2025 Conference Speakers

We are very excited to announce the following speakers for the 2025 Saskatchewan Libraries Conference:

Keynote Speaker: Omayra Issa, Journalist, Producer, and Anchor

Omayra Issa is an award-winning anchor, who has built a rich and diverse portfolio over the course of 15 years in broadcasting. She began her career at Radio-Canada creating compelling content on television, radio and digital platforms, and then for CBC News.

Omayra is dedicated to strengthening communities and see important parallels between her work and the role that libraries play in building and bettering communities. Issa will address conference delegates on the morning of Thursday, May 8 at 9:30am.

Mary Donaldson Lecturer: Ry Moran, Associate University Librarian – Reconciliation at the University of Victoria

Ry Moran is Canada’s inaugural Associate University Librarian – Reconciliation at the University of Victoria. His role within UVic Libraries focuses on building and sustaining relationships to introduce Indigenous approaches and knowledge into the daily work of the libraries and more broadly across the campus community.

Ry is invested in ensuring libraries are safe and welcoming places for all people and all knowledges. He looks forward to sharing his valuable experience to advance reconciliation within the library landscape. Ry will address conference delegates on the evening of Thursday, May 8 at 7:30pm.

The 2025 Saskatchewan Libraries Conference will take place May 8-9, 2025 at the TCU Place in Saskatoon, SK. We have received a bounty of responses to our call for session proposals and look forward to offering conference attendees a incredible range of sessions this spring!

Early Bird delegate registration opens February 3, 2025. Stay tuned for more information including pre-conference workshops and schedule. For the most recent information, please visit our website using the link below.

Conference Volunteer Opportunities Available

Are you looking for a great opportunity to give back to your library community? We'd love to have your help! Please consider volunteering at the conference, and keep an eye out for the official call to volunteer.

2025 One Book One Province

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, promotes reading culture, raises the profile of libraries and literacy organizations, and builds community engagement through shared experience.

The 2025 One Book One Province title is Bread & Water: Essays by dee Hobsbawn-Smith. The program will see libraries, book clubs, and individuals across Saskatchewan join together in April 2025 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.

Upcoming Webinar:

AI, Bias and Libraries: Expanded Edition

Join Veronica Ramshaw (they/them), Digital Services and Liaison Librarian at the University of Regina Archer Library, as they present AI, Bias and Libraries: Expanded Edition. This presentation will explore the evolving landscape of Artificial Intelligence (AI), examining its applications, limitations, and potential biases.

This webinar will take place on January 15 from 1:30-2:30pm and is free to all SLA members. Please click the link below to register.

Last Call for Honourary Life Member Award Nominations

Do you know someone amazing who deserves to be acknowledged and celebrated for their work within Saskatchewan libraries?

The Honourary Life Member Award recognizes individuals who have had an active role in SLA and have made a substantial and longstanding contribution to library services in Saskatchewan. The recipient of this award receives a free, life-long membership in SLA.

Nominations for the Honourary Life Member Award close on February 1, 2025.

To learn more or make a nomination, please visit the link below.

Mary Donaldson Award Nominations Opening Soon

The Mary Donaldson Memorial Trust was established in 1966 to honour the memory of Mary Donaldson, Saskatchewan’s first Provincial Librarian. In 1977, The Mary Donaldson Award of Merit was established to provide a $1,200 award to a full-time or part-time Saskatchewan student enrolled in a library and information technician program.

Applications for the Mary Donaldson Award open January 15, 2025 and close on March 1, 2025. To learn more or apply online, please visit the link below.

Last Call for Frances Morrison Award Nominations

The SLA Frances Morrison Award is an award of merit for outstanding service to libraries given in the name of one of Saskatchewan’s exceptional librarians. This award is open to individuals, institutions or groups, and is not restricted to professional librarians or SLA members.

Nominations for the Frances Morrison Award close on February 1, 2025.

To learn more or make a nomination, please visit the link below.

Family Literacy Day 2025 Recipients

Family Literacy Day is recognized nationally each year on January 27 to raise awareness about the importance of reading and family literacy.

Each year, the Saskatchewan Library Association offers grants to libraries to put on Family Literacy Day programs. These $200 grants are available to SLA’s individual or institutional members to support them as they celebrate and promote Family Literacy Day. The 2025 theme for Family Literacy Day is “Learn to be Green, Together.”

Congratulations to the 2025 Family Literacy Day Grant Recipients listed below! These Saskatchewan libraries will be putting on diverse programming from family game nights to community skating event, from sharing resources on environmental friendliness to teaching upcycle crafts, and from teaching winter safety to humans and animals to celebrating and caring for native birds.

• Beauval Public Library
• Borden Branch Library
• Candle Lake Public Library
• Canwood Public Library
• Davidson School Library
• Loon Lake Library
• Oxbow Public Library Branch
• Paradise Hill Branch Library
• Reid-Thompson Public Library
• Shellbrook Public Library
• Yellow Grass Public Library Branch

To learn more or take part in Family Literacy Day events, please visit us online

using the link below.

Continuing Education Grants Available

The Saskatchewan Library Association strives to provide and support relevant educational opportunities for its members who serve the Saskatchewan library sector. Opening this month, 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 open on January 1 and run until February 15, 2025. For more information on continuing Education grants, please click the link below.

Bring your Dictionary Donations to the Conference!

SLA's Prison Library Sub-Committee works to address the deficit of reading materials available to incarcerated youths and adults in Saskatchewan’s correctional facilities, and they need your help!

Are you planning on attending the Saskatchewan Libraries Conference this year? The SLA's Prison Library Sub-Committee is accepting new or gently used paperback dictionary donations for drop-off at the Saskatchewan Libraries Conference. The committee is also accepting monetary donations.

