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Articles by Denis Lacroix

Francophonies d'Amérique, 2012

Traditionnellement délaissés par les littéraires, les récits pionniers se trouvent généralement r... more Traditionnellement délaissés par les littéraires, les récits pionniers se trouvent généralement rapportés au genre du journal ou de la chronique. C’est notamment le cas d’Un héros malgré lui de Marcel Durieux dont les préfaciers, Roger Motut et Maurice Legris, louent le style à la fois simple et concret. À contre-courant de cette lecture, nous montrerons que le texte de Marcel Durieux est travaillé par une ambition romanesque qui se manifeste à la fois par la construction d’une temporalité complexe, le désir de restituer la diversité culturelle et linguistique de la société pionnière et enfin le recours fréquent aux métalepses. En somme, il s’avère pertinent de considérer ce type de récits comme des textes romanesques susceptibles d’enrichir le patrimoine littéraire de la francophonie de l’Ouest.

Récit composé par Alex Michelet (1886-1979) à l'aube de sa vie, « La grande épinettière » raconte... more Récit composé par Alex Michelet (1886-1979) à l'aube de sa vie, « La grande épinettière » raconte l'histoire d'une jeune institutrice d'ascendance française, Jeanne, qui se trouve affectée dans un petit village de l'Ouest canadien au tournant des années 1915-1920. En apparence anodin, ce récit inédit est remarquable à plusieurs égards : 1) il propose une description précise de la francophonie albertaine que l'auteur connaît bien pour avoir vécu en Alberta entre 1915-1919; 2) à travers le personnage de Jeanne, ce roman met en scène le conflit identitaire - éminemment actuel - qui tiraille les Français de la deuxième génération vivant dans l'Ouest; 3) à la différence des récits traditionnels de pionniers (Durieux, Giscard, Maturié), qui font état du combat épique contre la nature, « La grande épinettière » se focalise sur l'intériorité des personnages (qui apparaît alors dans toute sa complexité). De fait, c'est toute l'esthétique romanesque qui s'en trouve modifiée et n'a plus grand-chose à voir avec les récits coloniaux de pionniers. L'objet de cet article est d'explorer ces trois axes de lecture tout en réfléchissant en filigrane à la question de l'héritage laissée par la présence française dans l'Ouest canadien en général et en Alberta en particulier.This story created by Alex Michelet (1886-1979) at the dawn of his existence, "La grande épinettière," tells the story of Jeanne, a young teacher of French ancestry, who finds herself assigned to work in a small town in the Canadian West in the pivotal period of 1915-1920. Apparently unassuming, this hitherto unpublished story is remarkable in several ways: 1) it offers a detailed description of Francophone Alberta, well known to the author who lived in this province from 1915 to 1919; 2) through the character Jeanne, this novel stages the conflict of an eminently current conflict of identity that besets second-generation French immigrants living in the West; 3) unlike traditional pioneer tales by the likes of Durieux, Giscard or Maturié, which describe the epic battle against nature, "La grande épinettière" focuses on characters' interiority (which is then depicted in its full complexity). Indeed, it is the novelistic aesthetic in its entirety that finds itself utterly changed, to the point that it bears little resemblance to colonial pioneer tales. The purpose of this article is to explore these three aspects of our reading while reflecting, in the background, on the matter of the legacy left by a French presence in the Canadian West in general and in Alberta in particular.

