October 17, 2002

Thursday, October 17, 2002

Library urged to raise its profile
History prof teaches human rights
A few other notes and events

Editor:
Chris Redmond
credmond@uwaterloo.ca

[Banner billowing in the wind]
On parade: UW's Mini-Baja car, solar car, Formula SAE car, alternate fuels vehicle and aerial robotics team all took part in Monday's nationally-televised Oktoberfest parade through Kitchener-Waterloo. The photo is a videocapture by Duane Cronin of the mechanical engineering department.
As Oktoberfest continues, it's "University Night" tonight at the Kitchener Auditorium festhall, with tickets available on campus and buses running from the Student Life Centre. Tomorrow, there will be an Oktoberfest "keg tapping" at Federation Hall at 3:00, and the weekend brings "Villagehausen" on Friday night and "Oktoberfed" on Saturday night, with tickets available now in the Federation of Students office.

Library urged to raise its profile

UW's library needs to work for greater "visibility" on campus, says the report of a consultant advising on the search for the next university librarian.

"The Library would benefit immeasurably from a higher profile among the Faculties and the senior University administration," writes Graham Hill, head of the McMaster University library, who visited UW in July to "review" UW's library. Murray Shepherd, university librarian since 1973, will retire next summer, and a committee has started the job of finding his successor.

[Online reference logo]
Chat room: "Students, faculty and staff can chat live with a librarian, share web pages, and get instruction on using Library resources in all subject areas," through an online reference service that was launched this week. Initially the hours of service are 1 to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday. To use the Online Reference service, click on "Ask a Librarian" on the library home page.
Hill says there should be a university-wide library committee: "The purpose of formal university committees for the libraries is far more than to ensure that the library is well managed. Their more important purpose is to act as a forum for ensuring the congruence of the library's programmes, projects and services with the academic plans, directions and information needs of the University. It is equally important that the University's academic plans are informed by the Library's capabilities and requirements."

Says Hill: "The Library is generally perceived by users as having a strong user focus, and as a well-ordered resource that provides good support to the teaching and research programmes of the University; however, there is a desire on the part of some to see the Library at the leading edge of innovation in the provision of knowledge resources and services. We also heard a more stereotypical view of the library that largely neglected the huge changes that had to occur in the Library over the last thirty years. The staff of the libraries is superior; they are skilled and experienced, and their commitment to the role of the Library in contributing to the achievement of the University's mission was apparent in all our meetings and visits. However, in many of our meetings, we sensed the tension that exists both within the Library and also between the Library and other parts of the University over the apparent dichotomy between innovation and stability. The culture of the Library -- and even the campus -- was characterized to us more than once as a 'pragmatic, can-do' culture, which was often perceived as militating against a culture of innovation."

He reports that UW's library "has managed well, and better than most", through rapid technological change, and has an "impressive" new web site -- but will soon need "ready access" to its own electronic classroom for demonstrating the use of library technology.

He writes: "The services that are provided by the Library were the subject of favourable comment generally. . . . We were told by students that their top three 'likes' about the Library were extended hours at examination time; the coffee shop; and the direct borrowing arrangements through TUG. Their pet peeves were the lack of synchrony between Library opening hours and circulation service; and the exit control desks." (Hill writes that UW seems to be "the sole remaining academic library that does not use an electronic security system", and needs to get one.)

He says the internal organization of the library -- one of UW's biggest departments, with about 140 full-time staff -- is "widely perceived as dysfunctional . . . confusing, cumbersome, and sometimes lacking in accountability", with a large number of "internal committees, task groups and working parties".

"The comments we heard," he writes, "suggest that most of the staff would respond positively to a more hierarchical organizational structure, although most of the staff refrained from stating this view directly, perhaps out of a concern for being perceived as 'old fashioned'. . . . The staff in all areas appear to work very well in teams, and autocratic direction would be disastrous."

He comments on the nagging issue of "academic status" for librarians, suggesting that "a third system appears needed", making clear that librarians are neither the same as faculty members nor the same as "clerical/managerial" staff.

And about the next university librarian: "a person who values the respectful treatment of staff is critical; personal integrity is clearly very important, and there appears to be little appetite for a University Librarian who is not 'known and respected' in the academic library community. A visionary who dismisses problems and ignores practicalities will leave the staff in disarray. The quality that appears most important from a broader campus perspective, is 'visibility'. Given that we found a relatively low level of interest in the Library on the campus, the new Librarian will need to take the initiative to build dialogue with members of the Faculty and the Administration."

[Walker]
History professor James Walker reports on what he did with an instructional development grant from UW's teaching resources and continuing education office and special funding from the office of the associate vice-president (academic).

History prof teaches human rights

In the summer of 2002 I spent a month in Strasbourg, France, studying human rights. I attended the regular program of the Institut international des droits de l'homme, and participated as well in a daily seminar for university teachers at the Centre international pour l'enseignement des droits de l'homme dans les universitis (Ciedhu).

