Tag Archives: pandemic

Ask Me Anything on Reddit – A Year In Review

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On the faithful day of March 11th, 2021, Amanda took to reddit to see what the r/mcgill community were asking. After a tumultuous year full of change, we are reviewing some answers to showcase some of the things that are back at the McGill Library.

Resources

Q: What are the 3 top library resources/services you would recommend a new student at McGill look into?

A: Number one resource I would recommend for new students are the subject guides! Links are available right off the homepage. Each faculty, department, subject, etc. has been broken down into guides that indicate all the best resources to use for research in that area. 

Number two is citation or reference managers. There are tools like Zotero and EndNote which can help you organize your sources, generate citations, and input them into a Word document with ease. This is one of those things that I wish I knew about when I was a student (yes, they’ve been around that long) since it makes your life so much easier.  

Number three is our Ask Us chat service, or just talking to a librarian in general. This was also something I didn’t know you could do as a student. When I went to go find my research, I just assumed I knew everything and didn’t need help, but honestly my search skills were trash! I had no idea what I was doing. If I had just emailed my librarian and asked the best way to find articles in my subject, I probably would have gotten better grades too.  

UPDATE: These three resources are still some of the best starting points and super useful for new students. Since then, we have also create an orientation booklet full with library informations, games, and well-being tips. You can check it out on the orientation page.

Cool Features

Q: What is the coolest library feature students don’t take advantage of?

A: In a similar question I mentioned more of our services so for this one, I had the help of our Outreach Assistants to pick out some of the coolest places in the Humanities and Social Sciences Library that you can take advantage of when we reopen!

First, the Zen Room! It’s tucked away on the 6th floor of the McLennan next to the washrooms.

The McLennan 4th floor Visual Arts Collection is accessible and beautiful – perfect for a study break!

And if you need to blow of steam, there are stationary bikes on the main floor of Redpath.

UPDATE: Firstly, while majority of the library is open the zen room remains closed! You can find updates by checking out the page. The 4th floor Visual Arts Collection is open and the chains in front of the art are great places to relax. Lastly, the Innovation Commons is back in action with an all new One-Button Studio. To learn more read our latest blog post.

Book Loans

Q: Can I check out a physical book from McLennan?

UPDATE: Our book loaning services are back to normal! Simply find the book you would like to take out by wandering through the stacks or requesting a pick-up and take it to the front desk or one of our self-checkout machines.

Study Pods

Q: If you were a student at McGill, which library would you study at? I have a few favourites, but I’m curious what yours would be!

A: Personally, I’d probably study at the Music Library. I love those comfy chairs that face the window out onto Sherbrooke. That’s exactly the kind of place I would curl up for the day. I checked in with our Outreach Assistants on this though, since my ideal study spot is my couch 😛 They vote for the Humanities and Social Sciences Library (aka McLennan-Redpath Building) since it’s got that community feel and easy access to the café! They both miss those bookable study pods, and I can’t blame them. 

UPDATE: A year later our study pods are back open! You can book a room on the reservation website. The Music library, especially with the sun coming out more often, is an awesome space to get that Vitamin D while studying with it’s wonderful windows.

Fun Things to Access

Q: What cool things are there in the library that students do not generally know about and how might they access them (in an imaginary world where the pandemic is over).

A:

Okay I could probably go on and on about a bunch, so I’ve picked 4 for your viewing pleasure today! 

Our Digital Scholarship Hub launched pre-pandemic, but we never got to have an official opening for the space. In addition to a designated hub, there are experts who can help you on subjects like text analysis, data mining, data visualization, scholarly publishing, research data management, and more! 

The Innovation Commons (formerly Research Commons) is also adding some cool new features for when we return to the library, like a one-button studio so you can record content. 

The Book Arts Laboratory is in our Rare Books and Special Collections department. They have two functional printing presses. I made a card for my mother on one of them and it was gorgeous!  

Oh! And don’t forget about that Seed Library over on the MacDonald Campus, which helps to offer seeds and other gardening resources to our McGill Community.  

UPDATE: The Digital Scholarship Hub is now open! You can check out their spaces, resources and events on their website.

Thanks for going down memory lane with us! If you have any other questions about what has changed in the library email hssl.library@mcgill.ca

Since You’ve Been Gone – A Redpath Exhibition

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On Friday, March 13th, 2020, many of us left campus unsure of when we would be back. Only a day later the Premier of Quebec, François Legault, announced the province had entered a public health emergency set to last only ten days. The McGill Library closed its doors over the weekend and began shifting to remote services. In the early days of the pandemic there was a lot of confusion and uncertainty. There was a lot of fear. But from that fear a light emerged, and people came together (albeit apart) to form new and resilient communities. Here’s what you missed since you’ve been gone.

