Science Librarian, York University Libraries

This is a 3-year appointment in my library, the Steacie Science & Engineering Library. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. Since I'm on the search committee for this position, I really can't answer any but the most general questions.

The deadline for applications is March 2, 2009.

Here's the posting:

Position Rank: Contractually Limited Appointment
Discipline/Field: Science Librarian
Home Faculty: Libraries
Home Department/Area/Division: Steacie Science and Engineering Library
Affiliation/Union: YUFA
Position Start Date: August 1, 2009
Position End Date: July 31, 2012

York University Libraries seek a self-directed and public service-oriented Science Librarian based in the Steacie Science & Engineering Library.

The Science Librarian will be responsible for faculty liaison, collection development and the delivery of information literacy programs for assigned disciplines and will participate in research consultations and outreach activities to departments and research centres. Responsibilities include selection of information resources, collection management and evaluation in such fields as nursing, biology, chemistry and physics. He/she will work individually and as part of a team to develop and provide reference services and information literacy programs to York’s community of users taking full advantage of the online learning and web environments. She/he will also participate in project and committee work for York University Libraries and the University. Some evening and weekend work is required.

York University offers a world-class, modern, interdisciplinary academic experience in Toronto, Canada’s most multicultural city. York is at the centre of innovation, with a thriving community of almost 60,000 students, faculty and staff, who challenge the ordinary and deliver the unexpected.

Steacie Science and Engineering Library is one of four libraries within York University Libraries. The Steacie Science and Engineering Library attracts a half million visitors a year and provides specialized resources, and reference and instructional services to the science, engineering, and health programs of York University. The Library takes pride in its extensive information literacy program and online learning support initiatives. Four full-time librarians and seven full-time support staff are currently based in the Steacie Science & Engineering Library.

Qualifications: An ALA-accredited MLIS or equivalent with up to three years’ post-MLIS experience. Educational background or library experience relevant to science and particularly health related disciplines. Knowledge of health, science and technology literature and reference resources, and awareness of emerging trends in scholarly communication. Experience with Web authoring software and Web support technologies; familiarity with Web 2.0 technologies preferred. Strong client-centred service philosophy and evidence of professional initiative and leadership. Ability to handle multiple responsibilities and projects concurrently. Strong written and oral communication skills, including demonstrated skills in teaching and public communications. Demonstrated understanding of concepts, goals, and methods of information literacy instruction and ability to teach in a variety of settings and formats. Ability to work effectively and collegially with a diversity of colleagues and clients. Interest in research, professional development, and university committee work.

The Science Librarian position is a three-year contractually limited appointment to be filled as Adjunct Librarian level and appropriate for a librarian with up to three years post-MLS experience. Librarians at York University have academic status and are members of the York University Faculty Association bargaining unit (http://www.yufa.org/). Salary is commensurate with qualifications. The position is available August 1, 2009. All York University positions are subject to budgetary approval.

York University is an Affirmative Action Employer. The Affirmative Action Program can be found on York's website at www.yorku.ca/acadjobs or a copy can be obtained by calling the affirmative action office at 416-736-5713. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadian citizens and Permanent Residents will be given priority. Temporary entry for citizens of the U.S.A. and Mexico may apply per the provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

York University resources include centres relating to gender equity, race and ethnic relations, sexual harassment, human rights, and wellness. York University encourages attitudes of respect and non-discrimination toward persons of all ethnic and religious groups, regardless of gender or sexual orientation.

The deadline for applications is March 2, 2009. Applications, including a cover letter relating applicant qualifications to the requirements of the position, a current curriculum vitae, a link to online examples of work where relevant, and the names of three referees, should be sent to:

Chair, Science Librarian Appointment Committee
York University Libraries, 310 Scott Library
York University, 4700 Keele Street
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M3J 1P3
Fax: 416-736-5451
yulapps@yorku.ca

Applications should be sent by mail, e-mail, or fax, with a hardcopy following by mail.

More on York's role in the Mars Phoenix Mission

Some more good media coverage of the York angle on the Mars Phoenix Mission:

BTW, check out the Martian weather here.

The weather on Mars is clear and very cold

The Canadian team is receiving daily weather reports from Phoenix’s Canadian-built meteorological station for the duration of the 90-day mission. Phoenix, a joint project of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratories and the University of Arizona, landed on Mars on May 25, at 7:38pm EDT. The weather station was activated within the first hour after landing.

"Measurements are now being recorded continuously, and will expand to include humidity and visibility," says Jim Whiteway, professor of space engineering at York and the principal investigator for the Canadian team.

York profs watch from Arizona as Mars probe lands safely (Includes mentions of other media reports)

York alumnus Steve MacLean (BSc '77, PhD '83), chief astronaut for the Canadian Space Agency, said Canada got involved in the project because of its expertise operating in a frigid northern environment, wrote The Canadian Press May 25. “This is the first time that we have an instrument that we sponsored as a nation” on such a space mission, he said. “All the measurements that we did in the North over the last 15 years contribute to us being a major player on this mission.”

