MacOdrum Library

04/28/2026

Work has begun on the new family room being built on the second floor in the Library. This work is expected to take six to eight weeks to complete and during construction there will likely be occasional noise disruptions on the second floor.

This room will give students with young children a place to study, enable them to use Library resources, and be in close proximity to other University services, while simultaneously looking after their children.

This work has been made possible because of a generous donation to the Library. We are excited to see and share the final room.

04/10/2026

The Seed Library is now up and operating on the second floor by the Library Services Desk. It will operate until Friday, July 3 with seeds being replenished as needed.

So what is a seed library?

Purpose and Goals of the Seed Library
The seed library exists to preserve biodiversity, strengthen local food resilience, and empower people to grow their own food. Our goals are to:

Increase access to free, open-pollinated and heirloom seeds
Encourage seed saving and skill-sharing
Support locally adapted varieties
Promote sustainable, regenerative gardening practices
Build food security within our community

03/02/2026

Was so fun to watch the bronze medal game and see this win!

The path to the podium was anything but easy. Team Homan had to win five consecutive games just to qualify for the playoffs, which felt out of reach for Emma at times. That made the result feel even “sweeter,” as she described it, and reinforced the team’s resilience when faced with adversity....

02/26/2026

Elizabeth Smart
By Grand Central Station I sat down and wept.
Printed by Editions Poetry London in 1945

Banned in Canada as scandalous for its intense, poetic account of an affair with a married man, the book was suppressed by Smart’s mother, who used her government connections to block distribution and even burn copies. Reissued in 1966, it was hailed as a masterpiece but remains obscure and hard to find.

02/24/2026

Stay tuned this week as we share some the rare books in our Archives and Special Collections that have previously been banned or challenged.

A page from the Kelmscott Press edition (1896) of The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. Over the centuries (and currently), the text has been banned, challenged, and censored.

Reason: “bawdy sexual innuendo, swearing and criticism of the church”.

02/03/2026

Our latest exhibit is a display of Library staff hobbies on the first floor near the tunnel entrance. We have a wide-range of talents displayed, from Dungeons and Dragons to quilting and gaming and cross-stitching. Those who contributed their handmade projects include Rebecca Bartlett, Julie Lavigne, Kristof Avramsson, Shyla Taylor, Margaret McLeod, Sarah Simpkin and Ryan Tucci.

02/02/2026

The Carleton Library Series (CLS) is the most enduring and significant initiative taken in the history of Canadian publishing where the editing, reprinting, and dissemination of documents important to the history of the place we now call Canada is concerned. Initiated in the 1950s by Carleton University professor of English R.L. McDougall, along with his colleagues in the humanities and social sciences, the series was intended to be a non-fiction counterpart to the New Canadian Library (NCL). The NCL was at that time dedicated to the reprinting of classic works of Canadian literature in paperback form. Like the NCL, the CLS was first published by McClelland and Stewart, with the first title appearing in 1963. Since then, the CLS has published well over 200 titles on a wide variety of subjects related to Canada.

Today on the blog, we're putting a spotlight on the Carleton Library Series. Learn more about the history and mission of this important series.

https://buff.ly/Hff5F68

01/26/2026

Our next AI mini-course is coming up in a couple of days and this free course still has registration space open!

This micro-course helps students of all levels create their own “Personal Mark Up Language” and research management style—a system of annotations, call-outs, and organizational strategies that reflect how they engage with research materials. Students will learn how to interact with texts and develop a research workflow using tools like Zotero, spreadsheets, and tagging systems.

Register at library.carleton.ca/aiminicourses

01/19/2026

Are these books dangerous? Another amazing exhibit in our space.

This project developed out of Jodie Medd's Fall 2025 class: Ban This Book: Censorship, Sexuality and Questions of "Harm". This cross-listed English/Women and Gender Studies course examines why certain books are targeted for censorship and emphasizes the power literature holds in creating discussion and providing representation.

Book challenges and bans have been drastically increasing in the United States since 2020. The American Library Association recorded 729 challenges for 1,579 books in 2021 and 681 challenges for 1,651 books by September 2022 (Italie). However, Canadian libraries are not free from their own challenges.

This display highlights the challenges to books that have occurred recently in Canada. The books chosen represent a variety of reasons for book challenges in libraries and schools, as well as the outcomes of those challenges. This display invites you to consider the question: Are these books dangerous to readers?

You can visit this exhibit at the main entrance on the second floor of the Library. Display curated by Ally Robidoux, Ashley Menard, Joyce Freisen, and M.A.Z.

December to February
Location:
Main entrance, second floor display case

12/11/2025

The Book Arts Lab here in the Library continues to support some of the coolest work!

On the first day of their first studio course, the students in IDES 1300B (Industrial Design) hit the ground running. Tasked with designing and fabricating a set of 10 custom sketchbooks, each student produced a short-run edition of a product they would use throughout the semester.

Each book follows precise specifications, is hand-stitched and finished with block-printed cover. The goal? To create a tool for practice and reflection, used weekly to develop drawing skills, visual thinking, and design fluency.

This project was made possible through the support of the Book Arts Lab, which provided the space and expert instruction in both bookbinding and block printing.

More than a craft project, this assignment introduced key ideas in industrial design: precision, iteration, identity, and consistency. Each set of sketchbooks is both a product and a process to support their growth over time.

This exhibit is on display outside the Book Arts Lab on the second floor in the MacOdrum Library.

09/03/2024

What better way to celebrate the return of students than with the return of our Board Games collection! We even have Wits & wagers: the trivia game for everyone!
The whole collection of games can be found at: https://ocul-crl.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/collectionDiscovery?vid=01OCUL_CRL:CRL_DEFAULT&inst=01OCUL_CRL&collectionId=81461909660005153