Greetings AAAL members,
Library staff from all member institutions are invited to join us at the University of Alberta Libraries’ Augustana Campus Library in Camrose on Friday, November 15th for the Alberta Association of Academic Libraries’ Fall 2019 Meeting. We’re excited to announce Feisal Kirumira as our keynote speaker. Feisal is an Associate Lecturer for German at Augustana Campus and a PhD student in Secondary Education at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. His area of interest is multicultural education with an emphasis on antiracist pedagogy informed by African Wisdom teachings with a slice of philosophical hermeneutics. He has delivered many antiracism and intercultural awareness sessions in Canada and abroad and we’re looking forward to having him join us for the morning keynote address. Following lunch there is an exciting lineup of professional development sessions including:
Buchanan Library: Adapting to Change
This presentation will provide an overview of the summer’s renovations and showcase the new space at Buchanan Library, Lethbridge College. We will also talk about the indigenization that has happened to the space. Further, our presentation will discuss services for international students. The college has seen a large increase in this population over the last two years, and as a result, the library has had to expand services and continue to provide them during renovations. We will outline how this has looked for the past year, over the summer, and give some projections for the upcoming years.
Presenters: Corene Kozey & Darel Bennedbaek, Lethbridge College
DeciphAR: Utilizing Augmented Reality to Support Place-Making in Academic Libraries
A new app developed by Mount Royal University Library in collaboration with Red Crow College uses augmented reality (AR) to provide audio and visual information about the Blackfoot translations on the wayfinding in the Riddell Library and Learning Centre (RLLC). This information includes pronunciations and descriptions of the translations completed by Elder Leo Fox. DeciphAR continues the work of place-making in the Library by supporting and encouraging the active use of Indigenous language while recognizing the importance of grounding ourselves in the place that we work and live.
Presenters: Francine May, Matt Laidlow and Chase Schrader, Mount Royal University
Transitioning to Linked Data: an International Effort
For the last few years the University of Alberta Library (UAL) has been working towards transitioning its bibliographic data and cataloguing workflows to a linked data environment. For work on moving from MARC to BIBFRAME, this initiative has included two international projects: Linked Data for Production (LD4P) and Share-VDE, both of which have member institutions all around the world. This presentation will summarize UAL’s involvement with these two projects and the advantages and disadvantages of being a part of multiple international projects.
Presenter: Adam Cohen, University of Alberta
Preparing international students about life in Canada prior to their arrival and upon arrival in Canada
This session will review how:
- To prepare potential international students for the English language assessment tests
- To share the invisible rules and practices in Canada
- To teach international students about the diversity of indigenous population in Canada
Presenter: Manisha Khetarpal, Maskwacis Cultural College
Computational Thinking and Robotics: Reflections on a course-embedded Library Robotics Workshop
This lightning strike will give an overview of a course-embedded library workshop for 2nd year Education students on computational thinking and robotics. Lighting strike will give an overview of the workshop and lessons learned from planning this recurring workshop that involves 10-15 staff, new technologies and almost 200 students!
Presenter: Alissa Droog, University of Alberta
University of Alberta Libraries’ Communications and Outreach to International Education
As an Academic Library Resident at the University of Alberta, my assigned residency project, stemming from the research report “Supporting International Students: The University of Alberta Libraries Response to the University Strategic Plan”, centred around the libraries’ communication and outreach to international education. Following the creation of a strategic communications plan, my first project-based task, I participated in numerous outreach initiatives including weekly participation in English Conversation Club meetings and a collaboration with staff from University of Alberta International to deliver training to library staff surrounding intercultural interactions. By sharing my experiences participating in library outreach to international students, I hope to inspire similar work at other academic institutions across Alberta.
Presenter: Victoria Eke, Concordia University of Edmonton
Outreach for International and ESL students
International students are an expanding demographic at many post-secondary institutions. Many of these institutions may also have ESL programs, however, these two groups of students have different needs. What are the characteristics of these diverse student groups and how can libraries meet these needs? This session will discuss MRU’s current outreach to these students, its future outreach goals, as well as outreach trends in post-secondary institutions throughout North America. Participants will have the opportunity to discuss their own diverse student populations, discuss current outreach at their institutions, and identify possible outreach opportunities. Participants will be able to:
- Recognize the differences in needs of international and ESL students
- Identify and discuss outreach efforts at their institution
- Identify possible outreach opportunities that they can adopt at their institution.
Presenter: Christopher Thomas, Mount Royal University
The full meeting package with agenda and further session information will be on the AAAL website shortly.
Please register by 12 pm on Friday, November 8. We recommend you register early as space is limited and the meetings always reach capacity.
We hope to see you there!
AAAL 