Category: Library website

International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia and Transphobia has been observed on 17 May each year since 2005 to raise awareness of LGBTQIA+ rights violations including violence, discrimination, and repression of LGBT communities worldwide. The date was originally selected to commemorate the 1990 decision by the World Health Organisation to remove homosexuality from the International Classification of Diseases. 

The stated goals for IDAHOBIT include to take action, and engage in dialogue with the media, policymakers, public opinion, and wider civil society. The idea behind setting a global date for IDAHOBIT celebrations is that they are globally visible while not requiring them conformation to a particular format or type of action because of the diversity of social, religious, cultural, and political contexts in which rights violations occur. Despite the nature of IDAHOBIT celebrations being very different across the world, they share common themes of pride in oneself, happiness, love and caring within the community, and countering different rampant forms of hate in the world. 

Some of the things the official, Australian IDAHOBIT Day website suggests you can do to show your support and celebrate IDAHOBIT Day at uni or at work are: 

• Go Rainbow! Wear rainbow face paint or clothes on the day, or decorate your office with rainbow. 
• Host an event. No matter how large or small, whether it is a fabulous party or a small, rainbow cupcake afternoon tea, your event will make a difference. 
• Raise awareness. This can be done on IDAHOBIT Day or at any time of the year, whether by inviting a guest speaker, hosting or attending an inclusion training session, or listening to those with lived-experience. 
• Change the world with your generosity. Think about how you can help other LGBTQIA+ young people in need through organisations such as Minus18. 

• Build your knowledge. Learn more about queer identities,  the meaning of pride flags and which one you should use, how to respond when someone comes out to you, or when and how to use pronouns at work. 

BioQuest photograph. Image supplied by Madeleine Culp

Each April and August, our University community comes together to watch nature with a purpose.

Questagame runs a series of “bioquests” where people of all ages and experience levels can photograph animals and plants they encounter. It’s an international competition, where Team USYD is pitted against other Universities on a mission to capture and identify as many wild images of flora, fauna or fungi as possible. Data submitted by participants is then fed in to resources to enhance biodiversity knowledge and research world wide.

We are fortunate to have a committed group of staff and students who participate with impressive results. BioQuest in 2022 saw our University teams scoring high in semester 2 taking 3rd place in the Champion Spotters, 2nd and 3rd in the Champion Identifiers, 1st in the Most valuable player, 1st place in the Champion Spotter, and 2nd and 3rd in the Champion Identifier awards.  

The University released it’s first Sustainability Strategy in 2020 which committed to improving the ecosystems that support flora, fauna, and wildlife species on our campuses. Biologically diverse natural environments matters – it can create a healthy and resilient environment and benefit species (including us humans) well-being . We established a Biodiversity Management Plan to set our biodiversity targets, aiming at managing our environment and encouraging staff and students to think about how our actions impact the land and life around us.

 In 2019, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) noted the accelerating rates of species loss. In Australia, 1/3 of our threatened species live in our cities. One of our principles is to ensure no net loss and do more biodiversity enhancement. We are also aware that causing attitudinal and behavioural change is the key, so we share stories and information about biodiversity with our students, fund projects which promote biodiversity, allowing students and staff to use flora and fauna for research and education.   

To celebrate another amazing round of BioQuest and biodiversity, the Sustainability Strategy, Associate Professor Rosanne Quinnell and the Libraries have teamed up to host a BioQuest photographic Competition.

We’re inviting all students and staff to submit their best three pictures of flora, fauna, or fungi for exhibition in the ThinkSpace, Jane Foss Russell Building, Darlington Campus during Week 12 and 13. Prizes are on offer including Judge’s Award and People’s Choice.

Complete the registration form with information on your photos then email your pictures before Thursday 11 May at 5pm.

Lesbian Visibility Day is a day to recognise and celebrate the contributions of lesbian women around the world. The day was created in 2008 to raise awareness of the issues faced by lesbians, and to encourage them to live authentically.

To celebrate Lesbian Visibility Day 2023, the Library’s LGBTQIA+ Ally group has compiled a reading list of items within the collection that highlight and celebrate lesbian stories and experiences from around the world.

(Image: Honi Soit, 1977, vol. 50 issue 25)

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The library is very excited to have the Piscator Press active during Semester 1 once again, with Printer in Residence Caren Florance beginning her eight-week residency.

Caren’s project for the residency, ALT-SHIFT-PRINT, takes visual poetry as a starting point and will incorporate imagery via a variety of printmaking methods. As COVID has been such an important historical moment, she will be turning to a favourite classical text, Ovid’s Metamorphoses for a point of influence and connection.

Caren usually works on two consecutive outputs: something serious and sustained, and a body of peripheral, fun outputs that arise from orienting herself to the new space. As Caren describes her work:

I often work with letterpress in a traditional manner, but I’m more interested in the affordances of it as a relief printmaking process, pushing it into a more visual mode and experimenting with its relationship to digital processes. I’m interested in the ways it can print onto various materials, and how those materials can then be used.

If you’d like to see Caren at work on the Albion letterpress, swing by Level 1 at Fisher Library or book into one of her Open Studios:

• Click for Wed 16th March 11-12pm
• Click for Wed 16th March 1-2pm
• Click for Mon 28th March 1-2pm
• Click for Mon 28th March 3-4pm

A selection of Caren Florance’s work from her website

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The message advising of culturally sensitive material will start appearing from the 24th January, 2022

Last year, the University of Sydney Library published the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Protocols to guide Library staff in promoting culturally safe practices across services, spaces and resources. 

As part of the protocol’s implementation, a new message will appear when people visit the Library website. It advises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples that materials in our collection may contain images, voices and names of people who have died.

The Library recognises the significance of the traditional cultural knowledges contained within its collection. However, it is important to note that some materials may be considered insensitive, outdated, or inappropriate in today’s context. These materials reflect the views of the authors and/or the period in which they were produced and don’t represent the views of the Library.

The Library thanks the DCV ISS for their advice and feedback on this project. This message is implemented as a further acknowledgment of our facilities residing on the ancestral lands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. For thousands of generations, these people have exchanged knowledge for the benefit of all.

Learn more on this about our approach to culturally sensitive materials.