Voting has officially begun for the new Canadian Library Association Executive Council! There has been a lot of discussion in the past year regarding the future of the CLA and now is the time to let your voice be heard by casting a vote for the new Executive Council
This spring, when I attended the CLA conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the mood was one of optimism and change. However, my friends and I couldn’t help but notice the generational divide among the attendees and contemplate its effect on the overall organizational structure of the CLA. We observed that most of the attendees were either baby-boomers or relatively young librarians (from their mid-twenties to early thirties). We couldn’t help but wonder “Where are all the librarians in-between?” The leadership positions at the CLA were almost all occupied by veteran librarians (the baby-boomer bunch) and although it makes sense that us optimistic young librarians can make valuable contributions to the CLA, it’s possible that those librarians in-between have become jaded over time because of the quasi “old-boys’ club” atmosphere that seemed prevalent at times at the conference. My friends and I discussed our concern that over time we might also lose interest in our national association if we felt disconnected to those representing us on the Executive Council. Although Dr. Ken Haycock became president of the CLA when he was only 29, that was over thirty years ago in 1978 and I certainly cannot see the CLA voting for anyone in their twenties in the current climate.
It is no secret that with experience comes wisdom but in the workplace librarians are being called upon earlier and earlier in their careers to take on leadership positions. So then why not take on leadership positions within the Canadian Library Association? Under the current conditions of libraries being threatened left and right, being involved in our national association allows librarians to stand strong together, regardless of age, and advocate for libraries. It is both up to the veteran librarians to facilitate the transfer of leadership within the CLA and for the younger and in-between librarians to speak up.
There are lots of opportunities to become involved in the CLA; it’s simply a matter of getting your act together and applying when the occasion presents itself. In the past week, the CLA has sent out calls for proposals and posters for the next conference and a call for volunteers for committees. If you are feeling motivated, I encourage you to check out these opportunities. Even if it might be too late for you to become CLA president at 29 like Dr. Ken Haycock, everyone has to start somewhere and these are great ways to become involved and gain experience within the CLA. If you are still somewhat skeptical about getting involved in a professional association the very least you can do is go and vote! The candidates for all of the positions look like they would bring a creative and fresh perspective to the various Executive positions. So read their descriptions and get involved in the CLA by voting for a Executive Council that represents you!
CLA Election Time – let your voice be heard! October 2, 2011
Where does your public library fit in your community? July 19, 2011
Everyone has agreed; our public library needs to move. Our library is currently located adjacent to the town hall and for a few years, the plan was to expand the building on the current property. However, it has now been decided that even an expanded library would not meet the demands of the population we serve. So now comes the hard part…where do you move a public library? For the past year, I have attended numerous meetings to discuss possibilities for the new location of the library. Everyone has their own opinion of where the library should be built and essentially I have found that people’s ideas for the physical location of the public library reveals their psychologically view of where a public library fits in the community.
One popular idea is the construction of a cultural center that would group the public library together with an art gallery, historical museum, and café. This option demonstrates the cultural importance that people attribute to public libraries. I find this interesting, yet I wonder if these same people would be able to justify the cultural significance of our high circulation statistics of Harlequin and other romance novels.
Others think that the library should be built as an extension to the local high school which demonstrates that people consider the significant role of public library’s to be that of education. Opponents of this idea argue that a high school is not an inviting environment for library users who might have bad memories of their high school days and that some could be intimidated by the presence of groups of teenagers.
Others still believe that it is a question of pride and that a bustling town should have a stand-alone public library building directly on the main street of town surrounded by other services.
Where is the public library currently situated in your town/city? Do you believe that if your public library would move or be grouped together with other services that it would increase to decrease its circulation? If you had a clean slate and you could put your public library anywhere in your community where would it be built? What do you think this says about your vision of the role of a public library?
Are library conferences worth it? CLA 2011 proved totally affirmative! May 30, 2011
In the past few years, Canadian librarians have been made aware of the financial troubles of the Canadian Library Association. Membership has been on the decline and the very future of the association’s existence has been questioned. When I was a MLIS student at McGill’s School of Information Studies, student memberships were inexpensive and I was consequently the member of three different library associations including the CLA. However, when one becomes a professional the membership fees jump in price and they can be rather expensive especially when I am paying them out of my own pocket (as opposed to the fees being covered by my library institution which is the case for many lucky librarians). I have consequently had to be more selective of what associations I join. I kept my membership with CLA because I believe strongly in the benefits of a national library association. However, since I was dishing out my own money to become a member of CLA and to attend the conferences it was very important that the annual conference last week in Halifax be “worth it”.
