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…

Our work has changed a lot since the pandemic began in March 2020. The library has invested in a robust online service over the past ten years, but since we began studying and working from home, those numbers have vastly increased. September is always an exciting time at the library and this year was no exception, despite being online. Students and staff alike were reaching out in record numbers. From March to…

With the majority of students and staff being advised to work and study from home, this is how our librarians are supporting online learning… Our Academic Librarian, David, is not really doing anything new. We’ve been using online materials and interacting digitally, often outside “normal” business hours, for a long time. Learning on our own through recordings of other people’s ideas is nothing new either; think of books, journals, newspapers, videos, tapes,…

It is astonishing to think that it has been nearly nine months now since a majority of library staff began working from home. It has also been nine months since a group of us began a project to capture COVID-19 numbers in Canada by working on a collective stitching project we call “Stitching the Curve”. The project aims to capture the ongoing COVID-19 case numbers from province to province, within strips of…