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Sponsor & Exhibitor Opportunities Available
Sponsorship and Exhibitor opportunities are now available for the 2026 Saskatchewan Libraries Conference. Early Bird Registration is now open and closes on March 13, 2026.
For more information, including rates and speakers, please download the 2026 prospectus using the link below.
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Volunteer Opportunities Available
Are you looking for a great opportunity to give back to your library community? We'd love to have your help at this year's conference! Please indicate your interest when registering.
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Conference Attendance Grant Available
Did you know that First-time conference attendees, currently working in a Saskatchewan library, are eligible to apply for the SLA’s Conference Attendance Continuing Education Grant? This grant provides support up to $750. Applications are now open and close on February 15th. For more information or to apply for this grant, please use the link below.
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Freedom to Read Week Resources Now Available
Freedom to Read Week (FTRW) is just around the corner and runs from February 22-28 this year!
To help your library prepare, Freedom to Read Week posters and social media graphics are now available online in both English and French. Digital copies of the poster are free, and print copies are available for a fee. Each library must download its own digital poster for program use.
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SLA Freedom to Read Week Social Media Campaign & Contest!
Join us on social media during Freedom to Read Week to learn about some of the books that have been banned or challenged in libraries across the globe. Like and share our book posts for a chance to win your own copy of a challenged book!
There are a total of seven books available to be won – a different book for each day of the Bail Out the Banned Book Contest running from February 22-28, 2026. The contest will run across all of SLA’s social media platforms — Facebook, Instagram, and Bluesky.
For more information and resources, please use the link below:
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One Book One Province 2026
The Saskatchewan Library Association's One Book One Province program offers Saskatchewan residents an opportunity to find points of connection through a book. We aim to create an experience that supports literacy, encourages reading culture, celebrates libraries and literacy organizations, and builds community engagement through shared experience.
The 2026 One Book One Province title is Towards a Prairie Atonement by Trevor Herriot. The program will see libraries, book clubs, and individuals all across Saskatchewan join together in April 2026 to read this book and share discussions about the story.
For more details including title information, author biography, dates, and locations, please visit us online using the link below.
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Continuing Education Grants Close Soon!
The Saskatchewan Library Association strives to provide and support relevant educational opportunities for its members who serve the Saskatchewan library sector. We are happy to offer three categories of continuing education grants as follows:
Individual Member Continuing Education Grant
A grant of up to $500 will be awarded to an individual attending any continuing education opportunity (e.g. conference, workshop, etc.). You must be an Individual member of SLA to apply.
Organizational Continuing Education Grant
A grant of up to $1,000 given to an individual or institution for the organization and promotion of a continuing education opportunity (e.g. conference, workshop, etc.). You must be an individual or institutional member of SLA to apply.
Conference Attendance Continuing Education Grant
A grant of up to $750 to an individual for first-time attendance at the Saskatchewan Libraries Conference. You must be an individual or institutional member of SLA to apply.
Applications for all grants are now open and run until February 15, 2026. For more information on continuing Education grants, please click the link below.
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Early Career Librarian Award Nominations Open!
The SLA Early Career Librarian Award is an award of merit that acknowledges those who have contributed to the library profession during the first five years of their career.
The Early Career Librarian Award is open to all individuals, institutions, or groups and is not restricted to professional librarians or members of SLA. Nominators must be current SLA members.
Nominations for the Early Career Librarian Award are now open and close on March 1, 2026.
To learn more or make a nomination, please visit the link below.
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Last Call: Mary Donaldson Award Applications
In 1977, the Mary Donaldson Award of Merit was established in honour of Saskatchewan’s first Provincial Librarian, Mary Donaldson. This $1,200 award is presented annually to a student, currently enrolled in a library and information technology program in Canada, who has completed at least one semester. Preference will be given to candidates who are residents of Saskatchewan or hold a strong connection to the province.
Applications for the Mary Donaldson Award are now open and close on March 1, 2026.
To learn more or apply online, please visit the link below.
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SLA Board Seeking 2026-2028 Member-at-Large!
The Saskatchewan Library Association is currently seeking a new Board Member-at-Large position. If you have a desire to support the provincial library community, this could be a great professional development opportunity!
Applications are open to individual SLA members, in good standing, willing to commit to a 2-year term (2026-2028).
Interested individual members can submit their letter of application describing how they would support the SLA Board of Directors and organizational mandate, along with their CV/resume detailing library service experience, to Tina Kleisinger, Executive Director - tkleisinger@saskla.ca, by February 27, 2026.
More details of the great work SLA does in support of Saskatchewan Libraries can be found at https://www.saskla.ca
For more details, please download the board recruitment announcement using the link below.
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SLA Communications and Engagement Committee Seeks New Members!
The Saskatchewan Library Association is currently seeking a new committee member for our Communications and Engagement Committee. Individual SLA members working in special or public libraries are encouraged to express interest.