As for my experience at CLA 2011, I can only vouch for the specific sessions that I attended and the awesome people that I hung out with. My conference experience might have greatly differed from someone else’s but I personally feel that the past week was totally worth it!
Since I started as a library director, there have been so many things that I have found challenging. Everyone has moments when they say to themselves “they never taught me that in library school” and I feel that this is probably even more the case for managers and directors.
Luckily for me, there seemed to be an abundance of sessions that spoke directly to the information needs of managers and directors. One of the most useful sessions that I attended was Performance Metrics: Helping Boards Understand Library Statistics presented by John Shepherd, a university accounting instructor, and Allan Wilson, the Chief Librarian of the Prince George Public Library and the 2011 recipient of the CLA/Ken Haycock Award for Promoting Librarianship. I loved this session because the information it offered was so practical. John Shepherd got into the nitty gritty of how to better design statistical charts and Allan Wilson provided great ideas on establishing meaningful metrics that will communicate more effectively the value of the public library to the community, the library board, and the municipality. This session actually succeeded in transforming my perception of statistics and performance metrics and made statistics seem almost fun.
This conference was also fantastic in terms of catching up with friends and meeting new people. At first I was intimidated by what appeared to be an older demographic of librarians who all seemed to know each other. Then I realized that this “old boys club” (there seemed to be a surprising number of baby boomer men at this conference) was the result of decades of the same people attending conferences together. In many cases, the older librarians had probably even attended library school together “back in the day”. This thought inspired me to think that my friends and I will one day also rule the CLA conferences. There are so many dynamic young librarians who have only just begun their professional careers in the past few years. We are still testing the waters of what it means to be professional librarians and attending the CLA conference definitely helped to establish a foundation for our new professional identities. We all seemed to value the importance of coming together to share stories and advice on being librarians. We had a lot of fun together and it reinforced my opinion that librarianship is full of interesting and dynamic people.
CLA 2011 in Halifax was totally worth it and I am looking forward to continuing to be active in the CLA throughout my career.
Are you a member of a library association? Do you think that it is worth it?
Informal Training: when staff requires more than just on the job learning May 15, 2011
Libraries are spaces that foster learning. Most librarians love helping users and teaching information literacy skills has become a fundamental concept in librarianship studies. So what happens when it is the librarians who need help learning? We are all conscious that libraries are constantly evolving; systems are updated with new features, new services are added, policies change to better reflect the times, etc. Yet are we doing a good job of making sure that all staff are aware and comfortable responding to these changes? In a large library system like mine, we can receive several memos a day informing us of new additions to the catalogue/circulation system, services, policies, etc. There is a huge difference between staff reading these memos and being vaguely aware of them and then having staff who actually understand the changes on a level that permits them to integrate them into their work or confidently explain them to a user.
I have been thinking a lot about this lately specifically in relation to our provincial library system’s introduction of OverDrive. In the fall, our Public Service Librarian from our regional office provided us with a brief OverDrive training session. This training was unfortunately during opening hours of the library which meant that we were constantly being interrupted by users with questions and having to answer the phone. With all the distractions, it was very difficult to assimilate what we were being shown and as we know, OverDrive is full of little hiccups regarding compatibility issues and software which are hard to address until you run into them. As time goes on, more and more users have been asking about Overdrive and I realized that staff were completely reliant on me to answer all OverDrive related questions. People who work in libraries are very intelligent. However, without being taught the knowledge necessary to accurately respond to users’ inquiries, the situation between staff and users can be very discouraging and possibly even embarrassing.
Last week, I decided that it was time to sit down in front of a computer with a full-time librarian assistant and a library volunteer and download together an audiobook onto my Ipod. It was informal and during the process I was asked so many questions that went much beyond OverDrive concerning the differences between devices like iPads, iPods, MP3 players, smartphones, etc. I was happy that even though I am not the most tech-savvy person out there, I was still able to share knowledge that I do have. It was extremely rewarding to see how appreciative both women for the informal training. They now feel better prepared responding to inquiries and conversing with others on the subject of the different formats of e-books/audiobooks and how to download them.
