Betsy Wilson, Dean, U.W. Libraries, accepts a check from Denis Stevens, Canadian Consul General, Seattle, to build the Canada collection. Siôn Romaine, Canadian Studies Librarian (right), wrote the successful grant. They are joined by Terry (AISLIN) Mosher (far left) and Don Hellman, Henry M. Jackson School. (05/12)
Siôn Romaine, U.W. Canadian Studies Librarian, wrote a successful Matching Library Support grant to the Government of Canada receiving $2,000 for the Canada Collection to be purchased this summer and fall.
The Canadian Studies Center, along with consortium partners, the Center for Canadian-American Studies, Western Washington University, are the Canadian depositories for federal and provincial government publications. Combined map holdings total over 40,000 map sheets, including almost 26,000 Canadian topographical maps. The librarians maintain collections and support Canadian Subject Guide websites including an Advanced Research Guide, a monthly listing of new collections, and Class Help Pages, which provide information and resources for Canadian Studies courses.
Subscription-free desktop access to hundreds of full-text newspapers and periodicals is available around the clock. Access World News, a full-text news database, provides access to CBC News and Canadian Newswire video transcripts and full-text articles from 165 Canadian news sources. Press Display provides sixty-day back issue access to online facsimiles of over 100 Canadian newspapers, including many French-language newspapers. Canadian Business and Current Affairs, a full-text periodical database, provides in-depth access to a wide diversity of Canadian periodicals. Canadian Research Index catalogs thousands of federal, provincial, and municipal documents, scientific and technical report literature, and Statistics Canada monographs and serials. There is no question that the U.W. Libraries has one of the top Canadian Studies collections in the nation.
Siôn was appointed Canadian Studies Librarian in 2005. His degree is from the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies at the University of British Columbia with a research focus in First Nations library services. Siôn oversees the Libraries’ Subject Guide on Canada, provides a monthly notice of new Canadian Studies acquisitions, and serves as the Library representative on the Executive Council for the Pacific Northwest Canadian Studies Consortium.
The Government of Canada Library Support Program is designed to assist university libraries to strengthen their Canadiana library holdings in order to support teaching and research in Canadian Studies. Funds are available only for the purchase of library materials considered to be Canadiana and which are deemed by the Embassy of Canada or High Commission to qualify as having a specific bearing on the study of Canada and/or Canadian culture.