Program
Rebecca Bartlett
Rebecca Bartlett has been the GIS and Digital Resources Librarian at Carleton University since 2012 and the ACMLA Treasurer since 2014.
Gordon Beck
Gord Beck is McMaster University Library’s Map Specialist. In 2003 he created a website housing the largest online collection of WWI maps and aerial photos, and in 2009 he helped McMaster acquire the Chasseaud Collection which repatriated many Canadian trench maps. He has recently completed two projects with Canadian Geographic involving the creation of a ‘Giant Floor Map’ of Vimy Ridge and a WWI documentary entitled, ‘Drawn to Victory.’
Rachel Bergquist
Rachel Bergquist is a Master’s of Library and Information Science candidate at the University of British Columbia, with a BA in Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College, New York. She has always been fascinated by maps. Print map love runs deep!
Francine Berish
Francine Berish is the Geospatial Data Librarian and Liaison Librarian for Geography and Planning at Queen’s University.
Sue Bigelow
Sue is a Digital Conservator at the City of Vancouver Archives, preserving both digital and analogue records in many media. She is also responsible for the Archives’ digitization program, which has expanded since its inception in 1997 to include images, textual records, maps and plans, film, video and audio.
Jason Brodeur
Jason Brodeur manages the Maps, Data, GIS department in the McMaster University Library. His interests include improving access to cartographic and geospatial information, and integrating such material into research, teaching and learning, and public use.
Nathalie Cooke
Nathalie Cooke is professor of English, affiliate member of History and, since 2016, Associate Dean of McGill Library’s Rare Books and Special Collections. She was formerly a secondary school math teacher.
Cynthia Dietz
Cynthia Dietz is the GIS Environmental Studies Librarian at the University of Manitoba. She promotes GIS and hosts workshops using ArcGIS, Geomatica, and Google Earth Pro. She holds an MS in Marine Environmental Science and an MLIS.
Trevor Ford
Trevor Ford is a fourth-year PhD Candidate at Wilfrid Laurier University. Having started his PhD at Memorial University of Newfoundland in 2013 under the supervision of Dr. Mark Humphries, Trevor was offered the chance to come to WLU with Mark in order to continue his studies and join the Laurier Centre for Military Strategic Disarmament Studies in 2014 as Archival Manager. Trevor’s doctoral research covers the role of the Canadian military’s intelligence units and their domestic activities during the First World War.
Marcel Fortin
Marcel Fortin is the Head of the Map and Data Library at the University of Toronto and has been responsible for the geospatial and map collections and services at the U of T since 1999. Marcel is a former librarian at the University of British Columbia, the University of Cape Breton, and the Toronto Star.
Martin Gingras
I studied at Laval University and I graduated with a bachelor degree in Geomatics. I am a Quebec land surveyor and a Canada land surveyor, meaning that I am authorized to practise survey in the province of Quebec and on any Canada lands across Canada. I started my career as a party chief, in Guyana (South America), in the gold-mining industry working in the middle of the jungle. This is where I learned to speak English, hence the accent. I then worked in the James Bay area for a full year to survey some of the hydro dams that needed some maintenance. After a year in the cold, I decided to go back to the mining industry, underground mining this time to protect me from the weather. This work environment was nice but a little too dark and dangerous to my liking so I joined the International Boundary Commission to travel the country, to be outside and to contribute to demarcate the longest undefended border in the world. After 8 years of being away from home more than half of the year, I decided I needed an office job, settle down and start a family. I had an opportunity to join the Surveyor General Branch and I am with them since then.
Kara Handren
Kara Handren holds a M.I. in Library and Information Science from the University of Toronto, and is a Metadata Librarian at Scholar’s Portal, a service of the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL). She works on a variety of metadata management projects involving eBooks, eJournals, and Geospatial data, and is interested in tools and projects for enhancing information discovery, access and literacy among the wider community.
Geoff Hayes
Geoff Hayes teaches Canadian history and War and Society at the University of Waterloo. He is the author of the forthcoming book with UBC Press, Crerar’s Lieutenants: Inventing the Canadian Junior Army Officer 1939-1945. His tours of Northwest Europe continue to fire his curiosity about the digital potential for teaching and researching the Canadian experience of war.
