We wish you all a safe, healthy and happy holiday season ❄️ Thank you for your support and collaboration in 2025, and we look forward to working together again in the new year. Please note that Scholars Portal offices will be closed December 24 - January 4 (inclusive). See you all in 2026!

As 2025 wraps up, we want to take a moment to look back on the most popular books, journals, articles, and datasets across Scholars Portal services and @borealisdata.bsky.social this year. Check out our 2025 top hits here! oculsp.ca/m2ry8

📢Save the Date! Scholars Portal Days 2026 will take place via Zoom on Wednesday, June 3 and Thursday, June 4, 2026. A Call for Lightning Talks will be shared in early 2026 - stay tuned! We look forward to seeing you all in June 🥳

Our Data Support Specialist, Zeynep, is presenting at the Data Curation Clinic, hosted by the Digital Research Alliance of Canada, today at 1 p.m. EST. She will be presenting on metadata documentation for curators using the Data Explorer for Borealis and Odesi. Register now! oculsp.ca/ds6dw

Notre Spécialiste en soutien des données, Zeynep, fera une présentation à la Clinique sur la conservation des données aujourd'hui à 13h! Elle présentera la documentation sur les métadonnées pour les conservateurs qui utilisent Data Explorer pour Borealis et Odesi. Enregistrement: oculsp.ca/ds6dw

ICYMI: We're hiring for a new role at OCUL. Deadline for applications is coming up fast!

Borealis mise à niveau et service rétabli ! Borealis est passé à la version 6.8. En savoir plus sur la mise à niveau et les nouvelles fonctionnalités sur notre blog : oculsp.ca/pluv3

Borealis upgraded and service restored! Borealis has been upgraded to version 6.8. Learn more about this upgrade and new features on our blog: oculsp.ca/p6qoy

GIS Tip: Need Canadian geospatial data for your research? Check out Scholars GeoPortal — a powerful resource for maps, census data, and more. Start exploring: geo1.scholarsportal.info @uofgresearch.bsky.social

Happy #GISDay! Let’s celebrate the power of Geographic Information Systems in research and discovery at #UofG. @uofguelph.bsky.social @uofgresearch.bsky.social

Happy GIS Day! We're celebrating with a new blog post about the AI-supported workflows that we're using to enhance the metadata for our collection of historical topographic maps. oculsp.ca/eike8 (SPOTDocs login required)

Cloudflare is currently experiencing an outage that is impacting the ability to download articles on Scholars Portal Journals. We are working on a solution and article downloads should be available again shortly.

Today on World Digital Preservation Day, we reflect on one question: Why Preserve? At CRKN, we preserve because knowledge, memory, and identity matter. Together, we’re ensuring that Canada’s digital heritage endures. #DigitalPreservation #DigitalHeritage

To celebrate #WDPD2025, we’re excited to share that six #DPC resources are now available in French! Huge thanks to the volunteer translators from Cellule Nationale de Vielle sur les Formats, Aristote and the PIN group for making key #digitalpreservation […] [Original post on digipres.club]

Pour célébrer la #WDPD2025, nous sommes ravis d’annoncer que six ressources du #DPC sont désormais disponibles en français ! Un immense merci aux bénévoles de la Cellule Nationale de Veille sur les Formats, d’Aristote et du groupe PIN pour avoir rendu des […] [Original post on digipres.club]

Happy World Digital Preservation Day! Did you know that in 2024 and 2025 the University of Victoria and the University of Manitoba became the first Borealis institutions to have their collections certified as Trustworthy Data Repositories by CoreTrustSeal? #WDPD #WDPD2025

Happy World Digital Preservation Day! As the eresource landscape continues to shift, Scholars Portal is committed to supporting Canadian libraries with long-term preservation and perpetual access to their resources, even after termination of vendor agreement. #WDPD #WDPD2025

It's HERE... World Digital Preservation Day 2025!! We are excited to kick off #WDPD2025 with our traditional opening blog from #DPC Executive Director William Kilbride, writing from the #iPRES2025 conference in Aotearoa New Zealand - one of the first places in […] [Original post on digipres.club]

