UNews - ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Library

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Library the perfect home for student art installation

trevor.kenney — Tue, 21 Oct 2014 20:45:15 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Library is embracing the ‘library as place’ concept, recognizing that library users should see themselves mirrored in their surroundings. As part of a ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ situated on traditional Blackfoot land, it was only fitting then that the library found a home for Grant Spotted Bull’s Medicine Wheel Series art installation.

Grant Spotted Bull is a third-year bachelor of fine arts student at the U of L.

Spotted Bull, of Blackfoot heritage and born and raised on the nearby Blood Reserve, is a third-year bachelor of fine arts student at the U of L. His work speaks to the ideal of library as place.

“Grant’s paintings reflect where we are situated – in the heart of Blackfoot territory,” says Andrea Glover, Native American Studies librarian. “The work enriches the library space, reflects the diversity of our users, stimulates discussions about cultural memory and preserves a unique legacy.”

Married (Suzanne Williams Spotted Bull) and a father to four children (Christopher, Colten, Jessica and Tyler), Spotted Bull draws his talent and inspiration from his ancestors, namely his maternal grandmother Mary Eva Spotted Bull.

“My mother told me stories about Mary Eva and how the nuns thought she should go to school for art back east. Her parents wanted her to marry instead so she put her dreams aside,” says Spotted Bull. “Many of her children and grandchildren possess the same artistic talents. I feel blessed to be fulfilling my dreams by attending the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.”

The four-painting series, located on Level 10 of the library, tells the story of colonialism and its effects on First Nations people.

He explains the four-painting series, located on Level 10 of the library, as telling the story of colonialism and its effects on First Nations people.

“I had a dream a few years before I became a student,” he says. “In the dream I recall seeing an image, which I interpreted as a medicine wheel. I captured the image on watercolour paper using pencil crayons as my medium. It has an ethereal feel to it, with wisps of colours undulating like a flame of smoke.”

He then re-created the work as a much larger oil painting. It would eventually spawn a series.

“With no intentions of creating further interpretations, the foundation for the series began as one painting,” he says. “The painting I have called Pre is a reference to pre-colonial contact between Europeans and those of the Americas. The Fractured paintings symbolize the residential school era and the effects it had on the family as a whole. The Post paintings represent my generation, or those of us who did not experience residential school for ourselves. Lack of identity, alcoholism, physical, mental and sexual abuse are some of the issues many have experienced as a result of their parents, grandparents and great grandparents being forced to attend residential school.”

Jon Oxley, administrative manager of the U of L Art Gallery, says the series is both poignant and personal.

“These artworks are powerful, and have an incredible presence. His artwork speaks to some very timely social and political issues in Canada.”

Provoking discussion and reflecting the heritage of the Blackfoot people, the series is an ideal reflection of the library as place concept.

“We are proud to have this representation of indigenous knowledge in the Library,” says ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Librarian, Dr. Chris Nicol.

Access to library building unavailable

trevor.kenney — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 01:11:02 +0000

Flood Update – ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Library

Patron access to Library Building unavailable until further notice. Temporary study spaces, staffed by Library personnel, to be established.

On Monday, June 10, floors 10 and 11 of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Library were reopened to the general public after being flooded the week before. As the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ continues to make efforts to protect its physical collection from the high humidity in the library building, levels of service to students and the public will vary.

Remediation efforts have reduced the relative humidity in the library, however, this level must be reduced significantly further in order for moisture to be drawn from collection materials. Maintaining low relative humidity levels over the next week is vital in returning most materials to their pre-flood condition. However, materials in the worst affected areas will not be remediated for up to two weeks from today.

Over the next two weeks, a significant portion of the collection located on level 9 of the library will be moved to level 10. This is necessary to protect the collection from damage due to humidity and to remediate parts of the collection that were housed in the highest impacted areas. Moving this portion of the collection is a significant undertaking and will be disruptive for library patrons. For this reason, patron access to the library building will be unavailable until further notice.

