Half a million library books on the move

Imagine a row of books stretching from UBC to Boundary Road, a
total of 16.5 kilometres. Now imagine moving them to a new home,
making sure they arrive in exactly the same order so they can be
methodically shelved. That’s exactly what will happen later this
month as the UBC Library moves 500,000 books — the largest transfer
of books ever undertaken in its history — from Main Library to
the Walter C. Koerner Library. The move begins Dec. 20 and should
be completed on Jan. 6.

  • Contact: Suzanne Dodson, Main Library, 604.822.3858

Project helps train Sri Lankan planners

Sri Lanka has a severe shortage of community and regional planners
and has turned to UBC for help. Prof. Aprodicio Laquian, director
of UBC’s Centre for Human Settlements, is directing a $750,000 project
to educate and assist Sri Lankan planners who are being asked to
shoulder more responsibility in a decentralized government battered
by civil war since 1983.

  • Contact: Prof. Aprodicio Laquian, Centre for Human Settlements,
    604.822.5856

Chemicals reclaimed, reused to prevent waste

Efforts to reuse and reclaim chemicals used in labs, darkrooms
and hospitals affiliated with UBC are saving the university thousands
of dollars annually and preventing hundreds of kilograms of hazardous
waste from heading for disposal. In one program, the university
recovers photochemicals used in darkrooms on campus, as well as
solvents used in a variety of experiments and procedures in campus
labs and in Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre, UBC Pavilion.

  • Contact: Mark Aston, Health, Safety and Environment,
    604.822.9527

Nursing students get lessons in life overseas

Earlier this year nursing students Danielle Morin and Laurel Fraser
decided that getting a bit of nursing experience in a developing
nation would be an eye-opening experience. They underestimated.
Morin and Fraser spent eight weeks working in a hospital in the
Tanzanian town of Bagamoyo last summer. Initially shocked by what
they encountered, the pair came away from the experience with insights
into the culture, the people, and the practice of nursing in conditions
vastly different from those in Canada.

  • Contact: Stephen Forgacs, Public Affairs Office, 604.822.2048

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