Happy World Digital Preservation Day 2025! (via Digital Preservation Council) www.dpconline.org/news/start-o... #dpc

📍Mark your calendars! GIS Days 2025 is coming Nov 17-19! Discover the science of where with us: virtual presentations, demos, tutorials & an in-person open house Nov 19 at Weldon Library. Whether you're new to GIS or an expert, all are welcome! lib.uwo.ca/gisdays #WesternU

The Borealis team is planning to upgrade the Borealis platform to version 6.8. Downtime is expected from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST on November 5 for the demo platform and November 19 for the production platform.

L'équipe Borealis prévoit la mise à niveau de la plateforme de Borealis vers la version 6.8. Un arrêt de service est prévu de 9 h à 17 h HE le 5 novembre pour la plateforme de démo et le 19 novembre pour la plateforme de production.

It's #OpenAccessWeek! We host over 6,566,800 #OA articles and 2,487 fully Open Access journals on the Scholars Portal Journals platform. Scholars Portal also hosts OJS instances for OCUL member libraries, and we continue to expand the collection of OJS content available on our Journals platform.

AI is touted as a way to make work easier and more productive. But getting these tools to function consistently and helpfully requires major human labour. Our new @heqco.bsky.social blog w/ @scholarsportal.bsky.social shares what we're discovering is possible when using genAI tools: oculsp.ca/h1hgt

C’est la Semaine du Libre Accès avec Scholaris ! Les dépôts institutionnels constituent un élément essentiel de l'écosystème de Libre Accès vert, offrant aux chercheurs des options abordables pour partager leurs connaissances avec leurs communautés. #OAWeek25 #OpenAccessWeek

Happy #OpenAccessWeek from Scholaris! Institutional Repositories are a critical part of the Green OA ecosystem, offering researchers affordable options for sharing knowledge with their communities. This work takes a village & we're grateful to collaborate with such a vibrant repository community.

Who owns our #knowledge? How can #scholarly communities take control? It's #OpenAccess Week October 20 - 26, 2025. PKP is taking time to reflect, celebrate communities and contributors, and invite folks to take action. pkp.sfu.ca/2025/10/16/o... #OAWeek #DiamondOpenAccess #DiamondOA #AcademicSky

CARL is excited to celebrate International Open Access Week!🔓 This year’s theme, “Who Owns Our Knowledge?”, invites reflection on how communities can reclaim control over the knowledge they create and share. #OAWeek #OpenAccessOpenMinds

Nous acceptons également les soumissions en français ! Nous encourageons particulièrement les étudiant·es à partager leurs expériences, leurs défis et leurs points de vue. Pour plus d'informations sur les thèmes suggérés et la soumission d'une proposition, cliquez ici : forms.gle/MXdzApSZ3J4Y...

Our Call for Proposals for SJF 2026 is now open! We're seeking proposals for 10-minute presentations in English or French. We particularly encourage students to share their experiences, challenges, and insights. Suggested topics and submission details are available here: forms.gle/K3TBPs25veT2...

La #SemaineDuLibreAccès (20–26 oct) arrive! Thème: « Qui contrôle nos connaissances? ». Joignez-vous à nous le 23 oct, 13 h–14 h 30, avec @stefhaustein.scholcommlab.ca & Dr Juan Pablo Alperin pour discuter d’équité & de transparence dans la communication scientifique: www.uottawa.ca/bibliotheque...

