The staff at Schulich Library are so excited to announce that we are launching a new reading club called CLEAR: the McGill Libraries’ Climate Learning, Engagement and Action Reading Club https://libraryguides.mcgill.ca/clear The club is open to all current McGill students and staff who would like to learn more about climate issues and solutions. Join us at four in-person meetings taking place in Schulich Library over the academic year. Registration for the first two meetings is now open. Participants will read a chapter from a specific climate-related book for each meeting with the chapters pre-selected for the first two meetings and to be decided by participants for the second two. All book chapters will be available online through the McGill Libraries. Register today! Registration will be ongoing over the course of the academic year, as space permits.
With support from the McGill Office of Sustainability’s Sustainability Projects Fund, we are happy to offer food and beverages at each meeting, as well as a draw for five print copies of each book. We are partnering with the McGill Wellness Hub to have mental health aspects of this topic embedded into the programming. We are also partnering with the student group SEAM: Sustainability in Engineering at McGill in the planning. We are looking forward to reading and learning with you!
Our thanks to Théophileand Ruolin for submitting their FACC 400 assignment to post on The Turret. This student guest post looks at the acquisition of small startups by large pharmaceutical companies and how it might impact consumers.
Big Pharma’s Shopping Spree: Who Wins When Drugmakers Buy Startups?
by Théophile Soulié and Ruolin Hue
Known for its blockbuster GLP-1 drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound, Eli Lilly has been putting those profits toward an acquisition spree. On August 31, it agreed to buy Merida Biosciences, which develops precision therapies for autoimmune and allergic diseases, for up to $2.875 billion—its 13th biotech acquisition this year [1].
Lilly’s buying spree reflects a broader shift in how big pharma develops new drugs. Large drugmakers once handled most stages of R&D themselves, from identifying drug targets to developing and marketing treatments, while occasionally acquiring or licensing drugs from smaller companies. In the late 1970s, for example, Lilly licensed lab-made human insulin from Genentech, widely considered the world’s first biotech company [2]. Today, those exceptions have become the norm.
Of the 138 new drugs approved by the FDA for the 20 largest biopharma companies between 2015 and 2021, only 28% were invented in-house [3]. Most (65%) came from outside companies, and 41% came through acquisitions alone [3]. For Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi, Takeda and Biogen, every drug approved during that period was invented elsewhere.
When Big Pharma Buys, Who Wins and Who Pays?
For patients, the strongest argument for acquisitions is reach. Small companies now develop most new drugs, but big pharma often gets them to more patients: drugs invented by small biotechs but launched by larger companies had median second-year sales seven times higher than other launches [4]. This could be partly attributed to big pharma’s global sales and manufacturing networks, but it could also reflect its ability to acquire drugs with larger potential markets, and charge more for them.
Once a startup is acquired, the buyer controls the price. Pharmasset, the startup behind a breakthrough hepatitis C treatment, expected to charge $36,000 per course of treatment. After Gilead acquired the company, the drug launched at $84,000 [5]. At least 27 state Medicaid programs, unable to afford the treatment for everyone who needed it, restricted access to their sickest patients.
For investors, the question is whether acquisitions make risky research easier or harder to fund, which matters for patients too. Only 7.9% of drugs that enter human trials are ever approved [6], so venture investors depend on a small number of successful exits to offset frequent losses. Biotech investor Bruce Booth argues that acquisitions reward investors for taking those risks, especially because few startups can afford to develop a drug all the way to market [7]. Even during the 2025 funding slump, startups continued to be acquired. HSBC Innovation Banking’s Jonathan Norris said this showed companies could still reach an exit with early clinical data [8].
Critics argue that these deals are lopsided. Most startups cannot afford late-stage trials on their own, and there are only a handful of potential buyers, limiting their bargaining power. Big pharma can therefore capture much of a drug’s future value while startups and their investors bear much of the early risk [9]. If that dynamic persists, venture capitalists may earn less from early-stage biotech and become less willing to fund the riskiest projects, which are often the ones leading to major breakthroughs. For patients with hard-to-treat diseases, that could mean fewer new treatments and longer waits for them.
