1 Spring2011/No.43 Working the Master Plan: Sheldon Levy, OCULA
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Working the master plan: Sheldon Levy, OCULA OCULA President spotlight speaker Janice Mutz Levy was the OCULA spotlight speaker Lakehead University at the 2011 OLA Super Conference. As he explained in his presentation, the As I start my year as OCULA presi- university is implementing its award- dent, I am grateful for the support By winning master campus plan to and talent that surrounds me at this Brian Cameron, Ryerson University achieve this goal and make everyone year’s council table. “Make no little plans; they have no proud of the institution. The plan magic to stir men’s blood and prob- focuses on intensification, putting Thanks must go first to Cynthia ably will themselves not be realized. people first, and design excellence. Williamson for stepping in as past- Make big plans; aim high in hope and president, as Caroline Stewart has work...” Levy pointed out that the university other obligations that prevent her faces unique challenges and responsi- from fulfilling this role. In addition to – Daniel Burnham, chief planner, bilities that have a direct impact how Cynthia, we welcome Vice-President/ Chicago. successfully the plan can be carried President-Elect 2012 Lynne Prunskus In the past, Ryerson University turned out. In particular, Ryerson is the most from Nipissing University/Canadore its back on the city of Toronto and urban university in Canada. Located College and councillor-at-large Sarah consequently the campus became in one of the busiest areas of down- Forbes from University of Toronto almost invisible to people living town Toronto, some 28 million people (Scarborough) as. Returning council and working in the downtown core. walk past or through the campus an- members include: Jennifer Horwath Ryerson’s president Sheldon Levy is nually. Plus, real estate in the neigh- (secretary) from Mohawk College, determined to reverse this error and bourhood is expensive so the price Kathryn Klages (treasurer) from ensure that the university community tag for new buildings is high. Seneca College as well as councillors- fully engages with the city in which it continued on page 4 at-large, Jennifer Peters from Seneca, “lives”. and Cory Laverty from Queens. Paula Cardozo from Nipissing/Canadore also joins us as our new student resi- Lightning Strikes @ OCULA dent librarian. By Janice Mutz, Lakehead University Once again Super Conference hosted One lucky audience member won There are also ex-officio members: a lively OCULA Lightening Strikes ses- a flip video courtesy of the OCULA Jonathan Bengtson from the Univer- sion where future librarians presented council but we all came away as win- sity of Toronto is our returning Super on a variety of topics and the audi- ners having gained a fresh perspective Conference co-planner and new this ence voted for the winner. on diverse topics. year is Cyndi Smith from Georgian College in Barrie, Brian Cameron from Shelley Archibald (University of Courtney was first up with a talk en- Ryerson, (editor of InsideOCULA and Toronto), Gary Collins (University of titled “Getting to Know GIS: A Glimpse website/blog), our deputy editor Western Ontario [UWO]), Danielle of the Academic Library to Come”. She Martha Attridge Bufton from Cooper (University of Toronto), and described her experiences at Ryerson continued on page 3 Courtney Lundrigan (UWO) were the University, where she had the chance intrepid student presenters. continued on page 2 Spring2011/No.43 1 Lightning Strikes @ OCULA continued from page 1 to apply the geographic information Danielle Cooper session with the timely topic of space system (GIS) skills she learned in a and academic libraries entitled “Out library school course to a real work of Space: Challenges Associated with situation. She discussed her learning Changes to Academic Library Space in curve with this skill, and concluded the Digital Era.” Drawing on his expe- by showing us an example of a map riences at University Guelph-Humber, she generated using these tools. It is Gary discussed the shift to increas- clear that the demand for this type of ingly digital collections and how this geographic information will grow and affects different user groups and their that GIS will become more and more interaction with our spaces. This is important in academic libraries. also a timely topic for most academic Courtney Lundrigan libraries and one with many implica- tions. Gary Collins photo by Brian Cameron by photo Libraries,” introduced the concept of transliteracy, an idea that is just be- ginning to tweak the interest of library thinkers everywhere. This concept is Shelley Archibald photo by Brian Cameron by photo Danielle Cooper spoke next and shared a thought-provoking look at Brian Cameron by photo the pros and cons of askON, the vir- At the OCULA annual general meeting tual chat