McMaster University Library

McMaster University Library
Country Canada Canada
Type Academic library
Established 1887
Location Hamilton, Ontario
Coordinates 43°15′46″N 79°55′03″W / 43.262836°N 79.917605°W / 43.262836; -79.917605Coordinates: 43°15′46″N 79°55′03″W / 43.262836°N 79.917605°W / 43.262836; -79.917605
Branches 3
Collection
Items collected books; e-books; journals, newspapers, and other serials; sound recordings, videos, and musical scores; maps;[1] manuscripts and archives.[2]
Size 1,933,298 volumes (2013):[2] 1,229,351 books; 510,269 e-books; 88,384 journals, newspapers, and other serials; 59,204 sound recordings, videos, and musical scores; 138,142 maps;[1] 4,453 linear metres manuscripts and archives.[2]
Other information
Budget C$20,631,665 (all libraries including Health Sciences)[2]
Director Vivian Lewis
Staff 100
Website library.mcmaster.ca

McMaster University Library is the academic library system for the faculties of Humanities, Social Sciences, Engineering, Science, as well as the Michael DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. McMaster also has a Health Sciences Library administered by the Faculty of Health Sciences.

Locations

McMaster University Library consists of three locations with distinct subject specialities: Mills Memorial Library (Humanities and Social Sciences), Innis Library (Business), and the H.G. Thode Library of Science and Engineering. The University Library also provides library services at McMaster's Ron Joyce Centre in Burlington, Ontario, Canada.

History

Mills Memorial Library and plaza

The library was established as part of McMaster University in 1887[3] and was originally located in McMaster Hall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. When the university and library moved to Hamilton in 1930, the library resided in University Hall,[4] one of the University’s five original buildings.

In May 1951, the library moved to the newly constructed Mills Memorial Library, named after David Bloss Mills, whose foundation, the Davella Mills Foundation, funded the construction.[5] Mills was extended to the east in stages during the 1960s and 1970s, and underwent a major renovation from 1990-1994.The renovation won the Ontario Library Association 1996 Building Award for Best Academic Library Project.[6] The original Mills Memorial Library building now houses the McMaster Museum of Art.

The university’s first Science Library opened as a separate room in Burke Science Building in 1954 and remained there until 1978, when the H.G. Thode Library of Science and Engineering opened.[7] Thode Library was named in honour of scientist Henry George Thode (1910-1997), who was the University’s president from 1961 to 1972.[8]

The Innis Library first opened in 1974 and is named after economist and McMaster alumnus Harold Adams Innis (1894-1952). Located in Kenneth Taylor Hall and adjacent to the Michael DeGroote School of Business, it supports the DeGroote School of Business.[9]

The Library’s most important collection, the Bertrand Russell archives, came to McMaster in 1968.[10] In 1976, McMaster University Library became a member of the Association of Research Libraries, one of only 5 Canadian libraries at the time.[11]

In 2008, McMaster University Libraries was honoured as one of the three best academic libraries in North America by the American Library Association's ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries) division.[12] Innovations in services included "open[ing] a help desk in Second Life, implement[ing] the creation of a learning commons," and joining "the Centre for Research Libraries, giving students access to over 800,000 international doctoral dissertations."[12] This is the only time that a Canadian academic library has been given the award.

Services and Centres

Lewis & Ruth Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship Media Wall

The McMaster University Library system is home to the Lewis and Ruth Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship, which opened in 2012 and facilitates open and collaborative approaches to research.[13] Located in the Mills Memorial Library the Centre supports students and faculty who employ digital scholarship and digital humanities tools and methodologies in their study and research.[14] "When you have a lot of projects that are literally butting up against each other, the idea is to bleed between them" explains Dale Askey, the Centre's Administrative Director, in regards to the potential for interdisciplinary research.[15] The Centre includes a makerspace and a 3D printing laboratory.[16] The facility was made possible by a $2.5 million gift from the Lewis & Ruth Sherman Foundation.[17]

The Lyons New Media Centre is also located within the Mills Memorial Library. A specialized multimedia space, the Centre facilitates the creation and use of new and traditional media within the academic community while teaching learning and researching. The Centre offers video and audio editing workstations, a Gaming and Media Theatre and consultation services.[18][19]

The Maps, Data & GIS Centre, supplies researchers with access to a geospatial map and data sets and provides workstations with specialized cartographic and statistical software.

