No. 554 - August 5, 2026

  • Coming Events:

    - GRADLIS 9004 - End of Term Showcase
    - WTS Workshop: MS Outlook - Calendar for Smarter Scheduling
    - SE Workshop: Feel Your Feelings! The Value of Emotions in Decision-Making
    - WTS Workshop: CyberSmart - Staying Safer Online
    - WTS Workshop: MS Planner - Simplify Team Tasks & Work Management
    - Fall Perspectives on Teaching Conference
    - WTS Workshop: MS Bookings - Simplify Your Appointment Scheduling
    - Cultivating Sustainable Collections Conference
    - TA Day: Graduate Student Conference on Teaching

  • Important Dates:

    - Wednesdays - Western Farmers Market (10 AM - 2 PM, top of UC Hill)
    - August 10 - 21, 2026 - Data Science for Information Professionals Summer School
    - Friday, September 18, 2026 - Senate (Schmeichel Building, 1:30 PM)
    - Monday, September 7, 2026 - Labour Day holiday (no classes, FIMS offices closed)
    - Thursday, September 9, 2026 - First day of classes for undergraduate students and FIMS grad students

  • Awards & Accomplishments:

    - Chris Arsenault
    - Jacquie Burkell
    - Sarah Cornwell
    - Anabel Quan-Haase
    - Bri Watson
    - Andre Wolmer de Melo
    - Shengnan Yang

  • Publications & Presentations:

    - Chris Arsenault
    - Jesse Butler
    - Alissa Centivany
    - Anastazia Csegeny
    - Giada Ferrucci
    - Takuya Maeda
    - Sodiq Onaolapo
    - Selma Purac
    - Joanna Redden

  • In the Media:

    - Chris Arsenault
    - Juan Andrés Bello
    - Dawn Monroe (MLS'71)
    - Bri Watson

  • Additional Activities of Note:

    - Derya Hodge

  • News from the FIMS Grad Library:

    - Between Term Closure
    - Let the FIMS Grad Library help with your Course Readings
    - Transfer your print credits to a colleague

  • Next Issue:


Coming Events

GRADLIS 9004 - End of Term Showcase
Thursday, August 6
8:00 p.m. 
Zoom (check your Western email for the link)
Description: Presenting student groups from GRADLIS 9004 will provide a 3-minute overview of their object and there will be an opportunity for questions. The showcase is the culmination of a very heavy term of work that takes students from 0 to presenting a research proposal in 13 weeks. Check your Western email for information on the program and Zoom link.

WTS Workshop: MS Outlook - Calendar for Smarter Scheduling
Tuesday, August 11, 2026
10:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
Zoom (register)
Description: This 30‑minute session highlights practical Outlook Calendar features that streamline coordination, reduce back‑and‑forth emails, and keep your week organized. Explore time‑saving tools such as Scheduling Polls, shared calendars, categories, and personalized settings that help you work with greater clarity and ease. Great if you coordinate meetings across departments or simply want to get more from Outlook, you’ll leave with actionable tips—and at least one new feature you can put to use right away.

SE Workshop: Feel Your Feelings! The Value of Emotions in Decision-Making
Wednesday, August 12, 2026
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Schmeichel Building 2110 (register)
Description: We are often told that we need to make decisions in a way that is “objective”, especially at work. While objectivity is important, this view implies that emotions are, at best, irrelevant to decision-making and, at worst, detrimental to good decision-making. This view overlooks the fact that emotions provide valuable information which can help us to make realistic and balanced decisions in our work lives. Participants will leave this workshop with a deeper theoretical understanding of the role of emotions in observations and value-judgements, a more nuanced perspective on the gendered and political narratives surrounding emotion, and with a stronger sense of how emotions can be used in productive and valuable ways in decision-making.

WTS Workshop: CyberSmart - Staying Safer Online
Wednesday, August 19, 2026
1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Zoom (register)
Description: Cybercriminals are using increasingly sophisticated tactics to target individuals and higher education institutions including Western, making it more important than ever to stay informed. Join us for a live virtual session designed to help you recognize common scams, protect personal and financial information, and build safer online habits.

WTS Workshop: MS Planner - Simplify Team Tasks & Work Management
Thursday, August 20, 2026
10:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
Zoom (register)
Description: This 30‑minute session highlights practical Microsoft Planner features that centralize team tasks, make deadlines visible, and reduce unnecessary follow-up emails. Discover how a shared digital task board can improve accountability, help your team prioritize daily work, and streamline collaboration for everything from employee onboarding and event planning to ongoing project tracking and team operations. Great if you manage multi-step processes or simply want to keep team projects moving smoothly, you’ll leave with actionable ways to bring structure, clarity, and ease to your shared workload.