#OpenAccessWeek (Oct 20–26) is coming! Theme: “Who Owns Our Knowledge?” Join us on Oct 23, 1 – 2:30 p.m., with @stefhaustein.scholcommlab.ca & Dr. Juan Pablo Alperin to discuss equity and transparency in scholarly communication: www.uottawa.ca/library/even... @uottawaarts.bsky.social @uottawa.ca

By leveraging collective buying power to bring vital research resources to Ontario university communities, in the past year, OCUL member libraries saved $10 million on e-resource spending. Read more about the Power of Consortial Licensing in our annual report: oculsp.ca/1dmu5

The September Scholars Portal Newsletter is here! Highlights from this edition include: 🔷New journals, books & Odesi datasets 🔷Updates on Scholaris & the GeoPortal redevelopment 🔷A Spotlight on perpetual access & journal entitlements 🔷Bug fixes & new features Catch up here: oculsp.ca/459pm

ICYMI - we've launched a new book club on AI ethics and librarianship that's open to any academic library worker. Join us later this month at one of 2 online discussion groups as we explore readings on human rights and AI. Get access to readings and discussion sign-up: ocul.on.ca/ai-ethics-re...

Please note that the service disruption to the Scholars GeoPortal and OCUL Usage Rights (OUR) over the weekend has been resolved and regular service has been restored. Apologies for the inconvenience, and thank you for your patience!

Service disruption: we are currently experiencing degraded performance on the Scholars GeoPortal and the OCUL Usage Rights database. We are working to restore regular service as quickly as possible.

🚨ATTENTION! Due to planned network maintenance, Scholars Portal services may experience temporary downtime of up to 15 minutes between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. on Wednesday, September 3. Apologies for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience!

A new report from OCUL shows how and why Ontario library professionals use AI tools in their day-to-day work — and their perspectives on these evolving technologies. Download the report and dive into our findings ➡️ oculsp.ca/aiml-report

Il vous reste encore du temps pour postuler ! La date limite pour soumettre votre candidature a été repoussée au 21 août.

Our Metadata & Data Services Librarian, Alicia, recently did an interview with the Western Association of Map Libraries about the GeoPortal Redevelopment Project. Read the full interview to learn more about key project tasks, new infrastructure, metadata enhancements, and more: oculsp.ca/gkuag

Did you miss the Collaborative Futures Mini Conference earlier this month? The recording and updated speaker slides are now online! ➡️ oculsp.ca/tqt2m Five "show and share" talks covered topics including deduping bib records as potential overlap analysis and remediation targeting legacy records.

La nouvelle suite documentaire CoreTrustSeal effectuée par @borealisdata.bsky.social et par le groupe d’experts sur la préservation de l’Alliance de recherche numérique du Canada est mise en lumiere dans le E-lert de cette semaine ! Consultez-le ci-dessous !

The newly released CoreTrustSeal Documentation Suite from @borealisdata.bsky.social and the Digital Research Alliance of Canada’s Preservation Expert Group is highlighted in this week's E-lert! Check it out below!

OPPORTUNITÉ D'EMPLOI ! Nous recherchons un étudiant ou récent diplômé d’un programme en bibliothéconomie (MLIS/MI) intéressé par un poste d'opérateur de référence virtuel bilingue avec le service Clavardez avec nos bibliothécaires. En savoir plus sur le poste à oculsp.ca/377v8

JOB OPPORTUNITY! We are seeking library or information studies students (MLIS/MI) and recent graduates interested in working as a Virtual Reference Operator for the Ask a Librarian service. Job details & application information are available at oculsp.ca/dngxn

OPPORTUNITÉ D'EMPLOI ! Nous recherchons un étudiant ou récent diplômé d’un programme en bibliothéconomie (MLIS/MI) intéressé par un poste d'opérateur de référence virtuel bilingue avec le service Clavardez avec nos bibliothécaires. En savoir plus sur le poste à oculsp.ca/377v8

JOB OPPORTUNITY! We are seeking library or information studies students (MLIS/MI) and recent graduates interested in working as a Virtual Reference Operator for the Ask a Librarian service. Job details & application information are available at oculsp.ca/dngxn

There's still time to sign up for the Collaborative Futures Mini Conference! Ont. academic library workers can learn best practices for collaborative library tech and projects. Date & Time: Tuesday, July 8, 9:30 am - noon Eastern Time Format: Online via Zoom Info & registration: oculsp.ca/tqt2m

Day 2 is starting now! Agenda and registration: oculsp.ca/8pkhp