You’re invited to a Ryerson Library Think Tank Series event – Virtual Reality: a Powerful Technology that Enables us to Step into Lost Environments of the Ancient World

In this lecture, Dr. Simon J. Young will discuss the potential of Virtual Reality (VR) as an educational and research tool for education. VR provides us with a powerful tool to present and visualize the results of these investigations in a 360 stereoscopic immersive digital environment. This talk will explore some particular implications of these possibilities, and will feature spectacular digital reconstructions of the ancient world. There will be a chance to experience the VR at the end of the talk.

When: Friday, January 11, 2019 from 4-6PM
Where: Collaboratory, Library 3rd Floor

Refreshments provided. Please RSVP by January 10, 2019.  For more information, view the digital poster for this event.

You’re invited to the Ryerson Library’s Speaker Series event:  What is Stronger Than Hate? Building Empathy in an Increasingly Violent World.

Wednesday, November 14, 2018 from 11-12PM in Library 405, on the Library’s 4th floor. No RSVP required.

For close to 25 years, the USC Shoah Foundation has been collecting, preserving and making accessible human stories from survivors and witnesses of genocide and mass violence. That collection is being used in education in more than 80 countries worldwide. The institute’s research shows that localized testimony based education programs can build empathy and inspire action among youth, particularly those who may be marginalized.

Dr. Kori Street is the Senior Director of Programs and Operations at the University of Southern California Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education.  She oversees education and research programs around the world that help to understand the causes and consequences of identity-based hate and genocide and the power of the human story to counter hatred.

If you have any questions or any particular accommodation please contact Anna Tassone (atassone@torontomu.ca)

In celebration of GIS Day, the Library’s Geospatial Map and Data Centre (GMDC), in collaboration with the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies and ESRI Canada,  is hosting an event for Ryerson students, faculty, staff, and the local community to explore and celebrate GeographicInformation Systems (GIS) research and applications.

When: Wednesday November 14th, 2018 from  10am-3pm

Where: SLC 508, 5th floor of the Student Learning Centre

Presentations will include a series of academic and technical demonstrations highlighting institutional research and the following ESRI products: ESRI Insights, ArcGIS Pro, and CityEngine. The full agenda is available here.

No RSVP required, please drop-in as your schedule allows.

We want to hear from you about your experience with the library. It’s your your space, your library, and we want to make it as useful, accessible and welcoming as we can. But we can’t do that without hearing from those who use it the most – YOU!

Please plan to drop in and have your say. We’ll have pizza and refreshments to make sure your belly is full, and your mind open.

Join us on Tuesday, September 18, 2018 between 12pm-2pm in SLC 508, on the 5th floor of the Student Learning Centre. 

We hope to see you there!

Thursday, May 31st is Toronto’s first Digital Literacy Day! The Toronto Metropolitan University Library & Archives (RULA) is one of many partners providing free events and programming across the city to explore the ways technology has changed the way that we work, play, educate and teach. RULA is showcasing how we support digital literacy learning in our spaces through sponsorship of student projects, workshops, and hands-on demonstrations by Library staff.  The complete list of events available across this city is accessible on the City of Toronto website.

At the Toronto Reference Library from 9:30am-11:30am, RULA is showcasing innovative uses of digital technology by Ryerson students and Library staff, including:

Micropayment for Smart Sensors is a student project that enables payment features to any electronic sensor via an online dashboard, with use cases ranging from housing to retail to industry. Examples of potential use would include a fully-automated modular home with payment-enabled sensors that would be ideal for a new immigrant or a tourist looking for short-term rentals.

Facial Recognition Enabled Smart Door involves student design of a facial recognition device that will provide access to staff members into an equipment room as a pilot project for door security. This device will be capable of identifying visitors before they enter the room from a digital image using computer vision techniques.

ioTree: Community Gardens  is a garden monitoring system developed by students that allows users to track growing conditions, and prompts users when action should be taken to maintain the garden. The gardener will be prompted with a dry soil alert when watering is needed, and past trends in garden conditions can be used to predict the timing of future maintenance.

Remembering the Real Winnie Digital Project is a demonstration/showcase of how digital technology is bringing history to life, presented by Ryerson Librarian, Sally Wilson.

At the Agincourt branch of the Toronto Public Library, RULA is sponsoring Tetra Ryerson’s Exoskeleton Workshop from 6p.m.-8p.m., a hands-on STEM education workshop where attendees will learn how to build their own robotic exoskeleton. Participants will learn the history and importance of robotic exoskeletons, current technology, how they are built, as well as their various applications. They will be able to simultaneously apply this knowledge while building an actual robotic exoskeleton consisting of 3D printed parts, motors, sensors and other equipment. Please register online to participate in this workshop.