Fall Perspectives on Teaching Conference
Thursday, August 27, 2026
9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Spencer Engineering Building (SEB) and Zoom
Description: For faculty, grad students and postdocs. This year’s Fall Perspectives on Teaching Conference will shine a spotlight on Western’s Future of Teaching and Learning: Strategic Action Areas - alongside the creative, impactful teaching practices already transforming meaningful student learning at Western University. The Conference will be offered in person, with all sessions also available via Zoom. The program will include a Keynote presentation, morning and afternoon panels, and concurrent lightning talks showcasing teaching innovations at Western. To register, visit the CTL website.

WTS Workshop: MS Bookings - Simplify Your Appointment Scheduling
Thursday, August 27, 2026
10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Zoom (register)
Description: Think of Microsoft Bookings as your personal online receptionist: it integrates seamlessly with your Microsoft 365 environment and Outlook calendar, allowing others to self-schedule time with you without the back-and-forth emails. Whether you handle academic advising, student office hours, HR consultations, or specialized training sessions, this 60‑minute Overview session will guide you through setting up, customizing, and managing your booking page. You’ll leave with clear, practical steps to automate your scheduling, streamline your workflow, and free up valuable time in your week.

Cultivating Sustainable Collections Conference
Friday, September 11 - Sunday, September 13, 2026
Various times and locations
Description: This SSHRC-supported gathering is focused on advancing sustainable practices in collection management and preventive conservation. The event responds to the urgent need for systemic change in how cultural institutions preserve, use, care for, and understand collections in the face of the climate crisis. Organized by the Centre for Sustainable Curating, led by Kirsty Robertson (Visual Arts), co-applicants Sarah Smith (FIMS) and Heather Igloliorte (University of Victoria), and collaborator Rachel Deiterding (McIntosh Gallery). For full details and to register visit the Sustainable Curating website.

TA Day: Graduate Student Conference on Teaching
Wednesday, September 9, 2026
9:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Zoom
Description: TA Day has welcomed new graduate students to Western for over 30 years, introducing graduate students to teaching at Western and helping prepare them for their roles as teaching assistants. The goals of this virtual TA event are the following: 1) To equip new or ongoing TAs with practical information and strategies for their teaching roles across campus 2) To introduce TAs across disciplinary to CTL programming and resources for their teaching reflection and development 3) To build generative communities of graduate educators who connect, support, and grow with each other during their time at Western University. For full details and to register, visit the TA Day website.


Important Dates

- Wednesdays - Western Farmers Market (10 AM - 2 PM, top of UC Hill)
- August 10 - 21, 2026 - Data Science for Information Professionals Summer School
- Friday, September 18, 2026 - Senate (Schmeichel Building, 1:30 PM)
- Monday, September 7, 2026 - Labour Day holiday (no classes, FIMS offices closed)
- Thursday, September 9, 2026 - First day of classes for undergraduate students and FIMS grad students

 

Awards & Accomplishments

Assistant Professor Chris Arsenault won a 2026 Insight Development Grant for his project titled, "Who Feeds the Watchdog? Accountability Journalism and Press Independence Under Canadian Government and Private Foundation Funding." 

Professor Jacquie Burkell won a 2026 Insight Development Grant for her project titled, "Co-writing with GenAI in the classroom: Policies, perspectives and practice."

Sarah Cornwell, PhD'25 LIS, will be starting a two-year Postdoctoral Fellowship at York University starting September 1, under the Connected Minds program.

Professor Anabel Quan-Haase won a 2026 Insight Grant for her project titled, "Canadian Voices in Democratic AI Governance: Why Critical AI Literacy Matters."

Assistant Professor Bri Watson won a 2026 Insight Development Grant for their project titled, "The Collaborative Canadian Catalogue/Le Catalogue canadien collaboratif."

Media Studies PhD candidate Andre Wolmer de Melo successfully defended his thesis titled Voices of Environmental (In)Justice: Hegemonic and Independent Media Narratives on the Traditional Fishing Community of Ilha de Deus (Recife, Brazil)" on July 9.

Assistant Professor Shengnan Yang won a 2026 Insight Development Grant for her project titled, "The Role and Impact of Generative AI in Library and Information Science Education." 


Publications & Presentations

Assistant Professor Chris Arsenault authored the following publication:

Arsenault, Chris. "Government-Funded Watchdog Journalism? Analyzing Canadian Media Workers’ Self-perceptions of Independence Under the Local Journalism Initiative." Journalism Practice (2026): 1-20.


MLIS student Jesse Butler had a poem titled "The Highway and the Wilderness" published in the Summer Issue of Maisonneuve Magazine.

Associate Professor Alissa Centivany will co-present a keynote lecture titled "CanRepair! Exploring Canada's World-Leading Right to Repair Efforts" at FOSSY 2026 (Free and Open Source Software Yearly Conference) at UBC on August 7.

Anastazia Csegeny, PhD student in Media Studies, presented the following conference papers:

"'This is Not a Story about Grief': Re-Envisioning Terminal Illness and Caregiver Coping in the Graphic Novel Memoir," at the Southwest Popular/American Culture Association annual Summer Salon on June 25-27.