The weather station Canada built for the mission is able to provide regular readings of the temperature on Mars, atmospheric pressure, cloud height, humidity and wind speed.

The lidar system comes from Alan Carswell, York professor emeritus, who ran a laboratory and then spun off a company called Optech to develop a larger role for Canada in the space program. MacLean says Carswell has emerged as a central figure in the Mars mission and is at the Phoenix mission control centre overseeing the operation.

Canadians feel loss of Mars mission scientist

Clinking glasses as they celebrated the triumphant touchdown on Mars of the Phoenix lander Sunday evening, York University professor Jim Whiteway and his team missed the one person who should have been there.

Diane Michelangeli was the lead researcher behind the innovative Canadian-built meteorological station on the Phoenix, before she died of cancer last year – less than a month after the station was launched. Team members still feel the loss.

"We were thinking of Diane after the landing," said Whiteway yesterday from the University of Arizona, where scientists had gathered to watch the lander touchdown with "surreal" accuracy. "We're missing Diane dearly."

York Goes to Mars!

It was very exciting last night catching the landing of the Mars Phoenix Mission on TV -- unfortunately I only caught the last half of the show.

Of course, the mission's meteorological station is a significant Canadian contribution -- and a huge part of that is York scientists from the Earth & Space Science & Engineering department.

Great coverage in the Globe and Mail today as well as all over the Internet.

Some nice coverage today in York's online newsletter, Y-File:

Scientists from York University led the design and construction of the meteorological equipment, in collaboration with the University of Alberta, Dalhousie University, the University of Aarhus in Denmark, the Finnish Meteorological Institute, and the Canadian firms of MDA Space Missions and Optech Inc., with $37 million in funding from the Canadian Space Agency.

The meteorological station consists of temperature, wind and pressure sensors, as well as a laser based-light-detecting-and-ranging (lidar) system. The lidar will shoot pulses of laser light into the Martian sky, precisely measuring components of the atmosphere, such as dust, ground fog and clouds, from the surface up to a range of 20 km.

York researchers will receive a daily Martian weather report for the duration of the mission – approximately 92 days, or 90 Martian sols.

"We’re very excited to be deploying Canadian technology on Mars for the first time," says Jim Whiteway, professor of space engineering at York and the principal investigator for the Canadian team. “Our instrumentation will observe clouds and dust and this will provide new insight into the climate of Mars and the planet’s potential for supporting life.”

The also very nicely profile the York members of the team:

Jim Whiteway, professor of space engineering and Canada Research Chair in Space & Engineering & Atmospheric Science. Whiteway is a noted expert in the use of lidar technology to study cloud processes. He is the team’s principal investigator and led the design, testing and implementation of the lidar system.

Allan Carswell, professor emeritus, Department of Physics & Astronomy, Faculty of Science & Engineering. Carswell is one of Canada’s pre-eminent space scientists and an internationally-recognized leader in the field of lidar systems. In 1974, he founded Optech Inc., to develop commercial systems based on lidar technology. The lidar technology pioneered by Carswell will measure dust, clouds and fog in the Martian atmosphere.

Peter Taylor, professor of atmospheric science and applied mathematics, Department of Earth & Space Science & Engineering, Faculty of Science & Engineering. Taylor studies wind and blowing snow in the Canadian Arctic, making him an ideal scientist for research into the Martian sub-polar climate. He and his team completed wind-tunnel testing of the temperature sensors that will be used on the Mars lander, and they will conduct research into issues related to dust concentrations in the lower atmosphere of Mars and sublimation of exposed ice surfaces.

Cameron Dickinson, research associate, Department of Earth & Space Science & Engineering, Faculty of Science & Engineering, is studying the scattering of laser light with airborne Martian dust. Dickinson will be heavily involved in the operations of the meteorological instruments, including creation of the daily commands that will be uploaded to the lander, and managing the data that is sent back to Earth twice each day. He will also assist the science team at large, organizing and scheduling the experiments for all six instruments each day.

In memoriam – Diane Michelangeli (1962 to 2007)

Diane Michelangeli was a planetary scientist at York University and principal investigator for the Phoenix mission. As a specialist in microscopic measurements of clouds and their particles, she developed some of the most advanced computer models of the clouds and dust on Mars. Her work – so vital to understanding the atmospheric processes taking place near the landing site – made her a natural choice to lead the Canadian science contribution to the Phoenix mission. She died of cancer on August 30, 2007.

(Yes, there is science in Toronto north of Bloor ;-)

Toronto Rising...on Nature Nework?

Thanks for Larry Moran for pointing me to this article on the surprising concentration of biotech research in Toronto.

When the University of Toronto managed to lure chemical geneticist Guri Giaever away from Stanford University two years ago, part of the inducement was a new, bigger lab, and part was a prestigious government-funded research chair. But the biggest factor in the move, Giaever says, was the colleagues with whom she would be working. "In terms of what I'm doing, I would pretty much say hands down that Toronto is the best place in the world," she says.

