Vivian Howard – Connecting Authors and Readers: Researching and Documenting Atlantic Canadian Books for Youth

December 2, 2013

Webcast sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and hosted by the iSchool at UBC. In their recent history of Canadian children’s illustrated books, Gail Edwards and Judith Saltman observe that “the children’s literature of a nation is a microcosm of that country’s literary and sociocultural values, beliefs, themes, and images, including those of geography, history, and identity.” This lecture explores the importance of regional Atlantic Canadian children’s literature and the development of Sea Stacks, an authoritative web-based resource featuring information on and about Atlantic Canadian books, authors and illustrators for children and youth. Sea Stacks includes comprehensive annotated bibliographies of primary texts, author and illustrator profiles, videotaped interviews, analysis, and criticism. This presentation illustrates the use of Sea Stacks for research and concludes with a discussion of the relevance of Ian McKay’s provocative 1994 text The Quest for the Folk: Antimodernism and Cultural Selection in Twentieth-Century Nova Scotia to an analysis of contemporary Nova Scotian picture books. This talk is hosted by the iSchool at the University of British Columbia.

Biography

Vivian Howard is associate professor in the School of Information Management and Associate Dean Academic of the Faculty of Management at Dalhousie University. Her research interests include barriers and motivators for pleasure reading, particularly for young readers; social reading initiatives; and Atlantic Canadian literature for children and teens. She is the editor of the YA Hotline newsletter and is the principal investigator of a research team developing the Sea Stacks website.

Select Articles Available at UBC Library

Howard, V. (2013). Picturing difference: Three recent picture books portray the black Nova Scotian community. Bookbird, 51(4), 11. [Link]

Howard, V. (2011). What do young teens think about the public library? 1. The Library Quarterly, 81(3), 321-344. doi:10.1086/660134. [Link]

Howard, V. (2002). Hot, hotter, hottest: The best of the YA hotline. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.

Howard, V. (2012). From Boardbook to Facebook: Children’s services in an interactive age (review). Canadian Journal of Information and Library Science, 36(3), R4-R5. doi:10.1353/ils.2012.0011. [Link]

UBC Library Research Guides

Learning Technology

Early Childhood Education

Read More | No Comments

Made in Taiwan

November 27, 2013

The Taiwanese Canadian Cultural Society, Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in Vancouver, and the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre are pleased to collaborate for the art exhibition featuring the arts and crafts “Made in Taiwan”.

A knowledge of its nature and culture is the key to a deeper understanding of Taiwan.

There was a time when “Made in Taiwan” symbolized inexpensive trinkets and plastic toys. Taiwan has since reinvented its economy, focusing on technology and computers — but alongside their high-tech industry is a re-emphasis of Taiwan’s rich history of craft traditions as a way to construct a national identity — an identity complicated in recent years by political power struggles. Certain cities and towns in Taiwan are renowned for specialty crafts.

The Irving K. Barber Learning Centre exhibition, a conduit for the visual arts and contemporary culture, presents “Made in Taiwan”, an exhibit of crafts showcasing different aspects of Taiwan’s natural diversity and beauty, historica landscapes, its folk customs, people, cities, temple festivals, and holiday celebrations.

In Partnership

Read More | No Comments

24/7 hours at the Learning Centre

November 26, 2013

Read More | No Comments

Stephen Lewis – Faculty Colloquium Talk at UBC Law

November 25, 2013

"Chew On This"- The Business Case Behind Sustainable Food

Webcast sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and hosted by the Faculty of Law. Stephen Lewis is a Co-Director of AIDS-Free World, a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Ryerson University in Toronto, and the board chair of the Stephen Lewis Foundation. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Clinton Health Access Initiative and Emeritus Board Member of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, as well as the author of the best-selling book, Race Against Time. Furthermore, he has worked with the United Nations for over two decades and holds more than 35 honorary degrees.