"'I Came North for the Summer 10 Years Ago': Passing Through and Finding Home in the Canadian North," at the Mid-Atlantic Popular and American Culture Association annual Virtual Symposium on July 26.


FIMS Postdoctoral Associate Giada Ferrucci published the following article:

Ferrucci, G. (2026). Laudato Si’, Climate Justice, and Liberation Ecology: Moving on from the Anthropocene. In: Jaidka, M., Kang, M.K., Sharma, R.L. (eds) There’s a Spirit in the Woods. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-95-6272-5_2


Takuya Maeda, MS PhD Candidate, gave a guest talk titled "Designed to Feel Like Someone: Anthropomorphism, Parasociality, and the Limits of Safety Narratives" at the Intelligence and Sensing Lab, D3 Center, the University of Osaka, on July 22. 

Assistant Professor Selma Purac presented a talk titled, "Teaching Sequential Storytelling: Comics-Making as Critical Reading" as part of a Pedagogy and Pop Culture panel at the American Culture Association's Summer Salon on June 26.

Assistant Professor Sodiq Onaolapo published the following article:

Onaolapo, S., Bosomtwi Amoah, G., Oyewole, O., & Adeoye, A. A. (2026). Examining West African Academic Libraries’ Participation in Transformative Agreements: A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Ghanian and Nigerian University Libraries. Journal of Library Administration, 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/01930826.2026.2701315


Associate Professor Joanna Redden was an invited speaker at an event organized by the National Union of Public and General Employees to bring concerns about AI to premiers on the eve of the Council of the Federation meeting in Charlottetown, PEI on July 22. The event was covered in a post on NUPGE's website titled "NUPGE brings concerns about AI to Council of the Federation."


In the Media

Assistant Professor Chris Arsenault was interviewed for an article titled "Canadian research finds that, no, government support doesn't skew news," published in The Seattle Times on August 2.

Assistant Professor Juan Andrés Bello appeared in a posting from the National Film Board newsletter recognizing the FOCAL award for "Best Use of Footage in a History Feature" given to his film True North at an awards gala on June 18.

Dawn Monroe, MLS'71, was featured in a Librarianship.com blog post titled "Catching up with: Dawn Monroe," published on July 20.

Assistant Professor Bri Watson was featured in a profile in Western News titled, "The hidden world that can make you feel seen: how cataloguing creates community," published on July 15.


Additional Activities of Note

Derya Hodge, current LIS PhD student and part-time Digitization Assistant in Archives and Special Collections at Western Libraries, along with Leanne Olson, Digitization Librarian at Western Libraries, and Tom Belton, Archivist at Western Libraries, put together a digitized collection of early records from London, Ontario in commemoration of London's 200th anniversary that is available on the Western Libraries Digitized Collections website. Some records include the meeting minutes of one of London's first baseball teams, arithmetic textbooks from the mid-19th century, and a letter mentioning the construction of Blackfriars Bridge.


News from the FIMS Grad Library

Between Term Closure (August 8th - September 7th, 2026) 

Please be advised that the FIMS Graduate Library will be available by appointment only during the period that falls between the Summer and Fall academic terms (i.e., August 8th - September 7th, 2026). Should you require access to the physical collection or support from library staff during this period, please email fimslib@uwo.ca. The FGL will re-open for the Fall term on Tuesday, September 8th, 2026.

Let the FIMS Grad Library help with your Course Readings

Remember the FIMS Grad Library can help with your Course Readings. We can help as much or as little as you need. Just email fimslib@uwo.ca with your syllabus, reading list or even a single title, and we will digitize, track down, or purchase copies of the materials you need. We can email these materials to you, place them on physical reserve in the library, or upload them to the Course Readings tab of your Brightspace site.

Bear in mind if we do not own the materials, acquiring them can take up to 3 weeks.

You may also receive communication about Course Readings from Western Libraries. Our library works closely with Western Libraries in fulfilling your readings requests. Whether you follow Western Libraries’ instructions or ours, rest assured your Course Readings will be fulfilled.

Transfer your print credits to a colleague

Graduating this term? Still have funds on your PaperCut account? Want to transfer that money to a friend? You can do that! Login to your FIMS PaperCut account and click on the ‘Transfers’ button on the left-hand menu. Enter the amount you want to transfer and the username of the person to whom you want to transfer it and that's it. Reach out to the library if you require assistance (fimslib@uwo.ca).

Next Issue

The FIMS Bulletin is your source for news, announcements, and events pertaining to FIMS graduate programs. Submissions from the FIMS community are always welcome and may be sent via e-mail to fims-communications@uwo.ca.

This is the final Summer issue of the FIMS Bulletin. The regular publication schedule will resume on Wednesday, September 23, 2026. Submit your items by noon on Tuesday, September 22.