This is a guest post by librarians, Jessica Thorlakson and Janice Kung

The University of Alberta Libraries (UAL) is a strong supporter of teaching and information literacy. In 2018, your library staff taught approximately 667 sessions with approximately 17,542 library users. That’s a lot of people!

Image by rawpixel from Pixabay

One of the best ways to do this is through the collaboration between professors/instructors and subject librarians. Librarians come into classes and provide relevant library and information literacy instruction that are customized to meet the learning outcomes of the course. These are “course based” instructional sessions and can cover everything from effectively searching databases for literature, citation manager tools, research metrics, research data management, and more.

However, UAL also offers many “non-course based” instructional sessions, those not connected to specific UAlberta courses. These provide additional opportunities to pick up other information literacy skills or additional topics relevant to research or campus life, such as how to manage a unique identifier for your researcher profile (e.g. ORCID), identifying predatory publishers, and systematic review searching.

In the visualizations below, you can see some of our instruction statistics from 2013-2018.

The fall term sees the largest influx of new students, so naturally it is the library’s busiest month for instruction, as we reach out to our users and provide an orientation about our services and resources. While much of our instruction is considered “course based” (in fact, 72% of all library instruction is embedded within the curriculum), the non-course based sessions offer greater flexibility so the library can provide more in-depth sessions on a variety of topics, such as the monthly three-hour training sessions on systematic review searching.

We look forward to another busy, library instruction year with all of you. If you are looking for some library instruction for your class, try contacting your subject librarian.

Open educational resources (OER) are any freely available teaching, learning or research material. The possibilities for OERs are endless and they can include videos, podcasts, presentations and even textbooks. OERs provide the flexibility to share, collaborate and draw on course materials from around the world, while reducing the cost of higher education by challenging expensive textbook prices. OERs also provide a practical and effective way to facilitate lifelong learning, an essential skill in our changing and complex world.

The University of Alberta Libraries are pleased to provide digital access to the New York Times! But what does this mean? The libraries already provide access to the NY Times in print and to historical content online.

With digital access, you can keep up with the current news cycle and access other great online features:

• The New York Times app for mobile devices
• NYT Cooking app (over 17K recipes that can be saved and accessed across platforms)
• NYT VR app - experience (with a virtual reality viewer) some NY Times content in 3D
• The Daily 360 - two dimensional videos that provide 360° views (with mobile device or mouse)
• Interactive media (graphics, charts, maps, polls, custom content)
• Video library (spanning all sections)
• Augmented reality content (requires an iPhone 6S or higher)
• Newsletters (there are a variety of topics that you may subscribe to)
• Article history and save options (across platforms)
• Article comment permissions
• New York Times inEducation (includes 16 discipline-specific areas of study, discussion prompts, learning outcomes, instructional strategies, and co-curricular activities)

What is not included with our NY Times academic license:

• E-reader editions
• Times Insider
• Premium Crosswords
• New York Times Crossword app (app is free to download, but requires in-app purchase to access Premium Crosswords)

To activate your access:

• Register for nytimes.com using your UofA email address.
• Register for nytimesineducation.com using your UofA email address.
• Download your NYT mobile app from nytimes

Alongside the University of Alberta’s mission of “For the Public Good” The University of Alberta Libraries is introducing an Open Educational Resources (OER) publishing program to increase access to and use of free and accessible textbooks and other learning resources.

OER are teaching and learning materials that are accessible without cost and allow for free use, reuse and redistribution. OER often have a Creative Commons license that states specifically how the material may be used, reused, adapted, and shared.

If you are interested in creating, adapting or using open textbooks or other OER in a course, the Libraries’ can provide you with the tools, expertise, and free hosting to get you started.

For more information, see www.library.ualberta.ca/publishing or contact library.publishing@ualberta.ca to see if our service is the right match for your learning materials. You can also check out the OER Awards, to see if you are eligible to apply for additional support for your project.

Every year, universities, colleges, research institutes, and libraries around the world host events celebrating Open Access Week, an opportunity to explore and promote open access in its many different forms. This year's Open Access Week runs from October 23 - 29. The theme, "Designing Equitable Foundations for Open Knowledge" is an opportunity to learn about the potential benefits of open access.



