Fall is here and the new “SLA season” is about to begin. This is the time of year of putting away the flip-flops and sunscreen, bringing out the heavy sweaters and enjoying comfort foods like soups and stews. It is also a new beginning of sorts as the kids go back to school and the pace of work picks up. SLA chapter life also picks up and we are gearing up for a year full of education, networking opportunities and exciting changes.

This is a transitional year for us as we move to a new governance year and a new governance model. The Board has been expanded by 3 positions and we now have a volunteer pool from which we can ask members to take on one specific task. Our first “dip” into the pool was a huge success thanks to Greg Barber’s organizational skills. We had more than 25 people at the summer patio event. Clearly you enjoy events of this nature and we have already asked Greg to take on planning two more throughout the year.

The change in governance year has lead to a change to the format of the joint holiday social. This year we will be having our joint event with Caslis in January rather than December to accommodate the required chapter business that needs to be conducted at our December meeting. Our December event will be similar to past AGMs with an interesting speaker and plenty of good food. The details of the event are not finalized and I don’t want to ruin the surprise. I can give you a hint about the nature of the event – a big cheese will be there.

Now that the Conference is behind us, we can refocus on our energies on equally exciting albeit more local projects. We just did a big outreach program where we successfully recruited new members and showed the rest of SLA just what the Toronto chapter is made of. This year we are going to look inwards. We are doing more “in-reach” with the goal of getting to know each other a little better. We have plans to do more human-interest columns in the Courier such as the new “People on the Move” piece in this issue. Our first event on September 22nd will have an organized networking component to it and as I mentioned in my last column, more chapter awards. What do all of these things need to gain momentum? You! We are looking for updates on where you are working, promotions, professional successes or personal celebrations.

I hope you enjoy this issue of the Courier while you are eating a crisp fall apple and enjoying the cooler evenings of the season. I also hope you feel more connected to someone as a result of something you’ve read and make the effort to reach out and expand your network.

Sincerely,

Laura Knapp

A Fond Farewell.

This is our final newsletter as the editors of the Courier. It is rather a bitter sweet finale as it was great fun to produce the quarterly editions over the last two years, but it also feels great to move on to other projects. Your new editors going forward will be Heather Postill and Elizabeth Malak-McMullen. We encourage you to contact Heather and Elizabeth with story ideas, announcements and anything else you feel your fellow Chapter members should be aware of.

As for this issue, our summer swan song, there are a number of conference session summaries filed by Gwen Harris, Daniel Lee, Alan Harnum and Dave Hook.

Greg Barber fills us in on what it was like to be in the trenches of the Toronto Chapter conference information booth

Find out what our student members have been up to and what the Solos have planned for the fall.

For a little levity see Peter de Jager’s advice to public speakers.

We have enjoyed producing the Courier and thank all the authors who graciously offered their services (or who succumbed to peer pressure and some begging from the editors). Our thanks to Laura, Gayle, Martha and Daniel for their guidance over the last couple of years. And to the members of the SLA community, for whom this publication was created, please accept our sincere thanks for your support of this publication.

Cheers,

Jo-Ann McQuillan
Stephanie Hilson

New editors for volumes 43 & 44

Heather Postill
Elizabeth Malak-McMullan

Welcome to the Fall issue of the Courier – our first as editors. Now that the excitement of SLA 2005 has passed and summer is officially over, the realities of work (and deadlines) are intruding once again as everyone gets back to business. Including your Toronto Chapter.

Like a sack full of Halloween candy, this issue is a bit of a “mixed bag” – only with less calories: to keep you up-to-date there are a number of items on Chapter news and events, past, present and future; we also mark the start of a new regular column ‘People on the Move’; and Peter deJaeger reminds us all of the importance of making mistakes.

We are very excited about some of upcoming enhancements to the Courier and look forward to the year ahead. As Laura Knapp discusses in her ‘President’s Column’, this issue marks the start of a more ‘inward’ focus for the newsletter so now is the time to submit those articles about our members, their accomplishments and the places they work. And as always, any feedback is welcome too.

Contact us directly anytime for more information.

Heather Postill
hpostill@sympatico.ca

Elizabeth Malak-McMullan
elizabeth.malak-mcmullan@vaughan.ca

It’s hard to believe that the summer has wound up and we are already into fall. While most of us took time off to enjoy the warm weather, SLA was hard at work. I’ve summarized a few of the noteworthy items below.