Cet article pose les jalons pour l'analyse de l'oeuvre méconnue de Marie Louise (Magali de son no... more Cet article pose les jalons pour l'analyse de l'oeuvre méconnue de Marie Louise (Magali de son nom de plume) Michelet, femme de lettres d'origine française ayant vécu une dizaine d'années en Alberta. En plus d'avoir signé une pièce de théâtre ainsi qu'un roman épistolaire, Magali est l'auteure d'une chronique intitulée « Le Coin féminin », qui a paru pendant près de dix ans dans l'hebdomadaire francophone Le Courrier de l'Ouest. Ayant correspondu avec des journalistes québécoises de renom comme Robertine Barry (alias Françoise), Magali s'est imposée comme une référence incontournable de la vie littéraire franco-albertaine du début du xxe siècle. Attirée par le milieu en pleine effervescence des lettres québécoises, Magali a épousé la cause canadienne-française tout en assumant pleinement ses origines françaises. Ainsi au fil de ses chroniques, Magali est parvenue à jeter un pont unique entre la France, le Québec et l'Alberta.This article paves the way for the analysis of the lesser-known works of Marie Louise (pen name Magali) Michelet, a female writer of French origins, who lived in Alberta for ten years. In addition to having written a play as well as an epistolary novel, Magali is the author of a column entitled "Le Coin féminin", which appeared for more than ten years in the weekly francophone paper, Le Courrier de l'Ouest. Having corresponded with renowned female Québécois journalists such as Robertine Barry (alias Françoise), Magali established herself as a staple of Franco-Albertan life of the beginning of the twentieth century. Attracted by the effervescent environment of Québécois writing, Magali embraced the French-Canadian cause all the while upholding her French origins. Through her columns, Magali was able to uniquely bridge the gap between France, Québec, and Alberta.

D'une part, l'auteur propose une rvision des dfinitions, des normes et des recommandations intern... more D'une part, l'auteur propose une rvision des dfinitions, des normes et des recommandations internationales relatives au patrimoine, l'identit et la diversit culturelle et leur protection et, d'autre part, la bibliothque publique. Par leur analyse comparative, il souhaite faire ressortir le rle important rserv aux services d'information qui se chargent de la rcupration, de la conservation, de la protection et de la diffusion de la culture et de la mmoire humaines. (French)

The article reports on the formation of the Canadian Language Librarians' Blog (CLLB) which is a ... more The article reports on the formation of the Canadian Language Librarians' Blog (CLLB) which is a discussion forum for Canadian language librarians. The blog was born from WordPress. WordPress is a free blog publishing platform that the University of Alberta Libraries now uses for its blogging needs. The author gives details about how the blog was created. First posting categories for the major language groups were created and Internet links were added which were useful to the CLLB's visitors. However, the most difficult part of the process was editing the cascading style sheet of the theme, Batavia 1.5, which the author had chosen from WordPress theme directory.

Recalls the author's experience in one of the four military public libraries in Mexico. Descripti... more Recalls the author's experience in one of the four military public libraries in Mexico. Description of the library; Number of collection; Services offered.

From March 22 to 26, 2004, North American and European academics met in Paris, France at the West... more From March 22 to 26, 2004, North American and European academics met in Paris, France at the Western European Studies Section Second International Conference of the Association of College and Research Libraries. The sessions, organized social and cultural events, and personal experiences in the French capital provided both a theoretical exploration and a practical discovery of the issues and realities of the changing world of libraries and publishing. This article will report on how speakers and attendees discussed the migrations of literature, book collections, and art in the context of evolving formats and reflected upon the realities of publishing.

Les bibliothèques universitaires se trouvent à la confluence des disciplines académiques en tant ... more Les bibliothèques universitaires se trouvent à la confluence des disciplines académiques en tant qu’espaces d’informations connectés sur le monde et à titre de partenaires à la fois dans la production et à la diffusion du savoir, mais aussi dans la formation tant professionnelle qu’intellectuelle des étudiants. Cette étude de cas permettra de mieux cerner cette problématique afin de comprendre le rôle de confluence que jouent les bibliothèques au sein de l’université et en particulier au sein du certificat de traduction à l'Université de l'Alberta.

Conference Posters by Denis Lacroix

Students + Instructors + Library = Win-Win Situation. Engaging students in the information creati... more Students + Instructors + Library = Win-Win Situation. Engaging students in the information creation process of enhancing the findability and accessibility of a video collection reinforces the value of information and the students' own role as information creators. The Nosotros video collection projects involved: Two courses in Spanish Cinema and English-Spanish Translation, The University of Alberta Libraries as a community partner in a community service learning (CSL) course project, Upper-level Spanish students who worked in groups to provide video metadata, and video transcription and translation, Videos as objects of study in the courses, Sensitizing students to advanced information literacy topics, like information management, preservation, and access, Precise guidelines and explanations given to students as contributors, who provided a minimum of 20 hours of work on the project.