Here are a few local events you can attend! Find many more on the global 2018 OA Week Calendar, or follow #openaccessweek2018 on Twitter.

Join in Research Computing Fall Bootcamp events beginning September 24!



Patrick Mann, Director of Operations at WestGrid, kicks off a week full of research computing activities with valuable tips for writing a research allocation proposal. Mann’s areas of focus include cloud computing, virtualization, networking, systems architecture, system administration, and collaboration.

Additional events will run through September 28 and include a marketplace, one-on-one consultations, workshops on Shell, Regex, OpenRefine, and more!

Sign-up for Fall Bootcamp events running September 24 - 28 here: https://ist.ualberta.ca/blog/events/get-ready-research-computing-fall-bootcamp

Fall Bootcamp provides the opportunity to connect with colleagues and research computing experts to share knowledge and best practices. Research Computing Fall Bootcamp is held in collaboration with University of Alberta Libraries and Information Services & Technology (IST).

The University of Alberta Libraries is conducting an online survey regarding our Interlibrary Loan Services, and we would love to hear from you!

All University of Alberta students, faculty and staff are invited to respond to this survey - regardless of any previous experience with using Interlibrary Loans.

Your feedback will give us valuable insight into how our services can be improved, as well as address any concerns that users currently have while requesting Interlibrary Loan material. The survey will remain open until February 7, 2018.

To complete this survey, please follow the link below:

https://libraryualberta.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9KRgDT4IwLrtkLb

If you have any questions regarding this survey, please contact Victoria Wong at vlwong@ualberta.ca, or at 780-492-7905.

Instructors, have we got a service for you!

Send the library your course reading list and we will provide you with durable links to online articles and ebooks. You can use these links in eClass and on course websites so your students will have easy access to class readings. Usually, some ebooks may only be accessed by a limited number of people at a time but when you use this service, we raise user limits on e-books for course readings.

Also, at your request, we will add print items to the library reserve room of your choice that students may borrow for short term loans.

The library already has many required textbooks available in our reserve rooms through a partnership with the Bookstore.  If your course text needs to be added please include it in your request.

And, as always, Ask Us if you have questions!

Search the Library and you will find more than just electronic articles and books. You will also learn how you can use and re-use these resources, which are made available to you via licensing agreements negotiated by staff at the University of Alberta Libraries.

As a course instructor you have likely uploaded an article to your learning management system (LMS), such as eClass or uLearn, for your students.

Information about whether or not our license allows this use, as well as others such as inclusion in course packs, downloading, or printing, is available in the “Our Usage Rights” column in catalogue entries (see the screenshot below) or by following the "Get It! ualberta" link.

From March 7 to March 11, 2016 universities, colleges, schools and organizations around the world will be celebrating Open Education Week, including the University of Alberta.

Open educational resources (OERs) are any freely available material or media that facilitates teaching and learning. OERs can include videos, podcasts, presentations, textbooks and more. They provide faculty the flexibility to share, collaborate and draw on course materials from around the world, while reducing the cost of higher education by challenging expensive textbook prices. OERs also provide a practical and effective way to facilitate lifelong learning, an essential skill in our changing and complex world.

Attend the University of Alberta’s Open Education Week events to learn more about OERs and what they mean for you.

Planned sessions include:

• Webinar with Cable Green, Director of Global Learning at Creative Commons
• Keynote lecture and hands-on workshop with Rajiv Jhangiani, Faculty, Kwantlen Polytechnic University and OER Research Fellow, Open Education Group
• Webinar with Dr Janet Welch on the Campus Alberta OER Initiative
• Panel with faculty and students on efforts to open up course textbooks at UAlberta

Review the schedule and register online!  Events are open to all.