Buying to Bury: Killer Acquisitions
Not every acquisition is about bringing a drug to patients. Sometimes the goal is to make sure a drug never competes. Economists call this a “killer acquisition”: a company buys a startup whose drug threatens one of its own products, then quietly shuts the project down.
This is not just a theory. A 2021 study in the Journal of Political Economy by Cunningham, Ederer and Ma tracked thousands of drug projects [10]. It found that projects overlapping with the buyer’s existing products were 23.4% less likely to keep being developed after the acquisition. The authors estimate that 5 to 7% of pharmaceutical acquisitions are killer acquisitions, and that these deals cluster just below the size at which U.S. regulators must be notified.
The best-known case is Acthar, a drug for infantile spasms whose price went from $40 a vial in 2001 to more than $34,000 [11]. In 2013, its maker Questcor bought the U.S. rights to Synacthen, a cheaper competing drug, and never brought it to market. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission sued, and in 2017 Questcor’s new owner, Mallinckrodt, paid $100 million and had to license Synacthen to a competitor [11].
Conclusion
Acquisitions are now how most new drugs reach patients, and they give investors a reason to fund risky science. But the same deals let buyers set higher prices, squeeze startups and, sometimes, bury drugs that threaten their own sales. Closer review of pharma deals, including smaller ones, would keep the benefits without the killing.
[3] A. Schuhmacher, M. Hinder, A. Dodel, O. Gassmann, and D. Hartl, “Investigating the origins of recent pharmaceutical innovation,” Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, July 2023, doi: 10.1038/d41573-023-00102-z.
[6] E. Kim, J. Yang, S. Park, and K. Shin, “Factors Affecting Success of New Drug Clinical Trials,” Therapeutic Innovation & Regulatory Science, vol. 57, no. 4, pp. 737–750, May 2023, doi: 10.1007/s43441-023-00509-1.
[9] E. Billette de Villemeur, J. W. Scannell, and B. Versaevel, “Biopharmaceutical R&D outsourcing: Short-term gain for long-term pain?,” Drug Discovery Today, vol. 27, no. 11, p. 103333, Nov. 2022, doi: 10.1016/j.drudis.2022.08.001.
[10] Cunningham, C., Ederer, F., & Ma, S. (2021). Killer acquisitions. Journal of Political Economy, 129(3), 649–702. doi: 10.1086/712506.
What do winter squash, rare birds, fossils, Mount Royal, medical specimens and science communication have in common? They are all invitations to get curious during Science Literacy Week at McGill!
This October, McGill Libraries and campus partners invite the McGill community and the public to explore science from new perspectives through a diverse lineup of activities, tours, workshops, displays, and special events.
Presented nationally by the Canadian Association of Science Centres (CASC), Science Literacy Week celebrates curiosity, discovery, and the science that surrounds us. The 2026 theme, Curiosity Unleashed, encourages us to explore, play, ask questions, and notice the world in new ways.
Whether you want to be come a better science communicator, explore McGill’s collections, discover the science of food, or introduce a young scientist to fossils, there’s something to spark your curiosity.
Celebrate both Science Literacy Week and Queer History Month at the Schulich Library. Drop by throughout the week to discover queer scientists and learn about their contributions to science.
How do you explain complex research to people outside your field? This 50-minute online webinar will introduce strategies for communicating specialized scientific and engineering research clearly and compellingly, whether you are giving a talk, writing a short text, or creating a social media post. Registration is required.
Take a closer look at some of the treasures of the Blacker-Wood Collection of natural history. Rare Books and Special Collections will bring a selection of its finest birds and other natural-history wonders to the Redpath bridge for a special Science Literacy Week pop-up.
How do tiny molecules contribute to a warming planet? This interactive workshop explores climate change from the molecular level up, revealing how greenhouse gases heat the atmosphere and affect Earth’s interconnected systems. Participants will build their understanding of the science behind our changing climate while considering both individual and collective solutions. The session also acknowledges the climate anxiety these issues can create, pairing scientific understanding with opportunities for meaningful action.
