Solos are often challenged by the paradox of success: It’s necessary to market one’s services, but demand can then outstrip resources. During this webinar, our presenters will offer a “lens of reality” with which to prioritize activities, based on a pragmatic approach: Users are unlikely to act the way librarians do! With a focus on perceived value on the part of the organization, they illustrate how important it is to understand users‘ value perceptions.

Who should attend:
All information professionals seeking to prioritize their activities — regardless of whether or not they work as solo librarians

By then end of this program, participants will:

1. Have a new perspective from which to assess user perceptions — and thus determine priorities
2. Have criteria with which to weigh the perceived value and impact of their current services — and thus adjust them

To register, visit METRO’s registration page.  For questions about registration or cancellation, visit METRO’s Registration Info page for policies and procedures.

This event is co-sponsored by METRO, the SLA Solo Librarians Division, and the SLA Toronto Chapter.

About our Speakers:

Ulla de Stricker is a prominent figure in the library community, having been active and entrepreneurial in the profession for 35 years. Following on a career in the information industry, she established her practice in 1992 to assist clients in strategic planning for information and knowledge management, corporate memory, and similar common challenges in information centric environments. A popular speaker and frequent contributor to the professional literature, Ulla holds leadership roles in several professional associations (currently serving on the board of directors of SLA 2011-2013 and chairing the 2011 and 2012 conferences of the Association of Independent Information Professionals). Articles, seminars, and a professional blog are available at www.destricker.com.

Experienced library and information professional, Amra Porobic is passionate about connecting her colleagues at the Insurance Bureau of Canada with information. Known as a solo librarian’s musketeer, she has successfully promoted, organized, hosted and presented numerous solo sessions since taking on a leading role with the SLA Toronto Solo’s wiki and administrator of Toronto Solo’s LinkedIn group. A member of SLA since 1998, she is a contributing writer for the Toronto chapter newsletter (The Courier) and a supporter of the job shadowing iSchool program.

Tuesday April 2, 2013 – Tuesday April 2, 2013

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Description:

Are you planning to attend the iSchool practicum exhibition on April 2^nd?  If not, don’t miss it!  The exhibition showcases the wonderfully varied projects that students of Vicki Whitmell’s INF2158 (Management of Corporate and Other Information Centers) practicum course have been engaged in.  The students have been designing databases, digitizing archived documents, evaluating best practices in online publishing, developing marketing strategies and research business plans (and much more!) in special libraries and information centers across Toronto and the GTA.

Following the exhibition, SLA Toronto is hosting a pub night with the New Information Professionals group. Come show your support for the students’ accomplishments at the exhibition and then join us to raise a toast to the future of the information profession! This is a great, informal opportunity for students and recent graduates, new and more experienced information professionals to mingle, network, and extend conversations and interactions started at the exhibition.

Questions can be directed at New Information Professionals Program Coordinator, Samhita Gupta at samhitagupta at gmail dot com.  

Cost is only your own food and drinks.

Date: Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Time: Practicum Exhibition: 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm, Pub Night: 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Register

Tuesday April 9, 2013 – Tuesday April 9, 2013

140 St. George Street

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Description:

**NEW ROOM – Please note that there is a room change for this event.  It is now to be held in Room 728, NOT Room 417.  

Part I: Overview and International Statistics

When: Apr 9 (6-8pm)

Where: Room BL 728, Claude T Bissell Building, 140 St George St, Toronto, ON

Cost: $15 members, $20 nonmembers, $5 students/unemployed

Part II:  Canadian and American Statistics

When: May 23 (6-8pm)

Where: Room BL 728, Claude T Bissell Building, 140 St George St, Toronto, ON

Cost: $15 members, $20 nonmembers, $5 students/unemployed

Navigating the world of statistics can be challenging. How and why are they compiled? Why is it so important to understand the political and administrative context in which statistics were collected and compiled before using them in an assignment, article, or report?