Canadian scientists and administrators welcome such adulation. With the much bigger and richer United States to the south, Canada has often been preoccupied with a brain drain, as the brightest minds sought greater rewards at one of its neighbour's institutions. Increasingly, though, the country's biggest city, Toronto, is celebrating a 'brain gain' as it succeeds in attracting top researchers, often to work at brand new research centres. Federal and provincial efforts that began a decade ago are helping to attract high-calibre researchers and putting them in charge of long-term, 'big science' projects, according to researchers and business development officials. The new policies are an attempt to build on Toronto's impressive existing research infrastructure.

No more than a brief mention for York, unfortunately, a hazard that comes with being far outside the city centre, even though we do have a biotech institute.

Now, given the incredible concentration of life sciences researchers that this all entails, you'd think Toronto would have more of a presence on Nature Network!

As it happens, NN is looking to open up more fully fledged Hub Cities, adding to London and Boston. People can "vote" for their city by changing the city & (potential) hub in their own NN profiles. Corie Lok explains on this SciBarCamp forum posting (more info). So if you're a Toronto life sciences person (or any scitech person), go on over to Nature Network and create yourself a profile, sign up for a hub and get Hogtown wired into Science 2.0. The Toronto "potential hub" is pretty sparse so far.

Update 2008.05.21: Matt Brown has more. It seems that after 24 hours of the new potential hubs feature, Toronto is actually right up there with Berlin!

York to the Power of 50: Chair in E-Librarianship created

The official announcement is today. The search process hasn't started yet (and I'm not sure if the time line is established yet on the search), but if it's the kind of thing you might be interested in, put your thinking cap on for a project. This is an amazing opportunity and a real step forward for us and really for librarianship.

A $1-million gift to York University through the York University Foundation from the family of William Pearson Scott is helping York create a new kind of library for the digital age.

The gift from Michael Scott, his wife Janet and their family, matched by the University, will create the W.P. Scott Chair in E-Librarianship, tasked with researching the innovations and implications of new developments in computing and information technologies. This extends to exploring areas such as e-learning, digital collections, collaborative Web spaces, social software, and interactive and integrative online services and information. The Chair will develop real-world services and programs for York University Libraries, ultimately benefiting students, faculty and the larger community.

"This is an exciting opportunity for all York's Faculties," says York President & Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri. "A Chair in E-Librarianship will attract leading academics internationally and advance teaching and research well into the future."

"It's an unparalleled opportunity for York to lead Canadian innovation in this important area of learning," says University Librarian Cynthia Archer. "In fact this is the only Chair of its kind in Canada." The Chair will evolve quickly as technology does. The establishment of the Chair also supports York to the Power of 50, the University's fundraising campaign – already at more than $150 million in pledges or three quarters of the way toward its $200-million goal.

The interdisciplinary research possibilities for the W.P. Scott Chair in E-Librarianship are wide-ranging in scope. Specific projects could include advancing student engagement by incorporating such applications as Facebook, blogs, wikis and RSS feeds; exploring the provision of electronic books online for children in the developing world; establishing a presence in Second Life, an online virtual world inhabited by millions of "residents"; taking part in anthropological studies of students in a wired library; reviewing emerging economic models for electronic publishing; and creating and enhancing virtual research communities where scholars around the world can collaborate on common projects.

"The Internet has produced learning opportunities never before thought possible. Today's students and scholars are digitally savvy and want information to come to them – on demand," says Archer. "Ultimately, technology is transforming not only the way libraries operate, but universities as well. We must respond to the way today's students research and learn."

The Scott family was excited about the forward-looking nature of the project and felt naming the Chair was both a fitting tribute to the late William Pearson Scott and a way to continue his pioneering support of York.

William Pearson Scott – Pete Scott to friends and family – was one of the first members of the York University Board of Governors in 1959 and served as the chair of the board from 1966 to 1971. Never having attended university himself, Scott was one of York's greatest supporters during its formative years, also serving as the chairman of the finance committee. He spent most of his career with Wood Gundy. In the First World War, he was a lieutenant in the Royal Flying Corps Special Reserve. During his life, he was also actively involved with the Toronto Arts Foundation, Stratford Festival, Toronto Board of Trade, United Community Fund, Toronto General Hospital and Wellesley Hospital. He was conferred with an honorary doctorate of laws (LLD) from York in 1971; and both the Scott Library and the Scott Religious Centre are named in his honour. Last year, a renovated room on the third floor of the Scott Library was named the W.P. Scott Study Room in recognition of a generous gift from the W.P. Scott Charitable Foundation.

For more information, visit the York University Foundation Web site.

Books I'd like to read

The first highlighted book is one I'm definitely going to read, because I already bought my copy this past Saturday. It's Canada's Fifty Years in Space by Gordon Shepherd and Agnes Kruchio. This one has a York connection as Gordon Shepherd is a long-time York faculty member and director of York's Centre for Research in Earth and Space Science. It was launched as part of the York activities for Science Rendezvous.


