Congratulations to the 2026 Culture Days Grant Recipients!

SLA congratulates the recipients of the 2026 Culture Days Grants.

Arcola Public Library Branch Beauval Public Library

Christopher Lake Public Library

Indian Head Public Library Branch

Lafleche Public Library

Muenster Public Library

North Battleford Public Library Prince Albert Public Library

Shaunavon Branch Library

Wakaw Public Library

These $200 grants support Culture Days library programming throughout Saskatchewan. To learn more about events in your community, please click the button below.

2026 TD Summer Reading Club: Statistics and Evaluation

Forum Research Inc. will collect statistics for the 2026 TD Summer Reading Club (TDSRC) this September. Library statistics contacts will receive an email from tplsurvey@forumresearch.com with a link to the online statistics and evaluation form. Libraries are encouraged to whitelist this email address to avoid missing the survey.

Libraries should update their statistics contact information in the staff portal by August 10 and submit the online form by September 30. Please submit on time to be eligible for the Library Awards and a StoryWalk® kit next summer.

New this year, libraries can include online registration totals, available by age category under Child Statistics in the staff portal.

Libraries with questions about the survey content should contact their regional administrator or the TDSRC Manager at jessicaroy@tpl.ca. For technical issues with the online survey, libraries should contact Forum Research Inc. at tplsurvey@forumresearch.com and copy jessicaroy@tpl.ca.

Click the button below for more information.

TD Summer Reading Club 2026 Library Awards and CELA Accessibility Award

Public libraries participating in the 2026 TD Summer Reading Club are encouraged to prepare for the upcoming Library Awards application process. Eligible libraries must have been registered for the 2026 program, delivered the Club for at least six weeks, followed branding guidelines, and completed all required reporting and application materials.

Applications are limited to one submission per library per year and must be submitted in either the English or French stream. Award recipients are required to reinvest prize funds in their library’s children’s services and participate in promotional activities.

Please note that libraries that receive an award will be ineligible to apply again for the following three years.

CELA Accessibility Award

The deadline to submit your TD Summer Reading Club Accessibility Award application is also October 2, 2026. 

For more detailed information, please click the button below.

The National Film Board in Libraries:

2026 TD Summer Reading Club Selections

Each year, the TD Summer Reading Club reaches out to the National Film Board for a curated list of great Canadian films that work with the year’s theme.

For 2026, the TD Summer Reading Club is pleased to present the compilation Drift & Discover. This selection of short films celebrates the wonders of water—from the depths of the sea to winding riverbeds and island shores. Playful and thoughtful, these works are crafted to engage young audiences through animation, storytelling, and imagination.

These films are available to libraries to support 2026 programming and events this year. For more information or to access these films for your library, please use the button below.

• August 23 - Saskatchewan Library Week Grant Applications Close

• September 18 - Culture Days Begins

Hello, everyone,

We here at the Saskatchewan Library Association will be coming up on a fun milestone later this year, so settle in with your coffee or your tea and humour this ol’-timer a tale or two as we take a stroll along the annals of time. 

(The joke here, of course, is that I’m forty-two. But the Icelandic heritage on my Mom’s side means that I’ve already developed wide streaks of gray in my hair and beard, like a warlock who got left out in the sun, so, y’know what, I figure I may as well lean into it.)

Lillian H. Smith became the first academically-credentialled children’s librarian in Canada (and the first in the British empire of the time) when she began as Head of Children’s Services with the Toronto Public Library in 1912, a position that she would hold until her retirement in 1952. Her pioneering work in library programming, storytelling and outreach directly led to the donation of 1,800 books from British librarian and book collector Edgar Osborne (the beginning of what is today known as the Osborne Collection), and the success of one program in particular, a Boys and Girls Book Week held in the fourth quarter of each year, would lead the Canadian Association of Children’s Librarians—a division of the Canadian Library Association, and a group that Smith had helped to create and form in 1939—to establish a similar cross-Canadian programming initiative in 1949, the Young Canada Book Week. 

Also known as Young Canada’s Book Week, depending on what source you’re reading; the names “Young Canada’s Book Week” and “Young Canada Book Week” appear to have been used interchangeably across the country and through the years, as I’ve run into various contemporaneous uses of both during the research for this column. (We’re real sticklers here in modern times, of course, but you have to remember that the concept of national library program brand identity was still pretty loosey-goosey back in the postwar era.)

The CLA would ultimately discontinue Young Canada(‘s) Book Week in 1974 due to the rising costs of the national program, leading Pat Cavill of the Lakeland Library Region in North Battleford and Karen Templin of the North Central Regional Library in Prince Albert to form a Saskatchewan committee exploring the possibility of establishing a dedicated library programming week at the provincial level. 