It is fantastic that libraries present themselves as keeping up with the tech trends including providing the download of e-books. However, how well is staff being trained to respond to all the new technology in their workplace?
What is the environment like at your library for training librarians and staff and then working together as a team so that everyone feels comfortable with their new knowledge and skills?
A Hopeful Sign: a community of inspired bloggers May 9, 2011
A few months ago, I was extremely flattered when I was asked to contribute to a new “magazine blog” called A Hopeful Sign that would feature inspirational articles on diverse subjects. The blog’s mantra is Living-Learning-Leading and its mission of promoting and providing hope completely fits into my overall optimistic world-view. As I’m sure you have all noticed my blog posts tend to be upbeat and positive. Without naming any names, librarians often use the web to vent about their various frustrations but I don’t see the point in projecting such a negative image of what I consider to be a wonderful profession. Anyone who knows me personally knows that I love life and I especially love being a librarian. Being positive on my Biblioblond blog is the natural result of my perspective on life and librarianship. This is why I am honoured that I was selected to contribute to a community of bloggers who all share a hopeful message. I will be contributing regularly to a column entitled “Inspired by Culture“. I encourage you to read my first post and check out the other posts as well. I’m extremely impressed by the diversity of interests that are represented! Good luck to A Hopeful Sign!
Librarians Without Borders in Guatemala May 1, 2011
It is so hard to imagine that a year has already passed since I went to Guatemala with McGill University’s Student Chapter of Librarians Without Borders. The LWB 2010 Guatemala Trip was without a doubt one of the most intense experiences of my life. We volunteered at a local school helping them create a library as well as getting a chance to soak in the culture and breathtaking landscape while traveling around the country. I am extremely excited that this year the number of students traveling to Asturias Academy has more than doubled. Also, this year in addition to the students from McGill’s School of Information Studies, the LWB volunteer group has been joined by MLIS students from the University of Toronto, Dalhousie University and the University of Western Ontario. I encourage everyone to check out the LWB Guatemela Trip 2011 blog as the students have been doing a great job of posting regularly to describe their experiences.
As I was reading this year’s blog, I definitely felt nostalgic and found myself reflecting a lot on my trip in 2010. As a whole it was an extremely enriching and positive experience. However, I thought of a few lessons that I learned that might be useful to future volunteers. In retrospect I should have posted these reflections before this year’s group left on April 22nd. Nevertheless, I would be very interested to hear upon their return if they have similar reflections or lessons and I would invite them to comment on the following.
In preparing for the LWB volunteer trip to Guatemala, I wish that I’d know the following…
You can’t anticipate how you will react when forced outside your comfort zone:
Traveling to a foreign country where you might not have all the comforts and amenities of home can definitely be challenging. I dealt with cold showers, sketchy transportation, unfamiliar foods, lack of privacy, etc. The most daunting aspect of the trip was without a doubt dealing with my fear of heights. Guatemala is a very mountainous country and I was at moments terrified for my life as we drove on winding roads along the edge of plummeting cliffs. At the time, I honestly thought that despite the beautiful scenery, the Guatemalan people and the volunteer work we were doing, I felt that my fear of driving through the mountains would prevent me from returning to Guatemala. Now a year later, I am extremely jealous of the students who are traveling in Guatemala and working at Asturias Academy but I cannot deny that my fear of heights is a huge obstacle in deciding whether I would go back.
Brush up on the language before the trip:
I took Spanish in high school and university but when I went to Guatemala it had been awhile since I had a chance to practice. Several times on the trip I felt disappointed that I couldn’t express myself better in Spanish or understand what was being said. Speaking Spanish was in no way a condition of participating on the trip and quite a few of the other MLIS volunteers did not speak Spanish at all. However, I wanted to use the bit of Spanish that I knew in order to interact directly with the people we met. I felt that this offered me perhaps more of an authentic experience although unfortunately our guide Steve usually had to step in when it became clear that people were having problems understanding my rudimentary Spanish. If I were returning to Guatemala I would definitely try to brush up more on my grammar and vocabulary before the trip.
I invite other librarians involved in Librarians Without Borders or other international volunteering to add their advice/lessons learned.