Canada's Fifty Years in Space by Gordon Shepherd and Agnes Kruchio

International space science began suddenly with the creation of COSPAR (Committee on Space Research) in October, 1958, and its first plenary meeting was held in London, in November the same year. Canada was at the table for both the creation and the first plenary meeting. Canada's Fifty Years in Space describes the parallel growth of the Canadian space science program from that date up to the 50th Anniversary of COSPAR, to be celebrated in Montreal in July, 2008...

The final achievement of the fifty years is a Canadian-built lidar that is part of the NASA Phoenix mission and is on its way to Mars, destined to land there in May, 2008. This work is about these missions over the fifty years, but also about the people who built them, launched them, captured the data and published the scientific results.

Hackerteen Volume 1: Internet Blackout By Marcelo Marques

This engaging graphic novel probes the modern online world where an increasing number of middle school- and high school-aged kids spend their time. Hackerteen teaches young readers about basic computing and Internet topics, including the potential for victimization. The book is also ideal for parents and teachers who want their children and students to understand the risks of using the Internet and the proper ways to behave online.

Note: My sons will love this one! (Ok, I'll love it too)

Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments: All Lab, No Lecture by Robert Bruce Thompson

For students, DIY hobbyists, and science buffs, who can no longer get real chemistry sets, this one-of-a-kind guide explains how to set up and use a home chemistry lab, with step-by-step instructions for conducting experiments in basic chemistry. Learn how to smelt copper, purify alcohol, synthesize rayon, test for drugs and poisons, and much more. The book includes lessons on how to equip your home chemistry lab, master laboratory skills, and work safely in your lab, along with 17 hands-on chapters that include multiple laboratory sessions.

Microcosm: E. coli and the New Science of Life by Carl Zimmer

What is life? Can we make it from scratch? Are there rules that all living things must obey? Can there be life without death? Biologists today are seeking answers to these fundamental questions about life. Few people know that many of those answers may reside in a species of bacteria that live in our guts: E. coli.

In this startlingly original biography of a germ, Carl Zimmer traces E. coli's pivotal role in the history of biology, from the discovery of DNA to the latest advances in biotechnology. Zimmer describes the remarkably sophisticated strategies E. coli uses to stay alive, from practicing chemical warfare to building microbial cities. He reveals the many surprising and alarming parallels between E. coli's life and our own. Zimmer describes the profound insights E. coli has offered about evolution, by changing in real time and by revealing billions of years of history encoded in its genome. E. coli is also the most engineered species on Earth, and as scientists retool this microbe to produce life-saving drugs and clean fuel, they are discovering just how far the definition of life can be stretched.

Microcosm is the first full story of the one species on Earth scientists know best. It is also the story of life itself, of its rules, its mysteries, and its future.

Space and beyond: Science Rendezvous at York

Post updated: Science Rendezvous is tomorrow!

Once again, if you're in Toronto on Saturday May 10th, there's a whole bunch of science-y events at various institutions, including York. The York events will be concentrating on Space Science & Engineering. The event is called Science Rendezvous. The York events are at the Keele campus Lots of info in today's Y-File article.

York University will throw open the doors of its space science and engineering facilities to hundreds of future astronauts on Saturday, May 10. York is participating in Science Rendezvous, a new full day event that is free and open to the public. During Science Rendezvous, leading science and technology institutes, including York, will offer free tours, events, demonstrations and lectures. Participants can register for the day and pick up a program in the lobby of the Computer Science & Engineering Building. Registration opens at 12:30pm.

"York University's event will be very unique," says Elissa Strome, research officer for the Faculty of Science & Engineering. "We are opening the doors to our world-renowned space science and engineering facilites to showcase them to Canada's future astronauts and space scientists."

York-specific information here.

More-or-less cross posted from the CSE blog.

Open Access: what it means for research, teaching, and one's career

If you're in the Toronto area next Wednesday, please drop by York for a talk on Open Access.

Scholarly Publication Speaker Series: Open Access: what it means for research, teaching, and one's career.

with Jean-Claude Guedon and Leslie Chan
Apr 16, 2008, 12:00 -- 1:30 pm,
Accolade Building East - Lecture Hall 001, York University
Lunch Provided

More information (including speaker bios) here. Facebook event here.

It's being sponsored by the York University Scholarly Communications Initiative.

An update on my Computer Science & Engineering blog

Way back in September I posted about an experiment I was running with a new blog directed at Computer Science & Engineering students here at York.

I'll excerpt myself a little to remind everyone what I was hoping to accomplish:

I've created yet another blog, this one I'm aiming at Engineering & Computer Science students at my institution. I have two main ideas for this blog: first, as a place to locate my IL related links and other information. In the past I've used static web pages and was pretty happy with them. However, over time (and mostly over my sabbatical) I thought that I might want something a little easier, a little more flexible, a little more interactive and mashupable. And I saw an example of what could be accomplished at Heather Matheson's OLA presentation.