In this 2-part workshop, Mike McCaffrey will take you on a tour of the world of official statistics and will teach you the skills necessary to identify, assess, and access authoritative official statistical resources.

In the this first session, Mike will cover the basic concepts of official statistics; the difference between microdata and statistics, how and why they are compiled, who compiles them and how they reach us. The session will conclude with an overview of international statistics and will highlight the key, mostly open source, products that will meet virtually all of your statistical needs.

In the second session, Mike will focus on Canadian and American official statistics. Recent developments and changes in the Canadian statistical landscape will be discussed as will the complex administrative environment in which US official statistics are gathered and disseminated. The second session will conclude with a tour of the key resources for locating Canadian and American statistics.

Light refreshments will be provided.

Registration on this page is for the first event only (Apr 9).  Check back later to register for the second event in this series. Registration closes Saturday April 6 at midnight.

About the speaker:

Mike McCaffrey is a specialist in government information of all kinds. Since graduation, he has been the International Documents Librarian and Head of the Government Publications and Map Department at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, worked at York University Library and, since 1999, has taught the government information courses at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Information. He is currently a lecturer at the Faculty and teaches reference librarianship, government documents, and data librarianship courses, to name a few. He is the founder of the INTL-DOC listerv and is a co-owner of GOVINFO. He has written widely on government information, most recently on IGO information for the forthcoming Routledge Handbook of International Organizations. In June, Mike will be giving the keynote address at the ALA2013 Preconference, International Statistics: Helping Library Users Understand the Global Community, in Chicago.

Wait Lists
A wait list will be kept for this event. Please email the registrar for more information.

Cancellation Policy
48-hour notice must be provided to receive a refund. If you register but do not attend, you will still be asked to provide the registration fee (with the exception of extenuating circumstances.)

Questions or comments?  Contact the registrar for this event, Lola Rudin at lrudin @ utsc.utoronto.ca

Register

NEW DATE!! Please note that due to a conflict, this event will now be held on March 28, 2013 (NOT March 26)

When: Tuesday, March 28, 2013 – 6:30-8:30 pm

Location: Dora Keogh – front room, 141 Danforth Ave, Toronto, ON M4K 1N2

Host: John Shewfelt

RSVP by emailing John (john.shewfelt AT utoronto.ca) by Tuesday March 26

Google Glass and Libraries: The Beginning of the End or the End of Irrelevance?

SLA Toronto and TSLIS Network are pleased to invite you to participate in the March 2013 edition of Article Club!  Join us for a vibrant conversation about the prospect of Google Glass and libraries.  Too many of our conversations start inside out – we approach topics from our position and then make them fit our needs.  So, is Google Glass the next big thing?  Let’s discuss Glass from the Librarian’s context:  How do we build business in a world in which in life, and content, can be distilled down to a text recognition earcast?  No answers, just ideas.

Be at the Dora on March 26 at 6pm – and let’s find out!  Cost is only your own food and beverages.  Everyone is welcome.

Here are two blog posts to get the conversation going:

Mark Hurst.  ”The Google Glass feature no one is talking about.”  Available here or at: http://creativegood.com/blog/the-google-glass-feature-no-one-is-talking-about/

Eric Ravenscraft.  ”Here’s Why All the Google Glass Skeptics are Wrong (And a Few Ways It Might Fail Anyway).”  Available here or at: http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/03/01/heres-why-all-the-google-glass-skeptics-are-wrong-and-a-few-ways-it-might-fail-anyway/

When: Wednesday, March 20, 2013 – 12:15-1:30pm

Where: Martin Prosperity Institute, 95 St. George Street, 9th floor, Toronto ON

All SLA Toronto Chapter members are welcome to attend.  Come learn what your board is doing and give us your feedback and suggestions.  Volunteers are always appreciated.

Please let our President, Kim Silk (kimberly.silk @ rotman.utoronto.ca) know if you plan to join us for the meeting and/or if you have any questions or issues that you would like included on the agenda.