Science can be delicious! Visit Macdonald Campus to learn about squashes native to Quebec and varieties grown on campus at the Mac Market. Test your knowledge with games, sample a new squash recipe created by human nutrition students, pick up cooking tips, and more. This bilingual event brings together the Office of Experiential Learning and Community Outreach, Macdonald Campus Library, Let’s Talk Science at McGill University, Mac Market, and the School of Human Nutrition.
Can’t make it to Mac? The squash celebration comes downtown the following day. Learn about Quebec’s native squashes and those grown at the Mac Market, play games, sample a recipe created by human nutrition students, and discover some new cooking tips. The event is bilingual.
Step into the history of medicine at the Maude Abbott Medical Museum in the Strathcona Anatomy & Dentistry Building. Visitors will encounter anatomical specimens and stories of medical innovation while exploring how our understanding of medicine and the human body has evolved over time. Registration is required.
Take science literacy outdoors on a 90-minute guided walk through Mount Royal. McGill librarian Giovanna Badia will explore the scientific origins of Montreal’s mountain while weaving in poetry by Mary Oliver, showing how science and poetry can both help us observe and understand the natural world more deeply. The walk begins in the lobby of the McLennan-Redpath Library Building, and registration is required.
Discover the Schulich Library of Physical Sciences, Life Sciences, and Engineering without leaving your desk. McGill librarian April Colosimo will lead this online tour of the restored 130-year-old library, highlighting its historic character, modern facilities, and role in scientific learning and research at McGill. Registration is required.
Science for the Whole Family
Science Literacy Week wraps up on Saturday with activities designed especially for McGill’s youngest curious minds.
The afternoon English-language session invites children and families to begin with a curiosity-sparking storytime before setting off on a fossil discovery adventure with a Redpath Museum guide. Participants can handle real specimens, learn about paleontology, and make a fossil-inspired keepsake to bring home. The free workshop is for children ages 4–10 and their families, and registration is required.
*Please note that the French version of this event will take place from 10-11 a.m. More information here.
Come Curious!
Science literacy is about more than knowing scientific facts. It begins with curiosity: asking questions, making connections, examining evidence, and looking at the familiar from a new perspective.
This Science Literacy Week, we invite you to unleash your curiosity. Explore a collection, taste something new, take a walk, investigate the history of medicine, improve how you communicate your research, or bring a young scientist along for their first encounter with a fossil.
Join us October 4–10 and discover where your curiosity will take you.
“Once an industry gets disrupted, it can disappear in a moment” – Markham Hislop
There is so much work going on on our campuses related to sustainability and climate change research these days and our university is being recognized for all these important projects. For example, in the June 25 What’s New, McGill was lauded as Canada’s top university in the QS World University Rankings. Of all the things that make McGill world famous, did you know our highest score was in sustainability? Though much of the work is being driven by our award-winningMcGill Office of Sustainability, they are not the only game in town!
One of the most exciting things currently happening on campus is the number of free sustainability and climate-related events, open to the general public. I am grateful for having attended two such events in the past couple of months, organized by two different units on the downtown campus. As the liaison librarian for the Trottier Institute for Sustainability in Engineering and Design (TISED), several engineering departments and Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, I get to learn about sustainability in order to better support the research needs of students and faculty in these departments. Both events were fantastic at making the science of sustainability and the transition to healthier and zero-emission energy sources (called the energy transition) understandable to ordinary people.
Sometimes the hard part about climate change and sustainability is how dreadful it can all seem, and yet what’s so exciting is that solutions are all around us. Both events succeeded in instilling that hope in their audiences. The first event was the Transportation Research Roundtable, a day-long symposium organized by the Sustainable Growth Initiative, a cross-faculty partnership anchored in McGill’s Faculty of Management and “dedicated to building practical, constructive, and applied solutions for key issues challenging sustainable growth.” To be notified about their future events, you can subscribe to their mailing list. Sponsored by Alstom and organized by professors in McGill’s Department of Geography and École Polytechnique’s Department of Civil Engineering, the event brings together students, faculty, members of the public, municipal workers, industry and others to discuss all things transport and sustainability. This was the third annual roundtable and it didn’t disappoint.
