The Open Pages series at UPEI’s Robertson Library welcomes John Cousins to discuss his book New London: The Lost Dream. The event is Wednesday, November 16 at 7 pm, in the lobby on the main level of the Library.

New London: The Lost Dream is published by Island Studies Press at UPEI. For more details, see “Recent Titles” at http://projects.upei.ca/isp/.

Open Pages features local authors speaking about their books: what inspired them, what they learned, and what they shared. The public is warmly invited to attend.

Light refreshments will be served, and books will be for sale and signing by the author.

For more information, contact Joan Sinclair at Island Studies Press, ispstaff@upei.ca, or Simon Lloyd in the Robertson Library, slloyd@upei.ca. 

Robertson Library will be open 12:00 noon - 8:00 pm on Remembrance Day, Friday, November 11.

Information on Veterans' Week, #RememberThem is available on the Veterans Affairs Canada website.

Lest We Forget...

Recording now available of Robin DeRosa's October 24, 2016 session.

View the recording.

Description of the session.

PEI is holding a non-binding "plebiscite" on whether to change the provincial vote counting system for future provincial elections.

Citizens 16 years or older can vote on this and the vote is taking place by phone or online.

According to the Elections PEI website:

There are several choices available to voters.

They are explained on the Is It Time For Change? website.

Posted: October 21, 2016

Date: Thursday, October 27, 2016
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: Robertson Library 312

Topic: Open Data Book Club
Michael Easter will introduce the Open Data Book Club - its origins, what it does, and projects they’re engaged in.

Topic: The Value of Open Data in Climate Research
Dr. Fenech will discuss his experiences with the value of open data, focusing on the application of open data to an internationally award-winning research project visualizing the climate change impacts of sea level rise, coastal erosion and storm surges known as CoastaL Impacts Visualization Environment or CLIVE.

Dr. Adam Fenech has worked in the area of climate change for almost 30 years starting with the IPCC First Assessment Report. He has edited eight books on climate change, and teaches regularly at universities across Canada and around the world. Dr. Fenech has worked for Harvard University researching the history of the science/policy interfaces of climate change. He has represented Canada at international climate negotiating sessions; written climate policy speeches for Canadian Environment Ministers; and authored Canadian reports on climate change to the United Nations. Dr. Fenech is presently the director of the Climate Lab at the University of Prince Edward Island and Associate Professor in the Environmental Studies program.



Topic: Health Data in an Open Data World
In the world of open data, the acquisition and usage of health data presents significant challenges due to the extremely sensitive nature of this data, and privacy regulations.  Requesting this data from the government can be a challenging and lengthy process.  In order to better facilitate access to health data by researchers, the Secure Island Data Repository (SIDR) is being created at UPEI.  SIDR will have various levels of security, and will house record level health data from various sources, as well as aggregate data.  An example of one project conducted by UPEI's Centre for Health and Community Research which examined high cost health care users in Prince Edward Island will be presented as an example of the possible analysis that can be undertaken with this type of data and the potential it could have to affect change in our health-care system.

Mary-Ann MacSwain joined UPEI's Center for Health and Community Research in 2016 as a Data Analyst. Mary-Ann received her B.A. (Honours) in Psychology from UPEI, where she is currently completing her MSc in Epidemiology. Prior to joining the CHCR, Mary-Ann worked as a Research Officer for the Correctional Service of Canada’s Addictions Research Centre, a Health Information Specialist for Health PEI, and as a Data Analyst and Chronic Disease Epidemiologist within PEI’s Chief Public Health Office.  She brings over ten years of experience working in research, and is responsible for statistical analysis, data management, research design and execution.

Date:Thursday, October 27th at 10:00 am 

Place: Robertson Library Room 312

Dr. Robert Gilmour, VP Academic and Research, will introduce and Re-launch the new IslandScholar and data.upei.ca.  Dawn Hooper and Donald Moses from the Robertson Library will demonstrate the services and answer questions.

Join us Monday October 24, 2016 1:30 pm (AST) in Robertson Library Room 312 OR connect virtually.
Speaker: Robin DeRosa, Plymouth State University, New Hampshire

Open Educational Resources have the ability to eliminate the costs to students for textbooks and other learning materials, but they also empower students and faculty to work in new ways.  This presentation will explore how we can save money for students, while also transforming our teaching and radically centering learners in their own educations.  We will take a look at how free, openly-licensed digital materials can be incorporated into any course in any discipline, and explore new ways of using technology to connect our students and their work to the world outside of the the university.

This event is part of our celebrations for International Open Access Week October 24-30, 2016.

Update: A recording of the session is now available [view recording]. 

Image Credit: http://robinderosa.net/about/ 

We’re talking “open” in higher ed as a preview for the UPEI library’s Open Access Week celebrations, and welcome you to join us.

We’ll have light refreshments, a series of 5 minute Lightning Talks on various aspects of “open” currently in practice at UPEI, and time for questions and discussion. It will be a great way to get a sense of what open can do on campus, and to build potential collaborations.

Contact: Bonnie Stewart bstewart@upei.ca

Congratulations to Erica Raynor who won a  $30 gift card to the UPEI Bookstore for participating in a guided Orientation Tour of the Robertson Library.

Two additional $20 gift cards to the UPEI Bookstore were also drawn. Chelsea McPhee and Michele Fabienne Bub were the lucky winners.

The 30-40 minute Library Orientation Tours were held throughout September and featured the services and resources available at the Library.

Thanks to everyone who took a tour; we hope that you had an enjoyable experience getting to know your Library.

If you missed an opportunity for a guided tour of the Library, we will be offering more tours in January, so stay tuned for dates and times!

Wed, Oct 12, 2016 - 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm
Robertson Library - 308
Free

UPEI’s Robertson Library is hosting a new book event series this fall called “Open Pages,” which will feature local authors speaking about their books: what inspired them, what they learned, what they shared. The public is warmly invited to this free series, which takes place in the second-floor lounge of UPEI library on one Wednesday evening of each month, over this fall. Light refreshments will be served, and books will be available for sale and signing.

The first event in “Open Pages” is happening Wednesday, October 12, 7 pm, and will feature the new book, Time and a Place: An Environmental History of PEI, published by Island Studies Press at UPEI.

Time and a Place is the first environmental history of Prince Edward Island, and the first such history of any Canadian province. It features 12 essays, and explores how the Island has evolved from the Ice Age to the Information Age. One of the book’s strengths is the diversity among its expert authors. They discuss agriculture, fisheries and forestry with some topics in common, including climate change, and they discuss how people have affected the Island’s fields, forests, and waters, and in turn – how nature has affected Islanders.

Several of the book’s contributors plus two of its editors, Ed MacDonald and marine biologist Irene Novaczek, will talk about Time and a Place, and encourage discussion on its content.

For more information on the Open Pages series, contact Joan Sinclair at Island Studies Press, ispstaff@upei.ca, or Simon Lloyd at UPEI, slloyd@upei.ca.

For more detail on the book Time and a Place, see “Recent Titles” at upei.ca/isp.