Wednesday March 20, 2013 – Wednesday March 20, 2013

Martin Prosperity Institute

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Description:

When: Wednesday March 20, 2013 @ 6-8pm (registration at 5:30pm)

Where: Martin Prosperity Institute, 95 St. George Street, Suite 900, Toronto, ON M5S 3E6

Cost: $10 members, $15 nonmembers, free for students/unemployed

Speakers: Annie Châtel, Marc Iacono-Harris, Stacey Bowers, and Rob Weisberg

A “Day in the Life” of an Info Professional: Tools and Techniques for Success

SLA Toronto Chapter invites you to join us for an informative evening about some of the tools and techniques information professionals need to successfully confront the challenges they face everyday.  Even though information professionals come in all stripes and colors, this event is going to be structured around “typical” scenarios an information professional might encounter, including media monitoring, using databases to perform in-depth research, and sorting out copyright.

Annie Châtel will take you through her experience and evolution as an information professional.  She will explore the “now” and “then” realities of media monitoring as she strives to find the timely and relevant intelligence for her clients in situations of crises and calm.  Marc Iacono-Harris and Stacey Bowers wil guide attendees through the use of Springer for R&D, a platform designed specifically from the perspective of a corporate researcher.  Marc and Stacey’s interactive session will focus on the content needs and demands of corporate researchers, as well as Springer’s business models.  Rob Weisberg will close the session with a primer on copyright, publication rights, and content licenses.

Questions or concerns can be directed at the registrar for this event, Anton Sardelic at antonsardelic @ hotmail.com.

About our Speakers

Boasting 25 years of experience in information science, Annie Châtel worked in multiple sectors: from forest to pharmaceutical industries, she is now a consultant at Eureka.cc for numerous clients.  She has implemented various practices and information systems that help acquire critical insights in real-time and save many resources.

Rob Weisberg is the Manager of Corporate and Government Licensing for Access Copyright, the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency.  His primary responsibility is the development of licences to facilitate distribution of copyrighted content in different ways and formats by businesses, non-profits and governments across Canada.  He has worked with organizations in every sector to develop and implement cost-effective content management solutions, procedures and policies.  Rob speaks on the topics of management and use of content, copyright, and the licensing of online content. In addition to presenting to training and information management groups in a corporate setting, he is a regular speaker to corporate and government information professionals at the Special Library Association’s Annual Conference.

Wait Lists
All events allow for a wait list to be compiled by the assigned registrar. If an individual cancels their registration, the wait list will be consulted on a first come, first serve basis.

Cancellation Policy
Attendees who wish to cancel will be asked to provide 48-hour notice to receive a refund. If the attendee registers but does not show up, they will still be asked to provide the registration fee.  (With the exception of extenuating circumstances.)

Register

Thursday March 7, 2013 – Thursday March 7, 2013

34 Isabella Street

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Description:

When: Thursday March 7, 2013 – 6-7:30pm (registration at 5:45pm in the CLGA lobby)

Where: Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives, 34 Isabella Street, Toronto, ON

Cost: $5.00 for most, free for students and the unemployed

Maximum registration: 20 participants

SLA Toronto Chapter invites you to join us on March 7, 2013, for a tour of the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives (CLGA) at the Jared D. Sessions House at 34 Isabella Street.  Founded in 1973, the CLGA has grown to become the second-largest LGBT archives in the world.  After years of operating in tiny, cramped offices, the CLGA finally moved into its new home at 34 Isabella Street in September 2009.  The house, built in 1858, is considered a heritage site in Toronto but has been extensively renovated for improved public engagement.

The tour will be led by Rebecka Sheffield and Kate Zieman, both of whom are active members of the library and archival community in Toronto, and it will include a look into the James Fraser Library, the processing and audiovisual rooms, the Archives Gallery, and other significant parts of the building.

Come take an exclusive peek at the CLGA and learn more about this vibrant part of the Toronto archival community!  Space is limited to only 20 participants so please register early.