I was so excited to hear the keynote by Sarah Goodyear and Doug Gordon, authors of the 2025 book “Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile” (available at McGill Libraries) and creators of the podcast the War on Cars. As a huge fan of their book, I was thrilled to hear them discuss the book’s main thesis: our reliance on cars causes air pollution and other negative health impacts, makes us lonely, limits childrens’ autonomy and results in many other social and planetary ills. There were detailed questions from the audience on if progressive policies are contagious (yes, they are), what differences there might be implementing non-car alternatives in rural versus city settings (for rural places, consider re-investing in historic city centres) and what the authors thought about Montreal’s famous alleyways (they were jealous but emphasized that our alleyways shouldn’t be an excuse not to invest in bike lane infrastructure). The authors gave practical examples of cities embracing active mobility and limiting cars such as the Beltline in Atlanta, the Bike Bus movement – where groups of citizens organize bringing kids and families to school by bike along a designated route, road pricing in Norway, the spread of Citi Bikes in New York city and, of course, our own Bixi system here at home. You can read about the day and watch the full keynote at: https://www.mcgill.ca/desautels/article/sustainable-growth-initiative-sgi/war-cars-sgis-3rd-annual-transportation-roundtable
Image: Taken by Tara Mawhinney
The second sustainability-related event Disruptive Innovation, the Energy Transition, and Canada, hosted by the Trottier Institute for Sustainability in Engineering and Design was a fantastic primer by energy expert and journalist Markham Hislop on the energy transition landscape in Canada. Essentially, fossil fuels are old technology and bound to go the way that the use of horses and mules did in agriculture once tractors were invented. His main point was that Canada is getting left behind by focussing on polluting old technologies like fossil fuel extraction and pipelines instead of investing in new, green technologies. He showed a graph of the decline of horses and mules on US farms between 1900 and 1950 , which illustrated just how quickly new technology can displace older ones. We know what side of history we want to be on and it’s not the one going the way of the dinosaur. Hislop’s superpower is what is interestingly called “vulgarisation” in French and for which English doesn’t have a great equivalent. What might be called being a ‘popularizer’ or a little dryly: scientific communication for the layperson.
I love those moments in the classroom when you can actually see students absorbing new information. As an information literacy instructor, I could see several instances of that throughout Hislop’s talk. There were so many questions from the audience that you could tell everyone wished the question period could be longer. The talk ended on an inspiring note when a young female undergraduate engineering student asked Hislop for tips for young engineers graduating today. He responded that we are at a point where it is not about the cost of new green technology anymore as it’s become much more affordable. Rather, we are at the point where we need to figure out how to use the technology to solve real world problems. He commented, “Maybe our secret weapon [in Canada where we have a strong innovation ecosystem and research supports] is to take the technology and figure out how to do things better [and in a way that’s] better suited to our needs.”
You can watch the whole talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxfS0dSosWw , follow Hislop on his Thoughtful Journalism blog and subscribe to the TISED newsletter to keep up to date about upcoming McGill talks. With so much state of the art sustainability research happening at McGill, I hope these talks inspire you to keep learning more on this topic. The future depends on it.
This summer, during declared heat waves, the McGill Libraries serve as cooling centres, offering a comfortable, air-conditioned space where anyone can drop in and take a break from the heat. Whether you’re stopping by for a few minutes or spending the afternoon with us, you’re always welcome! With the exception of the Birks Library, all of our libraries are designated cooling spots this summer. Check out our opening hours and locations here.
There’s more to do than just cool off! Browse the shelves and discover your next favourite read, use the Wi-Fi, or simply relax in a quiet space. Drop by the Schulich Library to browse our Wendy Patrick Collection of consumer health materials or kick back with a free magazine. No library card is required to come in and enjoy the space.
