You never have to apologize for your reading habits. Despite the halo effect that is given to people who say they are “readers”, the reading community is not one homogenous group; It is greatly fragmented and there is always drama and in-fighti

3.6 Warrant and Disability

Apr 26th, 2023 16m 36s

Why is it so difficult to describe people in social classification? This podcast examines this topic through the warrant, meaning the lens used to make decisions about how to describe things in a classification system. Specifically, the experie

3.5 Manuscript Digitization

Jan 3rd, 2023 1h 15m

With a background at the St. Jerome’s University College’s Digital Research Arts and Graphic Environmental Networks lab as a paleographer, and manuscript digitizer for six years, Jordan Tardif explores the impact of Manuscript Digitization on M

3.4 Digital Literacy in Public Libraries

Jan 3rd, 2023 47m 16s

In this episode Clarese Greig explores Digital Literacy in Public Libraries with her co-workers. The library branch they work at deals with more tech questions than can be handled most days, so the conversations usually veer towards tech, digit

3.3 Co-Starring Your Local Library

Jun 21st, 2022 26m 57s

In 2021 Daniel Clarkson Fisher inaugurated an online Tumblr site with the goal of documenting instances of actual libraries appearing in film (https://costarringyourlocallibrary.tumblr.com). Inspired by Thom Andersen's Los Angeles Plays Itself

3.2 Digital Security and Libraries

May 6th, 2022 51m 23s

Libraries are places of knowledge sharing, and this sharing is in more than just books. Libraries can be very important for sharing information and expertise that normally would be difficult to find otherwise. What other public institutions can

3.1 Visiting the London Room

May 2nd, 2022 53m 47s

What gems are hidden in the vast stacks of your local public library? Today we are joined by Jeff Causier, a library staff member who has works in the London Room Archives of the London Public Library. He will tell our listeners what sort of wo

2.5 The Greatest Crossover: Philosophy and Library Science

Dec 21st, 2021 1h 21m

Philosophy and library science may seem an unlikely combination, but they are closely connected disciplines. In this casual and accessible conversation Mike and Lindsay explore the philosophical themes underlying three important concepts in cla

2.4 Religious Studies and LIS

Sep 1st, 2021 39m 55s

LIS has been described as everyone's second career. Today we are joined by Brooke Brassard, a new Library Science student who has previously earned a PhD in the field of Religious Studies. She describes her research into the Latter-Day Saints m

2.3 The Public Library Is...

Jul 21st, 2021 27m 46s

What is the role of the public library? Is it a bastion of high culture, dedicated to the betterment of the public? Or is it a refuge for the public, serving the most popular fare? The question of how the public library has been perceived is th

2.2 What is a Language? The Ethnologue

Jul 5th, 2021 36m 18s

"A language is a dialect with an army and navy" is an adage was popularized by sociolinguist and Yiddish scholar Max Weinreich. So what does this mean for our classification of languages? And, what impact does our classification of languages ha

2.1 Genealogical and Archival Research

Jun 10th, 2021 17m 17s

How we remember the past shapes our future. In this episode Joel Sherlock shares some of his experience as the manager of Genealogical and Archival Research at Indigenous Services Canada. What does research in an archives look like? Who goes to

1.10 Emerging Library & Information Perspectives

Apr 17th, 2019 16m 51s

Emerging Library & Information Perspectives (ELIP) - the open access, peer-reviewed journal managed by the students in the MLIS program at Western University and published by the FIMS Graduate Library - illustrates the importance of engaging LI

1.9 Dementia and Information

Mar 13th, 2019 19m 37s

In this interview Dr. Grant Campbell from the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at Western University discusses dementia, both his research and how it has affected his loved ones. He makes sometimes surprising connections between the int

1.8 Data Doubles

Feb 27th, 2019 19m 25s

Recently, three professors at the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at Western University, Jacquelyn Burkell, Alissa Centivany and Alison Hearn, spoke at the London Public Library about the concept of your data double. As you scan social

1.7 The Social Justice Repair Kit and the Co-Designing Inclusive Cities Project

Feb 13th, 2019 22m 15s

In Episode 1.5 of the So What? podcast released in December last year we interviewed Alan Harnum of the Inclusive Design Research Centre at OCAD University in Toronto. We talked about the IDRC, its philosophy, and the way it works. This episode

1.6 Whats The First Thing You Remember About Reading

Jan 16th, 2019 11m 33s

What a simple question and what an intriguing set of responses! This question (“What is the first thing you can remember about reading?”) has been asked by Catherine Ross for many years as part of her research into reading and readers. We asked

1.5 Inclusive Design and the IDRC

Dec 6th, 2018 14m 36s

Alan Harnum is an Inclusive Developer at the Inclusive Design Research Centre (IDRC) at OCAD University in Toronto. His work, and that of the IDRC, is focused on ensuring that emerging information technologies and practices are designed inclusi

1.4 Memoirs of a Semi-Reformed Troll

Nov 21st, 2018 7m 45s

If a Troll is only semi-reformed are they now neutral? What would cause a person to turn neutral... Lust for gold? Power? Or were they just born with hearts full of neutrality? We join Yimin Chen as he describes his relationship with trolling i

1.3 CFLA-FCAB Truth and Reconciliation Efforts

Nov 7th, 2018 34m 10s

Camille Callison joins us to discuss the origins and developments of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee of the CFLA-FCAB (Canadian Federation of Library Associations - Fédération Canadienne des Associations de Bibliothèques). In addition to

1.3 CFLA-FCAB Truth and Reconciliation Efforts

Nov 7th, 2018 34m 10s

1.2 Cataloguing Games

Oct 23rd, 2018 19m 45s

Games of all types are popular in libraries. However, the diversity of games and gaming formats present some unique cataloguing challenges. Mackenzie Johnson spoke with Emma Cross from Carleton University about those challenges and the current

1.1 Reading Still Matters

Oct 9th, 2018 23m 7s

Early in 2018 Catherine Ross, Lynne McKechnie, and Paulette Rothbauer published “Reading Still Matters: What the Research Reveals about Reading, Libraries, and Community.” Twelve years after their first book on the topic, “Reading Matters,” the

0.3 Why CFLA

Sep 19th, 2018 6m 34s

The Canadian Federation of Library Associations (CFLA) was created in 2016 following the demise of the Canadian Library Association. Why do libraries and library workers need CFLA? At the 2018 CFLA Annual Forum held in Regina, Mike Ridley, a Ph

0.2 A Conversation on Ageing and Death

Sep 15th, 2018 21m 59s

The thought you cannot think controls you more than thoughts you can speak aloud. Library and information science has long been bastion against the restriction of free inquiry, be it the banned book or the taboo thought. In this episode Jen Opo