As my friends and colleagues know, last summer I married a fellow librarian Graham Lavender. Graham and I met in 2008 when I began my studies at McGill’s School of Information Studies. I was part of a group of nervous first-year students and Graham was a confident second-year student available at the orientation to talk to my group, answering our questions and calming our fears about the course load and certain professors.  We quickly connected and worked on many interesting projects together including co-organizing Web 2.You 2009. It was thanks to Graham’s encouragement that I got involved in library associations and was able to add so many fun and rewarding extra-curricular activities to my plate of experiences in library school.

Fast forward a few years to our engagement and I knew that I wanted to somehow include our librarian profession in the wedding. I scoured the internet for any wedding decorations or themes related to libraries. I had a hard time deciding how prominently I wanted our librarian careers to become a theme for the wedding. It was important, despite nods to our chosen profession, that the wedding remain elegant (I recognized the potential of a library-themed wedding to be extremely cheesy).

I found a few fun ideas like our Save the Date card that I made using old due date slips. Our guests loved these Save the Dates. They were simple to make (I am not a crafty person) and we got lots of compliments about how “cute” they were. They were a bit time consuming because I had to stamp each card one at a time and Graham helped out big time by writing our wedding website URL on the bottom of each card. In the end we were very happy with the results.

A few months before our wedding we attended another librarian’s wedding and I shamelessly stole her idea of using books as centerpieces with the table numbers. Again this project was very easy to execute; we found hardcover books that were white/blue/gray and then I bought pretty paper at Michael’s and cut out the numbers for each table. On some wedding blogs, I saw couples using books that had special significance for them. We did not put that much thought into the titles; we were happy to use any books we found on our shelves (and the bookshelves of family members) that would be sturdy enough to remain standing up and that would “look pretty”.

In order to inform our guests of the seating plan, I printed (with a typewriter font) the name of each guest on a library due date cards. The cards were colour coordinated so that the servers could quickly see who had ordered which meal (white for veggie, blue for chicken, and pink for salmon).  Each due date card was then put in a pocket that had the table number on it. The table numbers had been cut out of fancy paper (similar to the table numbers). This was fairly time consuming but totally worth it. The caterers organized the cards on a table in the lobby in alphabetical order. It was very easy for our guests before entering the reception hall to find their card and see at what table they would be seated. I was so focused on all of our guests that the head-table was a bit of an after-thought, so I ended up putting the letter H on the due date card pocket for “head table”.

The most creative element to our librarian themed wedding was our cake. We were so lucky to have such a creative baker who listened to my vague idea (it would be fun if the cake had something to do with books) and designed a cake that was exactly what I wanted. Luckily, Jennifer, the cake-lady from Cakeaholic in Toronto, understood the vision of combining books with sunflowers and made the most beautiful and delicious cake. It was a huge hit!

We had a fantastic day and if you are interested in seeing more pictures from the wedding, you can visit our photographer James Heaslip’s wedding blog. James was a great photographer and if you look closely in some of the photos you might even spot a few other librarians!

I strongly salute the staff at the Arlington branch libraries who looked beyond the obvious hard work involved and are now viewed as community heroes to the people who are rediscovering their lost photos! Based on the comment on their Arlington Public Library website, people are extremely excited about the service the library is offering.

Visit the Eagle to read the whole article: Library helps tornado victims find lost photos.

I found that reading the book Work the Pond by Darcy Rezac was extremely useful. It is a quick read and there are tons of tips that help us to understand how to be more effective in our networking attempts. Rezac uses the analogy that we are all frogs and when it comes to networking you need to kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince. He takes the frog analogy much further (a bit too far at times) but the book remains extremely insightful in its description of networking misconceptions and how one can become a networking expert.

Another great analogy that I’ve seen that helps us better understand the act of networking is the article Breaking Away: Networking like a Cyclist, by Daniel Ransom on the library blog Letters to a Young Librarian. I am an avid cyclist and so I can really relate to these lessons about networking when compared to competitive cycling (a little shoutout to Ryder Hesjadel, the first Canadian to win the Giro d’Italia, Woohoo!).

People often do not realize that cycling is often played as a team sport and that there is a lot of strategy involved. I think that this blog post does a wonderful job of comparing the fine line between working together to move forward and the drive needed at the end of the race to leave the group behind and cross the finish line first. This strategy exists both in cycling and during a job hunt.

One thing that both Rezac and Ransom touch on that I completely agree with is that networking does not have to mean focusing your energy on talking only to the “big wigs” who you consider to be the most influential. Networking is often about making contacts (friends) who might be at the same level as you so that you can support each other as you both work your way up. Sometimes will you end up competing against your friends for a much coveted position but life goes on.

I highly recommend both this book and this blog post to gain easy and effective networking tips.

Happy networking!

During library school, students are often asked to “make up” a fictional library or scenario for assignments. My advice to students is to try and take advantage of these types of assignments to prepare material that might actually be of use to you at a future date. So many students simply go through the motions when it comes to completing their assignments. However, if you truly think that your work might serve you in a professional situation then you will put a lot more thought and effort into it! Use your class assignments to create tutorials, information literacy presentations, strategic planning charts, etc. that you can “recycle” when you need them most.