Select Articles and Books Available at UBC Library

Lewis, S. (2005). Race against time. Toronto: House of Anansi Press. [Link]

Lewis, S. (2008). Opportunities lost: The UN’s failure to fight the HIV/AIDS crisis. Harvard International Review, 30(1), 80. [Link]

Lewis, S. (2009). Essential public health: Theory and practice. Journal of Biosocial Science, 41(1), 155-156. doi:10.1017/S0021932008003131. [Link]

UBC Library Research Guides

Population and Public Health

Read More | No Comments

Redeveloping the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs Resource Centre: New Collections, Classification and Collaboration

November 24, 2013

Alissa Cherry, Resource Centre Director, Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs

In 2012, the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) Resource Centre accepted a large donation that greatly expanded the scope and size of the library collection. After nearly a year of planning and with the help of an army of students and volunteers, work began in April of 2013 to integrate the donation using a workflow that included a cleaning and condition assessment, performing necessary repairs and/or constructing protective housings, classifying all materials into a new revision of the Brian Deer scheme, cataloguing, and processing. All existing library collections passed through a similar workflow and as they were reclassified. In addition to the reclassification, the physical space of the Resource Centre was also rearranged with the addition of a multimedia room and exhibit space. This talk is brought to you by the iSchool at the UBC School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies (SLAIS).

Biography

Alissa Cherry is the Resource Centre Director for the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC). She manages a unique library collection and institutional archives that is used primarily for land claims research. Alissa is a founding member of the BC Digitization Coalition, a member of the Academy of Certified Archivists, and holds an MLIS from the University of British Columbia (UBC). Prior to joining the UBCIC in 2006, Alissa worked for the BC Aboriginal Child Care Society and Xwi7xwa Library at UBC, and spent six years managing the Yellowstone Research Library in Yellowstone National Park.

Wednesday, December 4, 11:30 pm – 12:30 pm, Dodson Room, Level 3, Chapman Learning Commons, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, 1961 East Mall, UBC

Read More | No Comments

The Beauty of the Book: Selections from the Association of American University Presses 2013 Book, Jacket, and Journal Show Exhibition

November 20, 2013

The Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and UBC Press presents “The Beauty of the Book: Selections from the Association of American University Presses 2013 Book, Jacket, and Journal Show” from December 2 through 13^th, 2013. From digitization to new media to multimedia, the book is facing some serious competition. The hype has been around all things e- and i-. And yet the book continues to have a special aura about it – a certain power – that comes from a cover catching your eye, from holding its form in your hands, from reading for hours accompanied by the feel and sound of turning pages.

In January 2013, four judges gathered in New York to sift through hundreds of entries for the AAUP (Association of American University Presses) Book, Jacket, and Journal Show. They were tasked with choosing publications that exhibited excellence in design and manufacture. Their selections are now touring North America.

The Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and UBC Press are excited to host “The Beauty of the Book: Selections from the Association of American University Presses 2013 Book, Jacket, and Journal Show” which offers to the university community the chance to marvel at their intelligent, creative design and to be inspired by their beauty.

Visit the display from December 2^nd through December 13^th on the concourse of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. For more information on the books in the show, please find here. As a bonus attraction, award-winning books from the Alcuin Society Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada will also be displayed as part of this exhibition.

“In a badly designed book, the letters mill and stand like starving horses in a field. In a book designed by rote, they sit like stale bread and mutton on the page. In a well-made book, where designer, compositor and printer have all done their jobs, no matter how many thousands of lines and pages, the letters are alive. They dance in their seats. Sometimes they rise and dance in the margins and aisles.”
– Robert Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style

“Despite the ongoing debates on the future of books and bookstores as we know them, I’m happy to say that good book design continues to really excite, impress, and sparks new creative ideas for me. The winning entries for this year’s AAUP competition are certainly proof of this.”

