New Books at the Law Library – 24/03/26

LAW LIBRARY level 3: HD62.6 .M358 2023 Keith Seel & Wenjue Knutsen, eds., Management of Nonprofit and Charitable Organizations in Canada, 5th ed. (Toronto: LexisNexis Canada Inc., 2023). LAW LIBRARY reference room (level 2): HG1641 .H26 2022 Lee M. Shaiman & Bridget K. Marsh, eds., The Handbook of Loan Syndications and Trading, 2nd ed. (New […]

Law Library Easter Holiday Hours 2024

March 29Closed
March 3010 am - 6 pm
March 3110 am - 6 pm
April 1Closed

Regular hours resume April 2.

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Giving Day 2024

On UBC Giving Day, April 4, we come together to support UBC students and our world. This year’s Giving Day project at the library involves the UBC Undergraduate Prize in Library Research, help the next generation of leaders to be informed knowledge seekers.

New Books at the Law Library – 24/03/19

LAW LIBRARY level 3: HV6535.C32 N647 2023
J. Michael MacDonald, Leanne J. Fitch & Kim Stanton, Turning the Tide Together: The Final Report of the Mass Casualty Commission (Halifax: Joint Federal/Provincial Commission into the April 2020 Nova Scotia Mass Casualty, 2023).
Online access: https://masscasualtycommission.ca/final-report/

LAW LIBRARY level 3:K1094.3 .W66 2019
Philip R. Wood, International Loans, Bonds, Guarantees and Legal Opinions, 3rd ed. (London: Sweet & Maxwell, 2019).

LAW LIBRARY reference room (level 2): KD432 .I58 2012
Simon Halliday, An Introduction to the Study of Law (Edinburgh: W. Green, 2012).

LAW LIBRARY reference room (level 2): KD680 .D5 2022
Lord Collins of Mapesbury & Jonathan Harris, Dicey, Morris and Collins on the Conflict of Laws, 16th ed. (London: Sweet & Maxwell/Thomson Reuters, 2022). ,

LAW LIBRARY level 3: KE3734 .F65 2023
Lorne Folick, Michael Libby & Paul Dawson, Liquor and Cannabis Liability Law in Canada, 2nd. (Toronto: Thomson Reuters, 2023).

LAW LIBRARY level 3: KE9335 .H37 2023
Robert S. Harrison & Richard B. Swan, Skillful Witness Examinations in Civil and Arbitration Cases: Discoveries, Directs and Cross-Examinations (Toronto: Thomson Reuters, 2023)

LAW LIBRARY level 3: KEO261.C65 A87 2023
Harvey M. Haber, Robert D. Malen, eds., Assignment, Subletting and Change of Control in a Commercial Lease: A Practical Guide, 2nd ed. (Toronto: Thomson Reuters Canada, 2023).

LAW LIBRARY level 3: KJE3387 .P46 2022
Frans Pennings, European Social Security Law, 7th ed. (Cambridge: Intersentia, 2022).

How a Composer was Reunited with a Long-lost Score

It’s not every day that you hear of a librarian reuniting a composer with their long-lost work. Incredibly, this is exactly what happened when a paper score that needed some TLC was brought to UBC Music Librarian Kevin Madill late last year. I spoke with Kevin, who is the Music Librarian at UBC’s Music, Art & Architecture Library, to get the behind-the-scenes story of how Taiwanese composer Ya-Wen Lien was able to be reunited with a long-lost score through UBC Library, and how two of his scores were subsequently made available through UBC’s Open Collections.

In late 2023, a UBC percussion ensemble who were performing the piece Overture for Six Drummers by composer Ya-Wen Lien brought the score to Madill to be replaced due the paper having become creased and crumpled from repeated use. Unfortunately, there was no readily available information on the publisher of this score or where a new copy could be procured.

At this point, Madill turned to the Taiwanese Composer Database to investigate with hopes of simply contacting the composer, and determining the publisher information. Luckily, he was able to contact Lien, the composer of the piece, and spoke with him through a third party who translated their communication. This is when he learned that Lien himself was no longer in possession of the score as it had been lost over 20 years ago in a flood. Lien then asked Madill if UBC would be able to digitize the score and send him the scans.

Madill then got into contact with our very own Rob Stibravy, one of the Digital Projects Librarians here at the Digitization Centre! The score did not need any restoration or preservation intervention and Photoshop could be used to enhance the image and reduce any signs of wear and tear in order to make the piece easy for musicians to download and read. Ultimately, with some collaboration, the score was digitized and Lien was able to have possession of the score he thought was lost all those years ago.

As a gesture of thanks, Lien gave UBC permission to publish the score, along with another of his scores, Overture (2012), to UBC’s Open Collections. In order for any item to be made available through Open Collections there must either be express consent from the copyright holder, or the item must be within the public domain. In the case of Lien’s scores, the items could not have been legally uploaded as open access without express consent since they are not (and are nowhere near being) in the public domain. So, Lien’s permission was paramount to these scores now being available for download and able to be played and enjoyed by many.

