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! 

• Maya Angelou – I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Maya Angelou: The Complete Poetry 

• Octavia E. Butler – Parable of the Sower (ebook)  and Kindred 

• Ta-Nehisi Coates – Between the World and Me 

• Roxane Gay – Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body and Bad Feminist: Essays  

• Langston Hughes – The Collected Works of Langston Hughes  

• Zora Neale Hurston – Novels and Stories and Their Eyes Were Watching God  

• Claude McKay – Home to Harlem (ebook)  

• Toni Morrison – Sula and Paradise  

• Angie Thomas – The Hate You Give 

• Alice Walker – The Color Purple, In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women, and The Temple of My Familiar 

Looking for Canadian authors?: 

• André Alexis – Fifteen Dogs 

• Dionne Brand – Theory and Love Enough 

• Austin Clarke – The Polished Hoe 

• Esi Edugyan – Half-Blood Blues  

• Minister Faust – The Coyote Kings: Space-Age Bachelor Pad and The Alchemist of Kush (ebook) 

• Lawrence Hill – Any Known Blood and The Book of Negroes  

• Chelene Knight – Dear Current Occupant: A Memoir (ebook) 

• Eternity Martis – They Said This Would Be Fun: Race, Campus Life, and Growing Up  

• Ian Williams – Personals 

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

• Rochelle Ignacio – White Palms: A Tale of Identity and Belonging  

• James Odera – A Lost Boy 

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

• ‘...Still Not Considered….’ by Deborah Dobbins (February 22, 2021 @12:00pm) 

• The Many Faces of Me by Cathryn Heslep (February 23, 2021 @12:00pm) 

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. 

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).

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.

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: 

• As Black as Resistance: Finding the Conditions for Liberation by William Anderson and Zoé Samudzi  

• Optimism at All Costs: Black Attitudes, Activism, and Advancement in Obama’s America by L. B. Branch  

• Until We Are Free: Reflections on Black Lives Matter Canada by Rodney Diverlus, Sandy Hudson, & Syrus Marcus Ware  

• Shelter in a Time of Storm: How Black Colleges Fostered Generations of Leadership and Activism by Jelani Favors  

• A Perilous Path: Talking Race, Inequality, and the Law by Sherrilyn Ifill et al  

• Black or Right: Anti/Racist Campus Rhetorics by Louis Maraj  

• Black Power: Radical Politics and African American Identity by Jeffrey Ogbar  

• Black Lives Matter and Music: Protest, Intervention, Reflection by Fernando Orejuela, & Stephanie Shonekan  

We couldn’t resist adding this older classic: 

• Black Marxism: the Making of the Black Radical Tradition by C. J. Robinson  

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: 

• Alonso, G. (2021). Black Lives Matter in rural Canada, too. Briarpatch, 50(1), 6–10. https://library.macewan.ca/full-record/fqh/147561147 

• C.M Boykin, et al. (2020). Anti-racist actions and accountability: not more empty promises. Equality, Diversity & Inclusion, 39(7), 775–786. https://library.macewan.ca/full-record/bth/146809377 

• 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: 

• Violence from Slavery to #BlackLivesMatter: African American History and Representation by Andrew Dix and Peter Templeton. PS173 .N4 V46 2020  

• Black Resistance in the Americas by Daive Dunkley and Stephanie Shonekan. E185.61 .B6125 2019  

• #BRokenPromises, Black Deaths, and Blue Ribbons: Understanding, Complicating, and Transcending Police-Community Violence by Kenneth Fasching-Varner, Kerri Tobin, and Stephen Lentz. E185.615 .B725 2018  

• Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class by Robin D. G. Kelley. E185.61 .K356 1996  

• Antiracist Baby by Ibram Kendi. HM1271 .K46 2020 Juvenile Collection  

• Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present by Robyn Maynard. FC106 .B6 M39 2017  

• The Anger Gap: How Race Shapes Emotion in Politics by Davin Phoenix. E185.615 .P473 2020  

• Backlash: What Happens When We Talk Honestly About Racism in America by George Yancy. E185.615 .Y36 2018  

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. 

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:

• Nature 
• Psychological Review 
• Psychological Bulletin 
• American Psychologist 

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. 

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: 

• Key Concepts in Mental Health - by David Pilgrim 
• Treating and preventing adolescent mental health disorders : what we know and what we don't know : a research agenda for improving the mental health of our youth - edited by Dwight Evans 

Prefer watching over reading?: 

• Speak out on Suicide 
• Dispelling the Myths of Mental Illness 
• Winning the Mind Game: Triumphing over Mental Illness 

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. 

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: 

• IBISWorld 

• Mergent Online 

• Sustainalytics 

• Business Insights: Essentials 

• ABI/Inform Complete 

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. 

Starting March 1, 2021, out Library Takeout pickup location is moving to 7-292 (the old SAMU offices). MacEwan students, faculty, and staff are able to borrow items from MacEwan Library and partner libraries, including textbooks! This service will be available until the library reopens. 

Here’s how the service works:  

1. Find your item(s) in our catalogue, confirm the item is listed as “On Shelf,” and place a hold; placing a hold on an item that is “Checked Out” will result in long waits as recalls are not being processed at this time.  

2. Select MacEwan University Library as your pickup location.  

3. When your items are ready, you will get an email with pickup instructions. Pickup location will be at the Library Takeout desk (7-292) during regular hours.

4. Return your items to one of our return bins or outside 7-292.

Want a contactless way to pick up your holds? Download our Library Checkout App, come pick up your book, then use your phone to scan the barcode and add it to your account! 

FAQs  

What is available to borrow?  

• Textbooks 

• Books  

• Print journals  

• CDs  

• DVDs  

• Items from partner libraries that are open for lending.

What is not available to borrow?   

• Items in our Reserve Collection  

• Specialized technology like cameras, microphones, and raspberry pi kits (laptops can be borrowed by emailing library@macewan.ca)  

Who can borrow? 

This service is only available to MacEwan students, faculty, and staff. External borrowers are encouraged to contact their home library to determine what services are available to them. 

What if I’m a distance student?  

Our Distance Delivery service is available to students currently registered in a distance program. If you are not registered in a distance program but live outside of Edmonton please contact library@macewan.ca.   

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. 

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! 

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! 

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. 

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! 

Whether your Winter 2021 courses are online, hybrid, or face-to-face, your Subject Librarian can create or modify resources and lessons to support your assignments' research learning outcomes and your students' research needs. See what your Librarian can provide in the infographic below. Want to see some examples? Check out our Library Instruction Program page.

Contact your Subject Librarian to get started. 

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: 

• ScienceDirect – Life Sciences collection 

• A dictionary of genetics (Oxford University Press) 

• Oxford dictionary of biochemistry and molecular biology (2nd ed.) (Oxford University Press) 

• A dictionary of plant sciences (Oxford University Press) 

• A dictionary of zoology (Oxford University Press) 

• The dictionary of cell and molecular biology (Elsevier) 

• Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia (Gale eBooks) 

• Encyclopedia of evolution (Credo) 

• Concepts of biology (OER) 

• Microbiology (OER) 

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.