Collections

The McMaster University Library’s collection supports research in more than 50 doctoral and professional programs. Specialized collections include archives and rare books, data and statistics, government publications, audio and video materials, maps, atlases and aerial photos, music and theses. In 2011, McMaster became the first Canadian University to provide access to the Visual History Archive of the Shoah Foundation Institute, consisting of nearly more than 52,000 testimonials Holocaust survivors and witnesses.[20][21]

Named after William Ready, University Librarian from 1966 until his retirement in 1979, the holdings of the William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections reflect a range of topics including Canadian literature, politics, popular culture and business history, in addition to war and peace in the 20th century with an emphasis on the Holocaust and Resistance. The Division of Archives and Research Collections is also home to the Bertrand Russell Archives, established after the purchase of Russell's papers in 1968.[22]

1943 wartime map of Hannover, Germany used in the film Fury

The Digital Archive contains special digitized collections, including maps, selected archival materials from Research Collections, and digital copies from the rare books collection.

Digital Collections contains collections of digitized materials such as Historical Perspectives on Canadian Publishing; World War, 1939-1945, German Concentration Camps and Prisons Collection; Digital Russell; and Peace & War in the 20th Century.

The Lloyd Reeds Map Collection holds more than 130,000 paper maps, 18,000 air photos, and 3,000 atlases. Many of the Collection's historical maps have been digitized and are freely available online.[23] A digitized copy of a 1943 wartime map of Hanover, Germany held in the collection was used in the 2014 motion picture Fury.[24] Included in the Collection are 1,400 World War I trench maps and aerial photographs.[25] Used by members of the Allied forces the maps were produced in various scales, highlighting terrain, equipment and settlements relevant to specific logistical needs. Several of the maps include annotations and personal information that to convey the real-time experiences of the soldiers who used them.[26]

Staff and Labour

In late 2008, the library announced significant restructuring that moved staff to new "key appointments."[27] Six months later, two of those appointments were fired.[28]

In April 2010 the academic librarians of McMaster, then part of the non-unionized McMaster University Faculty Association (MUFA), split to form their own labour group, called the McMaster University Academic Librarians Association (MUALA).[29] This was precipitated by multiple staffing changes, generally attributed to actions taken by the University Librarian at the time, Jeff Trzeciak.[30][31] The academic librarians asked MUFA for support and assistance in unionizing for labour protections; in response, MUFA protested the dismissals to McMaster's administration, to no effect.[32] MUALA averages roughly 20 members and has now twice bargained for its own collective agreement with the university.[33]

In early 2011, Trzeciak made a controversial presentation at Penn State about his changes to staffing and services.[34] Dubbed "McMasterGate," this talk occasioned a backlash from the academic and information-science communities.[34] Many objected to Trzeciak's proposals to replace credentialed librarian staff with PhDs from other disciplines, or "adjunctification."[35] One McMaster library staff wrote that he worked "at an institution with arguably the worst morale among librarians in Canada."[36]

In June 2011, the President of McMaster University announced a formal review of the library's practices and staffing.[37] MUALA's official response to this review, published in March 2012, contains details of ongoing problems with the library's administration.[38] MUALA also produced an independent review of Jeff Trzeciak on the occasion of his five-year anniversary of employment with the university.[39] In it, Trzeciak's announcements were described as "contentious" and "unprofessional," especially in regards to announcing that staff were retiring before these arrangements were made official.[39]

In August 2011, McMaster University Libraries ended its liaison program, a long-standing international practice of designating specific librarian advocates for academic disciplines on campus.[40]

In February 2012, it was announced that Jeff Trzeciak was leaving McMaster University for a position at Washington University in St. Louis.[41]

Partnerships & Collaboration

McMaster University Library is a member of the Association of Research Libraries, Canadian Association of Research Libraries, and the Ontario Council of University Libraries.