This summer, we’re also featuring a collection of books on managing eco-anxiety, climate change, and environmental resilience. These titles explore the challenges of our changing climate while offering thoughtful perspectives, practical ideas, and stories that inspire hope and action.
April 10th marks the annual celebration of Indigenous Nurses Day in Canada, a day to recognize and honour the many remarkable contributions of Inuit, First Nations and Métis nurses across the Canadian healthcare system. This day specifically honours the memory and legacy of Charlotte Edith Anderson Monture(Kanien’kehà:ka), Canada’s first registered Indigenous nurse, whose trailblazing career continues to inspire generations of nurses.
Reading and learning are powerful ways to learn about the stories and experiences of Indigenous nurses. Stories written by and about Indigenous nurses offer insight into their knowledge, leadership, advocacy, and lived experiences within health systems shaped by colonial histories. They also highlight the strength and continuity of Indigenous nursing practice today.
Below is a curated selection of textbooks, memoirs, and lived-experience narratives by Indigenous nurses in Canada. Click on the book cover of interest to find it in the McGill Libraries’ catalogue. These works invite reflection, learning, and deeper appreciation of Indigenous nurses’ enduring impact on health care and community wellbeing.
Since its inception on April 22, 1970, Earth Day has evolved into a worldwide annual celebration. The 2026 theme, Our Power, Our Planet reflects a fundamental truth that environmental stewardship “…is sustained by the daily decisions of communities, educators, workers, innovators, and families who understand that protecting the places they live and work is both a responsibility and a long-term investment.”
Despite major corporations and governments bearing primary responsibility for emissions worldwide, the theme seeks to empower individuals and communities to persist in the environmental progress for which we have fought hard.
In the McGill Libraries, we are committed to ongoing action toward environmental and social sustainability. Many of our branches and units have been working towards Sustainable Workplace Certification and as of fall 2025 every McGill Library unit is now recognized as a certified Sustainable Workplace.
As part of the McGill research community, we each bring valuable skills to the table. Why not use those skills to support grassroots climate justice movements by volunteering your time with Research for the Front Lines, or help build a people-centered scientific practice by becoming a member of Science for the People’s local chapter?
Finally, explore this curated collection of climate justice books. If you are on campus, why not come by and check out the physical display in the Schulich Library, located at the end of the hall on the main floor. From understanding eco-anxiety to discovering climate-resilient agricultural practices, from exposing greenwashing to amplifying environmental activism in the global majority, these books offer compelling opportunities to learn and make a difference. Grab a book and share what you learn with people in your life!
In an era where artificial intelligence tools are becoming increasingly integrated into our research and daily workflows, it’s important to remember that even the most sophisticated AI systems can make mistakes, sometimes with information that is easily verifiable. Let’s use a very Montreal example: hockey.
Simple Question, Contradictory Answers
Recently, I conducted a simple experiment with Perplexity, an AI tool that markets itself as a one-stop shop for research and general questions. Their interface features dedicated tabs for Business, Arts & Culture, Tech & Science, Entertainment, and Sports, and their marketing emails actively encourage users to rely on it for everyday task, including looking up sports statistics like “NBA scores from last night.”
I asked a straightforward question: “Who has the most overtime goals in the NHL in the 2025-2026 season as of right now.” Note: this question was asked on January 21st 2026.
The AI’s initial response seemed confident and specific. After reviewing 10 sources, it told me that as of January 21st, 2026, there was a six-way tie for the league lead, with players like J.T. Miller, Steven Stamkos, and Adrian Kempe each having 3 overtime goals.
Fair enough. Six players tied at the top. A reasonable answer for an in-season statistic question.
But then I asked a follow-up question. Because I’m a Montreal Canadiens fan, and something wasn’t adding up.
“How many overtime goals does Cole Caufield have this season?”
After reviewing the same 10 sources, the AI confidently replied that Cole Caufield had 4 overtime goals in the 2025-2026 NHL season.
Wait a minute. If six players were tied for the lead with 3 goals each, how could Cole Caufield have 4 overtime goals and not be mentioned as the leader?
