York University Libraries

Last updated
York University Libraries
ScottLibraryYorkU.jpg
York University Libraries
Location Toronto, Canada
Type Academic library
Established1961;63 years ago (1961)
Branches4
Collection
Size2,500,000 items
Access and use
Population served50,000
Other information
DirectorAndrea Kosavic
Parent organisation York University
Website Official website OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Location of W.P. Scott Library

York University Libraries (YUL) is the library system of York University in Toronto, Ontario. The four main libraries and one archives [1] contain more than 2,500,000 volumes.[ citation needed ]

Contents

History

The first York library opened in 1961 at Glendon College and was housed in Falconer Hall. In 1963 the library moved to its own building, named after recent Ontario premier Leslie Frost. [2]

The first library on the large Keele campus was the Steacie Science Library (now the Steacie Science and Engineering Library), which opened in 1965, and was named after chemist Edgar William Richard Steacie. [3]

The large W.P. Scott Library opened in 1971. [4] The need to build an appropriate collection in a short space of time was immediate and pressing. Accordingly, chief librarian Thomas F. O'Connell, formerly at the Harvard Library, made arrangements to purchase the entire stock of two bookstores: the Starr Book Company in Boston and Librarie Ducharme in Montreal. An early decision was also made not to duplicate research strengths at the University of Toronto and soon the Libraries owned impressive collections in American history, French Canadiana, and later sociology and psychology. [5] Archibald Macleish was awarded an honorary degree at a special convocation at the official opening of the building on 30 October 1971. [4]

Branches

The system has four branches, one containing two smaller libraries and an archives. At the main Keele Campus:

At the Glendon College campus:

In addition to almost 150 full-time staff, approximately 40 academic librarians are responsible for faculty liaison, collection development, and research instruction across every major discipline and field taught at York. [7]

Other libraries at York, which are not branches of YUL but work closely with it, include these, both on Keele Campus:

The Archives of Ontario is on York's Keele campus but is not affiliated with York.

Partnerships and collaboration

The Library is a member of the Canadian Association of Research Libraries, the Association of Research Libraries and the Ontario Council of University Libraries, and is a contributor to Open Content Alliance.

Chief librarians

The position has been known by various titles through the years, changing from Director of Library Services to Director of Libraries to University Librarian, [12] and then to Dean of Libraries.

Notes

  1. "Library and Archives Locations". York University Libraries. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  2. Horn 2009, p. 40.
  3. Horn 2009, p. 66.
  4. 1 2 Horn 2009, p. 137.
  5. Basbanes 2001, pp. 446–448.
  6. "Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections" . Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  7. "Subject & Liaison Librarians". York University Libraries. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  8. Doorey 2020, p. 6.
  9. "Catherine Davidson appointed interim university librarian". York University Libraries. 2014-07-22. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  10. "Joy Kirchner appointed to the position of University Librarian". YFile. 2015-04-20. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
  11. "Announcement of interim dean, York University Libraries". YFile. 2023-03-03. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
  12. Horn 2009, p. 268.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">York University</span> Public university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

York University, also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, and over 370,000 alumni worldwide. It has 11 faculties, including the Lassonde School of Engineering, Schulich School of Business, Osgoode Hall Law School, Glendon College, and 28 research centres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keele University</span> Public university in Keele, England

Keele University, officially known as the University of Keele, is a public research university in Keele, approximately three miles from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, Keele was granted university status by Royal Charter in 1962.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glendon College</span> College in Ontario

Glendon College is a public liberal arts college in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Formally the federated bilingual campus of York University, it is one of the school's nine colleges and 11 faculties with 100 full-time faculty members and a student population of about 2,100. Founded as the first permanent establishment of York University, the school began academic operation under the mentorship of the University of Toronto in September 1960. Under the York University Act 1959 legislation, York was once an affiliated institution of the University of Toronto, where the first cohort of faculty and students originally utilized the Falconer Hall building as a temporary home before relocating north of the St. George campus to Glendon Hall — an estate that was willed by Edward Rogers Wood for post-secondary purposes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mariposa Folk Festival</span> Folk music festival

Mariposa Folk Festival is a Canadian music festival founded in 1961 in Orillia, Ontario. It was held in Orillia for three years before being banned because of disturbances by festival-goers. After being held in various places in Ontario for a few decades, it returned to Orillia in 2000. Ruth Jones, her husband Dr. Crawford Jones, brother David Major and Pete McGarvey organized the first Mariposa Folk Festival in August 1961. The inaugural event, covered by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, featured all Canadian performers. The festival grew in popularity, size and rowdiness until the popularity of the 1963 festival, and the lack of sufficient security, led to a backlash from town locals. The city of Orillia secured a court injunction to prevent the festival from continuing in the town limits. The first festival held in the Toronto area, in 1964, was at Maple Leaf Stadium. The subsequent three festivals were held at Innis Lake in Caledon, northwest of the city. In the 1970s it was held on the Toronto Islands before shifting to Harbourfront (Toronto) and Bathurst Street and later Molson Park in Barrie. In 2000, the Mariposa Folk Festival was invited back to Orillia by city councilors Tim Lauer and Don Evans. The festival continues to be held in Orillia. As well as folk music, the festival highlights other aspects of folk culture including dance, crafts, storytelling.