Introduction: This presentation describes the results of an innovative interprofessional partners... more Introduction: This presentation describes the results of an innovative interprofessional partnership between the University of Alberta’s Libraries (UAL), Specialized Support and Disability Services (SSDS), Occupational Therapy, and Industrial Design, to assess library spaces for patrons with disabilities. Methods: For this pilot project, our multi-pronged approach involved: 1) compiling statistics on types of disabilities represented on campus; and 2) completing a library accessibility audit. Results: Over 1000 students were registered with SSDS. Disabilities went beyond mobility issues; psychiatric and learning disabilities were the most common. The accessibility audit revealed way-finding and wheelchair access issues; improved signage, photos, smartphone apps, and a call button feature were among the suggested solutions. Discussion: This project initially set out to investigate physical barriers to resource and service use in the library spaces at the UAL. Based on findings from the pilot project, in addition to physical accessibility, we are now focusing on assessing features that impact cognitive and perceptual load, before rolling out the audit to other libraries on campus. We are also nurturing a closer collaboration with SSDS, and are laying the groundwork to embed a librarian into the SSDS office to better understand and respond to students’ library and information needs.

Objective:This session will explain how citation analysis can contribute to academic librarians’ ... more Objective:This session will explain how citation analysis can contribute to academic librarians’ understanding of the complex landscape of university researchers’ publishing choices. The need to understand publication output of humanities/social science researchers is even more pressing given the current financial climate. Librarians are best positioned to analyze, describe and contextualize what researchers are publishing and citing to inform work in collection development and university administration. Methods: Presenters will outline a study undertaken to examine ten years of faculty publication behaviour in three academic disciplines (Romance Languages, Political Science, and Linguistics) conducted to describe the institutional publication landscape, the difference in landscape in past studies, the types of sources used by researchers, the role of language and age in publishing and citing, and the change in research output and information needs during a decade. Results: This study is not only interesting for the findings it brings, but also for the thorough methodological approach it used in gathering, managing, and analyzing data. Evaluative tools used to describe the data and its repurposing for deposit in an institutional repository will also be addressed. Conclusion: The impact of a solid understanding of researcher publications and their sources of information help academic librarians promote research and adapt library collection development in these disciplines.

inproceedings by Denis Lacroix

Since the University of Alberta’s (UA) Modern Languages and Culture Studies (MLCS) department act... more Since the University of Alberta’s (UA) Modern Languages and Culture Studies (MLCS) department actively integrated information literacy into its translation certificate programme five years ago, the university’s libraries (UAL) have moved from the periphery to the heart of the programme, teaching the basics of finding, accessing, managing and evaluating information in the context of translation and translation studies to approximately 250 undergraduate and graduate students. The UAL is the largest university library in Western Canada and offer a vast number of print and electronic resources to translation students at the UA, who also benefit from customized information literacy sessions. Through these sessions, students learn to conceptualize the various pathways to information that translators need to consider in the course of their careers. The development of information literacy competencies in translation students is a collaborative effort that requires the synergy of teaching faculty, librarians, and community partners. This case study will show how students can become better translators when they learn to think critically about the information they use and produce. Libraries and librarians, like translation itself, mediate between the translator’s information need and the sources of information, from the source need to the target information. Information literacy allows translation students to move beyond the utilitarian use of information to thinking critically and socially as participants in the translation discourse.