To serve students and the public, temporary, quiet study spaces will be established that will be supported by library staff. These spaces will be available as quickly as possible. Details outlining the location, hours and services of these spaces will be posted at www.uleth.ca/library

Further, library staff will maintain services to our patrons remotely, and will utilize increased Inter-Library Loan (ILL) services to meet patrons' needs. This will undoubtedly delay the availability of loan items, so please endeavour to plan ahead, with respect to your borrowing needs. Electronic resources are not affected by this problem, and will be available online, in the usual manner. The physical collection will be unavailable for use or borrowing during this remediation process.

It is estimated that full borrowing privileges for patrons will resume in two weeks.

We apologize for this inconvenience. As always, our Library staff will continue to do its very best to serve the needs of our patrons.

Christopher J. Nicol, Ph.D.,
Acting ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Librarian

U of L Library helps Cardston tell its temple stories

trevor.kenney — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 15:58:12 +0000

It stands today as an iconic symbol and regional landmark, and early last month, a group of citizens gathered at the Cardston library to recognize its significance in shaping the history of this southern Alberta community.

It has been 100 years since ground was broken in Cardston, Alta. for the first Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple built in Canada. Now, with the help of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Library, The Cardston Temple: An Historical Record, a digitized collection of photographs and documents about the temple, has been created.

The digital collection represents the work and resources of many individuals and institutions, not the least of which was the U of L library and its specified software and digitization team.

The project began in 2004, when Beth Rosenvall, then Matron of the Cardston Alberta Temple, found a number of photographs under a couch at the temple. Her husband, Lynn Rosenvall, president of the temple from 2003-2006, described the pictures as "temple story photos" and a project was born.

The Cardston Alberta Temple is the oldest Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple located outside the United States.

Beth Rosenvall was inspired to tap the community for more photographs, newspaper clippings, obituaries, biographies and other documents related to the temple. Perhaps most importantly, the community supplemented these documents with their knowledge and memories, connecting names to faces, dating photographs and documents, and allowing a story of the temple to emerge.

The narrative is one of a community coming together, facing obstacles brought on by war and a vast Canadian landscape, to construct an iconic building. Its exterior was made of hand-hewn white granite, quarried near the Kootenay Lakes in BC. The construction and furnishing of the building took 10 years and involved the volunteer labour of many.

Since its construction, the building has played an important role in spiritual lives and family histories of many Cardston residents of southern Alberta and beyond.

The relationship between the Cardston Public Library and ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Library developed after Rosenvall and her team of volunteers identified and recorded the names of the people in the many photographs that were collected. With painstaking effort, 1,300 pages of pictures and documents were compiled into 11 archival quality volumes by category and with captions. Of the photos gathered, a remarkable 98 per cent of the people pictured were identified.

In an effort to widely share these now developed temple stories, the Cardston Public Library used the Alberta Youth Initiative Program to send Nicole Walton to the U of L Library where she had access to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's infrastructure and library team to help with the digitization of the collection. Born and raised in Cardston, Walton's expertise and local knowledge proved invaluable as she entered the documents with their metadata, allowing for users to search the collection. She was also able to give insight into how the collection would be used moving forward.

"It is important that younger generations understand the hard work and sweat that went into the construction of the temple," says Cardston Public Library board chairman Vern Quinton.

"It's valuable that we are able to honour the past and prepare for the future," adds library manager Donna Beazer.

A lot has changed over the past 100 years and, certainly, technology is part of our lives in ways that those who toiled over the temple's construction could never imagine. But one thing remains true: it takes the passion and dedication of community members to build something worthwhile.

Explore this fascinating digital collection from the library's website. Go to digitallibrary.uleth.ca/cdm/collist/ and click on Cardston Alberta Temple: An Historical Record.

This story first appeared in the April 2013 edition of the Legend. For a look at the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Past shaping the future

trevor.kenney — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 19:14:47 +0000

The coulees offered extraordinary opportunities: dramatic heights and depths unusual in the Prairies, and the possibility of outlook, proximity to the river and a microclimate milder than the windswept flatlands.

Standing there on the far edge of the coulee I saw etched against the sky the light tracery of an old iron railway bridge, 300 feet in the air, spanning a mile across the river.

I came to the conclusion that though any building upon the exposed flatland should be interred in earth berms so that they would become part of the land, the academic building could span the coulees and, like the old bridge in its rigid flatness, reveal the rich contours of even the most level prairie.

