Live-in For Literacy Is Hiring

Live-in For Literacy Is Hiring


Live-in For Literacy’s Room to Read UBC is HIRING!

It is a charity group with a strong focus on the equal access to education. We believe that changing the world starts from educated children. Please visit the Room to Read website for more information on our causes: http://www.roomtoread.org/.

One of the largest student campaigns at UBC, Live-in for Literacy involves students camping out at the Irving K Barber Learning Centre to raise money and awareness for approximately a week. This Live-in for Literacy initiative occurs on 10 Canadian campuses nation-wide. We will also be hosting several other events and fundraisers throughout the year.

*What are the positions available?*
Events Coordinators (5) –> Help initiate and organize our events and fundraisers!
Sponsorship Coordinators (2) –> Help us gain support from local organizations!
Marketing Coordinator (1) –> Help us get the word out about our causes and initiatives!

*What can you expect?* The commitment is usually about 2-5 hours a week, with more hours required for fundraisers, especially during the Live-in for Literacy week in January. We ask that you attend all weekly meetings, and take initiative where possible. We always encourage creative ideas and we love cupcakes!

*How can you apply?* Simply send an updated resume to RoomtoReadUBC@gmail.com, indicating which position(s) you are interested in. Deadline for applications is November 15th.

*Any questions?*
Email us at RoomtoReadUBC@gmail.com, and we will get back to you as soon as we can!

B.C. Digitization Program wins BCLA award

The B.C. History Digitization Program (BCHDP), an initiative of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, has been awarded a Programs and Services Merit Award by the British Columbia Library Association (BCLA). The award was presented at the annual BCLA conference in April. The awards committee noted that the organization was impressed with the project’s scope and its ability to connect communities across the province through their histories.

The BCHDP, launched in 2006, provides matching funds for digitization projects that provide free online access to B.C.’s unique historical material. In 2007, funding was awarded to 17 successful program applicants from around the province; that number increased to 21 in 2008. For more information, please visit www.ikebarberlearningcentre.ubc.ca.

Congratulations to University Archivist Chris Hives, and his team members Bronwen Sprout and Rob Stibravy, who developed and administered the program. Congratulations also to the adjudication team members: Pat Roy, George Sipos, Mark Jordan, Chris Ball, Patrick Dunnae and Simon Neame. Thank you all for your vision and commitment.

Jan Wong at Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, May 24, 5-6pm

Out of the Blue, A Memoir of Workplace Depression, Recovery, Redemption and, Yes, Happiness

For twenty years, Jan Wong had been one of the Globe and Mail’s best-known reporters. Then one day she turned in a story that set off a firestorm of controversy, including death threats, a unanimous denunciation by Parliament and a rebuke by her own newspaper. For the first time in her professional life, Wong fell into a severe clinical depression. Yet she resisted the diagnosis, refusing to believe she had a mental illness. As it turned out, so did her company and insurer. With wit, grace and insight, Wong tells the harrowing tale of her struggle with workplace-caused depression, and of her eventual emergence … Out of the Blue.

Jan Wong is a third-generation Canadian who grew up in Montreal speaking English, some French and zero Chinese. In the summer of 1972, while majoring in Asian studies at McGill University, she traveled alone to the People’s Republic of China. At 19, she talked her way into a spot at Peking University, becoming the first of two Westerners to study in China during the Cultural Revolution, a tale she recounts in her memoir, Red China Blues, My Long March from Mao to Now.

In collaboration with the Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society’s month of ExplorAsian festival, Jan Wong will read from Out of the Blue, A Memoir of Workplace Depression, Recovery, Redemption and, Yes, Happiness at the Lillooet Room (Room 301) at the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre at UBC on May 24, 2012, 5.00-6.00pm.

Praise for Out of the Blue, a Memoir of Workplace Depression, Recovery, Redemption and, Yes, Happiness

“Jan Wong has clearly and accurately presented the history, signs and symptoms of depression and its underlying and associated pathological correlates. Her research is thorough and presented clearly. Bravo! Perhaps more importantly, she has painted an accurate and evocative portrait of a person trying to live a life with major depression. Jan Wong tells the story like a human being, in a way which will edify, disturb, or comfort the reader depending on who he or she is, but whatever that reader’s detailed response, they’ll be seriously engaged.”
— Dr. Irvin Wolkoff, Toronto psychiatrist, writer and broadcaster.

“Jan Wong is a wonderful writer and, as she tells her own story, she speaks for me and for many. Some say depression is a gift. Well, it’s not. But this book is.”

— Shelagh Rogers, O.C., Broadcast journalist and recipient of the Champion of Mental Health Award

NOW Magazine wondering why Doubleday suddenly decided to drop the book: “I mean, really, what’s likely to sell more, a book about depression with a courageous personal account by a survivor of the disease or a book about depression with a courageous personal account by a survivor of the disease that includes her conflict with her employer, Canada’s iconic national newspaper?




For more information, please contact Allan Cho

UBC Library welcomes WCILCOS 2012