For professionals, I encourage you to take a peek at your old assignments (especially if they are still on your computer). You might be surprised at how well written something is that you wrote while still in school. The whole point of library school is not to get straight As but rather to give us a foundation for our professional careers. So then, with all the things we need to accomplish in a day, aren’t we lucky if our MLIS assignment that we got a A on could also save us time?

Have you ever recycled an assignment for professional use?

I haven’t done much with Librarians Without Borders in the past few years since my trip and so I’m very excited to be helping out with LWB’s first “unconference” in Toronto on Friday May 11th. I’m always happy to hear an  interesting line-up of speakers and this event promises to be extremely stimulating for librarians who like to think and discuss big ideas surrounding global librarianship. Proceeds from the registration from this event will go towards future LWB projects.

I invite everyone in the Toronto area to come and participate in an interesting evening of “discussion, open debate, and exploration” all in support of a worthy cause!

To register online or for more information, visit the LWB website.

• Copyright Advisory Committee
• Information Policy Advisory Committee
• Intellectual Freedom Advisory Committee
• Library Services for People with Print‐Disabilities Advisory Committee
• School Libraries Advisory Committee

Despite many Canadian librarians being rather jaded with the CLA of late, no one can deny that one of the CLA’s most important functions as a national association is its role in advocacy. People recognize the need for a strong national voice on issues essential to the values of librarianship such as intellectual freedom and copyright. If Canadian librarians cannot present a united front to policy makers to provide information and influence them on these important issues then who will? And if it is not the CLA influencing policy makers, then there is no guarantee that those who are share our librarianship values. As I’ve mentioned I think that it is essential that librarians get involved on a larger scale in issues that they are passionate about. Anyone who is passionate about the issues covered by the advisory committees should definitely look into joining these committees for the next term.

I was impressed that such a CLA advisory committee would exist for school libraries. I submitted an application to the CLA to volunteer my time on this committee and I was pleased when my application was accepted and I was named a member of the CLA School Libraries Advisory Committee for 2012-2013. After a bit of a slow start, we had our first teleconference last week. It’s extremely interesting to be put on a committee with people from across the country with different backgrounds and levels of experience. I have to admit that I felt a bit overwhelmed; certain names of people and acronyms of associations were mentioned as if we all already knew about them but were unfamiliar to me. I was sitting at my laptop simultaneously listening to the conversation and looking up groups/websites as they were mentioned. Although I am extremely passionate about school libraries and the policies that need to be put into place and the advocacy that needs to be done, I realized that my passion can only carry me so far. I really need to read up on a lot on the actions already being carried out by various organizations (provincially, nationally and internationally) and the evidence-based research that has been conducted in this field.

As a committee we are still discussing what our specific course of action will be. The instruction we’ve received from the CLA is basically our terms of reference :

Terms of Reference for CLA School Libraries Advisory Committee

• To inform and support CLA responses to media coverage of school library issues.

• To educate the Canadian public about the role of school libraries and their professional staffing.

• To contribute to the continuous development of standards for school libraries and professional roles.

You can visit the CLA Committees webpage to find out more about the various CLA committees and opportunities to get involved. If you are interested in offering your help to these committees, the contact information of the committee members is listed on the sites.

Since I needed to relocate to Toronto, I got back into the full-swing of applying for library positions. This was a difficult period because I am definitely a perfectionist when it comes to applications and every time that I spent hours toiling over an application only to never even get an interview, it was like I’d lost a small piece of myself. After a few months, people said that it was because I hadn’t yet found the “right job for me”. In the end, this turned out to be true as at the end of August once “the right job for me” was posted it took me only 2 weeks total to send in my application, be contacted for an interview, have an interview, and be offered the position.

I now work for a Francophone school board where I am in charge of the libraries in two schools (a K-6 school and a middle school). This is a fantastic job because I have always been passionate about children’s librarianship. Being in a school library allows me to do story-time, teach information literacy, provide reader advisory and research and order books that kids will get excited to read.

Each Canadian province has different standards for what qualifications are needed for working in school libraries. In Ontario, most school boards have teacher-librarians in their schools; this position requires a teaching degree paired with a few courses in librarianship. When I went for my interview, I was told that my school board has not had teacher-librarians for over a decade, now all of the school libraries are run by library technicians. A part of me has issues with calling myself a library technician even though it is officially my job title. Having obtained a Masters in Library and Information Studies from McGill University, I tend to say that I’m a professional librarian who works in a school library (I was told by a friend not to say that I am a School Librarian because technically I’m not). Rather than feel limited by my job title, I use my professional knowledge and skills everyday to strive to ensure that I am creating the most positive library experience possible for these kids. Most of the kids at my schools are from recent immigrant families to Canada. The parents are often struggling to make a life for their family in Toronto and do not have the money to buy books nor do they visit regularly the public library with their children. Consequently, the library experience that I provide for these kids becomes their only exposure to libraries. I am very motivated by my goal to help kids discover a passion for reading that will translate into a life-long pursuit of learning whether they attend post-secondary education or not.

Last week, I attended the Saturday sessions of the OLA (Ontario Library Association) Super Conference in Toronto. This experience was extremely positive and encouraged me to get back into blogging because I realized how much amazing knowledge librarians share when they get together. The biblioblogosphere is an incredible place and I want to get back into the swing of things! (That and my dad kept asking me when I was going to post something new).

I have always been grateful to everyone who comments on my blog posts. So what do you think of the importance of job titles? How would you feel about taking on a non-professional position as long as you got to do something you love?