conferences by Denis Lacroix

Media, and specifically newspapers, play a large role in the general public’s understanding of h... more Media, and specifically newspapers, play a large role in the general public’s understanding of health issues. Consequently the presentation of health issues in media is the subject of academic study. A significant number of Canadian newspapers are published in French. Searching databases that contain content from French language Canadian newspapers presents some unique challenges. Nothing has been published on the use of Franco-Canadian newspapers as data sources for health studies, although some health studies have used them. In this study, the concept of “physician assisted death” is used as a case study for determining the best resources and techniques for identifying health related articles in French language Canadian newspapers. Outcomes of this study include analysis of retrieval, guidance on selection of relevant databases, a syntax guide for the databases and a French language search vocabulary for fin de vie et suicide médicalement assisté

miscs by Denis Lacroix

Francophonies d'Amérique, 2012

$Research paper thumbnail of A Book Review of A Friend In Hope: a Story About Hope{'}s Journey with a Brain Tumour by M. Zammit \& E. Dornbusch$

This is a book review of a storybook written originally in English by Marisa Zammit and illustrat... more This is a book review of a storybook written originally in English by Marisa Zammit and illustrated by Erica Dornbusch under the title A Friend In Hope: a Story About Hope's Journey with a Brain Tumour. The author also reviews the French translation Mon amie Claire: L'histoire de Claire et de sa tumeur cérébrale and the Italian version La mia amica Speranza: Speranza e il suo tumore cerebrale.

this unique three volume Atlas of Italian Literature sets the stage for a capolavoro that will sp... more this unique three volume Atlas of Italian Literature sets the stage for a capolavoro that will span from the literary origins through the Renaissance, Counter-Reformation, Romanticism, the Risorgimento and contemporary Italian literature. It is not to be confused with the annual dictionary/directory Atlante letterario italiano reviewed in the Fall 2000 issue of WESS Newsletter's New Publications of Note (24.1). Unlike the latter, the Atlante della letteratura italiana is the result of an international endeavour with scholars from around the world contributing essays on significant literary themes with strong historical and geographical influences. Numerous cartographic representations, charts, chronologies and lists along with a solid bibliographic base complement most of the essays, which become powerful research instruments. A valuable name index at the end of the volume helps the reader navigate the expanse of Italian literature charted in the atlas. [DML]

ABSTRACT Les bibliothèques universitaires se trouvent à la confluence des disciplines académiques... more ABSTRACT Les bibliothèques universitaires se trouvent à la confluence des disciplines académiques en tant qu’espaces d’informations connectés sur le monde et à titre de partenaires à la fois dans la production et à la diffusion du savoir, mais aussi dans la formation tant professionnelle qu’intellectuelle des étudiants. Cette étude de cas permettra de mieux cerner cette problématique afin de comprendre le rôle de confluence que jouent les bibliothèques au sein de l’université et en particulier au sein du certificat de traduction à l'Université de l'Alberta.

Report on Contributions to and Reflections on the IFLA and AIFBD Conferences in France by Denis L... more Report on Contributions to and Reflections on the IFLA and AIFBD Conferences in France by Denis Lacroix, Romance languages librarian, University of Alberta Libraries CIFNAL's 2014 travel stipend was a welcome and much appreciated contribution to my participation as a presenter at IFLA's 80th conference in Lyon and the AIFBD's satellite congress in Limoges. As a representative of the University of Alberta (Edmonton, Canada), I was able to contribute the unique perspective of working at a university with French and English campuses and libraries, as well as a strong library-specific international relations office. Both of my presentations, although on markedly different topics, had the common theme of partnerships.

There are security restrictions on this page WESSWeb > WESS Newsletter > Fall 2013 > European Soc... more There are security restrictions on this page WESSWeb > WESS Newsletter > Fall 2013 > European Society for Translation Studies Congress My first encounter with Germany happened this summer as I traveled to Germersheim for the 7th European Society for Translation Studies (EST) congress from August 29 to September 1, 2013. There are surely a few questions that crossed your mind as you read my initial sentence. Where is Germersheim and why would a conference be held there? Furthermore, why would a librarian take part in a Translation Studies conference? Germersheim is located on the Rhine thirty-five minutes by train south of Mannheim and 65 miles south of Mainz. One can also travel there by boat along the Rhine River from the city of Karlsruhe. Until recently Germersheim was known as a military camp and Bavarian fortress partly dismantled because of the Versailles Treaty after World War I and used by the Allied Army at the end of World War II. Progressively, the military buildings and sites began playing a linguistic and cultural role [1] with green spaces, parks, and playgrounds surrounding them. It is now a university town: home to a satellite campus of the Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz and the Faculty of Translation Studies,

