Collections

Impact Measurement Collection (Various licenses)

This collection contains materials pertaining to scholarly metrics and scholarly identity, including traditional and alternative metrics, academic social media, and related issues.

Textbooks

Advanced Library Skills for Physics Research (CC BY)

Literature searching and information evaluation for upper level undergraduates and Master’s students, from the University of Alberta Library.

Community-university research partnerships: Reflections on the Canadian social economy experience (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

This eBook explores lessons for community-university research partnerships by reflecting on the experiences, achievements and challenges of the Canadian Social Economy Research Partnerships (CSERP). Between 2006 and 2012, the six regional nodes and the national hub of CSERP were funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) to conduct research on the social economy in Canada. This provided an unprecedented level of resources and pan-Canadian experimentation within a collaborative model of engagement, knowledge creation, sectoral (self) definition and policy development through research.

Published by the University of Victoria.

Critical Thinking in Academic Research (CC BY-SA)

This book will introduce students to the techniques and principles of critical thinking, and provides guidance on developing research questions and finding resources to answer the questions.

Data Feminism (CC BY)

A new way of thinking about data science and data ethics that is informed by the ideas of intersectional feminism.

Doing Research: A Student’s Guide to Finding and Using the Best Sources (CC BY)

A modules-based approach to learning research skills that emphasizes the reflective nature of information discovery, the contextual basis for evaluating that information, and a recognition that information has value.

Engaging Researchers with Data Management: The Cookbook (CC BY)

Engaging Researchers with Data Management is an invaluable collection of 24 case studies, drawn from institutions across the globe, that demonstrate clearly and practically how to engage the research community with RDM. These case studies together illustrate the variety of innovative strategies research institutions have developed to engage with their researchers about managing research data.

Evaluating Online Sources: A Toolkit (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

The Internet allows people to create and to share information in ways that once seemed possible only in science fiction. At the same time that we can benefit from the open nature of the Internet, it’s sometimes hard to decide what online information to trust and to use.

We’ll offer some simple, evidence-based strategies for evaluating the credibility of online sources, as well as reading critically. More specifically, we’ll teach you about “lateral reading,” the practice of doing a quick initial evaluation of a website by spending little time on the website and more time reading what others say about the source or related issue. Lateral reading is used commonly by fact checkers.

These strategies will help you look beyond less important surface features of a web source (for example, how professional it looks or if it’s a .org), and think more carefully about who is behind the source, what their purpose is, and how trustworthy and credible they are.

Informed Arguments: A Guide to Writing and Research (CC BY-NC-SA)

This book is appropriate for a first-year composition course focusing on academic writing, reading, researching, and speaking. Major concepts in argument theory are covered.

Introduction to College Research (CC BY)

This book acknowledges the changing information landscape, covering key concepts in information literacy to support a research process with intention. It critically examines the everyday online environment such as algorithms, the attention economy, information disorder and cynicism, information hygiene, and fact-checking. This is followed by an exploration of information source types, meaningful research topics, keyword choices, effective search strategies, library resources, Web search considerations, the ethical use of information, and citation.

La gestion des données de recherche dans le contexte canadien (CC BY-NC 4.0)

La gestion des données de recherche est une pratique qui désigne tout ce que les chercheuses et chercheurs font pour structurer, organiser et préserver leurs données avant, pendant, et après la réalisation d’une recherche. La GDR est également une discipline émergente qui s’intéresse à la recherche et au développement de moyens qui permettent de gérer plus efficacement les données de recherche. Mais que sont les données de recherche? D’où viennent les exigences pour formaliser la gestion des données de recherche? Quels sont les critères d’une bonne gestion des données? La gestion des données de recherche dans le contexte canadien : un guide pour la pratique et l’apprentissage aborde ces questions et d’autres encore, en mettant l’accent sur les lignes directrices, les règlements et l’infrastructure au Canada.

Library 160: Introduction to College-Level Research (CC BY-SA)

You will learn how scholarly information is produced, organized, and accessed; how to construct and use effective search strategies in a variety of web tools and scholarly databases; how to choose finding tools appropriate to the type of information you need; critical thinking skills in the evaluation of resources; and best practices in the ethical use of information.

Niagara College Libraries + Learning Commons Information Skills Online Handbook (CC BY)

This handbook introduces and reinforces essential information literacy skills for students beginning their post-secondary careers.

Open Access Toolkit for Aotearoa New Zealand Researchers (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Kia ora, and welcome to the Open Access Toolkit for Aotearoa New Zealand Researchers. This toolkit was created under the direction of the Council of Aotearoa New Zealand University Librarians (CONZUL), a committee of Universities New Zealand. It is designed for researchers in Aotearoa New Zealand’s university sector. However, we hope all researchers and institutions will find it useful. The Creative Commons license used (CC BY-SA) enables our toolkit to be adapted for any context. Happy open publishing!

The toolkit is designed to guide researchers through the process of making their journal articles Open Access. It is split into five stages of publishing:

• Planning your research
• Selecting a journal
• Submitting your manuscript
• On acceptance
• After publication

Research Methods Handbook (CC BY)

In this guide we explore some of these issues with a focus on open research, drawing on insights from researchers within the Global OER Graduate Network (GO-GN). Open practices in research can challenge assumptions about how to create and share new knowledge. In the handbook, we draw on insights from experienced open researchers to build understanding of research in the open. The advice given applies to all research, but is of particular relevance to those interested in open approaches.

Research Data Management in the Canadian Context (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Research Data Management is a term for all the things that researchers do to structure, organize and maintain data before, during and after doing research. RDM is also an emerging discipline that is concerned with researching and developing ways to manage research data more effectively. But what is research data? Where is the push towards formal Research Data Management coming from? What are the requirements of good data management? Research Data Management in the Canadian Context: A Guide for Practitioners and Learners looks at these questions and more, all with a focus on Canadian guidelines, regulations and infrastructure.

Strengthening Community University Research Partnerships: Global Perspectives (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

This volume is the most comprehensive and up-to-date international analysis of community research partnerships available to date. The book extends the pioneering leadership of the UNESCO Co-Chairs in Community-based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education who for the past four decades have advanced participatory research with the aim of empowering marginalized people. The volume presents the first-ever global survey on the topic and 12 country case studies written by leading academics and practitioners from around the world. Communicating insights from both the Global South and North, the authors describe and explain global trends, challenges and effective approaches. A source of both inspiration and practical guidance, it is must reading for national policy-makers, university officials and professors, and civil society practitioners. The authors offer persuasive evidence that university community research partnerships can be a path to high quality research and also to producing knowledge with the power to address societal challenges and inequities. A distinctive strength is presentation of a new framework for institutionalizing community university research partnership, with four components: policy, infrastructure, mainstreaming in teaching and research, and accessibility. Robert M. Hollister Executive Director, Talloires Network Professor, Tufts University. Published by the University of Victoria.