It seemed to me that the top storey of the university should lie below the tableland in an uncompromising straight line spanning the haunches of
the prairie.
...
Dr. Arthur Erickson (LLD '81)

The Architecture of Arthur Erickson
With text by the architect

When renowned Canadian architect, the late Dr. Arthur Erickson (LLD '81), first came to Lethbridge to design ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Hall and formulate the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's Development Plan, he was in awe of the coulee landscape, inspired by the High Level Bridge and concluded the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ should be part of the land.

"Architecture, as I see it, is the art of composing spaces in response to existing environmental and urbanistic conditions to answer a client's needs," Erickson once said. "In this way the building becomes the resolution between its inner being and the outer conditions imposed upon it. It is never solitary but is part of its setting and thus must blend in a timeless way with its surroundings, yet show its own fresh presence."

The construction of ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Hall began with a simple sod turning ceremony.

The vision as outlined in the 1969 Erickson-Massey Development Plan saw academic space integrated with residences "so that learning becomes part of living." The 1969 planning objectives also included attractive pedestrian walkways that linked to green spaces; closely knit, clear organization of campus buildings that took advantage of unique views of the river valley; and building sites chosen to ensure reverence, preservation and protection of the coulee landscape.

Construction of the original ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Hall was a monumental task.

Over the years, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ campus has expanded and evolved with recommendations initially set out in the Campus Development Plan Review (1993), the Master Plan Report (2000) and the Core Campus Expansion Plan (2001) – the latter of which is the springboard for the new ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Campus Master Plan (UCMP), which was ratified by the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Board of Governors in December 2012.

Spencer Court, architect and associate director of Campus Planning and Architecture at the U of L, has been leading the current UCMP renewal. He says the new plan takes previous planning history into consideration and maintains key planning initiatives while advancing the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's current strategic goals.

"Key elements from past plans have been retained, but the earliest plan had the most fundamentally correct principles or truths that continue to provide value and timeless importance today," he says.

Those principles of strengthening the existing site and building features, creating a compact campus, integrating campus with nature, and using an appropriate brand of architecture to produce a unique campus identity and experience are instilled in the 2012 plan.

Prepared in a collaborative effort with the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ by Moriyama & Teshima Architects and Planners, Gibbs Gage Architects and Educational Consulting Services, the UCMP sets out a series of recommendations aimed at guiding larger-scale planning decisions for the main campus of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ over the next 25 years.

According to the UCMP, these guidelines "accentuate the existing campus design – organizing systems to allow the unique beauty, original order, coherence and distinctive setting of the campus to re-emerge." The UCMP suggests "a highly interconnected system of buildings and pedestrian networks to create an intimate and harmonized learning environment, integrating both academic and residential programs."

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Hall as we see it today, nestled in the coulees and taking advantage of the natural landscape.

What makes the UCMP unique is the way it frames and defines the academic core with a celebrated gateway accessing the heart of campus, while promoting pedestrian-friendliness and retaining the physical geography that informs future buildings and outdoor spaces.

"Campuses are like people in that they mature and become complete over time," says Court. "As key participants at a critical point in the development of our campus, we are privileged to produce a planning vision at a time when many are likely to witness the campus evolve into a more complete place."

The UCMP points to three key directives that align with the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's 2009-2013 Strategic Plan and 2011-2015 Capital Plan. The first is to physically support the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's mandate to be a comprehensive and academic research institution and to provide opportunities for a community of learners – students, faculty, researchers and staff – to interact in purposeful spaces. Second is to reinforce the quality of built and natural environments at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ with an emphasis on improving campus life and the everyday student experience. Third, the plan will provide guidance in planning and management of assets while being stewards of the land.

These directives will aid in creating the physical "Destination U" that is currently being defined at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge. U of L President Dr. Mike Mahon agrees.

He says this UCMP is vital for establishing this legacy.

"As individuals who have various roles on campus, we are at one point in time, but universities live for a long, long time. It's critical that we look to the future from a planning perspective, and plan for years ahead that we can't even imagine. It is vitally important that our buildings and grounds deliver on the notion of the Destination ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ," says Mahon. "The U of L is very fortunate to have had the kind of vision that Erickson had around building into the coulees and really connecting the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ with the topography and with nature."

