Library News

Digital Book Display: Black Films

Book Displays

In the final week of Black History Month, join us in watching a selection of noteworthy and entertaining films and documentaries featuring Black actors, directors, writers, and stories. Most of these films are available to watch online.  

Documentaries (all online): 

 

Films (mix of online and in the library):  

View the full reading list in our catalogue to check the status of our print materials.  A green checkmark next to an item in our reading list means it’s available to borrow. A blue checkmark means you can read/watch online. 

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Digital Book Display: Black Feminism 

Book Displays

In our third installment of our celebration of Black History Month, we’ll be exploring Black Feminism. From notable authors to memoirists to scholars, join us in examining this timely and critical topic.  

 

Prefer to read online? Try these ebooks:  

 

View the full reading list in our catalogue to check the status of our print materials.  A green checkmark next to an item in our reading list means it’s available to borrow. A blue checkmark means you can read/watch online. 

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Digital Book Display: Black Voices and Authors

Book Displays

In our second week celebrating Black History Month, we’re featuring a selection of recent and time-honored Black authors. We have a vibrant and extensive collection of fiction and non-fiction books written by Black authors, which are available in print on our shelves or as ebooks. This is only a sampling of the titles we have in our collection and we are actively purchasing more. Know of a book you wish you could borrow from us? Suggest a purchase! 

 

Looking for Canadian authors?: 

 

Interested in local perspectives? Watch these Human Library recordings from the MacEwan Human Library project (part of MacEwan’s Black History Month events):  

 

You can also register to atttend our live Human Library readings: 

 

View the full reading list in our catalogue to check the status of our print materials.  A green checkmark next to an item in our reading list means it’s available to borrow. A blue checkmark means you can read/watch online. 

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From the Archives: Straight to the Top in 1981

Archives

Straight to the top is where the college’s Griffettes volleyball team and coach Ed Reddon are headed in the new college bus. The $25,000 reconditioned bus was donated to the GMCC Foundation by the Kinsmen Club of Edmonton. Information Office photo by Linda Mueller (Source: Box 1796, vol. 2, no. 3, 1981).

Photograph of the women's volleyball team from 1981 and their coach sitting on top of and around a bus.

 

This is one of many treasures from MacEwan's past that the archives collects and preserves. For other stories from our past, visit the University Archives.

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Digital Book Display: Anti-Racism and Activism

Book Displays

In celebration of Black History Month, we’ve put together four unique and conversation-inspiring digital book displays. Watch for a new topic each week in February. First up is our list of selected materials in MacEwan Library on the topic of anti-racism and activism. 

Looking to read something right away? Check out our collection of ebooks. The titles in this list were published in 2018 or later: 

We couldn’t resist adding this older classic: 

Looking for shorter and more up-to-date reads? Use keywords such as “Black anti-racism” (include the dash) or “Black Lives Matter Movement.” Make sure you limit to “MacEwan University” to ensure seamless access. Here’s a sample of some articles you can find: 

  • A. Phonix, Amesu, A., Naylor, I., & Zafar, K. (2020). Viewpoint: “When black lives matter all lives will matter” - A teacher and three students discuss the BLM movement. London Review of Education, 18(3), 519–523. https://library.macewan.ca/full-record/a9h/148016593 

We have a robust collection of print books on this topic too. Use our Library Takeout service to borrow one of these titles: 

 

View the full reading list in our catalogue to check the status of our print materials.  A green checkmark next to an item in our reading list means it’s available to borrow. A blue checkmark means you can read/watch online. 

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Cancellation Notice: Duplicated Print Journals – Science & Psychology

Cancellation Notice, Collections

Print subscriptions ended: December 31, 2020 

Estimated savings: $20,000 

Print journals affected: 

  • Nature 
  • Psychological Review 
  • Psychological Bulletin 
  • American Psychologist 

Reason for cancellation: 

  • All titles are available through stable online sources (such as direct digital subscriptions)  
  • Print journals see very low usage 

Alternative resources: 

All journals continue to be available electronically:

 

This cancellation decision has been made based on cost, availability of duplicated digital content, and impact on disciplines.  

