Tag Archives: redpath library

Redpath Book Display: Students Recommend

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It is the time of the year when you feel like all you’re doing is reading. And yet it’s not really all that you wish to be reading? How about picking up a book for some leisure reading time? But are you confused about what to pick?

Well, look no further! The Humanities and Social Studies Library has put on display some of the top students’ picks to help you sync in with the crowd. Dedicated to bringing students a break between midterms and finals, our November display is curated from the recommendations of McGill students from all genres and book lengths. Basically, it’s got something for everyone!

For the ones you may not find on display, here are some of our ebook titles:

Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons

A hilarious parody of D.H. Lawrence’s and Thomas Hardy’s earthy, melodramatic novels, the deliriously entertaining “Cold Comfort Farm” is “very probably the funniest book ever written” (The Sunday Times.).

The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery

Though her family thinks she has gone mad, Valancy embarks on an adventure of discovery. Her newfound independence leads her to a world where anything is possible—even love. But is her new life just another illusion, or has she truly found the Blue Castle of her dreams?

Kitchen confidential: adventures in the culinary underbelly by Anthony Bourdain

A New York City chef who is also a novelist recounts his experiences in the restaurant business and exposes abuses of power, sexual promiscuity, drug use, and other secrets of life behind kitchen doors.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Based on Plath’s own struggles, it chronicles a young woman’s descent into depression and eventually into suicidal behaviour, coupled with her quest to discover herself at a time when self-discovery, for a woman, meant navigating traditional models of social propriety on one side and new ideas of freedom and self-determination on the other. It is widely cited as one of the 20th century’s greatest novels. 

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

The novel that scandalized Victorian England In a London studio, two men contemplate the portrait of another–younger and more beautiful–man. 

space

  1. Becoming Yellow: A Short History of Racial Thinking
  2. Brave New World: With the Essay “Brave new world revisited”
  3. Le Jouer Et Les Nuits Blanches 
  4. Wuthering Heights
  5. To Kill A Mockingbird

Well, that’s all we have here, but go check out the display to see if your favourite book is there too! 

You can find a full list of the books on display here.

For more information, contact us at hssl.library@mcgill.ca.

Sick of Paywalls? Here’s Three Open Climate Data Sources.

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Did you know there are three open climate data portals that are accessible to all Canadians? In the spirit of Open Climate Justice, this blog highlights the importance of these accessible platforms. Along with these national data sets, at the McGill Library we also have an environmental studies library guide which highlights a few other national data sets and our own collection of geographic information. 

Climate Atlas

The Climate Atlas of Canada, is a great starting point as it combines climate science, mapping, and storytelling together with Indigneous Knowledges and community-based research. Through videos, articles, and stories, you can gain a deeper insight to the lived experiences of climate change, as well as climate action amongst different communities. The map is simple and interactive and gives you insight to how different communities in Canada will experience climate change. The first step to justice is understanding. The Climate Atlas provides a holistic look into our future in Canada. 

Climate Data

The Climate Data website has a vast pool of data that is perfect for a project or just browsing. What is special about this project is that Sectoral analysis is open for anyone to browse and use. It provides excellent background and relevant data to understand how climate change will affect a sector important to you! For example, if your family has a farm in Ontario, you can actually look at how your specific region is modelled to experience climate change and plan for the future accordingly. 

PAVCIS

This website helps facilitate the analysis of all of this data. Through more complex tools, PAVCIS might be more adpt for those experienced in climate analysis or academics. If you have a handle on the mechanics, it’s a powerful instrument for deepening your research and evidence. 

We hope this was helpful in aiding your research process and curiosity and opening

P.S. Don’t forget to check out the virtual book display and blog post by the curators for Open Climate Justice.

Open Access to Climate Justice

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By Kimberly White and Ana Rogers 

Climate change does not affect everyone equally. The term “climate justice” was coined to acknowledge that the effects of climate change “will not be borne equally or fairly, between rich and poor, women and men, and older and younger generations” (UN, 2019). Access to information is a key part of connecting communities across disciplines and understanding the vast and imminent impacts of climate change. Sharing information openly and freely provides an opportunity to address the inequitable impacts of climate change and shape the global response.  

This year’s International Open Access Week (October 24-30, 2022) will focus on Climate Justice to raise awareness around how Open Access can support climate justice. “Open Access” refers to the “free, immediate, online access to the results of scholarly research, and the right to use and re-use those results as you need” (Open Access Week, 2022). 

In conjunction with International Open Access Week, McGill Library has curated a physical and virtual display at the Redpath Complex for the entire month of October, featuring books, films, and music that grapple with the inequities surrounding the climate crisis.  

In the spirit of Open Access, our virtual collection includes only Openly accessible materials and links to books which are held in print and can be accessed onsite by users outside the McGill community. Here are some of the highlights from our collection: 
 
 

Book cover for Silent Spring by Rachel Carson - The classic that launched the environmental movement. Introduction by Linda Lear, Afterward by Edward O. Wilson. The cover is a soft green with a red veiny leaf. Inside the leaf is the cutout image of a bird in flight. The title and author are overlayed in large white text.

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

No list of environmental publications would be complete without this groundbreaking 1962 book by Rachel Carson which details the harms caused by pesticide use and the negative impacts on communities exposed to these chemicals. 

Book cover for Voices of Drought by Michael B. Silvers. The politics of music and environment in Northeastern Brazil. Image includes a bare tree in the foreground and a grey sky with transparent music score in the background.

Voices of Drought by Michael B. Silvers

Voices of Drought takes a unique ethnomusicological approach to Climate Justice by demonstrating how ecological crisis affects musical culture by way of and proportionate to social difference and stratification.

Book cover for Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teaching of Plants. "A hymn of love to the world" as quoted by Elizabeth Gilbert. The image is of a single braided grass laying horizontally across the a plain beige background.

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

In this book, Indigenous author and botanist Robin Wall Kimmer explores how indigenous wisdom about human interactions with nature, harmonizes with modern scientific knowledge of ecology and sustainable living. 

Cover image for Climate Justice Y'All. The word's and large and sitting on a field of grass with flowers, plants, clouds, etc, emerging from the letters.

Climate Justice Y’All

This ongoing podcast centers on Climate Justice movements in the Southern United States, focusing on Climate Justice leaders and stories from communities in the South where climate change is already having significant impacts. 

Find these and our other selections through the Open Climate Justice Virtual Exhibit or in person in the McLennan Library lobby.