The UCMP aims to create a unique identity to differentiate the U of L from other universities and to offer a distinctive and memorable experience for its students. To do that, the plan outlines specific design work including a refocused ceremonial entrance along Aperture Drive, and framing a new "Coulee Quadrangle" north of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Library, bordered by ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Hall and future buildings to form a campus heart. The UCMP also establishes a network of interconnected buildings that engage the coulees using a unique brand of landform architecture that fully integrates with the landscape. In addition, the construction of the "Prairie Quadrangle" adjacent to Markin Hall will serve to improve connectivity from the academic core to Exploration Place.

The updated Campus Master Plan will further the vision first established in 1969.

One of the biggest values of the new UCMP is creating a compact campus that fosters a better sense of community. Although the UCMP organizes the physical campus, it is the arrangement of those spaces and places that not only leads to a sense of community but also supports academic programming and student life.

Establishing Aperture Drive as the ceremonial entrance to the U of L is just the beginning. The gateway will be framed with a building element linking the Library to the Students' Union Building, as well as a signature building travelling southward that responds to the coulee setting and the Oldman River vista. This building will act as a bridge directly linking the residence precinct to the rest of campus.

Retaining the land in its natural state is also part of the UCMP proposal, and so, the natural coulee space south of the library will be left in its pristine state to preserve the natural view. It's the shared experience of the beautiful scenery of the unique prairie and coulee landscape that brings the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ community together and that's an important consistency of the UCMP, says Court.

"We are located in a world-class, unique setting that our forebears committed to being, literally, in this place. That is the driving force in how we go forward," he says. "It is the threshold experience between plateau and river valley we want to be, and since we are here, we should capitalize on that because in the physical sense it's one of our most significant differentiators."

While the prairie land surrounding the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ is vast, a key UCMP goal is to create a campus with synergy, ease of access and more importantly, logical pedestrian circulation.

"There's a point where everyone who arrives here by transit, bicycle or automobile becomes a pedestrian, and in the master plan the campus nucleus is predominantly pedestrian-based," says Court. "The master plan has tried to focus on creating a compact, pedestrian-oriented, connected campus that responds to external factors such as weather or the opportunity for memorable views and seriously considers how people move through it."

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Campus Master Plan is just that – a plan. At this point, campus planners have not initiated detailed design studies, but most of the features will likely be developed over time. The recommendations in the UCMP, however, are critical for the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ to reach its strategic goals, says Chris Eagan, director of Facilities.

"The UCMP follows the institution's strategic planning. It allows the creation of a common vision of what space, building and landscape places look like to fulfill our strategic goals," he says. "The UCMP is a broad vision that will be accomplished incrementally through individual capital projects. These projects have urgent and important needs that must be subservient to the institutional requirements outlined in the master plan. It will give the structure and guidance of university planners to all those who design and implement the plan for years to come."

After the UCMP is formally ratified in December 2012, a public open house celebrating the new plan and its document release will be held early in the new year.

According to Court, the new UCMP offers many advantages as the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ looks to the future.

"Overall, it's addressing original concepts that the institution has already put substantial resources and value into," he says. "Those early ideas are treasured fidelities – concepts we shouldn't turn our backs on. If we've learned anything, we've learned that they are important and they still apply going forward."

...

For more information on the UCMP, please visit: www.ulethbridge.ca/masterplan

This story first appeared in the Fall 2012 issue of SAM. For a look at the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Student stress takes a holiday

trevor.kenney — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 21:24:54 +0000

The Stress-Free Zone is back at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Library.

From Sunday, Dec. 9 through Sunday, Dec. 16, room L1114 will be stocked with healthy snacks, coffee, tea, movies, puzzles and games for our students to utilize.

Students are welcome to enter the Stress-Free Zone between 6 and 10 p.m. each evening to refuel and have some fun. This service is provided at no cost to students, and is just one of the many ways that the library actively attempts to improve the student experience.

Library personnel are keenly aware that as final exams approach, students experience increased levels of stress and anxiety. In 2009, professional librarian Nicole Eva noticed an opportunity for the library to help students alleviate their stress while preparing for finals and implemented the Stress-Free Zone.