Julie Jones
Julie Jones is GIS & Map Librarian and Librarian for Geography at Simon Fraser University. Previous to her role at SFU, she was Liaison Librarian for Geography, Urban Planning, and Social Work at McGill University and before that she held (concurrent!) librarian positions in the public, non-profit, and corporate sectors. Julie holds a MLIS from McGill University and a BA in English Literature from UBC. She is interested in the ways spatial thinking and GIS can empower citizens and researchers and make complex data more accessible and understandable. Her recent research has included climate change research syntheses and the examination of the role of librarians in systematic reviews.
Teresa Lewitzky
Teresa Lewitzky has many years of experience working with GIS, data and maps in the Data Resource Centre, University of Guelph. When she’s not re-projecting rasters she enjoys working with students and researchers on their projects and helping them overcome what seems like a daunting task and breaking it down to a workable solution and outstanding end product. Her current interests include teaching, developing online modules, accessibility and collaboration with faculty across various disciplines.
Quin Shirk-Luckett
Quin Shirk-Luckett works in the Data Resource Centre at the University of Guelph to support geospatial research and teaching across disciplines. She oversees the spatial data collection, guest lectures, teaches workshops on a wide-range of topics related to data and GIS, consults on research projects, and provides GIS user support.
Sarah Simpkin
Sarah Simpkin is currently serving as Interim Digital Scholarship Librarian at the University of Ottawa, where she is working on advancing digital humanities initiatives across campus (and bringing in maps and GIS whenever possible!). ACMLA members may also know her as the mailing list moderator and book reviews editor. Sarah holds an Hon. BSc. in Physical Geography from the University of Toronto and a Masters of Library and Information Science degree from the University of Western Ontario.
Emily Sugerman
Emily Sugerman os a Master’s of Library and Information Science candidate at the University of British Columbia, with a BA in Comparative Literature and Culture from the University of Western Ontario. Print map love runs deep!
Andrew Thompson
Andrew is a Research Coordinator with The Firelight Group, a British Columbian consulting group that works with Indigenous and local communities in Canada and beyond to provide high quality research, policy, planning, negotiation, and advisory services. Andrew works on traditional knowledge and use studies, and in the mapping and GIS team to create maps displaying First Nations land use, knowledge, and occupancy.
Sharon Walz
Sharon is a Digital Archivist at the City of Vancouver Archives, and works with both analogue and digital records in all formats. She has a professional interest in architectural, cartographic and business records, and regularly leads project teams working with those records. Her departmental portfolio includes Planning and Development Services, Community Services, and Housing Policy and Projects, amongst others.
Andy Yan
Born and raised in Vancouver, Andy has worked extensively in the non-profit and private urban planning sectors, with projects in the metropolitan regions of Vancouver, San Francisco, New York City, Los Angeles and New Orleans. He specializes in the fields of urban regeneration, applied demographics, GIS, neighbourhood development, public outreach, social media, and quantitative research.
Andy holds a master’s in urban planning from the University of California – Los Angeles and a Bachelor of Arts from SFU. He is a registered professional planner with the Canadian Institute of Planners and a Certified GIS Professional. Andy is Director of The City Program at SFU and an adjunct professor at UBC’s School of Regional and Community Planning and an affiliate of UBC’s School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. He is also a member of SFU’s Urban Studies Advisory Council. He has been a visiting scholar at New York University’s Asian/Pacific/American Studies Institute (2002-2003, 2015-2016). Active in community service, Andy has served on the board of directors for the Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood House and the David Suzuki Foundation’s Climate Council. He was also reappointed to the City of Vancouver Commission in 2014. He is a former member of the City of Vancouver’s Development Permit Board Advisory Panel, and of the Academic Roundtable for the City of Vancouver’s Mayor’s Task Force on Housing Affordability.
Deena Yanofsky
Deena Yanofsky is a Map and Data Librarian at McGill University. Her current research interests focus on digital scholarship, open data, and civic engagement.
Barbara Znamirowski
Barbara Znamirowski holds a Bachelor degree from Queen’s University and a Master of Library and Information Studies from Dalhousie University. She is Head of the Maps, Data & Government Information Centre at Trent University Library and ESRI Site License Administrator for Trent. Her current research interests include regional HGIS, pedagogical approaches to expanding data literacy on campus, and effective content management of web sites for maps, data and government publications. She is editor of the ACMLA Bulletin’s GIS Trends column.