References

  1. 1 2 "McMaster University Fact Book" (PDF). Office of Institutional Research and Analysis. McMaster University. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "2012-2013 Statistics" (PDF). Canadian Association of Research Libraries. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  3. ↑ Steele, Colin (1976). "McMaster University Library". Major Libraries of the World. New York: Bowker. p. 36. ISBN 0859350126.
  4. ↑ "Mills Memorial Library". McMaster Alumni News. McMaster University. 21 (3): 3. 1951.
  5. ↑ Johnston, Charles Murray (1976). McMaster University, Volume 2: The Early Years in Hamilton, 1930-1957. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0802033725.
  6. ↑ "Library Building Award Winners". Ontario Library Association. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  7. ↑ Greenlee, James G. (2015). McMaster University, Volume 3: 1957-1987: A Chance for Greatness. Kingston, Ontario, Canada: McGill-Queen's UP. p. 306. ISBN 9780773544925.
  8. ↑ McNeil, Mark (26 April 2015). "Mac's road to 'Little Big U' was largely paved by one man.". Hamilton Spectator. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  9. ↑ McMaster University Libraries. Hamilton, Ontario: McMaster University. 1993.
  10. ↑ Greenlee 2015, p. 92.
  11. ↑ Greenlee 2015, p. 290.
  12. 1 2 "McMaster University Library best in North America - Macleans.ca". Macleans.ca. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
  13. ↑ Humphreys, Adrian (December 27, 2012). "Year in Ideas: University's digital scholarship centre using open access to make research more useful". National Post. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  14. ↑ Lippincott, Joan; Hemmasi, Harriette; Lewis, Vivian (2014). "Trends in Digital Scholarship Centers". EDUCAUSE Review. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  15. ↑ Carter, Adam (November 30, 2012). "McMaster opens centre to bring research into 21st century". CBC. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  16. ↑ Askey, Dale (April 17, 2015). "Desktop fabrication". Lewis & Ruth Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  17. ↑ Hemsworth, Wade (November 30, 2012). "Digital scholarship centre will revolutionize research". McMaster University Daily News. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  18. ↑ Trzeciak, Jeff; MacLachlan, John; Shenker, Noah (April 2011). "Engaging the Campus Community Through New Roles and New Relationships: The McMaster University Library Postdoctoral Fellowship Program". College & Undergraduate Libraries. 18 (2-3): 200To–212. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  19. ↑ "Lyons New Media Centre". McMaster University Library. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  20. ↑ "Library to offer access to massive archive of Holocaust testimonies". McMaster University Library. May 8, 2012. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  21. ↑ "McMaster Library Offers Access To Archive of Holocaust Testimonies". K-Lite FM. 2 November 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  22. ↑ "Blackwell Again Tackling Job of Assembling Russell Papers". Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph. Nov 29, 1968. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  23. ↑ Dodsworth, Eva; Nicholson, Andrew (2012). "Academic uses of Google Earth and Google Maps in a library setting". Information Technology and Libraries. Library & Information Technology Association. 31 (2): 102–117. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  24. ↑ Ruf, Cory (November 4, 2014). "How a McMaster University map got into Brad Pitt's new film 'Fury'". CBC. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  25. ↑ "WWI Trench Maps & Aerial Photographs". McMaster University Library. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  26. ↑ Banks, Brian (October 2015). "First World War maps". Canadian Geographic. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  27. ↑ "University Library reorganizes and unveils a new strategic plan | McMaster University Library, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada". library.mcmaster.ca. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
  28. ↑ "New Jack Librarian: Cassandra and the future of libraries without librarians". librarian.newjackalmanac.ca. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
  29. ↑ "MUALA | McMaster University Academic Librarians' Association". www.muala.ca. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
  30. ↑ Blog, UT Librarians. "A Librarian Writes to the President of McMaster University". University of Toronto Academic Librarians. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
  31. ↑ Denton, William. "Code4Lib , or, Why I'm Still Going to McMaster Even Though Jeff Trzeciak Spreads Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt". Miskatonic University Press. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
  32. ↑ "Librarian Dismissal" (PDF). McMaster University Faculty Association. Retrieved 2016-06-02.
  33. ↑ "Collective Agreements | MUALA". www.muala.ca. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
  34. 1 2 "McMastergate in chronological order, or, Do libraries need librarians? (Updated!)". Confessions of a Science Librarian. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
  35. ↑ "BeerBrarian: The Adjunctification of Academic Librarianship". beerbrarian.blogspot.ca. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
  36. ↑ "This profession is worth fighting for | Nick Ruest". ruebot.net. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
  37. ↑ "REVIEW OF THE McMASTER UNIVERSITY LIBRARY – Update of June 22, 2011 | MUALA". www.muala.ca. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
  38. ↑ "MUALA Submission to the McMaster University Library Review Team | MUALA". www.muala.ca. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
  39. 1 2 "MUALA Review of University Librarian Jeffrey Trzeciak – Update of May 16, 2011 [4/4] | MUALA". www.muala.ca. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
  40. ↑ "Changes to Liaison / Instruction in the University Library: A Message from the University Librarian | McMaster University Library, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada". library.mcmaster.ca. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
  41. ↑ "Trzeciak named university librarian at Washington University in St. Louis | The Source | Washington University in St. Louis". The Source. Retrieved 2016-02-05.

External links

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