Many students congregate in the library during final exam periods to use the resources and available spaces and to take advantage of increased library hours (the library is open until 11 p.m. each night from Nov. 26 through Dec. 17). Eva realized that the library was a natural place to provide a service like the Stress-Free-Zone because of its operating hours and its heavy use by students. Three years and six Stress-Free-Zones later, the library is still offering a stress-free environment for students, who have consistently and enthusiastically given positive feedback about the service.

A collaboration of resources from across the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ makes the Stress-Free Zone successful. Library Administration, ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Students' Union and Sodexo combine resources to offer students free refreshments and a place to relax. The Alumni Association generously provides a prize for a raffle. The Career Resource Centre, Health Centre and Writing and Counseling Services support the event by providing their valuable print resources.

The result is a welcoming, stress-free environment for students where they need it, when they need it. The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Library thanks everyone involved for making this initiative a continued success.

This story first appeared in the December 2012 issue of the Legend. For a look at the entire issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Historical timeline launched

trevor.kenney — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 15:51:35 +0000

By MIKE PERRY

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Archives is pleased to announce the launch of the new U of L historical timeline, available through the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Library (www.uleth.ca/lib) and archives home (www.uleth.ca/lib/archives) pages.

The creation of the new timeline was a group effort, with a prominent role played by a couple of current students and a U of L alumnus, all currently working in the library. The project began about a year ago with new media student Marcel Jepson, who was working as a student web application developer, and I sitting down to discuss what could be developed. When we decided on what we wanted, Jepson got to work building and developing the platform.

While he did most of the work on this website, he was expertly assisted by Shem Simmons and Bryson Duda. Simmons, a graduate of the new media program who is currently working as a multimedia artist in the library's information systems department, styled and created the graphics for the timeline. Duda, a system support specialist in the library, assisted with writing the computer code that makes the timeline more interactive and searchable.

While the website was being developed, second-year computer science student Krysti Bouttell-Bonnar (a student assistant in the library) helped research the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's history for suitable content. Bouttell-Bonnar spent many hours combing through the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's publications to find interesting highlights to add to the timeline.

Thanks to these four talented people, in particular, and the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Library, in general, for their contributions to this project.

The timeline is an ongoing project, so if you have any suggestions for content or improvements please contact mike.perry@uleth.ca in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Archives.

The timeline is very dynamic and allows users the ability to search the digital copies of ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ papers and the Meliorist from the webpage. The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Calendars from 1967 to 1995 (the most recent are already completed) have also been digitized and will be uploaded to the timeline shortly.

Mike Perry is the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Archivist

This story first appeared in the November 2012 issue of the Legend. To view the full issue online, follow this link.

Library boasts impressive e-book count

trevor.kenney — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 15:38:46 +0000

Did you know that the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Library has more than 65,000 e-books in the collection? That means there are over 65,000 books that you can access from your laptop or your computer at home, on our Calgary and Edmonton campuses, on vacation, from anywhere, anytime.

The e-book collection covers a wide range of subject areas, including management, education, political science, religious studies, literature, sociology, economics, history, philosophy and more.

Many reference books, such as encyclopedias, handbooks and dictionaries, are also available in e-book format. The library has the most current editions of the Oxford English Dictionary, Encyclopedia Britannica and many other specialized and general reference books available electronically. There are plenty of online alternatives to Wikipedia available from the library catalogue.

In order to locate e-books, you can limit your library catalogue search to "E-book". Some e-books allow for multiple users to view them at one time, while others only allow for a single user. If you are having trouble viewing one, it could be because someone else is using the book. Currently, the library doesn't have the capability for users to check out an e-book from the collection and transfer it to an e-reader.

The library's e-books are provided through several different platforms, such as MyiLibrary, Ebrary or SpringerLink. Most platforms will allow you to download or print about 10 pages or a chapter at a time, and to annotate pages, bookmark pages and save books to a bookshelf. You may need to sign up for your own free account within the platform for full functionality.

There is also a link on the library's website to the Directory of Open Access Books (look under DOAB in databases by title), which is a way to find peer-reviewed and edited open access books available electronically.

