies to go beyond online file sharing. . Businesses can collaborate on internal processes, tailor apps to meet specific needs and easily access/share multiple types of files internally and externally.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Articles on Health, Fact Sheets, Reports, Videos ... Just what the Doctor would Order!

Want to stay fit after 40 – or strong at any age?  Try consulting Consumer Health Complete.  It contains consumer health information derived from a variety of resources including consumer health magazines, health reference books, fact sheets & pamphlets and evidence-based reports.  You can also find drug & herb information, images & diagrams, videos & animation as well as alternative sources.

Topics covered include medical conditions and diseases, food, nutrition and exercise, smoking cessation, substance abuse, surgeries and procedures, women’s and children’s health, environmental health and more.

Find Consumer Health Complete through the Toronto Public Library’s A-Z List of All Databases.  Sign in with your Toronto Public Library card and browse popular sources, search by topic or keyword or find a disease, condition injury or procedure by checking the a-z list under quick find.  To find out more on how to search, click on Database Help.

Garlic, Gingko and Yoga

What do garlic, gingko and yoga have in common? Information about these alternative and complementary therapy treatments can be found in Natural Standard. Check out this online resource for evidence-based information on:

• Foods
• Herbs
• Supplements
• Natural Therapies
• Interactions
• Side Effects
• Doses

A Flashcard or Bottom Line Summary can be printed or emailed.

How do major Canadian cities compare?

Which Canadian city has the fastest growing population? Check out Major Canadian Cities, another online resource. Data is taken from the 2001, 2006 and 2011 census. Use Major Canadian Cities to see rankings and comparisons for Canadian cities on:

• Demographics
• Housing
• Education
• Income
• Labour
• Transportation
• Immigration and Ethnicity
• Language

 

2012 IST Fall Conference: Digital Literacy, Maker Spaces and Libraries Today

 The 2012 Information Services Team Fall Conference held on November 27^th explored the evolving role of reference services including the role of maker spaces and its connection to our strategic plan initiative of supporting a city of innovators.

 One of the keynote speakers was Matt Ratto, an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto and Director of the Semaphore research cluster on Inclusive Design, Mobile and Pervasive Computing. He also leads ThingTank Lab, a non-profit lab space and research project examining and designing the Internet of Things.

 His presentation focused on new digital technologies and the critical literacy skills needed to successfully navigate the mass media and technology of today.  Matt spoke about the 'maker movement' – and the ways in which this movement and the tools, technologies, and community spaces engendered by it work to provide support for new types of educational opportunities.

His view is that there is a connection between digital literacy and a sustainable democracy and that we need to be able to “make and produce”, not just consume the mass media and the new technologies that we all constantly access. There is a role for the library in this, libraries have a long tradition of helping to create and sustain literate populations.  A next step, is to help our customers take control of technology by providing more technical training and promoting critical literacy skills- and there are a number of public and academic libraries currently working to include maker spaces as part of their offerings.  Check out the links above and learn more about these concepts and maker spaces.

 

 

 

                                           

 

 

 

 

                          

2012 IST Fall Conference: UX and You

The 2012 Information Services Team Fall Conference theme is all about evolving reference services, highlighting the strategic plan initiative of supporting a city of innovators.

One of the keynote speakers was Amanda Etches, Head of Discovery & Access at the University of Guelph Library, where she spends her time guiding teams and projects that are all about making the overall library experience better for users, both in-person and online. The user comes first and understanding user behaviour and using that understanding to guide the way services, spaces, systems, and interfaces are designed go a long way in providing good customer service. Her presentation was a conceptual introduction to the principles of user experience (UX) design as well as some ideas into ways library staff can incorporate them in their provision of (reference) services.

Design is everywhere in the library (furniture, signage, service desks, etc.) and design decisions should be made with the user in mind, giving what the user wants and not what you want. Userability is a quality attribute, designing and building things that work the way our users work as opposed to expecting users to adapt to them. Amanda Etches outlines 10 specific principles to user experience design decisions.  

You are not your user/know thy user
For the most part, design decisions made are convenient for us, representing insider opinions rather than users’.  We should give people what they want, not what you want.

User is not broken
How something is consciously designed affects how another experiences it. Any issues can be fixed by modifying the design, not the user.

Empathy required 
Stepping in a user’s shoes is a good way to find out what a user needs.

Can’t build great experiences without research   
Researching is required to get to the heart of user’s opinions and what they are thinking or what they want to accomplish. There are two types of research: attitudinal, the user’s views that are obtained through surveys, focus groups, and interviews; and behavioural, the user’s behaviours observed through usability testing.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a useful paradigm for design specifics
In order for a design to be successful, it must meet the basic 'hierarchy of needs' before it can move ahead to satisfy the higher-level needs. The design must work as it is intended.

Good/best user experience (UX) design is to have as little design as possible
People need functionality and less design that gets in the way.