– Charlotte Strick, AAUP Book, Jacket, and Journal Show judge and award-winning designer and art director for Faber and Faber, Inc. and for paperbacks at Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

Partner

Read More | No Comments

alumni UBC Achievement Awards Nomination

November 19, 2013

THE NEXT AWARDS RECIPIENTS WON’T RAISE THEIR OWN HANDS. THAT’S WHY WE NEED YOU! NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN.

Do you know of someone who exemplifies the best of UBC? Do you know a graduate, faculty or friend of UBC who deserves to be recognized as a leader, advocate, artist or visionary? This is your chance to give them the limelight they richly deserve. Now accepting nominations for the 2014 alumni UBC Achievement Awards. Complete details are online at http://www.alumni.ubc.ca/nominate.

The Irving K. Barber Learning Centre has collaborated with alumni UBC for some exciting and intellectually stimulating programs. Watch some of our webcasts from the past here.

Deadline Friday, January 31, 2014

Read More | No Comments

Technology and the Academic Librarian: Emerging, Merging, and Changing the Game

November 15, 2013

Presented by the Academic Librarians in Public Service (ALPS), a section of the British Columbia Library Association. Its purpose is to promote the exchange of ideas among academic public service librarians and to provide a network of professional expertise resulting in excellent public service programs in the post-secondary libraries of British Columbia, using the latest methods, systems, and technologies.

December 6, 2013, 9:30AM – 11.30PM, Lillooet Room (Room 301), Irving K. Barber Learning Centre

Read More | No Comments

The Oxford English Dictionary, the Grimm Brothers, and Miley Cyrus

November 14, 2013

Read More | No Comments

Akio Takahara – Domestic Factors in China's External Policy: The Case of Japan-China Relations

November 7, 2013

Webcast sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and hosted by the Institute of Asian Research (IAR). Chaired By: Joseph Caron, Former Canadian Ambassador to Japan. Besides international factors such as the 2008 world financial crisis, there are important domestic factors in China’s current external policy. They include the intensive debates over the necessity and content of economic and political reforms, and people’s dissatisfaction and anxiety about the flip side of China’s rapid growth. This talk will take up the case of China’s hardline approach towards Japan over the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands, and discuss why it continues despite the undaunted advancement of economic exchange, and how the rest of the world should react to it. Dr. Akio Takahara graduated from the Faculty of Law, University of Tokyo, and received his PhD from the University of Sussex. He previously worked at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, the Japanese consulate in Hong Kong, J.F. Oberlin University, Rikkyo University, the Japanese embassy in Beijing, and University of Tokyo. He was a visiting professor at Harvard University (2005–06). He is currently a professor at the Graduate School of Law and Politics, University of Tokyo, a member and Secretary General of the New 21st Century Committee for Japan-China Friendship and a senior researcher with the Tokyo Foundation. His academic interest revolves around contemporary Chinese politics and China’s foreign policy. His publications include “New Developments in East Asian Security” (2005), “Beyond the Borders: Contemporary Asian Studies Volume One” (2008), “Putting the Senkaku Dispute Into Pandora’s Box: Toward a ‘2013 Consensus” (2013).

Select Articles Available at UBC Library

Takahara, A. (1992). The politics of wage policy in post-revolutionary China. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, [UK]: Macmillan Press.

Benewick, R., & Takahara, A. (2002). Eight grannies with nine teeth between them: Community construction in China. Journal of Chinese Political Science, 7(1), 1-18. doi:10.1007/BF02876927. [Link]

Takahara, A. (1999). Managing central-local relations during socialist marketisation: A changing role for the Chinese communist party. IDS Bulletin, 30(4), 23-30. [Link]

Takahara, A. (1993). Enterprise reform and fiscal reform in china: Overlapping webs of interests. Asian Economic Journal, 7(2), 147-165. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8381.1993.tb00105.x. [Link]

UBC Library Research Guides

Chinese Law

Chinese Studies

Read More | No Comments