Don't hesitate to ask your librarian for more information.

This story first appeared in the November 2012 issue of the Legend. To view the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Wiebo's War latest NFB offering

trevor.kenney — Wed, 16 May 2012 22:08:48 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Library presents Wiebo's War, the latest screening of the library's NFB Film Club series, Wednesday, May 16 at 7 p.m. in room L1060.

Wiebo Ludwig, who died recently of esophageal cancer, was a controversial figure in Alberta. The fundamentalist Christian minister and patriarch of a self-sufficient communal farm in northwestern Alberta has been labelled an eco-warrior and a terrorist for his resistance against the oil and gas industry that has taken over the land in that region.

There were numerous poisonous gas leaks that the Ludwig clan believe caused illness, deaths and miscarriages amongst their family and their livestock. Their complaints went unresolved by the industry and the government, and so began their long struggle against the oil and gas companies in the area.

In 2001 Ludwig was convicted of charges related to the bombing of an oil and gas installation, and he was suspected of involvement in later pipeline bombings.

The 93-minute documentary, Wiebo's War, begins with filmmaker David York trying to convince the family to allow him to document their lives and their story in spite of his atheism. Apparently he won them over, because they allowed he and his film crew to live with them on their compound for up to two weeks at a time over a two-year period. The film goes on to present an inside view of the family's life on the communal farm, their religious faith and their battle against the oil and gas industry.

"A rude guest, believe me," says Ludwig of the gas company invading his family's land.

The animated short film, A Prairie Story, by Calgary director Anne Koizumi, will precede the screening of Wiebo's War.

Education begins with respect

trevor.kenney — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 17:04:10 +0000

A year after opening a dialogue on diversity and respect, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Faculty Association's Gender, Equity and Diversity Caucus is looking to build upon that momentum with the 2nd Annual Respect & Diversity Awareness Week.

Running Mar. 5-9 at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, this year's theme for the weeklong conversation is "Respect and learning go hand in hand".

"Last year was great for an inaugural event," says Dr. Carly Adams, Chair of the Gender, Equity and Diversity Caucus. "We thought how it was taken up by the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ community was wonderful. It's a conversation that needs to be ongoing."

Events such as a Talking About Teaching panel discussion through the Centre for the Advancement of Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CAETL) spurred the campus community into thinking about how we interact with one another, in classrooms, meeting rooms and even as we walk through the hallways.

"As a faculty member who attended these talks, I thought about the issues raised and then took them into my classroom," says Adams. "I hope that others took the things they heard and tried to adapt new strategies in the ways they dealt with students or fellow faculty."

If anything, the week created an environment where issues of inclusion and respect can be discussed. It also established an awareness of the caucus and took its work to another level. In early February, the caucus played a role in the Discover Diversity conference hosted by the City of Lethbridge and co-sponsored by the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ.

"I was really pleased we were able to be a part of that because not only did we have an opportunity to talk about the caucus but also the respect and diversity week and some of the other initiatives we're involved in," says Adams. "It led to an even wider discussion about workplace diversity and respect beyond our campus."

This year's awareness week will feature a few new additions, including an Ignite! event on Wednesday, Mar. 7 at 5 p.m. in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Library (10th floor). Described as a fun, informative, rapid-fire session, participants are tasked to speak to 20 pictures or slides of their choice, all in a five-minute window of time, as they wax eloquent about diversity and/or gender.

"We're really excited about this event," says Adams. "We have a number of faculty lined up to take part, as well as people from the Lethbridge Public Interest Research Group (LPIRG) and the Students' Union. In total it's about 12 to 15 people, and it should create a really lively discussion from all the different perspectives across campus."

The line up of speakers includes Dr. Kevin McGeough (Geography), Yale Belanger (Native American Studies), Dan Johnson (Environmental Science), Carol Williams (Women and Gender Studies), Phil Jones (CAETL/Health Sciences), Marinus Swanepoel (Library), LPRIG, Shelia McManus (History), Rob Sutherland (CCBN/ULFA) and Tanya Harnett (Native American Studies/Fine Arts).