Good design is universal 
Using universal design techniques (i.e. equitable, flexible, simple & intuitive, perceptible, tolerant of error, low physical effort, etc.) to guide design decisions will result in a successful design project that will serve users with a variety of learning styles, abilities, experiences, and cultural backgrounds.

Balance user needs with library needs
User needs and library needs are illustrated as a triangle joined by the context. Depending on what is being designed, they can be a shifting and balancing between the three components.

    

 

Good user experience is more than good customer service
People will barely take note of the time, effort and hard work it takes to make their user experience a great one. This is as it should be. It's a measure of the success of UX professionals when the focus is on user's satisfaction.

Good user experience is holistic 
Every element of a design has to work – what the building looks like, the smell, furniture, lightning, customer service, website, programs & services, policies (how user friendly), staffing and how empowered they are, rules, hours of service, signage at all the appropriate places, website, social media presence, etc.

 

User experience is basically all about the people. It’s all about the users and what they really want and need to accomplish and how we can enable that. Every decision you make affects how people experience the library.

IELTS versus TOEFL

If recent questions at the reference desk are any indication, it would seem that IELTS (International English Language Testing System) is becoming more popular than the American TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language).  Both are used by employers and universities around the world to assess English language fluency, however it seems that the British IELTS is gaining ground in Canada.

Luckily Toronto Public Library provides access to two excellent online products that help library customers study for either test.

The Road to IELTS is an interactive program that covers 4 areas: reading, listening, speaking and writing.  It allows users create a profile and to track their progress.

 

 

 

For library customers studying for TOEFL, an excellent resource is the Learning Express Library.

 

 

 This resource includes study material for many skills and careers. 

To access the TOEFL guides and practice tests click on English Language Proficiency.

Users will find extensive study materials for all the TOEFL areas as well as practice tests. Once you sign up for a free account you can track your progress.

To find the Road to IELTS and the Learning Express Library - the fastest method is to type the name of the resource in the search box located on the TPL home page, then click on the 'Access Online' button.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

16 Days of Action Against Gender Violence: Information and Resources

Today (November 25th) is the first day in the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence campaign.

16 Days of Action Against Gender Violence is a global campaign that runs annually from November 25th to December 10th. It was launched in 1991 by the Center for Women's Global Leadership and now counts over 2,000 organizations from over 154 countries among its participants.

The 16 Days campaign calls for the elimination of all forms of gender-based violence worldwide and highlights several significant dates, including:

• November 25th: International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
• December 1st: World AIDS Day
• December 6th: National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women in Canada
• December 10th: International Human Rights Day

To mark the start of the 16 Days campaign, here are sixteen reference resources on the subject of gender and violence that are available in print or online through the Toronto Public Library:

 

Selected books:

            

               

• Gender Violence: A Cultural Perspective by Sally Engle Merry (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009)
• Women, Gender, and Human Rights: a Global Perspective edited by Marjorie Agosin (Rutgers University Press, 2001)
• Women's Human Rights: Seeking Gender Justice in a Globalizing Age by Niamh Reilly (Polity Press, 2009)
• Violence Against Women: Myths, Facts, Controversies by Walter S. DeKeseredy (University of Toronto Press, 2011) 
• Violence Against Women in Canada: Research and Policy Perspectives by Holly Johnson (Oxford University Press, 2011)

 

Selected encyclopedias:

                   

• Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History edited by Bonnie G. Smith (Oxford University Press, 2008) Online resource; sign on with library card.
• Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women: Global Women's Issues and Knowledge edited by Cheris Kramarae and Dale Spender (Routledge, 2000)
• Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender edited by Fedwa Malti-Douglas (MacMillan Reference, 2007) Online resource; sign on with library card.

 

Selected article databases:

• GLBT Gender Studies: Indexed and full-text articles about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered culture and issues. Online resource; sign on with library card.
• The Secretary General's Database on Violence Against Women: A project of the United Nations.
• Women's Human Rights Resources Database: This database lists articles, documents, and links, related to both international and Canadian women's rights law. A project of the Women's Human Rights Resources Programme of the Bora Laskin Law Library at the University of Toronto. 
  

 

Selected websites:

• WomenWatch: This is the central gateway for online information and resources related to the promotion of gender equality and women's empowerment in the United Nations.
• Status of Women Canada: This federal government organization works to advance equality for women in Canada with particular emphasis placed on women's economic security and the elimination of violence against women.
• Ontario Women's Justice Network: Here you will find general legal information and resources on issues related to violence against women. A project of the Metropolitan Action Committee on Violence Against Women and Children (METRAC).
• Springtide Resources: This Toronto-based registered charity develops and delivers programs and resources to decrease the incidence of violence against women and the effect that abuse has on children.
• 16 Days campaign Resources: This section of the 16 Days campaign website includes suggested books, articles, reports, and websites on gender and violence as well as campaigning.