service used by six Ontario (AGM), the winner was announced: universities. Danielle discussed “the Courtney Lundrigan received the most good, the bad, and the ugly” from votes and was awarded $200 and a the perspective of am askON student one-year OLA membership. Courtney volunteer. The challenges of such thinks that the experience was very a service (e.g., learning numerous useful. (See Courtney’s report on page databases/interfaces/course topics 5). from multiple institutions) as well as the benefits (e.g., such knowledge will Brian Cameron by photo stand a candidate in good stead at an neither easily defined nor easy to interview), were outlined with good place within an academic library humour and Danielle concluded that, environment so Shelley’s presentation overall, her experience with askOn provided just the introduction every- was positive. one needed to further explore this complex topic. Shelley Archibald’s “Reading Between the Lines: Transliteracy and Academic Finally, Gary Collins concluded the photo by Martha Attridge Bufton photo by Martha 2 ONTARIO COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIBRARY ASSOCIATION President’s Message continued from page 1 Carleton University, and Eva Dods- research, experiences, thoughts and Spring has apparently arrived—al- worth from University of Waterloo is views; we all benefited. Finally, the though, as I write this in the throes of the contributing editor (access). This OCULA annual general meeting ran an early April snowstorm in northern year’s group represents a variety of smoothly and (we hope) quickly, and Ontario, that seems implausible. This geographical and academic environ- ended with the presentation of the means that the OCULA spring dinner ments; this can only enhance our Lifetime Achievement award to Faye is not far off. University of Toronto organization. Abrams of OCUL; definitely a well- (Mississauga) staff are hosting this deserved award! year’s event which will take place on Super Conference is still fresh Wednesday, May 11. in my mind and, in spite of the The call has already gone out for the “snowmageddon” threat, it went off 2012 Super Conference and I en- Watch the OCULA website/listserv for without a hitch. Thanks are in order to courage OCULA members to submit more details. Plans are also coming our fantastic Super Conference plan- session proposals and suggest topics together for a fall event, and we hope ners Trish Weigel-Green and Jonathan and/or speakers for consideration. it will encourage our members to ven- Bengtson. Special kudos to Trish who ture a bit farther afield ... stay tuned! was eight-and-a-half months pregnant So, what are we working on now? The and still kept smiling while coping call has also gone out for a host insti- In closing, let me say that it is an with all the logistics. tution for the New Librarian Resident honour to be serving as OCULA 2011 Award; this is the third and final year president. I hope to meet more of you For me, there were so many sessions of the award and council is working throughout the year at our various at this year’s conference during which to make sure it continues. We have events but, in the meantime, don’t a light bulb went off, I saw an idea received positive feedback from both hesitate to contact me at jmutz@ that I want to try, or I found out about the participating institutions and the lakeheadu.ca with any questions or research on a topic I find inscrutable. successful candidates. We hope to concerns you may have. So, let me take this opportunity to have an update for you by the fall. thank all the presenters who put in the hours, slaved over PowerPoint presentations, and shared their Coming in the next issue: An article about the Access Copyright tariff by Sam Trosow, University of Western Ontario Useful copyright links: CAUT guidelines for the use of copyrighted material: http://www.caut.ca/uploads/Copyright_guidelines.pdf Canadian Copyright Issues (from OLA): http://accessola.com/ola/bins/content_page.asp?cid=1-99-3377 Spring2011/No.43 3 OCULA spotlight speaker continued from page 1 Levy argues that urban intensification the corner of Gould and Victoria federal grant money. This innovative (i.e., a high density of buildings, pop- Streets and ensured that 12 of the fundraising tactic was successful and ulation, etc.) must be integral to any 24 AMC movie theatres at 10 Dundas the university acquired the building in of the university’s master plans in Street East were built for use as uni- 2009. As a result, Ryerson has moved order to meet these challenges: the versity lecture halls. These rooms are from being ranked as the Canadian low-rise campus must give way to the now filled with students from 8:00 to university with the least square foot- vertical. However, he thinks that such 11:00 a.m. Monday through Friday. age of recreation space to the institu- a move needn’t diminish the place tion with the most.