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ISSN 2369-4939
Volume 6 Issue 3
March 1, 2020
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Letter from the President
Greetings! I started the month of February at the OLA Super Conference, which was a great time to learn and meet with colleagues from across the country. My message from the February SLAte provided an update about the Partnership meeting. Since then, I met again with the Partnership subcommittee that is reviewing the viability of the Continuing Education Certificate. We are looking at ways to renew the program. Please let me know if you have any thoughts about this program and/or the Education Institute. Keep an eye out for a survey soon coming your way about the Education Institute and the Continuing Education Certificate.
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Photo Credit: Andrew Marshall |
The first week back in the office also brought a great visit and meeting with the Regional Library Directors who combined a tour of the RCMP Learning Resource Centre and a meeting with Dorothea Warren and me about SLA. This was a timely meeting, because we met with Deputy Premier Wyant later that week about libraries and SLA. We are excited to see that this will be the first of regular meetings in the future.
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Executive Director's Report
Thank you to Regional Library Directors
Regional Library Directors were able to include SLA on their meeting agenda in February. The agenda included: information for meeting with Deputy Premier Wyant, potential expansion of Continuing Education Grants, support for SLA recruitment of Members by distributing information to new employees and of program administration. We hope to have regular opportunities to meet in the future.
Meeting with Deputy Premier Wyant on February 6, 2020
Amy Rankin, President, Darrel Yates, Treasurer and I had a very positive meeting with Minister Wyant, Deputy Premier and Minister of Education and Clint Repski, Assistant Deputy Minister of Education. The agenda included: Information Sharing and Updates, Funding Considerations and Communications. The importance of continuing to profile the significant contribution that libraries make in communities and for individuals was noted. Libraries and their patrons are encouraged to share their stories about how libraries have impacted their lives. Testimonials from patrons are powerful messages to other potential patrons, as well as community and provincial leaders.
SLA Board Nominations for 2020-21
A great opportunity to contribute to your profession!
As a board member, you have an opportunity to lead and influence the direction of the Association. You will become familiar with issues affecting libraries of all types. As an organization, we work collectively to improve and support libraries through advocacy, communication, stakeholder engagement, professional development and networking. You will gain experience that contributes to your professional portfolio and at a personal level, you get to make new friends and contacts.
There is a time commitment; SLA typically holds 6 - 7 meetings a year (June Board changeover, August retreat, October, November, January, March, April/May), some of which are through teleconference. Board members chair and/or participate on the Association's committees including: Continuing Education, Advocacy and Development, Membership, Publications, Program. The work accomplished by these committees benefits the Saskatchewan library community. This year, there are four positions available.
Congratulations to Erin Placatka: Maureen Woods Education Bursary Recipient
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Photo Credit: Cassidy Nunn |
Erin grew up in Saskatoon, and got her first taste of library work as a casual with the University of Saskatchewan libraries while studying Environmental Engineering. She moved to Victoria to study law and briefly tried out a career as a lawyer before returning home to Saskatoon and finding her career home at the public library in 2017. She's been with Saskatoon Public Library since then, holding a number of roles in public service, and is currently a member of the Programming & Creative Spaces team. She's proud of her work identifying gaps in the library's service to the community and working to fill those gaps by introducing new programs. Most recently, she's been working with a small team on a pilot sensory storytime.
Category 1 Continuing Education Grant Report
Submitted by Lindsay Baker
T
hanks to the Saskatchewan Library Association's Category 1 Continuing Education Grant, I had the opportunity to attend the Ontario Library Association's Super Conference 2020 in Toronto, Ontario. The conference was held January 29 - February 1st, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
The OLA Super Conference is the largest library conference in Canada, and offers a wide selection of session 'streams' to choose from, including Indigenous, Public Libraries, Governance, and Technology, as well as a very large Expo including vendors, demonstrations, and its own presentation stage.
With the large selection of sessions, keynotes, Expo presentations and 'spotlight on' events to choose from, I was able to attend sessions that were useful to many aspects of my job including collections, programming, management and advocacy, as well as meet with librarians from different sectors and from across Canada.
Mary Donaldson Award of Merit
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Photo courtesy Saskatchewan Archives Board. #55-446-01
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Applications are invited for the 2020 Mary Donaldson Award. The Mary Donaldson Award of Merit was established in 1977 to provide a bursary to a full-time or part-time Saskatchewan student enrolled in a library and information technician program. The award will be presented during the annual Saskatchewan Library Association Conference in May. Please note the deadline for applications is
March 31, 2020.