Wide angle view of materials behind a locked glass case

Collectivity we took up new hobbies like baking, which caused the sale of flour to increase by over 2000%. Some of us got a little too into baking and began naming our sourdough’s, but it’s okay, we forgive you. We looked to crafts like knitting and making homemade masks to help fill our days. Jigsaw puzzles were nearly sold out across the country, and sales worldwide went up by over 300%. And when that wasn’t enough, on March 20th we became obsessed with the Netflix true crime documentary series Tiger King. In the first ten days of the show’s release, it was watched by over 34.4 million households. That’s 34.4 million households who have a lot of questions about Carol Baskin’s husband.

Tiger King wasn’t the only thing we streamed. On July 3rd, Disney+ released a filmed version of the Broadway hit musical Hamilton. Over 22 million households watched and soon everyone was singing. But we all know we will never be satisfied… which is why on October 23rd, 2020, when Netflix released the mini-series The Queen’s Gambit, over 62 million households streamed the show, making it the most watched series in the entire world (the show is an adaption of the Walter Tevis novel of the same name and is available in the McGill Library)! The show sparked a wave of people purchasing chess sets (sales increased by over 1000%) and millions of people signed up to Chess.com. And on December 25th, just when we thought we couldn’t watch anymore television, Netflix released Bridgerton. Over 82 million households rushed to binge the series (though if your parents ask, you skipped episode six), making it the new most watched show in history.

  • side angle view of a stuff tiger and the book "The Tiger Who Would Be King", a children's picture book flipped open to the first title page.
  • Books on Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr are tucked into the right hand side of the shelf. A framed photo of The Duke and I book cover sits on the shelf with a pair of headphones laid overtop to signify the audio version of the book.
  • A chess set is set up to depict a famous tournament match, behind it in the right top corner of the frame is the book "The Queen's Gambit" by Walter Tevis.

For most of the summer and fall of 2020, the world was captivated by the United States Presidential Election. From Presidential Debates to the counting of the mail-in-ballots, many were glued to their screens waiting to find out who would be the 46th American President. History was made (although not from the number of viewers) as the first ever female Vice-President of the United States, Kamala Harris – a former resident of Montreal – was elected.

It is safe to say we watched a lot of television these past 18 months. But don’t worry, that’s not all we did. We also hung out in parks more than ever before, making them an important part of many Canadians’ mental health. We went on picnics, explored new outdoor spaces, and some of us even brought home a furry friend or two. In fact, animals were making appearances everywhere including dolphins in the Venice Canal, a humpback whale in the St. Lawrence River near Old Port, and who could forget those pesky murder hornets?

Despite all the ups and down and trivial moments of the past 18 months, perhaps nothing has loomed quite as large as two of the biggest civil rights movements of our time. On May 25th, 2020, George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police office, Derek Chauvin. Shortly after footage of the killing was released, protests began to break out across the United States. The public was in an uproar after not only Floyd’s death, but the deaths of many Black individuals at the hands of police. Other countries also saw mass protests occur, despite the pandemic. A wave of support for the Black Lives Matter movement grew online and created a huge push for communities to #DefundThePolice and provide patronage to local Black-owned businesses.

Canada was forced to face its own trauma inflicted upon Indigenous Peoples during colonization as in mid-May 2021, the remains of 215 children were found buried at the site of the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia.  These discoveries continued throughout the summer with 1,504 graves found as of August 2021, with thousands more likely to be discovered. This genocide has brought global attention to the horrors committed by the Canadian government, the Catholic Church, and numerous others involved in the implementation and running of residential schools. For those looking to read more about the impact of residential schools on Indigenous Peoples, we have several materials available at the McGill Library to help you learn.

front angle view of the glass exhibition case featuring all sixteen shelves of material.

Over the course of a year and a half, we witnessed major civil rights movements, we were anxious and scared over an uncertain future, and we struggled to find our place. Yet, within all of the confusion, we managed to find light and laughter in our days. And while this pandemic is not yet over and there are many questions left to be answered, the McGill Library has finally reopened its doors. We are excited to have students back in our spaces, though we urge people to get vaccinated and tested for COVID-19 in order to keep our community safe.

The Since You’ve Been Gone Redpath Exhibition will be available during the month of September 2021. Questions or comments can be directed to hssl.library@mcgill.ca.