Information Management Public Lectures


2023-2024 Public Lectures

Open Science: A Shifting Paradigm, A New Reality (M. Pawlowska)

Click here to view the recording on YouTube

Dr. Maria Pawlowska

Lecture details
Wednesday, November 29th, 2023
3:00-4:00pm
Room 1009, Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building, 6100 University Ave

Co-sponsored by the Dalhousie Office of the Vice President Research and Innovation, Dalhousie Libraries, Faculties of Arts and Social Sciences, Computer Science, Management, Medicine, and Science, and the Environmental Information: Use and Influence Research Group. 

Abstract: Whether it’s open access, open data or community engagement, open science and open scholarship are quickly moving from the fringe to the centre of the academic stage. Open access publishing charges and challenges with pre-prints are often the focal points of debate, but there is much more to this movement and solutions centering equitable, accessible scholarship are being developed globally at a rapid pace.  Currently, Research Nova Scotia is exploring open science best practices and opportunities that meet the needs of Nova Scotia’s research community. This project is the first of its kind in Canada, and a part of a broader move towards more open and accessible research. This talk aims to introduce the audience to both the broader concepts around open science (which includes the arts, humanities and social sciences) and how they can contribute to the development of the Research Nova Scotia open science policy.

Bio: Dr Maria Pawlowska is an expert in research management with a focus on scientific data management and open science. Following her PhD in Earth Sciences from the University of Cambridge she transitioned to a career in research administration and policy and has over a decade of experience in managing international, interdisciplinary research projects and implementing and designing open science policies. Maria has collaborated with the European governments and non-governmental organizations, as well as Fortune200 companies. She has helped establish over a dozen new centers of excellence (working with institutions such as Oxford University and CNRS) and was also a member of the Science Europe working group that authored the “Practical Guide to the International Alignment of Research Data Management”. In the past year Maria has shared her expertise on open science at meetings organized by the United Nations and the European Commission, among others. As a guiding principle Maria works to ensure that modern research management, including supporting openness, diversity and inclusion, become part of the blueprint for how science is done. Her work has been recognized by numerous organizations – Maria is a Bill and Melinda Gates Scholar, a member of the American Academy of Achievement and has received awards from the Coimbra Group, the Cambridge Philosophical Society and the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, among others. Currently, Maria is involved in the implementation of open science practices in Nova Scotia.

The 2024 Dalhousie-Horrocks National Leadership Lecture: Emily Drabinski (ALA & Queens College NY)

Emily Drabinski

President of the American Library Association
Associate Professor, Queens (N.Y.) College Graduate School of Library & Information Studies

Collective Power, Public Good: Library Leadership for Everyone

Wednesday, January 31st, 2024
3:30-5:00pm Atlantic Standard Time (AST)
Online (YouTube and Facebook link will be sent to registrants closer to the event)

Click here to register

Abstract: In the context of growing attacks on libraries and the right to read, strong and committed leadership is crucial. But it takes more than a single individual at the top to win the world we want–we need everyone to be on board. Drawing on experiences in both libraries and the labor movement, this talk will offer an analysis of leadership as a collective project. How do we organize others in support of a shared mission? What tools and tactics can help us build power from below? And how can we best promote leading from all positions? As libraries find themselves on the front lines of the fight for democracy, building and wielding collective power for the public good is as urgent as it has ever been. 

Bio: Emily Drabinski is Associate Professor at the Queens (N.Y.) College Graduate School of Library and Information Studies. She publishes and presents widely on topics related to knowledge organization, information literacy, and critical perspectives in librarianship. Drabinski edits Gender and Sexuality in Information Studies, a book series from Library Juice Press/Litwin Books. In 2020, she received the Career Achievement Award from the Association of College & Research Libraries’s Women and Gender Studies Section. Drabinski currently serves as President of the American Library Association.

Following the lecture, the Dalhousie-Horrocks National Leadership Fund will be presented to MI student, Catherine Gracey. This Fund was established in 2007 to honour Dr. Norman Horrocks, OC, PhD, FCLIP (1927-2010) for his outstanding leadership in the field of librarianship in North America, Australia, and Europe. Over several decades Dr. Horrocks, former Director of the School of Information Management and Dean of the Faculty of Management at Dalhousie University, pursued a distinguished career of very active involvement in professional associations in the United Kingdom, Cyprus, Australia, the United States, and Canada. His many contributions, for which he received local, national and international recognition, have advanced the field and the careers of countless individuals. The fund supports a scholarship and an associated lecture series through an endowment donated by the many former students, colleagues, friends and admirers of Norman Horrocks.

 

Quantitative Science Studies (QSS) Lab Lectures

Organized by Dr. Philippe Mongeon (pmongeon@dal.ca)

On scholarly journals and the balance between shared evaluation standards and epistemic diversity (Jérémie Dion)

Click here for full details

Abstract

This talk will outline a research design to be used in a study of the Canadian scientific journal ecosystem. This project falls under one of the QSSLab endeavours related to the role of journals in structuring knowledge. The main research goal will be to compare the theoretical (i.e. declared) thematic scope of journals to their empirical one as observed by the papers they end up publishing. An additional goal will be to propose indicators for monitoring the empirical scope of a journal, notably its tightness understood as the similarities in between the papers. Normative literature in sociology, history and philosophy of science allows one to postulate some hypothesis about the effect of scope tightness, notably that a balance should be struck between having communities lacking shared public standards of evaluation and communities without sufficient epistemic diversity (see for example the tenets of Hélène Longino’s “Contextual Empiricism”). The research will leverage a dataset from the Érudit consortium and will form as a basis for a SSHRC partnership grant with the organization. The methodology will build on bibliometrics, social network analysis and conceptual analysis. The implications of this research extend beyond Canada’s borders. Insights gained will inform decisions made by researchers, policymakers, and publishers, helping them navigate the evolving landscape of academic publishing. Moreover, this study contributes valuable knowledge to the fields of sociology of science and bibliometrics, shedding light on the intricate interplay between journals, knowledge dissemination, and the academic community.

Date: Oct 19, 2023 3:00 PM — 4:00 PM

Location: Rowe 4025, 6100 University Ave, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2