Friday, November 26, 2010

Who's Hungry?

Who do your donations to our Food for Fines campaign help? The number of Canadians relying on food banks in Canada continues to grow. They are among the most vulnerable members of our society, and they are in every community, including yours.

Of food bank users,
  • 38% are children;
  • 7% are seniors;
  • 12% are Aboriginal;
  • 15% receive disability benefits;
  • 17% are or were recently employed; and
  • 51% receive social assistance.
“In March 2010, 867,948 separate individuals were assisted by a food bank in Canada… Canadian food bank use has now reached its highest level on record, passing the previous benchmark of 803,335 in 2004. Hunger continues to grow in our country, despite the economic recovery.”


“In 2007-2008, 1.92 million people in Canada aged 12 or older, including 228,500 children aged 12 to 17, lived in food-insecure households. Almost one third of these people, including 546,100 adults and 60,000 children aged 12 to 17, lived in households with severe food insecurity.”


“British Columbia’s child poverty rate fell for the second consecutive year to 14.5 per cent in 2008, using Statistics Canada’s Low Income Cut-Offs before-tax as a measure of poverty… The number of poor children in BC was 121,000 – more than the total populations of Campbell River, Mission, Squamish and Vernon combined.”


“One in 10 children still lives in poverty in Canada. It’s worse for children living in First Nations communities: one in four grow up in poverty."

"Employment is not always an assured pathway out of poverty: 1 in 3 low-income children lives in families where at least one parent works full-time year round and almost 400,000 adult full-time workers earn less than $10 per hour."

"Child poverty is persistent across Canada: rates of child and family poverty (LICO before-tax) are in the double digits in all provinces."

"The gap between rich and poor has widened: On average, for every dollar the families in the poorest 10 per cent had, families in the richest 10 per cent had almost 13 times as much ($12.66) in 2008.”

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Food for Fines: December 1-24

You donate the food - we'll pay your fines!

What?
The UFV Library collects food items for donation to local food banks, which provide food and assistance to people in need in our communities. As a thank you, we forgive a portion of your library fines. This year, the need is even greater.

Who?
Any UFV library patron (student, staff, faculty, alumni, community borrower) can “pay” library fines by bringing in donations for the Food Bank.

When?
December 1 – December 24, 2010

How?
Bring non-perishable food items into the Abbotsford, Chilliwack or Mission libraries. Please, no non-food items, such as candy.

How much?
Each donated food item is the equivalent of $2.00 toward your overdue fines, to a maximum of $20.00 per person.

Questions? Contact the UFV Library:
(604) 854-4545 Abbotsford
(604) 795-2824 Chilliwack
(604) 557-7609 Mission

P.S. All donations are welcome, even if you don’t have a fine.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Congratulations to our Giller Contest winners

UFV library congratulates our five Guess the Giller contest winners: Cassandra Boyer, Bree Gauthier, Danae Hansen, Grace Yoon and Roy Jung. They will each receive a copy of one of the Giller shortlisted titles, donated by the Chilliwack branch of ScotiaBank.

First-time novelist Ms. Skibsrud took home the $50,000 top prize for her novel, The Sentimentalists, while the remaining four shortlisted finalists won $5,000 each. The other Scotiabank Giller finalists were:
The Scotiabank Giller is Canada’s top literary prize. For more information see: http://www.scotiabankgillerprize.ca/.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Have you tried Google's Wonder Wheel?

Google's Wonder Wheel is a great tool for selecting or focusing a topic. Just start with a general topic (we started with "body image"), then in your results list, look for the Wonder Wheel link in the left column, under the Google logo.

Use the wonder wheel to explore different aspects of your topic. Each time you follow a link, you'll get a new wheel.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Remembrance Day: Canada's World War II war artists

Check out the newest exhibit in the Chilliwack Library and on the library's web site: http://www.ufv.ca/library/exhibits/remembrancedaycanadasworldwariiwarartists.htm

This exhibit is the result of work by UFV History Instructor Molly Ungar, who researched and created these posters with the help of Gordon Jang from Instructional Media Services. The posters originally hung outside the Abbotsford library in Building G. During November 2010, they will be hanging outside the Chilliwack library in Building A.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Only 4 days left to Guess the Giller...

Vote for your favourite Giller book - win a Giller book!

Get your ballot in at any of the UFV libraries, or use our online survey. The contest closes November 8, and we'll announce the UFV results and award prizes on November 12th, 3 days after the Giller prize is announced.

See http://ufvlibrary.blogspot.com/2010/10/guess-giller-contest-2010.html for complete contest information.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Make a 30-second video ... win a free course!

Create a public service announcement promoting the library, and you could win a free UFV course, as part of the 2010 Library Poster PSA Contest.

Theme: "This is my library."
Deadline: December 15, 2010

Contest Details:

  1. Contest is open to all currently registered UFV students; one grand prize (a free UFV course) will be awarded. Other prizes may be awarded at the discretion of the judging panel.
  2. Videos must reflect the stated theme and explicitly contain the statement: “This is my library.” Videos will be judged on quality and creativity of the content, as well as how well they promote a positive image of the library.
  3. Media must be in the public domain or otherwise royalty-free (including new compositions or Creative Commons licensed music - see http://creativecommons.ca/).
  4. Any people featured in the videos must provide written consent (ask for a consent form from the library).
  5. All entrants grant the UFV Library usage and archival rights to their video, which may include making the video available via the UFV web site and online video sharing sites (such as YouTube), as well as UFV-TV.
  6. Technical specifications:
    • Length: 30-45 seconds
    • Format: standard video format (e.g., MPEG, AVI, or MOV)
    • Minimum resolution: 640x480 (higher preferred)
  7. Drop off your entries at any UFV Library; include in your package:
    • A CD or DVD of your video
    • Your name, email address, and phone number
    • A transcript of your video
    • Copies of consent forms from video participants
Questions? Contact Colleen Bell, colleen.bell@ufv.ca

Introducing our newest librarian: Brenda Philip

We're pleased to announce that Brenda Philip is our new Circulation and Data Services Librarian. She started her new position on Monday, November 1st.

Brenda has been working for the UFV Library for the past year as a part-time librarian, and so is well known to many members of the UFV community. Prior to joining us, Brenda held a one-year term position as liaison librarian at SFU. From 2001-2008, Brenda was the Collection Development Librarian at Green River Community College in Auburn, Washington, and from 1999-2001 she was a Reference Librarian for the University of Washington, Tacoma. She has also held librarian positions at the University of Lethbridge and the University of Alberta.

Brenda has an MLIS from the University of Alberta, an MA in Art History from York University, and an honours BA in History in Art from the University of Victoria. She has early connections with UFV/Fraser Valley College, where she began her academic studies in the 1980s.