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* Updated since provincial COVID restrictions announced on Dec 8, 2020 * We are taking a winter break and looking forward to the end of 2020 (who isn’t?) and a brighter New Year! With most University of Alberta classes starting January 11th, and with new Provincial restrictions in place, we too have adjusted our opening hours. These are the details! Curbside Pickup Service Rutherford Curbside Pickup & Book Return: NEW (Dec 10,…

Last time you had a look behind the scenes of our Curbside Pickup the sun was out, we were wearing t-shirts and you picked up your books from a table outside Rutherford Library. As the seasons change and the demand for our library material continues, here is how we have evolved our pickup service into what we at University of Alberta Library call Curbside 2.0. The use of lockers is the main…

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…

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.…

With contributions by Alanna Scott The University of Alberta Library prides itself on its vast collections of print and digital material, and the materials available via our NEOS partners. Those of you who use the library typically find that we can fulfill a need for any kind of academic information: books, journals, reports, theses – you name it. But, what happens when we don’t have access to a specific item within our…

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,…

September can be like an academic new year, with the same opportunity for reflection, self improvement, and goals. One area for potential new school year resolutions is study and writing skills. Developing strong study skills and a polished writing style will not only help you this year, and the rest of your post secondary journey, but also your life and career beyond the University of Alberta. This year in particular, with most…

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…

On June 22 we launched our Curbside Pickup Service. Curbside Pickup is our contact-less borrowing service aiding the University of Alberta’s ongoing research. In the month of July, our users placed 3,436 holds and picked up 2,122 books. Because of the high demand for this new, pandemic driven service we thought you might like to see what happens after you place your hold. You may already know the 4 steps to take to…