Digital Collections

This year the University of Alberta’s Winter Closure will span from December 25, 2020 to January 3, 2021. Here is where you can find dates of closure and resumption of our library services. PANDEMIC — is the word that defines the year 2020. I know I am not alone when I say this year has been HARD. That is why I propose that we take the 10 days of Winter Closure as…

The University of Alberta Library subscribes to numerous databases that are core for certain disciplines, but also really deserving of wider attention. This is one of those gems… Artstor is a collection of more than a million high-quality digital images of works of art from the collections of galleries, museums, and libraries around the world. It is used most often by researchers in the Arts and Human Ecology: Clothing, Textiles & Material…

On November 11 we will pause to honour the soldiers that have fought for Canada and to support the Canadian Troops. In addition to pausing for a day to honour the soldiers, I thought another way to appreciate the Canadian soldiers would be to showcase photos of the University of Alberta’s connection to World War I (WWI). With the help of my colleague at University of Alberta Archives (UAA), Marissa Fraser, here…

Happy World Digital Preservation Day! Today, November 5, is the day those of us in the library and archives community celebrate the wonderful work done to ensure that items from the past and present will be permanently preserved on open access, digital platforms to be accessed for future use.  University of Alberta Library has a number of initiatives that involve digital preservation, including our ongoing work to preserve born digital resources (ie.…

Cold fall air. Howling wind. Crackling leaves on the ground… Halloween spirit is in the air! Although these images weren’t created to scare, sepia has been generously applied by the passage of time… and they emerge as the perfect backdrop for spooky stories… Let’s start at the iconic Alberta Legislature Building, which looks like it’s holding a flashlight up to its face. A short glide away (if you’re a ghost), near the…

Is hindsight the best sight? For staffers seasoned in the library sciences, the answer is yes! We polled our multi-disciplinary team of library whizzes and asked, “What one library resource did you wish you knew about/had access to when you were a student?“ Almost immediately, David Sulz (Academic Librarian) replied back with the Oxford English Dictionary. While our holdings include physical copies, the most up-to-date edition is our online version. It contains…

Sometimes, due to fast paced lives, we make poor information choices. A few hours of our free time, when the only thing we are able to do is hang out in front of the screen, is the time when we often choose to consume average entertainment products at our own financial expense. As a member of the University of Alberta, you have many choices to turn that time into a great art,…

Imagine looking at a new course syllabus, and reading: “Required Texts: Free e-textbook”… This is what U of A students will find in their Beginner German classes. The e-textbook is aptly titled Willkommen: Deutsch für alle (in English, that means Welcome: German for Everybody). Here, the definition of “everybody” is broad: it includes anyone with access to the Internet connection. No need to be enrolled in the course, or even be attending the…

This truly is a school year like no other, and we know that many of you have questions about what accessing the library will be like in the coming year. While the majority of our physical libraries remain closed, so many of our great resources remain available online, or through our curbside pick-up service. To help you sort through all the ways University of Alberta Library can assist with your unique needs,…