I have vivid memories of reading Rabbi Bernard Baskin’s various essays and letters in the Hamilton Spectator and talking with my parents about them around the kitchen table.

Raised in a Catholic household in Hamilton, I was captivated by his writings on some of the most challenging social issues of the time. I was moved by the clarity and openness of his thinking, and his strong sense of social justice.

As I grew older, I gained a better understanding of the Rabbi’s profound influence on the community.

Hamilton writer, composer, and multidisciplinary artist Gary Barwin is helping to ensure the history of literary culture in Canada is celebrated and publicly available.

Barwin has donated his collection of contemporary chapbooks and other Canadian small-press publications to the William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections at McMaster University Library.

The award-winning author is best known for his novels Yiddish for Pirates and Nothing the Same, Everything Haunted: The Ballad of Motl the Cowboy.

McMaster University Libraries are making access to library-licensed electronic resources (e-resources) easier, especially for off-campus users.

The Lean Library web browser extension is now available to the McMaster community. It reduces search times and facilitates access to full-text materials like eJournals, eBooks, databases, and clinical tools. This brings the library to the user, and delivers library resources to the user’s workflow.

It is a time of renewal at McMaster University Library, with the appointment of three new members to the leadership team. 

Casey Hoeve, Helen Kula and Lynne Serviss started as associate university librarians during the 2022 fall term.

Vivian Lewis, university librarian, said each brings extensive experience and expertise in their respective fields.

“Casey, Helen and Lynne are talented leaders who are passionate about making the university library the best it can be,” said Lewis. “I look forward to the collaborative work to come on strategic priorities.”

The LinkedIn Learning Club @ McMaster is encouraging students to sharpen their interpersonal skills through its latest campaign.

Throughout February, McMaster University students using their free LinkedIn Learning account will have access to a collection of developmental courses surrounding interpersonal communication.

This month’s campaign was curated by Eline Gonzalez and Maggie Chan, McMaster students and LinkedIn Learning ambassadors.

McMaster University Libraries are partnering with the Public Library of Science (PLOS) in a pilot project to remove financial barriers to publishing research. 

The two-year project will see the elimination of author/article processing charges (APCs) in all PLOS journals. Typically, authors incur APCs to cover the cost associated with making their article publicly available for free in open access journals.

A virtual talk on the importance of digital access to archival records when studying Indigenous histories is now available for viewing.

McMaster University has signed a new agreement that will provide McMaster authors with immediate open access publishing capabilities in select Wiley journals.

The two-year agreement for 2023-24 will allow corresponding authors from participating Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) institutions to publish eligible articles to Wiley’s hybrid journals under an open licence with no article processing charge (APC).

Is your new year’s resolution to learn more, especially about fascinating topics like science communication, data visualization, and artificial intelligence?

If so, let the Lewis and Ruth Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship help you achieve your goal.

DS Bytes: A Lunchtime Speaker Series on Digital Scholarship is a new initiative featuring engaging presenters with virtual attendance options, all free to the community.

Applications are being invited through the end of January 2023 for research grants administered by McMaster University Library.

Among the offerings are the Dr. William G. Bensen and Family Travel Grant in Canadian History, the McMaster-American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS) Short-Term Fellowship, and unrestricted travel grants open to a wide range of research areas.