It took me a while, but I think I've got something I can live with. It uses WordPress instead of Joomla; but it also incorporates some rss feeds like my linkblog and the new book lists from my library. It has Meebo so students can touch base with me directly. Mostly I like that I've been able to move over the old IL instructional pages I did in FrontPage with relatively little fuss and bother. The classes I've used it for so far seem to like it and the reception from faculty too has been positive. It just looks cooler.

Second, as a place where I can highlight York science profs in the news and post some interesting links to engineering/CS stuff I think is neat, useful or interesting. I plan on using the WordPress pages feature to add digested versions of the full blown pathfinders we have. As well I want to create a list of all the different IL pages so anyone can find them without scrolling or searching.

So, how did it the experiment go?

Overall, I have to say that I'm very happy with the experience.

Some things that I thought went really well:

• Easy to create & maintain. I really like the WordPress interface. It's very easy to create a blog and set up a bunch of cool widgets for RSS feeds or whatever. The array of themes is impressive (although since I am using a local implementation, I only have a few choices). The wysiwyg authoring tool is certainly good enough for what I need. For the most part, I was able to transfer the old FrontPage versions I created a few years ago into WordPress by just copying and pasting the HTML code and altering it to my current needs. I think that there's also something to be said for how cool and "with it" the blog looks compared to a simple web page.
  
  
• The stats. Since September, the blog has received 3,087 visits and 6,851 page views. Both those numbers make me very happy. No need to go into detail, but the posts I expected to be popular were (ie. bigger classes generated more hits than smaller ones), the keywords I expected to lead people to the blog did and the ebb and flow more-or-less matched the assignment due dates for the courses I was doing sessions for. I'm still getting a handful of hits every day.
  
  
• Meebo. I love Meebo! During busy periods, I was averaging two or three IM sessions per week, sometimes more (by session I mean either live chat or a message left by a student). I was even getting students using Meebo to ask about courses that I wasn't doing a session for. Whether they were students who had my session in one of their other classes or not, that I don't know. Either way, it's still pretty cool that they found me and I was able to help. I even ended up chatting with a couple of librarians about using Meebo.
  
  
• Class management. And speaking of Meebo. You know how when you do a lecture-style IL session there's always a bunch of students at the back of the class using laptops, probably doing email or playing poker? You know how hard it is to involve them? As well, we all know that a class can start with good energy then peter out after a while. Well, Meebo helped with both those things, believe it or not. After a few sessions, I got into the habit of starting every IL class by firing up Meebo on the demo PC I was using and inviting the students on the laptops to surf to the blog. Well, of course a whole bunch of beeping and other weird noises resulted as Meebo notified me that people were coming to the blog and starting to chat! Windows opening, weird chat sessions exploding all over the place. Of course, this is all quite amusing to the students. It also gets their undivided attention right at the beginning of the session and also lets them see what the Meebo widget is all about. I'd have to say that this little opening stunt got me at least 20 minutes of really good attention and energy in the class. I usually asked the students if they wanted me to leave Meebo open so they could ask questions during my demo but they always declined because they thought it would be too distracting.
  
  
• Findability. One cool thing -- if you Google the course number for the majority of the sessions I did, my blog posting comes within the first few results. For many of them, it's number one, even before the course web page. A little disconcerting for the profs, I think, but great for the students -- and the profile of the library. In the sessions I would just say, "Hey, don't worry about remembering the url or the page or anything, just Google your course number!" Even a day after first publishing the post it would appear at or near the top of the rankings.
  
  
• Profs Liked it. It looks cool, has all the main resources, is in a format that students can relate to, what's not to like? Just today I had a Prof remark to me that based on my blog he's considering using WordPress for his own course management needs.

Some things I'm still figuring out:

• Branding. Although the blog is branded for CSE, in the end most of the classes I used it for were Natural Science, STS or other courses. So, I think I need to re-brand the blog, starting with a new name. Initially, my idea was to create a separate blog for the non-CSE areas but that's probably needless duplication. I think I'll end up with a name something like "York University Science Library Blog: Featuring Engineering, Computer Science, Natural Science and STS." Yes, we have other science library blogs for other areas.
  
  
• Clutter. The design is still a bit busy for my liking. I probably need to pare it down a bit, maybe take out a few of the widgets. Way back when, Jane suggested embedding slides in the posts rather than just recording my notes/links as part of the post itself. That idea probably has a lot of merit and I may give it a try next year.
  
  
• Informational Posts. By these I mean newsy posts about York or various profs. I didn't do as many of these as I hoped and I'm still not sure how useful they are. On the other hand, it's been really handy for demonstrating how blogs can be used to institutional outreach. The jury is out on these posts. I'll probably do a few more during the spring and early summer but I'll re-evaluate in the fall.
  