Libraries Matter. A National Voice Matters. CFLA-FCAB Matters.
The Canadian Federation of Library Associations invites you to Winnipeg, Manitoba, for the second National Forum to be held
April 7-8, 2020. The host venue is the Delta Winnipeg Hotel, 350 St Mary Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba.
CFLA-FCAB invites you to join the welcome reception on April 7 at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and the National Forum on April 8. The National Forum program is designed to blend informative sessions with challenging roundtable conversations. It will carefully continue the discussion on how Canadian libraries can best apply the critical value of intellectual freedom while considering the importance of creating a welcoming space for marginalized community members. The day's outcome will be a National Forum Paper informing CFLA-FCAB's positioning.
Education Institute Sessions
The Education Institute offers programming year-round for professionals from all library sectors from coast to coast. All webinars are $45 for members and $55 for non members, unless otherwise noted. Webinars qualify for one CEC credit.
Click here to view the Education Institute Winter Calendar.
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Freedom to Read Week
Freedom to Read Week was February 23-29. In all, four Saskatchewan Libraries applied for and received grants to support their programming during this very important week. Congratulations to Meadow Lake Library, Edam Library, Eastend and Imperial Libraries. Thank you for your thoughtful plans and projects. To read more about the projects please visit
https://www.freedomtoread.ca/provinces/saskatchewan/.
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Photo Credit: Ann Liang |
We are all looking forward to One Book, One Province month, which begins today, March 1st. The launch event took place on February 27 at Government House in Regina. Hosted by their Honours Russ and Donna Mirasty, the evening was a fitting start to a month full of readings and discussions. For a complete list of events, please visit www.onebooksk.ca. There you will also find additional materials to encourage the discussion about the OBOP theme "One Land, Many Stories".
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Photo Credit: Ann Liang
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Lieutenant Governor Russ Mirasty, Honourary Patron for the project, commented, "I strongly support the goals of One Book, One Province Saskatchewan - to increase literacy and to build community through a shared reading experience. Candace Savage's book is a great choice; the thought-provoking themes of A Geography of Blood are relevant to each one of us and the story of this land that we share."
To add to the materials currently available, SLA, in partnership with the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild, the Museums Association ofSaskatchewan and the Saskatchewan History and Folklore Society. has created a video featuring Candace Savage reading from the OBOP selection A Geography of Blood: Unearthing Memory from a Prairie Landscape in the beautiful, historic Legislative Library. Please watch and share this video as much as possible. If you would like, you can use it in your own library as a starting point for discussion.
If you do host an event of your own, we would appreciate your submitting a short evaluation, or telling us what you think about the program and how we can improve it. The evaluation form is available here.
Conference Registration Now Open!
The Saskatchewan Libraries Conference 2020 is rapidly approaching with less than 70 days to go! Activities kick off with a pre-conference session by Nancy Goebel. The workshop is titled Empathy in Libraries: Some Considerations for Library Staff and is scheduled on the afternoon of Wednesday, May 6 at the University of Regina Dr. John Archer Library. Nancy Goebel did research during 2019 considering how libraries can foster the development of empathy in library staff and patrons. Participants will leave the session with practical ideas as to how they can be more empathic in their work. Ms. Goebel is Head Librarian of the Augustana Campus Library of the University of Alberta.
The conference begins the morning of
Thursday, May 7 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, Regina. Noted Indigenous playwright and novelist
Tomson Highway will deliver a keynote address. Following the keynote, there will be a day-long forum which will address four Indigenous themes relevant to libraries. A reception with conference exhibitors closes out the afternoon. In the evening,
Nora Young, a broadcaster and writer, and currently the host of Spark on CBC Radio One will be the featured speaker at the Mary Donaldson Memorial Lecture. The session begins at 7:30 pm followed by the SLA President's Reception at 8:30 pm. The second day of the conference (
Friday, May 8) will consist of several concurrent session on a wide range of topics that will be of interest to library workers from all sectors.
The pre-conference registration fee is $30.00.
Conference registration fees vary depending on your SLA membership.
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South West District for Culture, Recreation and Sport features One Book, One Province title
South West District for Culture, Recreation and Sport has released their Spotlight story about book clubs and featured the One Book, One Province title,
A Geography of Blood. In February, the Saskatchewan Festival of Words book club read
A Geography of Blood to encourage people to read the book in advance of the OBOP tours.