LWB Group 2010
Longing to be a leader February 21, 2011
Becoming the director of a public library straight out of a MLIS program can be extremely daunting. I have fairly high expectations of what a library director should be accomplishing at their library and in their community but the past month especially I have felt particularly overwhelmed trying to live up to these expectations. Perhaps because it is February and February is known to be the most depressing month of the year, I find myself getting discouraged more easily and reacting more sensitively when faced with my own professional shortcomings.
One of the areas that I am particularly struggling with is the concept of leadership. In the past, I have definitely never considered myself to be a leader. No one can question that I am very dedicated to my library and that I work hard but do I have innovative ideas? Do I have the creative approach to motivate others to work towards a common goal?
Prior to starting a MLIS, my formal leadership experiences were limited to being a camp counsellor and I certainly had no experience as a manager. During the one SIS management course at McGill University, we spoke a lot about management and leadership. However, there is a huge difference between discussing these matters using theoretical examples and being faced with real life situations. Unfortunately, real people do not always react the way that you thought they would when doing a case study!
Luckily, in the fall of 2010, I applied and was accepted to attend the 2011 edition of the Northern Exposure to Leadership Institute. NELI, as it is often called, is a leadership training institute in Canada that is designed specifically to assist in the development of future leaders in the library and information profession. Even after a few months of learning that my nomination was accepted, I am still incredibly stoked to be participating in this highly reputed institute! I know librarians who have attended in the past and they all agree that it is a truly transforming week professionally and personally. Yet I feel that it could not come soon enough…
In the meantime, I am still trying to find ways to improve my theoretical baggage on management and leadership in hopes that some of it will transfer over to real life situations. I have discovered an interesting conference PowerPoint Presentation entitled Creating Leaders put together by Daniel Phelan who conducted an interesting survey of NELI participants and who also provides a recap of some key leadership theory. I would be extremely open to any other suggestions you know of have of resources that might help me provide my library and my employees with the leadership that I know they deserve!
Canada Reads inspires the reader in all of us February 7, 2011
Canada Reads is an annual competition where celebrities debate on the “best Canadian novel”. The goal of the Canada Reads debate is to put a spotlight on Canadian literature and, perhaps more importantly, it also ambitiously attempts to get Canadians to read more. It seems of course like a natural reaction for anyone who listens to an hour-long discussion/debate on the merits of a few specific books to then be enticed to go out and read them. The proof that Canada Reads truly does increase the readership of the selected titles is demonstrated by a noticeable increase in their book sales. Bookstores will usually jump on the promotional bandwagon and market these books as contestants on Canada Reads (in the bookstore where I used to work we would use special stickers to identify the Canada Reads titles). Equally from a public library perspective, the exposure creates a rush on these titles and consequently all of the copies in our provincial system are currently checked out and the reservation list grows longer as the debate intensifies.
Today was the first round of the three days of debates hosted by the amazing representative of culture in Canada Jian Ghomeshi. The five books voted to be included in this year’s competition and whose winner is supposed to represent the essential Canadian novel of the past 10 years are Essex County by Jeff Lemire, The Birth House by Ami McKay, The Bone Cage by Angie Abdou, Unless by Carol Shields, and The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis. Now here I must shamefully admit that I have not yet read any of these five books. In fact prior to Canada Reads, I had never even heard of Essex County or The Best Laid Plans. This is particularly embarrassing considering that I’m a public librarian and that prior to my MLIS I worked in the book industry and have always had a keen interest in promoting Canadian literature.
I perhaps should not be too embarrassed though considering that the whole point of Canada Reads is to say to all Canadians “Wake up! Canadian authors produce amazing literature and you should read their books!”. Apparently librarians are not to be exempted from this wake-up call. As librarians we should not pretend that we know everything about popular books and authors or what people should be reading. We are often too guilty of reading only the genres that interest us or we simply regurgitate the recommendations that we’ve heard from others. What I love about Canada Reads is that it entices people to explore books outside of their regular reading habits (this year for the first time a graphic novel was included in the competition).