I had been informed that the Strasbourg program, linked to the Council of Europe and the European Court for Human Rights, was the best in the world for conveying a fundamental understanding of the nature and content of human rights at the international level. With the Ciedhu seminar this seemed to offer an irresistible package, so I applied for admission and received TRACE assistance to enable me to attend.

For many years I have been teaching courses on human rights and race relations in Canada. Recently international themes have been creeping into my courses, partly because they provide essential context to Canadian consciousness of rights issues, and partly because my students have been asking questions and even suggesting essay projects on international topics. Since there was no existing course on international human rights to satisfy this interest, I sought approval from the history department to design a new course devoted to this subject. The Strasbourg summer was the culmination of my preparations, and History 407A, "International Human Rights in Modern History", is being offered to a class of more than 20 senior undergraduates this fall term.

When most Canadians think of human rights, their minds probably go to the great atrocities that have occurred, for example in Nazi Germany, Apartheid South Africa, Rwanda and Kosovo. My own approach as a historian is to examine not the violations per se, but the impact of those violations on the evolution of international human rights standards. Although "human rights" end up in laws and international conventions, they begin in movements organized by ordinary citizens to extend their rights in order to improve or even save their lives or the lives of others. Our rights are articulated, in other words, in response to demands by those who perceive a need for change. This is the perspective I carry into History 407A, where we study the process by which human needs and dignity become incorporated as "rights", as much as we do the contents of the rights instruments themselves.

The Strasbourg program was not entirely compatible with my historical disposition. In my Ciedhu seminar of 14 participants, 13 were law teachers, and their emphasis was upon "implementation", that is, they wanted to be able to teach student lawyers and government officials the content of human rights law and methods to enforce them on behalf of clients or oppressed communities.

By the end of the month I was receiving some appreciation, perhaps some indulgence, for my argument that law is not the source of our rights but a means of articulating them so that they can be protected; it is necessary to understand the problem that evoked the response in order to apply the solution effectively. Meanwhile, I learned a great deal about law, and I was reminded of the role of an alert citizenry in maintaining and promoting human rights.

I have been personally enriched by these exchanges with colleagues from Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. They live with daily violations, or the threat of them, and human rights can be basic tools for a decent life. I was humbled as well as horrified by some of their stories. And I continue to believe that the example of past achievements by groups and individuals offers both inspiration and tactics to today's practitioners.

A few other notes and events

A funeral service for Ron Scoins, retired from the math faculty and the long-time central figure in UW's math contests and other relations with high school math teaching, will be held starting at 11 a.m. today at Mount Zion Lutheran Church on Westmount Road.

At 12 noon, the teaching resources and continuing education office will present a workshop on "exam preparation" -- not for students, but for instructors. "How can we construct good exam questions?" is the sort of thing that Geneviève Desmarais of TRACE will discuss. The workshop takes place in Math and Computer room 5158; last-minute information should be available at ext. 3132.

People from an organization called MOVE, and I'm sorry I don't know what that stands for, will be on campus today, invited by the Waterloo Public Interest Research Group. A presentation titled "MOVE vs. The System: A History of Confrontation" is planned for 2 to 4 p.m. in the multipurpose room of the Student Life Centre.

Artist Gretchen Sankey will speak today at 1 p.m. (East Campus Hall room 1219), sponsored by the fine arts department and the Waterloo Regional Arts Council.

And Tony Urquhart, retired fine arts professor, will speak tonight in Kitchener, as the community celebration of his life and work continues. tonight's talk starts at 8 p.m. in the Heritage Room of Kitchener city hall: "Urquhart presents his favourite artists and their influences on his creative process."

Tomorrow:

"Pilgrimage and Tourism in the Holy Land", a talk in the tourism lecture series by Noga Collins-Kreiner of Israel's Haifa University, Environmental Studies I room 132, 9:30 a.m.
Sandford Fleming Foundation technical speaker competition for engineering students, 10:30 a.m., Doug Wright Engineering room 2534.
"Bodies in the Bath-house", a talk by University of Alberta classical archaeologist Jeremy Rossiter, 3 p.m., Modern Languages room 246.
"The Birth of Men as Fathers", a talk by Rev. Ed Hampson in the St. Jerome's University lecture series, 7:30 p.m., Siegfried Hall.

Finally . . . as of last night, givings to the campus United Way campaign stood at $93,931, which is 62.6 per cent of the $150,000 goal. A few hundred dollars of the money had come from special events, and the rest from 320 faculty and staff donors and 64 retirees. That's just a 9.5 per cent participation rate, says Tricia Corrin in the United Way office.

CAR

TODAY IN UW HISTORY
October 17, 1972: With the new University of Waterloo Act about to come into force, the old UW board of governors holds its last meeting.