When I pointed out this logical contradiction, the AI had no choice but to acknowledge its error. It confirmed that yes, if Caufield had 4 overtime goals and no other player had more than 3, then he would indeed be the number one overtime goal scorer for the season, contradicting its original answer entirely.
What This Teaches Us
This simple example illustrates several critical lessons for students, researchers, and anyone using AI tools.
1. AI Tools Make Mistakes Even With Verifiable Facts
This wasn’t a matter of opinion or interpretation. Overtime goals in the NHL are publicly tracked statistics that should be straightforward to verify. Yet the AI provided contradictory information within the same conversation.
2. Confidence Doesn’t Equal Accuracy
The AI presented both answers with equal confidence, citing sources each time. A confident tone and reference to sources doesn’t guarantee correctness.
3. Critical Thinking is Your Best Tool
The error only became apparent when I asked a follow-up question and noticed the logical reasoning inconsistency. Passive acceptance of the first answer would have left me with incorrect information.
4. Always Verify Important Information
Admittedly, this particular error had low stakes. No one’s getting hurt if I mistakenly credit the wrong player with the overtime goal lead. But the same AI tool that fails on sports statistics could just as easily provide incorrect information about medication dosages, historical dates for your research paper, or citation requirements for your thesis. If you’re relying on AI-generated information for academic work, professional decisions, or anything where accuracy matters, always verify the facts through authoritative primary sources.
In this case, the NHL’s official statistics page would have provided the correct answer in seconds. No contradictions, no confusion, just reliable data from the source.
Which brings me to my next point…
5. Some Questions Don’t Need AI
Why ask an AI for NHL overtime goal leaders when you could check NHL.com’s official statistics in seconds? For straightforward, easily verifiable facts (sports scores, current weather, stock prices, published statistics, etc.) going directly to the authoritative source is often faster, more reliable, and more appropriate than routing the question through an AI tool.
6. AI is a Tool, Not an Authority
Generative AI tools are powerful assistants for brainstorming, drafting, and exploring ideas, but they should not be treated as authoritative sources of factual information without verification.
Best Practices When Using AI
As you integrate AI tools into your academic work, keep these principles in mind:
Cross-reference important facts with authoritative sources
Question contradictions when you notice them
Maintain healthy skepticism, even with correct-sounding answers
Use AI as a starting point, not an endpoint, for research
Cite primary sources, not AI-generated summaries
The Bottom Line
Artificial intelligence is a remarkable technology that can enhance productivity and learning, but it’s not perfect. The responsibility for accuracy still rests with you, the human user. Think of AI as a well-meaning but occasionally confused assistant rather than an all-knowing oracle.
The next time AI gives you an answer, ask yourself: Does this make sense? Can I verify this? What would happen if this information were wrong? Your critical thinking skills are more valuable than ever in the age of AI.
Have you encountered AI making verifiable errors? Share your experiences in the comments below. And remember: The McGill Libraries team is available to help you find authoritative sources for your academic work.
Sustainability has long been a priority for McGill and rightly so, as climate action is essential now given the rapidly increasing climate emergencies occurring globally. It’s fantastic that there is so much work happening in this area at our university. For example, McGill recently ranked in the top ten along with University of Toronto and University of British Columbia in the QS World Sustainability rankings. There is also excellent work being done by the McGill Office of Sustainability (MOOS). Two of MOOS’ major initiatives have won awards: their sustainability learning module and the sustainable workplace certification program. And, of course, the Sustainability Park, McGill’s revitalization of a portion of the former site of the Royal Victoria Hospital to create a state-of-the-art research, teaching and learning hub dedicated to sustainability and public policy, is getting closer to reality every day!
You might be more familiar with the Sustainability Park by its previous name: the New Vic Project. The new name was launched in the fall: Le Parc du développement durable McGill/McGill Sustainability Park. The new name heralds the exciting developments that are moving forward on the project.