• Visit the Libraries' Open Educational Resources Guide guide
• Join the University of Alberta Open Education community listserv
• Apply for funding through the Campus Alberta Open Educational Resources Initiative 
• Follow @uofalibraries to contribute to the Open Education Week conversation with the #uaopened hashtag

Earlier this year, University of Alberta Libraries [UAL] sought feedback from faculty about the impact of digital information technologies on their research and teaching via the Ithaka Faculty Survey. In addition to the reports and data already posted here, Ithaka recently provided the Libraries with an analytical narrative of the results of the survey, that also provides some comparisons against aggregated findings of all participating CARL [Canadian Association of Research Libraries] institutions.

A key goal of the survey is to provide evidence-based strategic insights into how faculty members perceive the role of the Libraries and identify areas of opportunity for innovation. The results from the survey revealed the following strategically relevant key insights and opportunities.

Key Insights

• In general, a substantial share of faculty value the library's role in serving as a gateway for the discovery of scholarly content
• Across all disciplines, faculty view the library's role as a purchaser of collections as critical to their ability to conduct research
• Arts and humanities faculty highly value and recognize the library’s role in providing access to needed research materials and scholarly content, and in the provision of research and teaching-related support for students in developing research and information literacy skills
• Faculty in the medical/veterinary/health science and science disciplines are much more likely to prefer only electronic versions of scholarly resources including monographs and journal articles, when compared with their colleagues in the arts, humanities, and social sciences
• In general, respondents value the library’s role in providing access to subscription-based online repositories of research data, indicating that faculty members may value specialized research content and collections in addition to access to traditional literature

• To focus on enhancing engagement among faculty members in science disciplines regarding library-provided research and instructional support services
• To enhance strategic communications or targeted outreach to faculty members in medical/veterinary/health science and arts and humanities disciplines specifically regarding how the Libraries can support faculty in organizing, managing, and preserving
• To continue to develop services surrounding the curation of data

For Further Information

• Review the University of Alberta - Analytical Memo for the full narrative of insights and opportunities
• Review the University of Alberta Faculty Survey: Report of Findings, Faculty Survey Feedback, and the Libraries Response to Feedback
• Visit our Research Data Management web site to learn how to organize, access, share, and archive your data

The following workshops will be offered:

Overview of Publication and Research(er) Metrics in the Humanities and Social Sciences
June 9, 2015, 10:30am – 12pm
Rutherford South 2-03

Google Scholar for Metrics
June 12, 2015, 12 - 12:50pm
Rutherford South 2-03

Social Science Research Network (SSRN)
June 15, 2015, 12 - 12:50pm
Rutherford South 2-03

Web of Science and Scopus
June 19, 2015, 12 - 12:50pm
Rutherford South 2-03

Mendeley
June 24, 2015, 12 - 12:50pm
Rutherford South 2-03

Academia.edu and ResearchGate: Sharing, Monitoring, and Following Research
June 26, 2015,12 - 12:50pm
Rutherford South 2-03

For more information, and to register go to: http://bit.ly/MetricsHSS.

University of Alberta Libraries [UAL] recently sought feedback from faculty about the impact of digital information technologies on their research and teaching. All University of Alberta faculty were invited to participate in the survey via email, which ran from December 22, 2014 through the end of January, 2015.  The survey gathered benchmark data in the areas of:

• Data Preservation and Management
• Discovery
• Role of the Library
• Student Research Skills
• Digital Research Activities
• Formats
• Market Research

The survey results are now available below.  These survey findings will have great value to our institution in tracking how scholarly practices and attitudes are evolving.  They also confirm many of our current directions, and will help us to develop and implement strategies for supporting faculty needs in a rapidly changing environment.

• Read the University of Alberta Faculty Survey: Report of Findings
• Read the Faculty Survey Feedback
• Read the UAL Response to Feedback
• Share your feedback on the faculty survey results and response with us
• Visit the Ithaka S + R web site to learn more about the survey and to view previous survey results

The Government of Canada recently announced a new Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications.  The objective of this policy is to improve access to the results of research funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), and to increase the dissemination and exchange of research results.

• Read UofA's Colloquy post on the policy
• Review the Tri-Agency Open Access Policy and related FAQs
• Visit ERA: Education & Research Archives, University of Alberta's institutional repository
• Find out more about University of Alberta Libraries Journal Hosting service
• Contact your liaison librarian for information on upcoming faculty sessions about open access publishing options