Biography
As well as being liaison to the Department of English, I am also liaison to the Department of Psychology and a member of the Systematic & Scoping Review Collaboration (SSRC) group. I serve as an advisor to ProQuest on database and search platform design, and I'm a member of the University of Toronto Libraries search platform development group. I also regularly teach a graduate course in the Faculty of Information examining online information retrieval contexts and practices.
Before joining U of T, I was co-owner of Glad Day, the oldest queer bookstore in the world. You can read more about my background on my website.
Services and Responsibilities
As liaison to the Department of English, I provide research consultation services to students and faculty, in-class bibliographic research instruction, course and research guide creation, and collection development across English-language literatures, theatre, drama, dance, and performance studies. I also act as a referral service, connecting students and faculty to the right library department or person to support teaching, learning, and research including topics related to rare books and archives and digital humanities.
Publications
Carliner, J. & Walsh, B. (2023). Innovating for inclusion: 2SLGBTQ+ outreach and programming at the University of Toronto Libraries. Paper presented at 88th IFLA World Library and Information Congress, Rotterdam; Satellite Meeting: ‘The Library is open’: creating safe working environments for LGBTQ+ library employees and marketing supportive LGBTQ+ services.
Walsh, B., & Rana, H. (2020). Continuity of Academic Library Services during the Pandemic: The University of Toronto Libraries’ Response. Journal of Scholarly Publishing, 51(4), 237–245.
Jurczyk, E., & Walsh, B. (2019). Strengthening Electronic Resource Competencies: A Structured Approach. The Serials Librarian, 77(3-4), 102-112.
Walsh, B. (2018). Public library and private space: Homeless queer youth navigating information access and identity in Toronto. Paper presented at IFLA WLIC 2018 – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Transform Libraries, Transform Societies in Session 114 - Metropolitan Libraries.
Walsh, B. & Spence, M. (2018). Leveraging escape room popularity to provide first-year students with an introduction to engineering information. Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA) Conference.
Walsh, B. (2014). Information out in the cold: Exploring the information practice of homeless queer, trans, and two-spirit youth in Toronto. University of Toronto (Canada).
Ashcroft, R., Hussain, A., Lam, S., Kourgiantakis, T., Begun, S., Craig, S., Cadell, S., Adamson, K., Nelson, M., Greenblatt, A., Sirotich, F., Walsh, B., Abudiab, S., & Sur, D. (2023). A Scoping Review to Guide Social Work Policy Practice for Pandemic Recovery. Research on Social Work Practice, 0(0).
Ashcroft, R., Lam, S., Kourgiantakis, T., Begun, S., Nelson, M., Adamson, K., Cadell, S., Walsh, B., Greenblatt, A., Hussain, A., Sur, D., Sirotich, F., & Craig, S. (2021). Preparing social workers to address health inequities emerging during the COVID-19 pandemic by building capacity for health policy: A scoping review protocol. BMJ Open,11(11).