The Provincial Library would soon trial the first Saskatchewan-based all-ages version in 1975, and the Saskatchewan Library Association then began its sponsorship of the newly-established Saskatchewan Library Week in 1976.

(The 1974 dissolution of the YCBW also led to the 1976 founding of what is now the Canadian Children’s Book Centre and the 1977 establishment of what is now the Canadian Children’s Book Week, but I’m starting to think this story is plenty long enough already.)

That brings us all the way to the present day—this year’s installment, the upcoming Saskatchewan Library Week 2026, will be its 50^th anniversary under the Saskatchewan Library Association umbrella! We’re looking forward to celebrating the Week with everyone all across our great province, and funding applications are open now through August 23 for twenty-five SLW programming grants of up to $250.00.  

As an old saying goes, time flies when you’re having fun!

Until next time,

James Hope Howard

SLA President

CFLA Policy News: Safe Social Media Act

Bill C-34, the Safe Social Media Act, was introduced in June and is intended to make social media services and AI chatbots safer for children (under 16).

How does the Safe Social Media Act (Bill C-34) affect libraries?

The Safe Social Media Act (Bill C-34, first reading June 10, 2026) would enact legislation to make online services responsible for addressing harmful content and creating a safer online space, especially for children (under 16).

The proposed legislation will create safety requirements for regulated social media services and AI chatbot services to provide protection against online harms. The affected services will be defined by regulation. 

Could libraries be included within the regulated services?

The definition of online service is that it allows users “to interact with the website or application,” however, it excludes websites with the primary purpose of listing goods or services, providing directories, or providing search results. Most libraries online services are likely to be excluded.

For both online services and social media services, those that are regulated will be determined based on the number of users, which will be provided in regulation. The regulations are not yet available.

What is CFLA doing for the Safe Social Media Act (Bill C-34)?

CFLA will monitor discussions on this bill to identify if online services and social media services used by libraries in Canada are likely to be captured by the regulations and respond if necessary.

To learn more, please click the button below.

AI Futures: Teaching in the AI Era

The Dr. John Archer Library & Archives at the University of Regina's Main Campus will host the second AI Futures event, AI Futures: Teaching in the AI Era, on August 26–27, 2026.

This free, two-day hybrid event will explore how artificial intelligence can be used to enhance learning, strengthen human judgment, and raise academic expectations. The program is designed for anyone interested in the future of AI in education, with particular relevance for instructors. While participants may attend virtually, in-person attendance is recommended to take full advantage of the interactive, hands-on sessions.

The program includes:

Day 1 – August 26: Teaching in the AI Era – Presentations from the Classroom

• A broad and timely overview of AI tools and their impact on teaching and learning.
• Practical strategies and ideas that educators can apply in their own teaching practice.

Day 2 – August 27: Human Judgment in the Age of AI

• Practical approaches to redesigning curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, and classroom practice for an AI-enabled future.
• Participants are encouraged to attend all six sessions for the most comprehensive experience, although each session can also be attended independently.

Registration is free, but advance registration is required. Many sessions will be livestreamed; however, no sessions will be recorded or archived.

To learn more or to register, please click the button below.

Paid parking is available on campus.

Summer Learning with OLA Super Conference

The Ontario Library Association’s on-demand webinar series features popular, timely topics that empower library professionals to sharpen their skills, discover fresh ideas, and enhance their professional practice, all on a schedule that works for them. Designed to inspire continuous learning, the series offers a convenient and engaging way to advance professional development goals, explore emerging trends and knowledge areas, and reignite a passion for library work.

All sessions are available on demand until August 31, 2026.

• Generative AI and Library Labour: Risks, Rights, and Resilient Futures - Register here

• Safe, Sound and Supported: Safety & Staff Well-Being in Small Libraries - Register here

• More Than Sensory Storytime: Designing Library Services to Better Support Neurodivergent Children - Register here

• Crafting Stories, Building Skills: Creative Writing Programming for Adults in Public Libraries - Register here

• Learn AI: Activating GenAI Tools and AI Literacy Programs at Toronto Public Library - Register here

Registration: per session, per person*

    Member/Affiliate: $50 +tx

    Non-member: $65 +tx

    Students/Staff in underserved libraries: $25 +tx

    Staff at First Nations Public Libraries: $0

*Group rate available. Please email to inquire.

**Registration for these sessions is independent of Super Conference registration.

For any questions, please click the button below.

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