  
• Sidebar content. Not sure how used or useful it was. I like that it gives students a reason to come back to the blog after the course is over but on the other hand it may just add clutter and distraction.
  
  
• Resource Pages. I never did get around to creating mini-pathfinders for the various subject areas on some of the WordPress pages. We'll see how my thinking on that evolves over the summer.

If any of you out there on the Internet have any suggestions, feel free to jump in. If you're a prof or student, especially if you were involved in one of my sessions, I'd also really like to hear what you have to say.

National Engineering Week!

It's National Engineering Week next week, with the Ontario page here.

As usual, there's a nice supplement in the Globe and Mail, although the 2008 edition isn't up yet. As usual, lots of good articles including ones on Environmental challenges, Alternative Energy, Engineering in the Life Sciences, Auto Innovation, Robot Games, a couple of Engineering Careers and Engineering in Space.

Now that York's Engineering Program has been accredited, we actually figure quite prominently in the supplement. There's a nice ad and Prof. Spiros Pagiatakis gets quoted in the article on Environmental Challenges.

Not only that, but there's a a good chunk of an article devoted to Space Engineering projects at York. Projects by Profs. James Whiteway and Ben Quine are featured -- and a rather fuzzy picture of Ben with his thermal vacuum chamber.

Planet York

Thanks to the stellar efforts of my colleague Bill Denton, we here at York have just created something we call Planet York. It uses the Planet software to aggregate all the various blogs by York faculty, staff and students into one easy place for reading and enjoyment. As you can see, it's a bit of a mixed bag, but it's interesting that everything is pretty seriously intended and professional. It's also interesting that a good chunk of the blogs are either within the Libraries or the Law School.

We haven't really started promoting this around the institution yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing what kinds of reactions it can spur. I'm also hoping that it will encourage other York faculty, students and staff to explore blogging as a way to express themselves.

I think it was pretty easy to set up. If you have a strong and vibrant blogging community at your institution, it might be worth investigating something like this.

The power of networking stems the flow of women leaving computer sciences

Really nice article in this week's ylife, York's student email newsletter: The power of networking stems the flow of women leaving computer sciences.

It's about the WiCSE program for Women in Computer Science & Engineering.

For Professor Melanie Baljko, WiCSE provides an essential support service to female students in computer science and engineering. Baljko, who has an interest in the challenges women face in computer science and engineering, has investigated a phenomenon referred to as the leaky pipe syndrome. "I have a longstanding interest in how to encourage women to start careers in computer science and engineering. I have been part of several initiatives at other universities and here at York to find out why the attrition rate is higher among women in computer science and engineering," said Baljko.

"I am particularly interested in why women come into computer science and engineering in smaller numbers and why the drop-out rate is higher," said Baljko. "There are also fewer women in higher management positions in the industry and even fewer in academia. Sociologists have studied this phenomenon called the 'leaky pipe syndrome'."

Baljko said that research has shown that practical solutions are essential in retaining young women in the profession, and groups such as WiCSE offer an important lifeline for female students who are often coping with multiple demands for their time and who have few role models to emulate. "In our group we have seen that practical solutions work and what is most effective is the social networking that groups such as WiCSE offer to young women entering the profession."

A large number of young women enrolled in computer science and engineering programs in Canada and the United States either do not finish their studies or end up leaving the profession, slipping away in silence, explained Baljko.

"There is a disproportionate loss due to women switching to other fields of study," said Baljko. "We [faculty] in computer science and engineering are striving to provide greater social context for the material in the computer science curriculum, so, even early on in undergraduate studies, we can show our field's usefulness to society."

It's a great article, well worth reading the whole thing. Bravo!

Ralph W. Nicholls, 1926-2008.

A sad day on campus today as one of Canada's true pioneers in space science has died.

Ralph W. Nicholls, distinguished research professor emeritus (physics) at York University, director emeritus of the Centre for Research in Earth & Space Science (CRESS) and a member of the Order of Canada, has died.

A pioneer in the Canadian space science community, Prof. Nicholls died suddenly and peacefully in his home early Friday morning, Jan. 25. He was 81.

Ralph was a true library supporter and would often drop by the library to chat or to recommend a book for the collection. Always willing to talk or exchange stories, it was a pleasure to run into him on campus. I'll miss those visits and chances to chat.

Another quote from the press release, by York Prof. Gordon Sheppard:

"But Ralph was also a person of great humanity. He understood that his vision would be carried out by people, and so it was, in the process creating careers for energetic young scientists that CRESS attracted, many of whom have made major contributions to space science in Canada and worldwide.

"His greatest pleasure was in helping people, especially young people. This accounts for the enormous number of individuals who are remembering him now, and will do so for many years to come.

"I encountered him first as an MSc student at my first conference; he easily attracted attention. Later he hired me and provided a base for my research at York University; we have been close colleagues for many years. I am one of the many that are indebted to him and I will always remember his enthusiastic encouragement and his jovial laughter echoing in the hallway."

See this autobiographical page from a 2002 workshop for some of Ralph's insights on why he got into space science.

