Academic Freedom is a foundational component of the modern University. The notion is brought to life and exercised through a very particular article of the collective agreement. This article almost always provides a well honed, lofty, and almost self-evident description of the protections to teaching, and research that need to be maintained. Challenging ideas in the classroom are shielded from the reluctant hang wringing of administrators. Research that pushes boundaries and challenges norms proceeds with a slow march for the betterment of all. Our traditional Faculty colleagues conduct their business with full confidence that their activities are well protected, yet what about us as Professional Librarians? In most cases we can rely on this same exact article to afford protections. This is of course due to the fact that we are in the same bargaining units as those traditional Faculty members and are bound to the language as well. Yet, when pressed, does this language really offer protections to Professional Librarians that are specific to the work they conduct? A judicious application of teaching and research for the traditional Faculty member is hard to parallel with certain core Librarian duties. Where does collection development fit? Collaborating on an in-depth research consultation that might unearth ideas contrary to what the institution holds as fundamental? In some cases the collective agreement is silent on these activities. While most would view these types of conduct allowable under the spirit of academic freedom it is possible that a strict interpretation would exclude these endeavours from established protections. Fortunately this is not always the case, and as time progresses breaks to this trend develop. A selection of collective agreements of Canadian universities now have specific provisions for the conduct of Professional Librarians under the overarching concept of Academic Freedom. This paper will attempt to present this landscape by examining text from collective agreements of Canadian institutions to see how (if at all) protections for Librarians are constructed.

As champions of creating more equitable systems for sharing scholarly research, libraries are typically the leaders in developing open access policies at their institutions. This work aligns with evidence that effective policies can accelerate researchers’ adoption of open access and increase their rates of open access publishing/archiving. The benefits of Institutional open access policies include increasing public access to taxpayer-funded research, enhancing the visibility and impact of an institution’s research output and supporting author rights. While increasing numbers of institutions are adopting these policies, they are often a tough sell due to misconceptions about open access and concerns about infringing on faculty's academic freedom to publish where they please. Presenters and participants will discuss strategies for working with stakeholders to overcome barriers and create buy-in for openly sharing research. Participants will learn of models and tools for open access policy development and presenters will share insights and campus engagement strategies from their development of institutional open access policies at York University and Brock University.

A strong body of research shows positive correlations between use of library resources and student success amd retention. Research on retention also shows the importance of students feeling connected to their university community. Personal librarian programs address both of those outcomes by promoting the use of library services and resources and by building positive relationships between students and their librarians. This lightning talk will describe a new personal librarian program aimed at improving student retention rates at Brock University in Ontario, Canada, where the university’s retention rates are below the provincial average and increasing retention is a campus priority.

Statistics and visualizations are important tools Libraries use to tell their stories. This poster will present a statistics capturing and display package that runs on the bare minimum: Google Forms, D3, and HTML. The features of the platform will be showcased with data collected from the Brock University Library.

Presentation made at code4Lib North 2017 at University of Ottawa. Looks at the process and reflections of continuing education and graduate studies for mature students.

Presentation on scope, successes and challenges facing library Open Access publishing funds delivered at the Canadian Association of Learned Journals meeting at Congress 2014, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, Canada. Focus on Canada but also some info on the U.S.