By Sophie Walsh, McMaster News

People of McMaster celebrates the incredible people who help make McMaster a great place to work, learn, teach and conduct research. 

It’s another early morning in the Mills Memorial Library and among the quiet buzz of students, staff and faculty settling in for the day is Tracie Large, custodian and 2024 President’s Award recipient –– already hard at work.  

McMaster University has launched a new survey to better understand how the costs of textbooks and other required course materials affect undergraduate students.

The McMaster Textbook Affordability Survey, organized by the McMaster Open Educational Resources (OER) team with support from McMaster Students Union, will help capture student experiences to guide future affordability initiatives.

With classes and campus activities in full swing, students have new opportunities to get involved and connect with their peers.

McMaster University Libraries have launched the Reach Out Project, a series of drop-in and registered programs designed to foster community and belonging. From book clubs and craft sessions to game nights and cultural events, these initiatives aim to create welcoming spaces where students can meet and bond over shared interests. 

McMaster University Libraries have launched a new group study room booking system to create a seamless experience for patrons. 

David Kemper, digital experience librarian, says the new system is easy for users to navigate.

“The idea behind implementing a new system was to create a central hub for group study room bookings across all McMaster libraries,” he said. “Users can simply visit the Room and Equipment Booking webpage on the libraries website and click which library they would like to reserve a room in to browse availability.”

How it works:

A new toolkit is empowering community organizations to manage the data they collect through research projects and partnerships with other researchers and data professionals.

The Community Research Data Toolkit, launched in fall 2025, lives online in open-access formats available and adaptable for use by everyone at no cost. 

While data management practices are often associated with numbers-based research, the toolkit is for research data collected from community research participants, such as through surveys, oral histories, and interviews.  

The latest edition of the award-winning impact report from McMaster University Libraries is ready for the community to enjoy. 

The fourth issue of the annual magazine highlights the people and projects of the libraries for the fiscal year of May 2024 to April 2025. This year’s editorial focus was inspired by the most significant change for the organization, with the coming together of Health Sciences Library and the former entity known as McMaster University Library. 

McMaster University Libraries are inviting the community to take part in a year of engaging programming centred around environmental action.  

In collaboration with campus and community partners, the Year of Environmental Action will help bring attention to the libraries’ ongoing priority of sustainability, and will present a series of events, collections, resources, exhibits and initiatives focused on environmental action at McMaster.