A magnetic inorganic-organic catalyst, PTA@Fe3O4/EN-MIL-101 (EN=ethylenediamine, PTA=phosphotungs... more A magnetic inorganic-organic catalyst, PTA@Fe3O4/EN-MIL-101 (EN=ethylenediamine, PTA=phosphotungstic acid) was fabricated and characterized by XRD, HRTEM, FESEM, UV-Vis, TGA-DTA, FT-IR, XPS and porosimetry. PTA retained the parent Keggin structure upon dispersion throughout the amine-functionalized chromium terephthalate metal-organic framework, over which magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles were previously introduced. The resulting composite heterogeneous solid acid was an active catalyst for the one-pot synthesis of diverse 2H-indazolo[2,1-b] phthalazine-triones in goodexcellent yields under mild, solventless condition, and offers facile separation and excellent recyclability.

This is the first volume of the first dictionary of Twentieth Century Argentine literature to be ... more This is the first volume of the first dictionary of Twentieth Century Argentine literature to be published in the 40 years since the Orgambide and Yahni enciclopedia. It includes Argentine authors and critics born since 1890. It proposes a different literary canon then that of past dictionaries: one that is more inclusive, which thinks through Argentine culture beyond traditional boundaries. To do so, the editors enlisted 38 collaborators and 11 academic celebrities. The dictionary offers detailed signed articles with many cross-references to articles in Volumes one and two (tentatively set to be published in 2012). The structure of most articles is consistent throughout the dictionary, except for a few that include a separate bibliography of primary and secondary sources.

La recherche et les bibliothécaires à l'Université de l'Alberta : Une présentation donnée par vid... more La recherche et les bibliothécaires à l'Université de l'Alberta : Une présentation donnée par vidéoconférence aux bibliothécaires de l'Université Laval 1) Introduction : Merci de l'invitation de vous parler au sujet de mon expérience de la recherche depuis les 10 dernières années que j'ai passées à l'Université de l'Alberta. Il est très opportun pour moi, en tant que bibliothécaire à l'Université de l'Alberta, de réfléchir au sujet du rôle de chercheur que joue les bibliothécaires au sein de l'université. Vous êtes peut-être au courant, mais l'année dernière le gouvernement albertain a coupé environ 50 millions de dollars du budget de l'université, ce qui a amené chaque faculté, département et service à combler le déficit et à justifier de son importance. Tout est remis en question, ce qui inclut la place des bibliothécaires dans la recherche et dans l'enseignement. 2) Le Plan de la présentation : Ce matin j'aimerais encourager une vaste réflexion sur l'avenir de la recherche pour les bibliothécaires telle que nous l'avons vécue et que nous le vivons ici à l'Université de l'Alberta. J'aimerais faire un bref historique de l'évolution du rôle de chercheur pour les bibliothécaires ici en Alberta et ensuite vous parler des raisons qui nous motivent à effectuer de la recherche, les obstacles auxquels nous faisons face et le soutien dons nous bénéficions. Je vous parlerai brièvement de quelques-uns de mes projets de recherche. Quant aux questions, je crois qu'il serait intéressant de vous permettre de poser des questions au cours de ma présentation, car je veux m'assurer que vous obteniez de moi les informations dont vous avez besoin. 3) Une définition de la recherche : Voici comment se présente la recherche pour les bibliothécaires de l'Université de l'Alberta d'après notre convention collective, qui ne fait que nous encourager à effectuer de la recherche. Remarquez le mot anglais « may » dans la convention collective, qui peut se traduire par « être capable de, avoir la permission de, avoir le droit de.. ».