Update 2008.01.31: Globe and Mail notice.

Cool Tools for Scholars: The Presentation

A couple of weeks ago I asked for some help in constructing a Brown Bag Presentation on Cool Tools for Scholars.

Well, I finally gave the presentation this past Thursday. The slides are here.

The presentation went pretty well, if a little sparsely attended. Unfortunately, I was scheduled right after a planning meeting which went a little long. However, the session was pretty lively with lots of questions and discussion. I think the cool tools that were the best received were Google Docs and Zotero.

I really enjoyed giving the presentation and I hope I'll get a chance to repeat it sometime.

Cool Tools for Scholars -- Help Wanted

I've somehow been recruited (thanks, Stacy!) to give a brownbag presentation session in a few weeks with the title, "Cool Tools for Scholars." Not having actually chosen the topic, I feel that I can range pretty far and wide from what might be expected and zoom into the stratosphere on this one. Of course, I'm not limiting myself to tools for scientists but for all scholars.

So far, my idea is to roughly follow the research process and highlight a couple of tools at each stage that scholars might find interesting or useful but that many librarians or scholars might not have heard of or used.

I'm thinking of an outline more or less like this:

• Invisible College
  
  
  • Social Networks: LinkedIn, Facebook, Nature Network
  
  
• Literature Search/Environment Scan
  
  
  • Social Bookmarking: Del.icio.us, Connotea
    
  • Recommendation Systems: Digg
    
  • Citation Management: Zotero, CiteULike
    
  • Blog Aggregators & Tools: ScienceBlogs, AcademicBlogs, Google Blog Search, Technorati, Scintilla, Post Genomic
  
  
• Executing the Research
  
  
  • Wikis (ie. for labs or keep track of any kind of notes)
  
  
• Writing up the Work
  
  
  • Document Preparation: Google Docs, Zoho
    
  • Publication: Lulu, CreateSpace
  
  
• Disseminating the Results
  
  
  • Presentations: Google Docs, Zoho & SlideShare
    
  • Papers: Institutional and Disciplinary Repositories (ie. exploring what they are and finding applicable ones)
    
  • Publicity: Project/Lab/Research Group blogs and wikis
  
  

Now, I know that's a lot to cover in 90 minutes, especially since I hope to have a really interactive session with a lot of input and ideas from the audience, so I'll probably only end up covering one tool per category. What I was hoping to get from you, my faithful audience, was some feedback on what might strike you as the most important things to cover in such a presentation. In particular, are there any great tools out there that I've not included on my list, especially ones aimed at non-scientists?

As usual, just drop a comment here or on Meebo or email me at jdupuis at yorku dot ca.

Check out my new blog for York Computer Science & Engineering students

This post is aimed a little more at the Engineering & CS profs and students out there; I'm interested in what you might think about this project.

I've created yet another blog, this one I'm aiming at Engineering & Computer Science students at my institution. I have two main ideas for this blog: first, as a place to locate my IL related links and other information. In the past I've used static web pages and was pretty happy with them. However, over time (and mostly over my sabbatical) I thought that I might want something a little easier, a little more flexible, a little more interactive and mashupable. And I saw an example of what could be accomplished at Heather Matheson's OLA presentation.

It took me a while, but I think I've got something I can live with. It uses WordPress instead of Joomla; but it also incorporates some rss feeds like my linkblog and the new book lists from my library. It has Meebo so students can touch base with me directly. Mostly I like that I've been able to move over the old IL instructional pages I did in FrontPage with relatively little fuss and bother. The classes I've used it for so far seem to like it and the reception from faculty too has been positive. It just looks cooler.

Second, as a place where I can highlight York science profs in the news and post some interesting links to engineering/CS stuff I think is neat, useful or interesting. I plan on using the WordPress pages feature to add digested versions of the full blown pathfinders we have. As well I want to create a list of all the different IL pages so anyone can find them without scrolling or searching.

I've also used the blog for some non-Engineering/CS classes, explaining that the current blog is just a prototype for future blogs in other areas. For example, I do a lot of Science & Technology Studies and Natural Science (NatSci are breadth courses for non-science students) courses and the posts don't really belong on the CSE blog. I would like to eventually create one for Nats/STS but I don't want to commit to it until I have a better idea of how successful the idea is. If you were a non-CSE student, would you be ok with your courses web page being hosted on a CSE blog?

I'm also particularly interested in what other librarians out there have done with IL or subject-focused blogs, how you've done things differently or the same. If you've preferred WordPress or Blogger or if you think that a more sophisticated CMS like Moodle or Joomla is the way to go. As usual, either drop a comment here, Meebo or email at jdupuis at yorku dot ca. Feedback, suggestions, ideas, pros, cons are all more than welcome; the blog is plainly a work in progress and I full expect it to evolve some more in the coming months.

Profile in YorkU Magazine

Like most universities, York has an internal magazine that they send to alumni, faculty and staff as well as just placing around campus for anyone to pick up and read.