Please contact Sandy Stift, Associate Dean, Library, stifts@macewan.ca if you have questions or concerns. 

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Digital Book Display: Mental Health Week

Book Displays

January 25-29, 20201 is Mental Health Week at MacEwan. All across campus we’re coming together to raise awareness for mental health and wellness. Help us break the silence and stigma attached to mental health by attending events across campus this week or by learning more about mental health. 

 

While we have a multitude of materials on the topic of mental health, we’ve gathered a few that we wanted to highlight. A link to the full list is below. 

 

Delve into the science and research of mental health: 

Prefer watching over reading?: 

 

For more mental health related print and online items, check out our digital reading list.  A green checkmark next to an item in our reading list means it’s available to borrow. A blue checkmark means you can read/watch online. 

 

Happy reading and you are not alone. 

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Cancellation Notice: MarketLine Advantage

Cancellation Notice, Collections

Access ends: March 29, 2021 

Estimated savings: $20,000 

Reasons for cancellation: 

  • Many alternate resources for company and industry information are available through the library 

  • Between Mergent Online and MarketLine Advantage (which are similar in coverage), comparator universities have a strong preference for Mergent Online 

Alternative resources include: 

 

This cancellation decision has been made based on usage data, cost, uniqueness of content, overlap of content with other databases and impact on disciplines. 

Please contact Sandy Stift, Associate Dean, Library, stifts@macewan.ca if you have questions or concerns about this resource. 

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Our COVID Response: By the Numbers

By The Numbers

Throughout the pandemic, it has been very clear that access to our Library is essential to the MacEwan community.  

Since the first time we closed our doors on March 20th, 2020, we’ve been working hard continuing our online services and even creating new ones to increase access. Let’s look at some of the ways you’ve been using our services during the pandemic. 

Research Help 

Library Chat is the main way you’ve been getting in contact with us. You’ve been asking us questions about accessing our collections, finding sources for assignments, and much, much more! In September alone, we answered 967 questions. 

3,717 - Total chat questions answered from March 20 - October 31, 2020. That's a 46% increase compared to last year! We answered 967 chats in September (our busiest month).

 

Accessing our Collections 

Our online collections like databases and eBooks have been very important during this time. Between March and October, you viewed our eBooks over 46,000 times! 

46,194 - Number of eBook views from March 1 - October 31, 2020

 

Online Tutorials 

We’ve been creating online tutorials and videos for years, but they’ve come in handy in courses this Fall. Over 8,000 students have taken the Library’s SearchPath tutorial and the Writing Centre’s tutorials for Academic Integrity and APA Citation. That’s a lot of learning! 

8,829 - Number of students who completed one of our top 3 tutorials (SearchPath, APA, Academic Integrity)

 

New Services 

We also created some new services and switched some old ones online to make the library more accessible. Scan on Demand was created 24hrs after we closed in March, 2020. Library Takeout was a quick interim solution to provide access to our books while we were closed for renovations over the summer. We also created an online system for requesting MacEwan ID Cards: 84% of requests we received from August - October, 2020 were through our new online system. 

2,505 - Total cards printed between August 1 - October 31, 2020. 84% of requests were made through our new online form

 

For more of our COVID response stats, visit Our Library by the Numbers. 

 

To make sure we continue to provide the best access we can to our library’s resources and services, consider giving us some feedback! 

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Cancellation Notice: Encyclopedia of Life Sciences

Cancellation Notice, Collections

Access ends: December 31, 2020 

Estimated savings: $7000 

Reason for cancellation: 

  • High cost per use (over $35/article accessed) 

  • The library has other resources that cover the same topics 

Alternative resources include: 

 

This cancellation decision has been made based on usage data, cost, uniqueness of content, overlap of content with other databases and impact on disciplines. 

Please contact Sandy Stift, Associate Dean, Library, stifts@macewan.ca if you have questions or concerns about this resource. 

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