The Communications and Engagement Committee works to support and develop SLA's membership base through the promotion of networking and synergetic activities. Committee members are also responsible for overseeing the development, review, and maintenance of the communications plan.
For more information, please reach out to SLA Communications and Research Coordinator, Yasmin Dar at YDar@saskla.ca.
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The 2026 TD Summer Reading Club Staff Site is Now Live!
Exciting news! The TD Summer Reading Club is now accepting orders for their 2026 program materials.
Dive into the updated staff website and start planning your most fin-tastic summer yet!
Login to your staff account to register your library, system, or region in the program, view reports, and place your annual order for club materials and promotional items.
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The staff Resources section includes:
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new activities and crafts, including many focused on STEAM. Many activities also offer extended-value options and ways to customize them to your library
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The Run the Program section has updated information to help you run a successful Club, including updated accessibility guidelines from the Centre for Equitable Library Access (CELA) to help you build even more fun and accessible programs this year.
While the start and end dates of the TD Summer Reading Club are flexible, we would like to encourage libraries to open up their Club registration on any day of their choice between June 8 and June 22, 2026. We call this nationwide registration period Get Your Summer Read On. Libraries can host events and activities to mark the opening of Club registration at their locations.
Expect the kids’ website to go live on June 8, 2026. As always, it will feature new content including trivia questions, story starters, videos from our contributors and more. You can also discover the 2026 web comic creator!
To learn more or register online, please use the link below.
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Thank You for Supporting Family Literacy Day!
Thank you to all the libraries, staff members, and library patrons who took part in this year's Family Literacy Day on January 27!
We're inspired by all of the amazing Family Literacy Day programs held in libraries across the province, including family baking class, placemat decorating, Together at the Table online challenge, food-themed scavenger hunt, family pizza night, family cooking class, bedtime snack preparation, family pancake story-time, food-themed bookmark crafting, Foodie Family Fun Day, Kids' and Parents' Cooking Class, edible crafting family fun day, and a Ukrainian cooking experience featuring cheburecki.
| | Photo: Participants of the Canwood Public Library Family Literacy Day Program show off their wonderful upcycled bird feeders. This program was made possible through SLA's Family Literacy Day grant! Source: Facebook/Canwood Public Library | |
SLA Member Forum Live Event!
Join the SLA on Monday, February 2nd! Members are encouraged to login throughout the day to discuss the question, “What is the most useful AI tool you use for work in the library?“
Please use the links below to take part or get help navigating to the Member Forums!
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Share Your Story!
What role has the library played in your life or community? Have you had an exceptional experience at your local library? How has the library helped support your academic goals? Has your library recently run a fantastic program you want others to know about?
Whether you are a staff member or patron, we'd love to hear all about your experience at the library! Submit your story to info@saskla.ca and it may be featured in an upcoming issue of SLAte!
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• February 1 - Honourary Life Member Award Nominations Close
• February 1 - Frances Morrison Award Nominations Close
• February 2 - SLA Live Member Forum Event
• February 15 - Continuing Education Grants Close
• February 22-28 - Freedom to Read Week
• February 27 - SLA Board of Directors Call Closes
• March 1 - Early Career Librarian Award Nominations Close
• March 1 - Mary Donaldson Award Nominations Close
• March 13 - SK Libraries Conference Early Bird Registration Closes
• April 1 - One Book One Province In-Person Events Begin
• April 15 - SK Libraries Conference Registration Closes
• April 30-June 1 - SLA Saskatchewan Libraries Conference!
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Hello, everyone,
Robbie Burns famously wrote in his 1785 poem To A Mouse that "The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley, / An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, / For promis'd joy!"
If you don't speak Scots, of course, you may be more familiar with the translated version of the aphorism: that the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray, or go awry, depending on whose translation you're most familiar with. (Me, personally, I always go with the original, one of the very few circumstances in which a person may naturally work the word 'agley' into conversation.)
Anyway—my best-laid schemes went real friggin' agley last week!!
My plan for the week had been straightforward enough: drive down from La Ronge to Saskatoon on the Sunday, fly out from Saskatoon to Toronto very early on the Monday, attend some national meetings and the Ontario Library Association Super Conference through the course of the week, and then fly back again on Saturday.
Well, as I would soon discover on my way to Saskatoon, it turns out that there was one very important flaw in this plan: the single heaviest one-day snowfall in the eighty-seven-year history of Toronto Pearson International Airport, which wiped my and roughly half a thousand other scheduled flights both literally and figuratively off the map.
You can imagine my reaction at the time, of course—my father's side of the family was Scottish and bequeathed, we'll say, a distinct gift for invective—but I was eventually able to elect to be sanguine, once I had my more immediate responses out of my system. I've had better starts to a year, but then, I've had worse starts, too, and sometimes there's genuinely just nothing that you can do about a situation; that's show biz, as another old saying goes! (The origins of that adage are somewhat less clear, but I'm decently confident that Robbie Burns probably didn't write that one.)
