Update from UBC SLAIS Chapter of BCLA

The BCLA/CLA Student Chapter at UBC's School of Library, Archival and Information Studies (SLAIS) is off to another great start this year. A new cohort of students has brought nothing but enthusiasm to the group, and with events such as library tours and our mentorship program in full swing, this year is sure to be nothing but positive

Parkin–phosphoubiquitin complex reveals cryptic ubiquitin-binding site required for RBR ligase activity

RING-between-RING (RBR) E3 ligases are a class of ubiquitin ligases distinct from RING or HECT E3 ligases. An important RBR ligase is Parkin, mutations in which lead to early-onset hereditary Parkinsonism. Parkin and other RBR ligases share a catalytic RBR module but are usually autoinhibited and activated via distinct mechanisms. Recent insights into Parkin regulation predict large, unknown conformational changes during Parkin activation. However, current data on active RBR ligases reflect the absence of regulatory domains. Therefore, it remains unclear how individual RBR ligases are activated, and whether they share a common mechanism. We now report the crystal structure of a human Parkin–phosphoubiquitin complex, which shows that phosphoubiquitin binding induces movement in the 'in-between RING' (IBR) domain to reveal a cryptic ubiquitin-binding site. Mutation of this site negatively affects Parkin's activity. Furthermore, ubiquitin binding promotes cooperation between Parkin molecules, which suggests a role for interdomain association in the RBR ligase mechanism

Another successful year for “Getting Hired in Higher Education”

The article provides a review of this year's "Getting Hired in Higher Education", an annual panel discussion with new librarians that is held for Students at SLAIS. The event is co-sponsored by ALPS and the BCLA/CLA Student Committee at SLAIS

Impact of Library Instruction Tutorial Format on Student Preference and Performance in First-Year Chemistry

This research study investigates the effects of library instruction tutorial format (written versus video) on student preference and performance in chemistry education. The authors assessed the format of tutorials used to provide library instruction in an introductory chemistry course by observing 27 student participants as they took in instructions in either a video or a written format and then completed two chemistry information tasks. While participants expressed strong preferences for particular formats, neither the video tutorials nor the written instructions significantly improved task completion speed or performance. Rather, the authors determined that student preference alone is enough to justify the continued production of multiple versions of instructions for the same assignment