Library, Copyright & Research Support

Geoffrey R. Weller Library

Website: http://library.unbc.ca/

As your partner in teaching and research, a librarian and/or archivist is assigned to your subject areas to support your teaching, learning, and research needs, through research support, collection development, and instructional sessions. Here are some of the ways we can work with you:

• Actively participating and contributing to faculty research teams
• Serve as an information resource on policies, services, and resources
• Serve as the contact person for library/archival related questions
• Provide reliable, consistent, and timely service and responses
• Provide discipline specific instruction, reference assistance, and research consultations
• Develop library/archival collections and resources to support the teaching, learning, and research needs of the students and faculty
• Communicate changes in library services and resources

Please contact your Liaison Librarian or Archivist for more information on how we can work together.

Library Services

The following is a brief overview of some of the services you can take advantage of at the Library.

Library Instruction and Information Literacy Training

The Geoffrey R. Weller library strives to support and deliver a curriculum that fosters the scholar, creating an information literate person in accordance with the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) definition. The Weller Library seeks to enable each student with a sense of confidence and competence, utilizing innovative technology, meaningful learning objectives and pedagogy, to meet the diverse learning needs of our students, equipping them for the demands of the future, whether as new scholars and professionals or as well-informed citizens.

The ACRL framework encourages collaboration between Faculty and Librarians in the creation of assignments, curriculum, and information literacy sessions. Librarians currently provide:

• One-on-One research appointments
• Embedded services, like embedding a librarian in your class or course shell
• Subject Specific (One-Off) sessions, in-person and online

Research Support

The staff at the Geoffrey R. Weller Library are here to assist you with your research. You can access our assistance in ways that best meet your needs:

• Reference Desk:
  • o In-person: Monday to Thursday: 11am-5pm and Friday 11am-3pm
  • o Phone: (250)960-6475
  • o Email: library@unbc.ca
  • o Text-a-Librarian (250)999-0478
• AskAway: virtual reference (10am – 9pm)
• Liaison Librarian Appointments
• Online Videos: Weller Library YouTube Channel
• LibGuides: Discipline and class specific research guides
• Research FAQs
• Online, in-person, and drop-in research sessions

Collection Development

The Geoffrey R. Weller Library is responsible for supporting the teaching and research needs of students and faculty at the University of Northern British Columbia. It is the aim of the Weller Library to build a library collection, in all appropriate subject areas, to the highest degree of excellence that our monetary resources allow.

We welcome you to reach out to your liaison librarian to make purchase requests that support your teaching and research needs.

Copyright

The UNBC Copyright Office serves the UNBC community by providing information, services, and education to help faculty, staff, and students remain compliant with Canadian copyright law while focusing on teaching and research at UNBC.

The UNBC Copyright Office offers many copyright services, including:

• Reviewing Course Syllabi – Syllabus Service
  If you are teaching a course and plan to use, post, or distribute copyright-protected works, we can help keep you compliant with Canadian copyright law. All UNBC instructors are encouraged to utilize this service to ensure compliance before sharing materials in class or on Blackboard.
• Providing copyright education and help with copyright-related questions
  • Send an email or schedule an appointment
• Creating PDF copies and permanent links for Blackboard
• Arranging permissions, licenses, and copyright clearance
• Teaching workshops & answering individual copyright queries
• Reviewing copyright of works you distribute to your students in class and on Blackboard
• Creating permanent links to eResources
• Determining if selections fall within fair dealing

They can update your links and work closely with librarians to acquire electronic copies of assigned readings where possible/advisable.

*The UNBC Copyright Office makes every effort to provide accurate copyright information for educational purposes. This information is not to be construed as legal advice and should not be relied upon in that regard.*

To use this service:

Simply send your course syllabus or reading list to the copyright office, indicating what you need assistance with. It’s that easy!

We will review your materials and advise you if we have any copyright concerns. If additional licensing is required to use resources, we will let you know of your options so that you can decide whether permissions should be pursued. Please submit your reading lists early – although most permissions can be secured very quickly, some publishers can take several weeks to respond to requests. Syllabi are reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis.

Please note that permissions licenses granted for a fee in previous semesters need to be renewed for further use, as publishers grant licenses on a semester by semester basis.

Course Reserves

You can provide your students with access to required course readings through Course Reserves.

Items from the library, your personal collection, photocopies, and electronic materials (preferred) can be placed on reserve. Please submit reserve requests at least 5 working days before they are required. Reserves forms can be found at: https://library.unbc.ca/forms/course-reserve-request

For more information contact: libcirc@unbc.ca

Interlibrary Loans (ILL)

ILL allows you to obtain materials that are not part of our library collection. The service is free to our  students, faculty and staff. To make a request, visit: https://library.unbc.ca/services/interlibrary-loans.

For more information contact: interlib@unbc.ca

UNBC Research Data Centre

Located in the UNBC Library, the UNBC Research Data Centre (RDC) provides Northern BC researchers with the opportunity to access and analyze detailed microdata from an increasing array of survey, census, and administrative data. Researchers working in our RDC have access to Statistics Canada Statistical Assistants and Analysts who can provide advice and assistance to researchers. You can also encourage your graduate and honours students to apply to use the data to support their research. In most cases, use of the RDC is free for researchers affiliated with UNBC!

Community Scholars Program

The Community Scholars Program strives to foster community engagement and collaboration between non-profits, libraries, and post-secondary institutions in BC, connecting researchers working in the non-profit and charitable sectors with access to published research, normally locked behind a paywall.

This unique program is an example of how academic libraries (SFU, KPU, UBC, UNBC, and VIU) can work collaboratively to build partnerships, while raising awareness about the importance of equitable access to information. Being part of this type of programming allows us to build meaningful relationships and strengthen our ties to the community organizations that do critical work on the social issues facing our communities. This type of programming helps to disrupt our traditional views of what constitutes research and who researchers are, expanding the scholarly conversation, making it more diverse and inclusive.

If you are a researcher currently partnering with non-profits or charities in Northern BC, please contact Kealin McCabe to learn more about the program and how to potentially connect your research partners to important resources.

The Northern BC Archives & Special Collections

The Northern BC Archives & Special Collections (or NBCA) is located on the fourth floor of the Geoffrey R. Weller Library on UNBC’s Prince George campus.

Officially opened in November 2000, the NBCA is mandated to:

• acquire, preserve and provide access to materials of permanent value related to the institutional history and development of UNBC and its institutes; and
• to acquire, preserve and provide public access to archival materials of value related to the history and culture of Northern British Columbia.

The Archives also houses rare book collections, and maintains the University’s artworks and regalia collections.

The NBCA serves research and scholarship by making acquired archival records and special collections materials available to researchers, university personnel, students, educators and the general public through public presentations, digitized content, virtual research guides, education kits, and collaborative community outreach and engagement initiatives. We also actively support the research and instruction objectives of UNBC Faculty by providing:

• in-class instruction
• class tours of the NBCA
• archival research support
• research data management support
• student internships and directed studies opportunities
• on-demand research guide development
• class reading list support
• digitization lab support

Contact: archives@unbc.ca