On-site at Toronto Metropolitan University, the Library’s Digital Media Experience Lab and Collaboratory, located on the 3rd floor of the Student Learning Centre,will have an open house from 10a.m. – 5 p.m.  Participants will view demonstrations and engage with VR and AR technologies including the Oculus Rift and HoloLens, 3D printing, and laser cutting of RULA keychains for participants.

Participants can also register for afternoon workshops on thematic aspects of digital literacy:

Trust and Bias in Digital Literacy (2:30pm-3:30pm in the Collaboratory, Library’s 3rd floor)
Ryerson Librarians will present on helping users and creators master the important skill of digital literacy. They will discuss why users need a higher-level critical lens when navigating the digital realm, and why the skill of evaluating information in a digital space is necessary.

What is Machine Learning? (3:30pm – 4:30pm in the Collaboratory, Library’s 3rd floor)
This talk will feature an introduction to artificial intelligence with a focus on machine learning (ML) applications, including the overall workflow of an machine learning program and common use cases in the industry. This talk will briefly touch upon the emergence of machine learning and neural networks in computer vision applications.

HotDocs, North America’s largest documentary festival, conference and market, will be making its annual arrival in Toronto from April 26 to May 6.  As recently reported, the Library’s Archives and Special Collections received a donation of assets from past Hot Docs Festivals and year-round activities.  This collection is now accessible on the Library’s 4th floor, and includes:

• HotDocs schedules and guides,
• Promotional materials,
• Administrative records, such as annual reports, and
• a DVD collection of 72 documentary films, with many items available for borrowing from our AV collection located on the 5th floor.

The Library’s audio-visual collection includes many other documentary films available for borrowing, as well as films that are viewable through online streaming sites such as Kanopy, Curio and the National Film Board of Canada.

Looking to learn a new skill, and meet new people? Maybe relieve some stress as we get closer to the end of term? The Library is hosting a series of free Crochet Workshops where you will learn basic crochet skills, and create an amigurumi crochet hot cocoa mug that unrolls to become a cozy scarf.

This design can be found in  Make: fabric and fiber inventions, a print title from the Library’s collection. Crochet workshops will take place on Tuesday, April 3^rd and 10th, from 10:30 am – 12 p.m. in the Library’s Digital Media Experience Lab (DME), located on the 3rd floor of the Student Learning Centre.  Materials will be supplied by the DME.  Please register by sending an email to Librarian Trina Grover at tgrover@ryerson.ca

To keep up with our crafty adventures, please follow us on Instagram: @rulaknithappens

A key partnership between the Library and the the Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation (OVPRI) is helping shape the future of research data management (RDM) services in Canada, with two key events taking place on the Ryerson campus this week.  Research data management  refers to the organization, storage, preservation, and sharing of data collected and used in a research project. RDM helps to increase research impact, and facilitates the sharing of research data – when shared, data can lead to valuable discoveries by others outside of the original research team.

The OVPRI recently hosted a Tri-Agency pre-consultation about RDM policies. This meeting included representation from CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC, and included members from research offices, libraries and ethics boards from a number of universities across Ontario. Attendees provided feedback that will help inform the upcoming Tri-Agency policy on RDM.

The Library has been deeply involved with planning and hosting  Portage and RDM in Canada on Tuesday, January 30th, 2018.  This is a full-day event on the subject of research data management (RDM) best-practices, and the need for coordinated institutional, domain, and national data management services in Canada.

Chief Librarian Carol Shepstone is providing welcoming remarks, with Dr. Steven Liss, Ryerson’s Vice-President, Research and Innovation moderating a panel including researchers and university administrators.  Attendees from across the country will  be participating in workshops on tools important to RDM planning and data deposit. The event will be streamed on Ryecast: https://ryecast.ryerson.ca/1/page/LiveEvents.aspx

For more information on RDM planning at Ryerson, please contact Matt Gertler, Data Librarian at matthew.gertler@ryerson.ca

After working as Curatorial Specialist at RULA, Alison Skyrme was recently appointed to the position of Special Collections Librarian. Alison holds a BFA in Photography Studies from Toronto Metropolitan University (2002) and a Master of Information from the University of Toronto (2015). Alison is also a 2007 alumnus of the Photographic Preservation and Collections Management (PPCM) graduate program, and has been an active instructor with the program for several years. She specializes in collections management and documentation in the heritage sector and has over 15 years of collections experience in galleries, libraries, archives and museums.