Michiel Steven Daniel Horn is a Canadian historian who serves as a professor emeritus at Glendon College, York University.

The University of California operates the largest academic library system in the world. It manages more than 40.8 million print volumes in 100 libraries on ten campuses. The purpose of these libraries is to assist research and instruction on the University of California campuses. While each campus library is separate, they share facilities for storage, computerized indexing, digital libraries and management.

The Music Library Association (MLA) of the United States is the main professional organization for music libraries and librarians. It also serves corporations, institutions, students, composers, scholars and others whose work and interests lie in the music librarianship field. National meetings occur annually.

Ray Jayawardhana is the Harold Tanner Dean of the Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences and a Professor of Astronomy at Cornell University, effective September 1, 2018. He was formerly Dean of Science and a Professor of physics & astronomy at York University. Prior to that, he was a Professor of Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of Toronto, and an Assistant Professor of Astronomy at the University of Michigan. In July of 2023, Johns Hopkins University announced that Jayawardhana had been selected as its 16th provost. An award-winning science writer, his primary research areas include the formation and early evolution of stars, brown dwarfs and planets. His current research focuses on characterizing exoplanets using telescopes on the ground and in space.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Columbia University Libraries</span> Academic library system in New York

Columbia University Libraries is the library system of Columbia University and one of the largest academic library systems in North America. With 15.0 million volumes and over 160,000 journals and serials, as well as extensive electronic resources, manuscripts, rare books, microforms, maps, and graphic and audio-visual materials, it is the fifth-largest academic library in the United States and the largest academic library in the State of New York. Additionally, the closely affiliated Jewish Theological Seminary Library holds over 400,000 volumes, which combined makes the Columbia University Libraries the third-largest academic library, and the second-largest private library in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Academic library</span> Library attached to a higher education institution

An academic library is a library that is attached to a higher education institution and serves two complementary purposes: to support the curriculum and the research of the university faculty and students. It is unknown how many academic libraries there are worldwide. An academic and research portal maintained by UNESCO links to 3,785 libraries. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there are an estimated 3,700 academic libraries in the United States. In the past, the material for class readings, intended to supplement lectures as prescribed by the instructor, has been called reserves. Previously before the electronic appliances became available, the reserves were supplied as actual books or as photocopies of appropriate journal articles. Modern academic libraries generally also provide access to electronic resources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean-Claude Guédon</span> French academic

Jean-Claude Guédon is a Quebec-based academic.

The Hamilton Library at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa is the largest research library in the state of Hawaii. The Library serves as a key resource for the flagship Manoa campus as well as the other University of Hawaiʻi system campuses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keele Campus</span> Main campus of York University in Toronto

The Keele Campus is the main campus of York University in the North York district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It occupies roughly 1 square kilometre of land and is situated between Jane Street to the west, Keele Street to the east, Steeles Avenue West to the north and Finch Avenue West to the south. It is the largest post-secondary campus in Canada at 457 acres (185 ha).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Toronto Libraries</span>

The University of Toronto Libraries system is the largest academic library in Canada and is ranked third among peer institutions in North America, behind only Harvard and Yale. The system consists of 39 libraries located on University of Toronto's three university campuses: St. George, Mississauga and Scarborough. This array of college libraries, special collections, and specialized libraries and information centres supports the teaching and research requirements of 215 graduate programs, over 60 professional programs, and more than 700 undergraduate degree programs. In addition to more than 12 million print volumes in 341 languages, the library system currently provides access to 150,467 journal titles, millions of electronic resources in various forms and almost 30,000 linear metres of archival material. More than 150,000 new print volumes are acquired each year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicholas A. Basbanes</span> American author

Nicholas Andrew Basbanes is an American author who writes and lectures about authors, books, and book culture. His subjects include the "eternal passion for books" ; the history and future of libraries ; the "willful destruction of books" and the "determined effort to rescue them" ; "the power of the printed word to stir the world" ; the invention of paper and its effect on civilization and an exploration of Longfellow's life and art.

Penelope Billings Reed Doob was an American-born Canadian medievalist, dance scholar, and medical researcher. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1974 for her research on medieval literature.

Ruth Green (Mohawk) is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at York University in Toronto. She is the special advisor to the president of York University on Indigenous initiatives.

Western Libraries is the library system of the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. In 1898, the university Senate appointed James Waddell Tupper as the University of Western Ontario's first University Librarian. In 1918, John Davis Barnett founded the Western Libraries collection with a donation of 40,000 books from his personal library. Before this donation, the collection held less than 1000 different works.

Varpu Lindström (1948–2012) was a Canadian historian and educator. She was the leading expert on the social history of Finnish women in Canada.

Wenona Mary Giles is a professor emerita in the Department of Anthropology at York University. In 2018, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Through the university, Giles helped launch the Borderless Higher Education for Refugees (BHER) project which allowed people in refugee camps to earn degrees, diplomas and certificates from Moi and Kenyatta Universities in Kenya, and from York University and UBC in Canada.

References

43°46′20″N79°30′21″W / 43.772288°N 79.505702°W / 43.772288; -79.505702