Tanya Abramovitch, director of the Eleanor London Côte Saint-Luc library gave the assignment last year to her students in McGill’s School of Information Studies Public Libraries’ course to read three books from a genre that they would not normally chose. I think that this assignment is a brilliant idea and that more librarians should be encouraged to read outside of their comfort zone. Canada Reads provides a cultural spotlight for Canadians to discover amazing titles and authors that they might not have otherwise read but that are worthy of our attention. Librarians need to be actively promoting Canada Reads as a way of tapping into the media attention surrounding these titles to increase readership. However, we cannot simply rely on Canada Reads; we need to be at the forefront exploring publishing catalogues, literary magazines like the Quill and Quire, websites like Goodreads, and our own library’s book stacks searching for the next great book to recommend.
I encourage everyone, even those not in Canada, to follow Canada Reads on the CBC Canada Reads website.
I also would really love if people posted below their own recommendation of a book they feel is worthy of a national literary competition.
Happy reading!
4th Annual Web 2.You January 16, 2011
My experiences co-organizing Web 2.You at McGill University in 2009 and again in 2010 were definitely pinnacle moments during my MLIS degree. Not only did I gain incredible experience in event planning and management. I especially got to meet some very awesome librarians! Before beginning my MLIS I had never thought of the possible existence of librarian superstars. Luckily thanks to the inspired library school student I was quickly introduced to the world of the biblioblogosphere when I started in McGill’s MLIS program and through Web 2.You I got to meet some of the most well-known and influential modern librarian thinkers like Michael Stephens, Stephen Abram, Jenica Rogers, and Michael Porter. Not only did I get to hear them speak from the heart about important issues but after the conferences I got to hang out with them over supper! Both years provided me with such fantastic memories.
In fact, now that Michael Porter (keynote speaker ,Web 2.You 2010) has been elected to the ALA Executive Board, I can officially say that I’ve been to supper with an ALA Executive Board member. How cool is that? All thanks to my involvement in Web 2.You!
Although I can’t attend Web 2.You 2011 due to distance, I am still thrilled to see the incredible line-up of speakers that my former co-organizer Adrienne Smith has rallied together for this year’s event. By scoring Jason Puckett as a keynote speaker as well as several other well-known and respected specialists in the field of information, the proud tradition of Web 2.You will continue to bring innovative minds and new ideas to library school students and information professionals in the Montreal area. I strongly encourage anyone in the Montreal area to attend this event. Registration and information about the speakers is available on the Web 2.You 2011 wiki.
Going to be a librarian? Don’t forget your screwdriver! January 9, 2011
During library school students were told that librarians must wear many different hats and that we should be prepared for whatever diverse responsibilities might come our way. Since becoming a library director at a small public library I am confronted with this reality every day.
Before the 2010 budget year came to a close, I had the pleasure of making a few new furniture purchases for the library. I spent a lot of time taking measurements of available space, looking through library supplier catalogues and websites, and considering both the usability and esthetical requirements for a new DVD display case as well as tables and chairs for our kids’ activity room.
This week my staff and I enjoyed a second Christmas as we excitedly opened the large delivery boxes sent to us from Brodart Canada Library Supplies. I was happy to see that the chairs had been sent well wrapped and with no assembly required. Likewise the DVD display spinner was easily assembled in a few quick steps. The two tables however were another story…
Now I am not one to back away from furniture assembly. I have bought my fair share of IKEA furniture and am therefore used to the challenge of trying to coincide strange pictograms with basic design common sense. My infamous leaning tower of Pisa wardrobe that I put together during my first year at SIS became somewhat of a joke; though to my credit, despite its wobbling, it never fell in the two years that I used it while living in Montreal.
One of the reasons why I chose this particular model of activity tables was because of its adjustable height. I thought it was an extremely clever idea to adjust the legs of the ta
ble so that younger kids could have a table closer to the ground and the older kids wouldn’t feel like they were sitting at a little kid’s table. Well after I spent the better part of a morning with a manual screwdriver and multiple screws per leg per table, I can tell you that the height of those legs is not going to be readjusted any time soon. Admittedly things did go faster once a male user pointed out that I was not using the most efficient head for my screwdriver. Now I ask you, why did I never learn during my MLIS the value of using a Phillips screwdriver head? Well all is well that ends well. The tables look awesome and I can’t wait for our regular programming to start this week so that the kids will be able to use the new tables. I just wish that I’d had the insight to include an electric screwdriver in my 2011 budget. I guess that’s what you call learning on the job!