Willow Awards
Report Submitted by Judy Nicholson
As the SLA Representative to the Willows Awards (SYRCA Inc), I am having a great time. It is such an engaged, hard-working group: the board and volunteers in the reading groups, as well all the teachers, librarians, parents and young readers across the province. You make this work! It is inspiring.
The Willow Awards program is well into the voting cycle. Please remember to vote online by
March 31
at
There is also a Book Grab. The Willows have many boxes of books to downsize - you can donate money for a certain size of bag and fill it with books. Books are generally appropriate for ages 5 - 15.
Indigenous Subject Headings in Saskatchewan
The Multitype Library Board is embarking upon a collaborative project to develop modernized subject headings related to Indigenous peoples for use in cataloguing in Saskatchewan libraries. The goal of the project is to develop a vocabulary that can replace the outdated and inappropriate subject headings that are in common use in many library catalogues with subject headings that are more inclusive and culturally appropriate within a Saskatchewan context.
A working group is being formed to develop this new vocabulary and we are searching for volunteers to be a part of this exciting multi-sector project. Those with expertise in cataloguing or working with Indigenous groups are invited to join this provincial initiative.
Amanda Leduc's book, Disfigured, marks a milestone in accessible publishing in Canada
Congratulations to Hamilton, Ontario author Amanda Leduc whose book,
Disfigured, is the first Canadian title to be published in all accessible and traditional formats simultaneously.
Manitoba Library Association Scholarships
The deadline for Manitoba Library Association scholarships is approaching! Scholarships are open to MLS/MLIS students from Manitoba. Two scholarship funds are being offered. Part-time and full-time students are eligible (see FAQ for details) and each scholarship may be awarded up to two times per applicant.
Complete eligibility requirements and forms are available
here
. The deadline for applications is April 15, 2020.
If you have any questions, please contact the Manitoba Library Association at awards@mla.mb.ca.
New Law Librarians' Institute
The Canadian Association of Law Libraries/Association canadienne des bibliothèques de droit (CALL/ACBD) will be hosting the
New Law Librarians' Institute (NLLI) in June at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton. NLLI is an intensive, four-day program aimed at developing librarians' skills in the key competencies of law librarianship.
Registration for NLII is now open and all information is available
here.
Scholarship Opportunity in Library Sciences
The Shelagh Neary Mikulak Memorial Scholarship for Leadership and Innovation in Library Sciences is a scholarship opportunity for Canadian post-secondary students pursuing a degree in the library sciences field.
Students must be:
- Enrolled in a Library and Information Sciences or Library Technician program, Certificate Program, Undergraduate or Graduate degree who demonstrates a passion for the library sciences field.
- In any year of study at a Canadian post-secondary.
- Able to demonstrate financial need
There are two scholarships at approximately $2,000 each.
The deadline to apply is June 1st at midnight. Eligible applicants are encouraged to access scholarship information directly here.
To access the Student Awards Online Portal, select 'Apply Now' under the award listing on the awards webpage. If you have any questions, please contact
studentawards@calgaryfoundation.org
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Learning Opportunity: Discovering Canadian Major Dailies
Are you a librarian or teacher-librarian looking for resources for local, regional or national news coverage?
Canadian Major Dailies provides full text access to national and regional newspaper content.
This online database has current and historical backfile coverage of major Canadian newspapers.
Join this upcoming webinar to learn tips and tricks to quickly find the news information that you and your users and students need.
The webinar will be presented on March 18, 2020 from 10:00 - 10:45 AM. Click here to register.
Newsletters from other cultural organizations
Check out the latest newsletters from the following organizations:
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Saskatchewan Library Association
10-2010 7th Ave.
Regina, SK S4R 1C2
Phone: 306-780-9413 or 306-780-9409
Fax: 306-780-9447
SLA reserves the right to change or edit any submission or to refuse publication in its entirety.
The deadline for receipt of submissions for SLAte is the 25th of each month.
Everyone, Including Culture, Wins When You Buy Lottery Tickets
The core funding that SLA receives through SaskCulture is part of the Lottery Trust where a percentage of every lottery ticket sold goes to support sport, culture and recreation groups within Saskatchewan. It appears that recent lottery sales are not meeting expectations, which will not have an immediate effect on SLA. However we encourage you to remind audiences and arts council members that buying lottery tickets benefits the entire community. Saskatchewan Lotteries has also launched an app that you can download in the App Store or Google Play. More information is available on the Saskatchewan Lotteries website.
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Saskatchewan Library Association © 2014. All Rights Reserved.
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