Besides, we've got our own very exciting Conference to look forward to right here at home, and early-bird registration is now open for the 2026 Saskatchewan Libraries Conference! The weather ought to be a lot better by then, and if somehow it isn't, I can promise you with 100% certainty that those clouds are gonna get an earful from me.
Until next time,
James Hope Howard
SLA President
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Take Part in the CommConnect Virtual Library Communications Symposium
The Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) Communications Community of Practice Steering Committee is pleased to invite you to the inaugural CommConnect Virtual Library Communications Symposium.
Here you can explore the complete program agenda, session descriptions, and speaker biographies, including details about our special keynote speaker, Joe Friesen, postsecondary education reporter at The Globe and Mail in conversation with Mark Asberg, Vice Provost and University Librarian at Queen’s University.
We hope you’ll be able to join us on February 11, 2026 for this half day of conversation, learning, and connection focused on library communications.
To learn more or to register, please use the link below.
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Upcoming Session on Generative AI from The Visible Minority Librarians of Canada (ViMLoC)
The Visible Minority Librarians of Canada (ViMLoC) invite you to an insightful session featuring Janice Kung, on how Generative AI (GenAI) is fundamentally reshaping how information is created, organized, and accessed. Join ViMLoC to find out how libraries can ensure their services and resources remain equitable, inclusive, and ethical.
Date and time: February 3, 2026; 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM ET | 10:00 AM -11:00 AM PST | 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM MT | 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM CT
Generative AI (GenAI) is fundamentally reshaping how information is created, organized, and accessed. As this technology evolves, how can libraries ensure their services and resources remain equitable, inclusive, and ethical? This session will explore the challenges and opportunities GenAI presents for librarians serving diverse communities and will focus on the following key areas:
- Mechanics of Bias: Understanding how GenAI works and how to use it effectively,
- Ethical Implementation: Ensuring GenAI adoption does not widen existing digital and information equity gaps,
- Strategic Advocacy: Positioning librarians (and libraries?) as leading institutional voices for AI literacy initiatives.
Attendees will gain practical strategies for a proactive response, from staff training and offering AI literacy sessions to fostering communities of practice and collaborating with partners to meet the growing demand for AI-related guidance.
Janice Kung is a Health Librarian at the University of Alberta. She was also the Visiting Program Officer for AI and Library Services in 2025 with the Canadian Association of Research Libraries. Her professional interests include generative AI’s impact on libraries, systematic reviews, responsible research metrics, and integrating effective pedagogy into library instruction.
To register for this free presentation sponsored by ViMLoC, please use the link below.
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U of R Seeking Research Participants
The University of Regina is looking for volunteers to take part in the study Role of Public Libraries in Supporting Integration of Refugee and Immigrant Families Migrating to Canada: A Critical Ethnography. Refugee/Immigrant, Librarian, or Settlement Service Providers in Saskatchewan are invited to participate.
Participation will involve a 40-60 minute online discussion. As an appreciation for their time, volunteers will receive a $50 e-Gift Card.
Guidelines:
- Use “Library project” in the subject-line
- An individual’s decision to participate or not in the study will not impact their ability to use the services of any of the community partners
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If you know other individuals that may be interested in participating in this research, we encourage you to privately send this poster to them. Please do not repost, like, or tag this poster on social media as then people may believe you have participated in the study and your anonymity is compromised. There is no obligation for you to pass along this information, and there will be no penalty if you do not provide this information.
This study has been reviewed and received approval through the Research Ethics Board, University of Regina.
For more information on the study, or to participate, please use the email link below to contact Dr. Shela Hirani:
Dr. Shela Hirani, PhD, MScN, BScN, RN, IBCLC
Professor
Faculty of Nursing
University of Regina
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Seed Library Conference: Getting Started
For communities interested in opening a seed library or those who have recently opened one, the Seed Library Network will be hosting a conference this month.
Taking place on Saturday, February 14, the conference will feature three speakers, each sharing a 20-minute talk followed by 10 minutes of Q&A. The conference will conclude with 30 minutes of small-group breakout conversations where participants can discuss their specific situations and learn from one another.
The conference presenters include:
Aly Trombitas, Agriculture & Horticulture Educator, Cornell Cooperative Extension, NY
Rebecca Newburn, Seed Library Network, Founder
Marie-ève Boutin, Program Coordinator, Squamish BC
For well-established seed libraries, the Seed Library Network will be offering 2 other conferences later in the year on how to maintain a seed library, special projects, and climate adaptation.
For more information or to register, please use the link below.
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SLAte Submissions
Have something you want to see in SLAte? Send us a submission! The deadline for SLAte submissions is the 20th of each month, and submissions must be emailed to Yasmin Dar at YDar@saskla.ca. SLA reserves the right to change or edit any submission, or to refuse publication in its entirety.
SLAte is an open-access publication under a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY-NC-ND copyright license, excluding all logos and other material where indicated.
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