Any questions or concerns can be directed at the Registrar for this event, Kim Pham, kim.pham @ mail.utoronto.ca

Cancellation Policy

Please cancel your registration as a courtesy to others. Due to the limited participant numbers for this event, a wait list will be kept and others may be able to take your place if you are unable to attend.

About the CLGA

The Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives was established to aid in the recovery and preservation of our histories.  Its mandate is to acquire, preserve, organize, and give public access to information and materials in any medium, by and about LGBT people, primarily produced in or concerning Canada.  To support this function, the Archives also maintains significant non-archival collections, which include a research library, international subject files, and an international collection of queer periodicals.  It is the mandate of the CLGA to make this information available to the public for education and research.  Over the years, the CLGA has helped hundreds of people – students, artists, journalists, lawyers, filmmakers – working on various projects.

About the speakers

Rebecka Sheffield is a volunteer archivist at the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives.  Rebecka has been involved with the CLGA since 2008 as a member of the Community Engagement Committee, which gives tours and presentations to community groups, researches and implements off-site exhibits, and contributes to the CLGA website and blog.  Rebecka is also a doctoral candidate in the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto, in collaboration with the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies.  Rebecka’s research draws from social movement theory and archival studies to explore the trajectories of queer archives as social movement organizations.  In addition, Rebecka served as guest editor of Archivaria’s Special Section on Queer Archives and has been published in Museum Management & Curatorship and American Archivist.  She publishes a blog, www.archivalobjects.com.

Kate Zieman has been involved with the CLGA since 2006 in a variety of capacities, including serving on the board, and chairing the Community Engagement Committee.  She is actively involved in the CLGA community and hosts library tours and presentation, and organizes exhibits.  Kate holds Masters degrees in Communication and Culture (York/Ryerson Universities) and Information Studies (University of Toronto), and an undergraduate degree in Women’s Studies, Film and English (University of Toronto).  She also writes about lesbian history for Queeries Magazine.  Kate currently works as a Media Librarian at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and as a freelance visual researcher with Breadcrumbs Infobrokers.

Register

SLA Toronto Chapter is pleased to present the following schedule of events for the first half of 2013!  The events in this list have all been confirmed.  Additional events may appear – look out for articdle clubs, more professional development events, and tours.  An updated list will be posted as events are finalized.

February

Feb 6 (12:30-1:30pm) – Digital Initiatives in Solo Land w/ Mark Rose and Amra Porobic

Feb 12 (6:30-8:30pm) – Article Club w/ Zachary Osborne (co-hosted with T-SLIS Network)

Feb 13 (12-1pm) – Social Media and the Knowledge Worker’s New Reality webinar (co-hosted with Eureka.cc) w/ Emmanuel Caisse

Feb 20 (6-7:30pm) – Coping Professionally and Elegantly with the Unforeseen at Work w/ Ulla de Stricker

March 

Mar 7 (6-7:30pm) – Tour of the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives (CLGA) w/ Kate Zieman and Rebecka Sheffield

Mar 20 (6-8pm) – A Day in the Life of an Information Professional (co-hosted with Eureka.cc, Springer, and Access Copyright)

Mar 27 (6-8pm) – Article Club w/ John Shewfelt (co-hosted with T-SLIS Network)

April

Apr 2 (7:30-9:30) – New Information Professionals pub night, post-iSchool Practicum Exhibit (5-7pm) – w/ SLA Toronto Student Group

Apr 9 (6-8pm) – Statistics: International workshop w/ Michael McCaffrey

Apr 16 (4-6pm) – Reality Check in Solo Land webinar w/ Amra Porobic and Ulla de Stricker

Apr 24 (12-1pm) – 360 Eureka webinar (co-hosted with Eureka.cc)

May 

May 8 (time TBD) – Knowledge Management in the Corporate Environment (co-hosted with Eureka.cc)

