Collections

As those new to Edmonton quickly learn winter takes up a significant portion of the year. Complain all you want, but it doesn’t change the days or (shudder) weeks of extreme cold, snow storms and bone chilling winds. It has also provoked many inquisitive folks to investigate various aspects of winter. Knowledge is power and understanding is a first step towards acceptance. We’ve covered how to dress for the season, but let’s…

This post was written by Ian Bigelow (Head, Cataloguing Strategies) and Sharon Farnel (Head, Metadata Strategies) Linked open data is a set of best practices for exposing, sharing and consuming structured data so that it can interlink with other data. By linking data within and across other repositories and resource collections, libraries can provide rich knowledge discovery experiences for their user communities. Library metadata standards are in a period of significant change. Linked…

The University of Alberta Library subscribes to numerous databases that are core for certain disciplines, but also really deserving of wider attention. Here is just one of those gems… Our Clothing, Textiles & Material Culture subject guide is home to fashion resources. The Vogue Archive is just one of the many gems here. It features the complete run of Vogue (US edition) from 1892 to the current month reproduced in high resolution,…

As the winter break descends upon the University of Alberta (U of A), now may be a great opportunity to set aside the research items and indulge in some not-so-guilty pleasures from your library friends…and by friends, we don’t just mean those from the U of A Library. There is a veritable treasure trove of recreational delights within the collections of both U of A Library, AND Edmonton Public Library (EPL). And…

Today we shine the spotlight on authors of Vietnamese ancestry. In the aftermath of the Vietnam War (also known as the American War) and the fall of Saigon in 1975 there was a great exodus and many refugees eventually found their way to Canada. By 1982 more than 120,000 had been resettled in Canada (Canadian Red Cross) – considered our largest humanitarian undertaking to that point.  Many of these families made their…

As many of us are already keenly aware, textbook costs contribute significantly to the cost of learning for students. The last few semesters have presented additional barriers for getting learning resources into the hands of students, from shipping delays to campus closures.  That’s why we’re so thrilled to see the Students’ Union (SU) and the Registrar’s Office team up for the pilot ZTC (Zero Textbook Cost) indicator in BearTracks, which highlights low-cost…

I am in love with Ismaili cuisine. It has been a source of deep comfort for me and my family over the course of the pandemic. My interest in Indian cuisine started in my 20s, where I explored some of the excellent restaurants in Edmonton and then it grew exponentially after moving to an Ismaili community in Nairobi, Kenya for an internship via UAlberta International. Living in the Nairobi neighbourhood of Westlands,…

Earlier this year LearnAlberta’s Online Reference Centre (ORC) ceased to exist. This meant the end of UAlberta access to resources like the Britannica Online School Edition K-12, PebbleGo and Gale Science in Context. Fear not, gentle educators and education students. Just because we no longer have access to these resources doesn’t mean there aren’t other options available to UAlberta folks. Our friends at Edmonton Public Library (EPL) have many resources related to…

At this time of year when the moon looms large in the early evening sky, the wind sighs and teases the leaves still clinging fiercely to tree branches… ghosts and eerie tales abound. This is the season of Halloween and tall tales told by moonlight.  Speaking of tales… we have a few to share.   Many of you are perhaps new to our campus, so you might not yet be acquainted with our…