To learn more about the project, consider attending the upcoming information session open to the entire McGill community this Thurs. Dec. 11 from 12-1:30pm. A recent What’s New for faculty and staff points to details about the meeting and provides information about how you may submit your questions in advance. You can also watch a short video to learn more about the project.
Since 2024, I have had the privilege to serve on a Community of Practice related to the academic aspects of the project. It has been really interesting to learn about the plans and to provide feedback to the project team, as well as to work with faculty, staff and students all across campus who are so vested in sustainability. As the McGill Libraries’ representative, I have helped to integrate the Libraries within the project.
So, what exactly does the Sustainability Park have to do with the McGill Libraries? Well, most notably, the McGill Libraries will open a Grand Reading Room in the space. This is the first time in my many years at McGill Libraries when we will be getting a new library space! Given how highly in demand our current library spaces are, with two million in-person visits per year (PDF booklet at: https://www.mcgill.ca/libraries/about/planning/strategic-priorities), we surely can use the extra space!
The Grand Reading Room will be located in one of the Nightingale Wings in the heritage portion of the site. With its large dual aspect windows, the space was originally a ward for patients. Dual aspect windows are windows that are on at least two walls of a space, which allows for natural light to enter and for there to be increased cross ventilation and outside views in multiple directions. The space had (and will continue to have) lots of natural light, which was helpful in the well-being of patients before there was electricity.
The reason the wards were called the Nightingale Wings was because of Florence Nightingale, the famous founder of modern nursing. In fact, she was even consulted on the design of these kinds of hospital wards, including those in the original Royal Victoria Hospital! (Table 1 at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1937586720931058). Her Environmental Theory emphasized the importance of clean air and natural light in speeding up patient recovery. Her “signature innovation [was] large windows that allowed cross-ventilation and abundant natural light.” (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-florence-nightingale-can-teach-us-about-architecture-and-health/). The design of the Grand Reading Room honours her legacy in its continued adherence to her foundational principles.
Nightingale was ahead of her time in understanding how much human health depends on a healthy environment – a message that certainly rings true today when what we need more than anything is a clean and healthy planet. In the Sustainability Park, researchers will study how best to deal with the most tackling issues of sustainability while practicing sustainability within its walls, in much the same way the wards Nightingale helped design were places both for healthcare research and for applying the research to treat patients.
Here is what one of the Nightingale Wings looked like when it was part of the hospital in 1897 and used for hospital patients:
Image: Ward D of the Royal Victoria Hospital and the staff during Christmas. (photo 1897). MUA PR023861. From: archives.mcgill.ca/public/hist_mcgill/nursing/nursing04_lg.htm
Here is what the future Reading Room looked like when I had the opportunity to go on a site visit in fall 2024:
Image: Taken by Tara Mawhinney.
Here is a glimpse of what the future holds for this important historical space when it opens as part of the Sustainability Park:
Image: Architectural rendering of the Grand Reading Room, courtesy of the Sustainability Park Project Office.
The library space will include study space and library staff on site, but no physical book collections. The space will be open to the public. However, as with existing McGill Libraries’ spaces, students are expected to be the main clientele.
To find out how the project is progressing these days, check out this sneak peek video of the Park as of Oct. 2025. If you pay close attention at the 2 minute 55 second mark, you’ll even get a view of how the Grand Reading Room space is coming along!
So, when will the McGill Libraries get to welcome you to the new Library space? The Sustainability Park will officially open in 2029, which might seem a long way off, but it will be here in no time. I hope that you will join the Sustainability Park project team on Dec. 11 to learn all about what they have in store for McGill!
As the liaison librarian for the Trottier Institute for Sustainability in Engineering and Design (TISED), I love it when McGill students and researchers ask me for help finding research related to environmental sustainability and climate action. My two go-to research databases for these kinds of questions are ProQuest One Sustainability and Scopus. The tips below on these databases will be particularly useful for students and researchers in TISED and in engineering but I hope people researching in other fields may find them useful too!