The blog and I were briefly profiled on page 11 in the most recent issue, October 2007. It's not online yet but when it is I'll link to it from here. It's interesting that I've already made a new contact with another blogger on campus via the profile. Online version of the issue is here.

Here's my bit:

WILU 2007 programme and registration

The full programme for WILU 2007 is now available. Registration is also open. This year it's in Toronto and is being hosted by my institution, the York University Libraries.

I'll be attending the conference (my first WILU - it stands for Workshop on Instruction in Library Use) and blogging it here, probably with near-nightly summaries like I did for OLA. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be an official blog or wiki available yet, which is more than a little unusual for a conference these days to not have at least one of those. I really like the Computers in Libraries wiki, which I would recommend as as template.

Science Librarian -- York University Libraries

This is a posting for a new tenure stream librarian at my library, the Steacie Science & Engineering Library. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact me via email at jdupuis at yorku dot ca. I'm not on the search committee, but it is at the library I work at every day so I can answer both fairly specific questions about Steacie as well as general questions about working at York. Like I said, this is a brand new position and a terrific opportunity to work at a great institution. The ad is online here as some other library postings at York here.

Science Librarian

York University Libraries seek a self-directed and public service-oriented Science Librarian based in the Steacie Science & Engineering Library.

The Science Librarian will be responsible for faculty liaison, collection development and the delivery of library programs for assigned disciplines and will participate in research consultations and outreach activities to departments and research centres. Responsibilities include selection of information resources, collection management and evaluation in such fields as kinesiology, neuroscience and mathematics. He/she will work individually and as part of a team to develop and provide reference services and information literacy programs to York’s community of users taking full advantage of the online learning and web environments. She/he will also participate in project and committee work for York University Libraries and the University. Some evening and weekend work is required.

York University offers a world-class, modern, interdisciplinary academic experience in Toronto, Canada’s most multicultural city. York is at the centre of innovation, with a thriving community of almost 60,000 students, faculty and staff, who challenge the ordinary and deliver the unexpected.

Steacie Science and Engineering Library is one of four libraries within York University Libraries. The Steacie Science and Engineering Library attracts a half million visitors a year and provides specialized resources, and reference and instructional services to the science, engineering, and health programs of York University. Three full-time librarians and seven full-time support staff are currently based in the Steacie Library.

Qualifications: An ALA-accredited MLIS or equivalent with up to two years’ post-MLIS experience. Educational background relating to science, technology, health, or kinesiology. Knowledge of science and technology literature and reference resources, and awareness of emerging trends in scholarly communication. Experience with Web authoring software and Web support technologies; familiarity with Web 2.0 technologies preferred. Strong client-centred service philosophy and evidence of professional initiative and leadership. Ability to handle multiple responsibilities and projects concurrently. Strong written and oral communication skills, including demonstrated skills in teaching and public communications. Ability to work effectively and collegially with a diversity of colleagues and clients. Interest in research, professional development, and university committee work.

The Science Librarian position is a tenure-track appointment to be filled at the Assistant Librarian level and is appropriate for a librarian with up to two years’ post-MLIS experience. Librarians at York University have academic status and are members of the York University Faculty Association bargaining unit (http://www.yufa.org/). Salary is commensurate with qualifications. The position is available May 1, 2007. All York University positions are subject to budgetary approval.

York University is an Affirmative Action Employer. The Affirmative Action Program can be found on York's website at www.yorku.ca/acadjobs or a copy can be obtained by calling the affirmative action office at 416-736-5713. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadian citizens and Permanent Residents will be given priority.

Campus resources include an on-site daycare centre and centres relating to gender equity, race and ethnic relations, sexual harassment, human rights, and wellness. York University encourages attitudes of respect and non-discrimination toward persons of all ethnic and religious groups, regardless of gender or sexual orientation.

The deadline for applications is March 12, 2007. Applications, including a cover letter relating applicant qualifications to the requirements of the position, a current curriculum vitae, a link to online examples of work where relevant, and the names of three referees, should be sent to:

Chair, Science Librarian Appointment Committee
York University Libraries, 310 Scott Library
York University, 4700 Keele Street
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M3J 1P3
Fax: 416-736-5451

Applications should be sent by mail or by fax with a mail copy following. Applications sent by e-mail will not be accepted.

Mamdouh Shoukri chosen as next president of York

I wouldn't normally post on a local announcement like this, but I couldn't resist mentioning that an engineer has been named president of my institution, York University.

Egyptian-born Shoukri, 59, is currently the vice-president (research & international affairs) at McMaster University in Hamilton and a professor of mechanical engineering. A member of the Ontario Research & Innovation Council (ORIC), Shoukri previously worked in various capacities with the Research Division of Ontario Hydro, before becoming a faculty member at McMaster and, later, dean of engineering.

I certainly wish Dr. Shoukri all the best in his new postion (he's starting in July) and I hope to get a chance to meet him and show him around my library.