Women’s History Month 2023: Celebrating Female Authors at McGill

For decades, the month of March has been celebrated as Women’s History Month. With International Women’s Day having been on March 8th, it’s important to take the time to celebrate contributions have made within society, as well as to recognize female achievements.

Many female authors received some or all of their education here at McGill. In fact, through the McGill Library, students are able to enjoy these books, a few of which are highlighted below.

Au péril de la mer – Dominique Fortier

“Avec ferveur et intelligence, Dominique Fortier grave dans notre esprit un texte en forme de révélation, qui a la solidité du roc et l’ivresse des navires abandonnés. À la fois roman et carnet d’écriture, Au péril de la mer est un fabuleux hommage aux livres et à ceux qui les font.”

A Town Called Solace – Mary Lawson

A Town Called Solace–the brilliant and emotionally radiant new novel from Mary Lawson, her first in nearly a decade–opens on a family in crisis: rebellious teenager Rose been missing for weeks with no word, and Rose’s younger sister, the feisty and fierce Clara, keeps a daily vigil at the living-room window, hoping for her sibling’s return.”

Lullabies for Little Criminals – Heather O’Neill

“Heather O’Neill dazzles with a first novel of extraordinary prescience and power, a subtly understated yet searingly effective story of a young life on the streets—and the strength, wits, and luck necessary for survival.”

The Saver – Edeet Ravel

“Struggling just to get by day-to-day, 17-year-old Fern’s main source of happiness is the constant reassurance of her hard-working mother, but when her mother suddenly dies Fern must find a way to survive in the real world on her own.”

Rethinking Early Medieval India: A Reader – Upinder Singh

“This reader presents a new understanding of the early medieval period of Indian history (c. 600-1300 CE), highlighting the complex and multilinear nature of its historical processes. The book examines the major historiographical debates and also moves beyond them, throwing light on many important aspects of the social, economic, political, and cultural history of the pre-Sultanate and non-Sultanate early medieval.”

The Best of Writers & Company – Eleanor Wachtel

“Eleanor Wachtel is one of the English-speaking world’s most respected interviewers. This book, celebrating her show’s twenty-five-year anniversary, presents her best conversations from the show, including Jonathan Franzen, Alice Munro, J.M. Coetzee, Zadie Smith, W.G. Sebald, Toni Morrison, Seamus Heaney, and nearly a dozen others who share their views on process and the writing life.”

March Madness 2023 in the Library – Week 1

This year the Humanities and Social Sciences Library is celebrating March Madness with our very own book bracket. We’ve taken the top rated books from the Goodreads Choice Awards 2022 to put together the ultimate challenge on McGill’s favourite reads.

Week 1 begins March 6th and will be up from Monday – Sunday. Folks can vote for their favourite books by adding a tally next to their choice. Our preliminary bracket consists of sixteen contenders hoping to make it to our Elite Eight in Week 2.

Want to vote? Head to the McLennan-Redpath Library Building mainfloor near our Redpath Exhibition Case and Book Display to find the March Madness boards!

March Madness book brackets, full list of titles with hyperlinks available below.

Meet the Competitors

  1. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
  2. The Maid by Nita Prose
  3. Corrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
  4. House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas
  5. Book Lovers by Emily Henry
  6. Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
  7. Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak
  8. I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
  9. Bad Gays: A Homosexual History by Huw Lemmey and Ben Miller
  10. Heartstopper (Volume 4) by Alice Oseman
  11. Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman
  12. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
  13. The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
  14. Gallant by V.E. Schwab
  15. The Invisible Kingdom by Meghan O’Rourke
  16. Tracy Flick Can’t Win by Tom Perrotta

Join us March 13th for Week 2!

TwitterTidbit #1 – Revolutionize Your Writing with Zotero

Welcome to the first of the Humanities and Social Studies Library’s TwitterTidbits, where we scour through #AcademicTwitter, so you don’t have to!

Today’s Twitter piece of treasure is courtesy of @MushtaqBilalPhD, who believes that Zotero’s in-built Note Editor can “Revolutionize” your writing. And well, we agree. 

Often cited by the HSSL family as a fantastic tool for student research and writing, Zotero is a free and open-source software designed to organize your research, create automatic bibliographies, insert citations and footnotes to your assignments and just overall make the writing process much easier. 

To get started, go to www.zotero.org and download the software (you can also download their IOS app if you’re someone who prefers to work on their iPad).

Once you are done setting up Zotero on your device, you can use the software directly within Microsoft Word, in your browser or through its own app. 

For reaping the full benefits of the Note Editor, we recommend using the Zotero app on your desktop. 

MacBook Launchpad. A grid of different app icons on a low transparency blue, pink and orange background. At the bottom left corner a cross-sectional 3D grey logo with a bold red Z (the Zotero logo), highlighted using neon blue annotations.

To begin, add the document you would like to work on (preferably as a PDF file) to your Zotero library. You can either drag and drop your file directly into the library space or use the wand icon above the library space to enter the DOI or ISBN of your document. 

Home Page of the Zotero Library App. At the centre of the page is a welcome message with links to the Quick Start Guide and Zotero Connector. A panel on top of the page shows five small icons. The second icon (magic wand with plus sign in green) is annotated with a red circle. A box below the icon reads "Enter ISBNS, DOIs, etc".

Once your document has been added, double-click on it and Zotero will open it for you in a new window. 

My Library in Zotero App. In the library space, there is a dark blue line (denoting that the file has been selected) that shows the title and creator of the file. A red arrow points to the file, while to the right of the page (in a panel divide by a line) there is the Information about the file.

On top of the Annotation pane are the different tools for annotating the document: including highlight text, notes, and selection. In the top right corner of the window, you will find a small Notes button.

Separate window with PDF file opened in Zotero Library. Most of the window is covered by the text in the PDF file. A thin panel over the top page on the PDF shows four icons, each a different tool for annotation. On the top right corner of the window (on the same thin panel) are icons for the Notes feature.

Click on the Notes button and select ‘Add Item Note’ after pressing the + icon in the Notes panel. You will now be shown a toolbar with six different tools for note-taking. These are: 

1. Format text

2. Highlight text

3. Clear formatting

4. Insert Link

5. Insert Citation

6. Find and Replace

You are now all set to explore the Note Editor in Zotero for yourself! Some exciting features we think you should check out are the in-text citation feature and the drafting feature, which will allow you to use your notes to begin drafting your own paper in Microsoft Word.

Separate window with PDF file opened in Zotero Library. Most of the window is covered by the text in the PDF file. Panel to the right reads "YOU GOT THIS!!" in bold and pink highlighted text.

If you’re interested in learning more about Zotero but don’t know where to start, we’ve got you covered! 

Check out our Introduction to Zotero page for a lineup of virtual workshops spread over the semester. But suppose you want to learn on your own time. In that case, you can watch the McGill Library’s entire Zotero Video Tutorials playlist to get familiar with the software in just around 20 minutes.

Till then, keep an eye out for the next TwitterTibdit!