May 17 (6-7:30pm) – Speed Networking workshop w/ Kate Johnson (date of this event still to be confirmed)

May 23 (6-8pm) – Statistics: Canada and U.S. workshop w/ Michael McCaffrey

June

Jun 9-11 – SLA Annual Conference in San Diego

Jun 20 (6-8pm) – Post-Conference Dinner w/ conference attendees

Jun 26 (6-8pm) – Volunteer Appreciation Event

Wednesday February 20, 2013 – Wednesday February 20, 2013

Faculty of Information, University of Toronto

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Description:

When: Wednesday February 20, 2013 – 6-7:30pm (Registration opens at 5:30pm)

Where: Faculty of Information, 140 St. George Street, Room BL 224/225, Toronto, ON

Cost: $5 members / $10 non-members / free – students & unemployed

SLA Toronto Chapter and the New Information Professionals Group is proud to present the last workshop  in the 2012 Professional Development Series with Ulla de Stricker:

Mama Said there’d be Days like These: Coping Professionally and Elegantly with the Unforeseen at Work

Aaarrghh!  No amount of professional preparation and technical proficiency can shield us from “stuff happening” at work.  When something unexpected inevitably arises, we have options for how to deal with it.  Ulla covers some typical workplace situations and outlines the approaches we can choose to take to keep a professional demeanor and keep stress to a minimum.

Over the years, Ulla has helped many budding information professionals with their careers and professional development. This workshop will provide information professionals new and old with valuable advice about dealing with professional situations – come learn and participate!

Light refreshments will be provided.

Registration closes on Sunday  February 17 at midnight.

Wait Lists
Please cancel your registration as a courtesy.  We frequently keep wait lists, and another may wish to take your place.

Cancellation Policy
48-hour notice must be provided to receive a refund. If you register but do not attend, you will still be asked to provide the registration fee (with the exception of extenuating circumstances.)

Questions or concerns?  Please contact the registrar for this event, Alexandra Kwan: alexandra.kwan @ mail.utoronto.ca

Register

SLA Toronto Solo Group invites you to the Winter 2013 session on digital initiatives in solo libraries.  This session offers an overview of two projects newly implemented in two organizations.  Mark Rose will touch upon issues encountered in his recent launch of eBooks at the Muniscope Library.  Amra Porobic will talk about her role in CRM employment at IBC.  The discussion will be rather informal and free of PPT presentations.  Webinar option will not be exercised this time.  Conference call option will be available.

When: Wednesday, February 6, 2013 – 12:30-1:30 pm

Location: Insurance Bureau of Canada,  777 Bay Street, Suite 2400, East Meeting Boardroom, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5G 2C8

Map

Please RSVP by emailing Amra (pamra7 @ gmail.com) by February 2, 2013. Please specify if you want to participate by phone.

Refreshments will be served. Bring your own lunch if you wish.

About the presenters:

Mark Phillip Rose has been with the Intergovernmental Committee on Urban and Regional Research for over 11 years. His latest title is Information Services Manager. Aside from managing all of the library functions, Mark is responsible for looking after the organization’s two websites and SharePoint platform, and acts as the first line of support for the computer systems. During his tenure, Mark assisted with the launch of three websites, brought the cataloguing manual closer to library standards compliance (AACR2 and RDA), revised the ICURR thesaurus, edited the ICURR newsletter, and launched a knowledge management Wiki. Most recently, Mark has introduced eBooks using EBSCOhost platform.

Amra Porobic is Library Manager at the Insurance Bureau of Canada with over 25 years’ experience in special libraries. Apart from being in charge of research, monitoring and information management at IBC, Amra is engaged with web content management for three websites, social media, training and CRM. In her role as Toronto Solo Group Coordinator, she has been planning and hosting solo meetings since 2008. Amra is the creator and editor of Toronto Solo’s wiki and administrator of Toronto Solo’s LinkedIn group. She reports on the work of the group for The Courier.