The Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL) is pleased to announce three Visiting Researchers for 2025, whose projects will explore a variety of technologies and library systems.
Heather McMullen (Associate University Librarian, Queen’s University) will focus her visiting researcher role on shared library service platforms and their synergies with OCUL’s Collaborative Futures initiative. She will investigate how other consortia’s experiences could inform how OCUL members achieve the more ambitious priority outcomes of Collaborative Futures. Heather’s project will involve examinations of shared acquisitions and collection management; shared records, cataloguing and e-resource management; and shared record loading.
Joël Rivard (Head of Research Support Services, Carleton University) is exploring OCUL member institutions’ adoption and implementation of new technologies, including staff’s use of AI and machine learning tools. The outcomes of Joël’s investigation of new technologies’ impact on libraries and their services may further enhance collaboration and knowledge sharing among university libraries.
Dan Scott (Associate Librarian, Laurentian University) will join OCUL starting in summer 2025 to work with Scholars Portal on enhancing DSpace, the software used for the national shared institutional repository service, Scholaris. Dan’s project will encompass enabling multilingual support for controlled vocabularies in DSpace to provide better, more consistent open access points to scholarship.
For More Information
The Visiting Researcher program offers support to OCUL members on sabbatical from their home institution and pursuing a project related to academic librarianship or library services. Learn more about the OCUL Visiting Researcher program.