To learn more about the Prison Library Sub-Committee or make a donation, contact Committee Chair, Marika Hunter at marikahunter@gmail.com or visit the link below.

• January 1 - Continuing Education Grant Applications Open

• January 15 - Mary Donaldson Award Nominations Open

• February 1 - Honourary Life Member Award Nominations Close

• February 1 - Frances Morrison Award Nominations Close

• February 3 - Conference Registration Opens

• February 15 - Continuing Education Grants Close

• March 1 - Mary Donaldson Award Nominations Close

• April 2 - One Book One Province In-Person Events Begin

• April 18 - Conference Registrations Close

• May 8-9 - SLA Saskatchewan Libraries Conference

Hello, everyone,

Happy New Year! May your 2025 bring you every success, and may all of your bib records be complete and accurate.

As I write this to you today, I spent this morning hauling great big metal frames for story displays out of a great big metal storage sea-can in minus-38 windchill, a little exercise in what we like to call "duties as assigned". (And speaking of exercise, I'm counting the experience towards at least three different New Year's resolutions.)

Chilly as it may be, now's the time to get everything ready—we're almost to Family Literacy Day and Family Literacy Week! This year's Family Literacy Day in Saskatchewan falls on Monday, January 27, with a theme of "Learn to Be Green, Together!" and two featured books as this year's selections, Fox and Bear by Miriam Körner as the English-language book and La mélodie des petits fruits by Michaela Goade with translation by Natasha Kanapé Fontaine as the French-language book. For more information and resources, please visit the Family Literacy Day pages of the ABC Life Literacy Canada website and the Saskatchewan Literacy Network website.

And speaking of book selections, don't forget about this year's One Book One Province selection, Bread & Water: essays by dee Hobsbawn-Smith! Our event planning is in full swing for April 2025, so please keep an eye on our One Book One Province page, and on future SLAtes and SLA Newsflashes, for further details.

Yes, 2025 is shaping up to be another great year, and we're just getting warmed up! I mean that very literally, I'm just now starting to thaw out from hauling those frames around. Here's looking forward to spring!



Until next time,

James Hope Howard

SLA President

Wilu Call for Proposals

The Workshop for Instruction in Library Use (WILU) Planning Committee invites proposals for WILU 2025, hosted by McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, from June 9th-12th, 2025.   

The committee welcomes proposals on a wide range of topics related to library instruction, including (but not limited to):   

• anti-racist, equitable, and inclusive teaching  
• accessible teaching and Universal Design for Learning  
• place-based learning and community engagement  
• climate action and advocacy  
• professional development, mentorship, and community-building  
• student co-creation and partnerships  
• student-centred instruction and assessment  
• reflective teaching practices  

Submission deadline: January 10, 2025 

The full CFP and details on how to submit a proposal can be viewed on the WILU 2025 website using the link below.

OLA Super Conference Upcoming Opportunities

The Ontario Library Association is Canada’s largest library organization and OLA’s Super Conference is Canada’s largest continuing education event in librarianship. Within the Super Conference event is the country’s largest library tradeshow. The program is a tribute to the ability of OLA members to balance the cutting edge and the practical in a way that can satisfy an increasingly diverse number of member interests and needs.

For more information on 2025 conference programming, registration and session proposal opportunities, please use the link below.

CAPAL Committee Announces Two

New Awards

The CAPAL Awards Committee is excited to announce two prestigious new awards from CAPAL: the Early Career Researcher Award and the Student Research Paper Award. These awards aim to recognize and encourage excellence in research within our community.

Early Career Researcher Award

This award, which includes a $500 prize and a one-year CAPAL membership, is designed to encourage excellence in research among early career professional academic librarians. It is open to individuals who have graduated from a Master of Library and Information Science program or equivalent within the last five years. Group submissions are welcome, with the prize money split among winners.

Application deadline: January 31, 2025

Student Research Paper Award

This award recognizes research excellence in an unpublished paper written by students completing an MLIS or equivalent degree. The award includes a $500 prize and a one-year CAPAL membership. It is open to both individual and group submissions, with the prize money split among winners.

Application deadline: March 1, 2025

Applications for both awards should be submitted to capalawards@gmail.com.

To learn more or to apply, please visit the links below.

CFLA-FCAB Cataloguing and Metadata Standards Committee (CMSC) 

The CFLA-FCAB Cataloguing and Metadata Standards Committee (CMSC) is seeking a new member to represent Saskatchewan. 

The CFLA-CMSC is looking for someone who is:



• A member of a CFLA-FCAB provincial / territorial member association.
• Currently working in the area of cataloging or metadata in a Canadian library with a minimum of 2-5 years of relevant experience.
• Interested in current issues in cataloguing and metadata and engaged with a provincial / territorial community of practice.
• Available to participate in two or three online meetings per year and read the supporting documentation for each meeting. Appointments are for a three-year term.

Please submit your Letter of Expression and CV/Resume to info@saskla.ca before January 22, 2025. To learn more about this opportunity, please use the link below.

ALPA 2025 Annual Conference: Call for Proposals 

The Atlantic Province Literary Association (APLA) 2025 Conference Team invites proposals for presentation at the 2025 In-person Annual Conference taking place from June 10-13, 2025. This year's theme is Breaking Barriers.



Libraries have always been at the forefront of democratizing knowledge, fostering inclusion, and supporting their communities in overcoming obstacles. The theme Breaking Barriers aims to explore how libraries are challenging traditional boundaries, embracing innovation, and empowering individuals and communities. The APLA 2025 Conference seeks to address the challenges and opportunities in breaking down barriers, whether they are cultural, economic, digital, or educational.

Submission deadline is Monday, February 10, 2025. Selected presenters will be notified via email by Monday, February 24, 2025.

Questions? Email conference@apla.ca for more information.

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