The following is a message from Sheril Hook, associate dean of teaching and learning, York University Libraries:
I am delighted to announce that Cora Coady will be joining York University Libraries as Indigenous teaching and learning librarian beginning July 1.
As an Indigenous person and member of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Cora’s goal is to contribute to her community in a meaningful way by creating and supporting important Indigenous research, building strong relationships between the Indigenous community and the University, as well as promoting the works of Indigenous scholars and students. Cora has a bachelor of arts (honours sociology) from McMaster University and is a recent graduate of the master of information program in the Library and Information Science concentration at the University of Toronto.
Cora comes to us from the University of Toronto Libraries where, as the Indigenous outreach and research assistant, she provided information literacy instruction specific to Indigenous resources to staff and student. She also provided virtual reference support to Indigenous students through the First Nations House Resource Centre, an important step forward in building remote services for users. Cora has made significant contributions as a member of a research team in the creation of a research and ethics board proposal, and an interview guide to engage Indigenous students in focus groups designed to assess their experiences as library users. She has also engaged in collections work by critically reviewing the First Nations House collection for cataloguing. Additionally, she has made recommendations to the Scholarly Communication and Copyright Office on historical materials published by the University of Toronto Press that should be made open access so that Indigenous community members could access the material.
In addition to her library-related experience, Cora had a successful career as a certified vision rehabilitation therapist (CVRT) at the Canadian National Institute for the Blind and Vision Loss Rehabilitation Ontario, where she provided in-person and remote instruction to people living with visual impairment.
In her free time, Cora can be found on the hiking trails in the company of her children and dog or at home amongst a mountain of yarn and a couple of cats. Cora is in the process of learning her traditional language Anishinaabemowin.