Overture for Six Drummers

Overture for Six Drummers is a full score, meaning that each line contains the music for a specific instrument. The piece was written to include snare drums, bongos/congas, tom-toms, timpani, wood drums, and a bass drum.

Overture (2012)

Overture (2012) is the additional Score that Lien provided permission for UBC to publish in Open Collections. This is also a full score, and includes music for eleven percussion instruments: tom tom, wood Block, bongos, conga, cowbell, timpani, Chinese cymbal, Chinese paidrum, Chinese yiun-gong and bass drum, and tambourine.

Libraries and archives are integral to the preservation of art, culture, history, and knowledge, and it is paramount that professional relationships be born of respect, collaboration, and care. Otherwise, beautiful stories such as this one would not be possible.

I would like to express my gratitude to Kevin Madill for taking the time to speak with me for this blog post.

Thank you for reading!

UBC Library users now have access to over 80 new resources funded by the UBC President’s Academic Excellence Initiative

A collage of various book covers, overlaid with blue.

UBC faculty, staff and students now have access to an extensive list of new digital archives, databases, ebooks, print resources and more through UBC Library, thanks to funding provided by the UBC President’s Academic Excellence Initiative (PAEI).

The PAEI was established to increase the complement of UBC’s research faculty and fund much needed academic support and infrastructure investments, including essential new library resources. In November 2022, UBC Library was granted $580k divided between both campuses, to add more than 80 new library resources to UBC Library’s collections as part of the PAEI’s 2022/23 budget.

Making a list and checking it twice

“This was an exciting opportunity to subscribe to a number of new resources that had been requested by faculty and students,” says Kristina McDavid, a librarian who works with the undergraduate medical program at UBC Vancouver.

Many of the acquisitions funded by the 2022/23 PAEI disbursement had been on library branch desiderata lists—lists of collection requests made by UBC faculty, staff and students—for years. But due to rising renewal costs and other budgetary pressures, the library had not been able to add these items to its collections until now.

McDavid says that in some cases, the PAEI funding made it possible to purchase ongoing access to e-resources that the library had previously been paying for with one-time funds, year after year. “This added level of [funding] stability is especially valuable for resources that are part of the curriculum in a program of study.”

In other cases, electronic versions of print resources were acquired by the library in order to expand online access. “Two of the new health sciences resources we subscribed to are built around key texts that are not otherwise available electronically,” says McDavid. “In the past, our only option for providing access [to library users] was print. As several of our health sciences programs are distributed throughout BC, it is essential to be able to offer learners robust and varied online collections, so they can access the information and tools they need from any location.”

Branches also worked together to purchase resources that would benefit library users at multiple branches, like the NAACP Papers digitized collection, which was purchased jointly by UBC Law Library and Koerner Library.

“We sought cost-sharing partnerships with other branches to purchase resources of mutual interest and to expand the impact of our PAEI purchases… Many of the PAEI choices will benefit users from across the entire library,” says Susan Paterson, Government Publications Librarian at Koerner Library. “As we couldn’t purchase everything on the desiderata list, selections were made thoughtfully and with the cooperation and involvement of the librarians.”

“[At UBC Okanagan Library], selections were made that would benefit different user groups across both UBC campuses,” says Arielle Lomness, Interim Associate Chief Librarian, Research and Collections at UBCO Library. “As with any amount of new funds, prioritization of needs is always difficult. We selected these as a means of meeting the timeliest needs of our users.”

Behind the scenes

“It was a huge project for us,” says Ellen George, Collections Services Librarian at UBC Library. “There was a really big team that worked on this for three to four months.”

Purchasing library materials—whether print or electronic resources—is a time-consuming process. “It’s not as straightforward as writing to the vendor and asking what it will cost,” says George, who notes that you also need to factor in licensing considerations, price negotiation, and library user access.

“Our main authentication tool is called OpenAthens. Essentially it does communication in the back end between UBC, Open Athens and the publisher,” says Ryan Regier, Collections Services Librarian at UBC Library, and previously the eResource & Access Library Specialist during this project.

OpenAthens, an identity-based authentication system, was implemented at UBC Library in 2021, to provide access to the Library’s licensed online resources using single sign-on (SSO) technology integrated with campus-wide login (CWL), both on and off-campus. 

With existing UBC Library vendors, the authentication process for new resources is easy—it’s a little like flipping a switch to turn on library user access. “The challenge is that a lot of smaller publishers don’t have the ability, or the people, to get set up on OpenAthens,” says Regier, who worked with those publishers to find alternative methods and set up access.

“There’s a lot of things that happen behind the scenes to make those resources available to the [UBC community],” adds George.

Get in touch with your subject librarian to learn more about all the new materials now available at UBC Library.

New PAEI resources at the Library

Journals

Ebooks and Ebook Packages

Databases

Print Resources

Other

This project is part of UBC Library’s strategic direction to create and deliver responsive collections.

Learn more about our Strategic Framework.