Other events for the week include a film screening of MissRepresentation, a documentary exploring how the media's misrepresentation of women has led to the underrepresentation of women in positions of power and influence. The Gender, Equity, and Diversity Caucus is joining the YWCA, Womanspace, Campus Women's Centre and LPIRG in sponsoring the film screening that takes place Thursday, Mar. 8 at 7 p.m. in Galileo's Gallery and coincides with International Women's Day.

On Friday, Mar. 9, Craig Milner from the Faculty of Management will present Student Diversity Rocks: Developing High Performance Teams in the Classroom (1 p.m., M1040).

"He's discussing diversity in teams, and how we might leverage some of the different experiences of our students in the classroom to create different conversations in groups," says Adams of the one-hour workshop.
While the week concludes with Milner's presentation, the conversation does not, and will be picked up a week later when the Department of Women & Gender Studies, with assistance from Adams' group, will present Why Women and Gender Studies? A Multigenerational Roundtable and Conversation, Friday, Mar. 16 at 2 p.m. in the Students' Union Ballroom.

"Last year, we came away thinking it was a very positive week and worth continuing," says Adams. "We invite everyone to come out for these events and I hope that this will give these important issues even more exposure."

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Faculty Association's Gender, Equity and Diversity Caucus consists of: Andrea Amelinckx, Andrea Glover, Dr. Hester Jiskoot, Dr. Kevin McGeough, Dr. Noella Piquette, Dr. John Sheriff, Dr. Robert Sutherland, Jennifer Thannhauser and Dr. Carly Adams (Chair).

This story first appeared in the March 2012 issue of the Legend. For a look at the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Oral history project brings past to life

trevor.kenney — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 22:02:45 +0000

By MIKE PERRY

In January 2009, Dr. James Tagg, Professor Emeritus of the history department, initiated a project to conduct, collect, digitize and make accessible interviews with individuals intimately connected with the early years of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.

With the assistance of Graham Ruttan, a student in the Faculty of Education, the number of interviews conducted with faculty, staff, administrators, students and friends of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ has grown to 70. The interviews are between one and three hours long and provide a wealth of engaging and informative storytelling of the lives of individuals who experienced the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge during its infancy.

According to the Oral History Association, "Oral history is a field of study and a method of gathering, preserving and interpreting the voices and memories of people, communities, and participants in past events. Oral history is both the oldest type of historical inquiry, predating the written word, and one of the most modern, initiated with tape recorders in the 1940s and now using 21st-century digital technologies."

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Archives, together with the Department of History, has taken on the important role of ensuring that the collection is preserved and accessible to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ community. Dr. Heidi Macdonald has assumed responsibility for the collection and has been instrumental in ensuring that the project continues to grow. Jacob Cameron, a technical specialist in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Library and working in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Archives has done most of the work required to design and facilitate the easy access to these recordings.

Karissa Patton, a student in the history program, has also contributed to this project by assisting with the biographies and transcripts first worked on by Ruttan. Ruttan spent two summers on this project, interviewing former students, creating written transcripts and conducting the research for the short biographies of the participants.

While the project is largely complete, it is still a work in progress. It can be accessed on campus from two online locations. From the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Library's homepage under the Resources tab, choose "U of L's Digital Collections" and follow the link to the collection. It is also located on the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Archives web page at digitallibrary.uleth.ca/cdm/singleitem/collection/oralhistory/id/44/rec/1.

Dr. Tagg joined the Department of History in 1969. During his tenure here, he served as assistant dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science. Tagg, who retired in 2003, devoted much of his time to the advancement of liberal education here at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ. In recognition, the U of L has honored him and a fellow Professor Emeritus, Dr. Ron Yoshida, with the Tagg-Yoshida Lectures, which emphasize the importance of liberal education to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and to the southern Alberta community.

In addition, the Dr. James D. Tagg Citizenship Award is available to continuing graduate students for academic achievement and community involvement.

This oral history project provides the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ with a distinctive and valuable way to capture the early history of our institution. Together with all the interviewees, Tagg has captured the lived experiences of individuals forever linked to the U of L. It will serve as an enduring legacy to our institutional memory.

Mike Perry is the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Archivist

This story first appeared in the February 2012 edition of The Legend. To view the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

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