ProQuest One Sustainability
This is the leading sustainability database available through McGill Libraries. You can access it at: ProQuest One Sustainability. This database contains references to journal articles, conference papers, books and book chapters, case studies and more on topics such as environmental engineering, water resources, climate policy and environmental health. The database allows you to filter your results to limit to one or more of the three sustainability pillars: environmental, social and economic.
So, for example, if I wanted to find academic sources on cycling in cities and focus on the social aspects, I could type in: cycling and cities; once the results are displayed, I can choose the “social” filter, under the “sustainability pillar” category, from the left-hand column. My search results will include literature on topics like gender inequality in cycling, the lived experience of cyclists, motivations for cycling, recreational cycling and so on.
Another reason I recommend this database is that it has implemented a feature that maps its research content to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), thus allowing researchers to identify literature on many sub-topics within sustainability. The UN goals are 17 specific objectives that are part of a plan that all UN member states adopted in 2015 to reduce poverty, protect the planet and improve the lives of everyone. Research in addressing these goals is helping to solve real-world problems. ProQuest One Sustainability has added the goals into their database to raise awareness of research that is making a difference in the world by addressing critically important issues for humanity and the environment.
How does this feature work? The database highlights research that relates to each of the 17 goals by listing the goals on the database’s home page. When you click on a specific goal (e.g. “Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation”), the database lists the targets within each goal (e.g. “Target 6.1: By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all”). You can click on “Find articles” to view the literature that addresses this specific target. In the image below, you can see what the “Find articles” link looks like in the database.
One strange quirk of ProQuest One Sustainability is that when you run a search using the default search box on the database’s home page, the database looks for your words anywhere in the description of the items in the database, including in the full text when available. This kind of search is different from most other research databases at McGill that only look for your words in the title, abstract and description of the items and not the full text, which gives a more precise and targeted search. What this means is that in ProQuest One Sustainability, you can get a lot of noise (irrelevant results) cluttering up your search. I recommend going to the “advanced search” and, from the dropdown menu, selecting this option to search instead: “Anywhere except full text.” This kind of search will help you retrieve more focused results and reduce the clutter.
Scopus
Another of my go-to databases for sustainability topics is Scopus and I’ll explain why. Scopus is a multidisciplinary database covering research on every topic you can imagine, and not limited to sustainability-related topics, like ProQuest One Sustainability. You can access it at: Scopus. What makes Scopus stand out in terms of sustainability is that it recently implemented a feature similar to the functionality in ProQuest One Sustainability that ties literature to the Sustainable Development Goals.
When you run a search, say for cycling in cities, Scopus has incorporated the goals within the description of literature that addresses one or more of the goals. Scopus will help you identify which research articles address the SDGs by indicating, under the “Impact” section of each document’s record, when the research relates to one or more SDGs. Scopus uses machine learning to help identify which articles discuss which SDGs. For example, in my Scopus search: cycling and cities, I found an article on promoting cycling to schoolchildren and after choosing the “Impact” tab, I found that the article mapped to “Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities.” Scopus also gives a summary of what each goal is about and why it is important. Here is what Scopus looks like in action:
Limitations
My hope is that both ProQuest Sustainability One and Scopus will make their mapping features even more useful by integrating a search filter for SDGs, much like the sustainability pillar filter within ProQuest Sustainability One. That way, it will be really easy to filter down from your list of results to only show the literature that addresses a specific SDG. For now, when you run a search in either of these databases from their main search boxes, this isn’t possible. In Scopus, we need to look through all the results in a search one by one to see if there are any SDGs mapped to the research articles. In ProQuest One Sustainability, only those articles listed under the special section on the 17 goals on the database’s home page will get you to research on any specific SDG.
For more information
I hope this gives you a glimpse into how you can use some of McGill Libraries’ best resources to find literature on sustainability topics. You’ll find other resources related to environmental sustainability on my TISED research guide at: https://libraryguides.mcgill.ca/tised and on the Environmental Studies research guide at: https://libraryguides.mcgill.ca/environmental-studies. For help on finding research related to any topic, McGill students and researchers can consult the list of liaison librarians. We’re happy to help!