Changes to SLA’s Membership Department
Recently SLA’s Membership Department has introduced improvements to its services. New members now receive payment acknowledgement, a welcome message with their login information, and an e-receipt – all via e-mail. Renewing members receive payment acknowledgement and a receipt by e-mail. Plus, each member now receives two e-reminders when it’s time to renew his or her membership. Each e-reminder includes helpful instructions on how to easily renew online.

Update on Click University
In my previous Board Watch column I discussed Click University, SLA’s new online learning community for information professionals worldwide. The Fall Schedule is ready and features a series of web-based courses that are open to SLA members. Of particular interest to our chapter is the course “Canadian Copyright Law Online 2005″. It runs from November 5 to December 6 and costs US$99. The instructor is copyright authority Leslie Ellen Harris.

While browsing Click University be sure to visit the “Student Lounge” where SLA members can exchange their views on a variety of topics that affect our profession. The discussion is likely to become lively as more members discover the site over the coming months.

Click University is still under development and new content will be added in the future. Be sure to check out Click University to see what is new and how it can help you to achieve your professional development goals. To access Click University go to http://clickuniversity.com.

Syracuse University Partnership
SLA has entered into a partnership with Syracuse University that will allow members to take courses at a significantly discounted rate. The schedule includes online courses, campus intensive courses and Washington, D.C., courses. The online courses are three credits, the two-day courses are two credits, five-day courses are two credits, and the six- to seven-day courses are three credits. Details are available at www.ist.syr.edu/courses/schedules.asp?sem=1053.

Syracuse is offering SLA members courses at a 50 percent discount on tuition, as long as students are not taking these for graduate credit. If the class is taken for graduate credit, Syracuse is offering SLA members a 10 percent discount on courses. The 50 percent discount makes the cost comparable to the CE courses that SLA offers at conferences. Students will get a certificate indicating that they have completed the class.

Systems Thinking Web Site Launched
Designed to help library and information professionals have greater impact on their organizations, SLA presents the new Systems Thinking web site. Coordinated by members, the site builds on the work of business strategist Peter Senge and provides resources about “systems thinking.” The concept is about shifting workers’ mindsets so they focus on how each action, decision, and omission has a domino effect, affecting their overall organization. The site includes a self-assessment to determine behaviour that supports or detracts from “systemness;” an online component to collect benchmarking data; SLA competencies that support systems behaviour; a blog to facilitate the sharing of stories and experiences, and more. To access the site go to www.sla.org/division/dbio/Systems/.

The project is coordinated by Lorri Zipperer and Jan Sykes and is sponsored by the Biomedical and Life Sciences Division. It was funded by an SLA Endowment Fund Grant. For more info, visit the site or email lorri@zap.com or jansykes@ameritech.net.

Upcoming SLA Meetings
Have you made plans to attend the SLA South Atlantic Regional Conference (SARC III) in Williamsburg, Virginia, on September 28-October 1? How about the SLA Leadership Summit in Houston, Texas, on January 18-21, 2006? Mark your calendars and check the Web for details. Information about SARC can be found at www.sla.org/conf/conf_sar/index.html while details about the Leadership Summit will be posted on the SLA web site later this year.

Downtown Lunches
The Toronto Solo Librarians group is hoping to have several meetings in October. The Downtown lunch group generally meets once a month on Mondays and this year, thanks to Kolette Taber of The Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA), we will be meeting at 1 Queen Street East, Suite 1700, Boardroom B. Our first meeting, on Monday October 3 at noon, will consist of getting to know each other and discussing plans for future meetings. As well, for future meetings, I hope to arrange for several guests to come in to talk to us about Continuing Education and Copyright.

If you have suggestions for future meetings or wish to join us, please get in touch with me (clintonresearch@yahoo.ca).

GTA North Dinners

Last year we had a very interesting dinner meeting for those Solos who work and/or live north of the City. This year we will be doing it again, but this time including our colleagues living/working in the Brampton area. Our first dinner will be Tuesday, November 1 at 7:00 p.m. (location to be determined in the Hwys 400 & 7 area) and we will be sharing our favourite free-access resource.

New Members
We are always looking for solo colleagues with whom to connect. So pass this issue of Courier around and bring a fellow solo to an event happening near you!

Future Plans
My term as Chair of the Solo Librarians Committee comes to an end in December. Please start thinking about volunteering as Chair for the coming calendar year of 2006. The position is not terribly time consuming and provides an opportunity to meet a lot of interesting people.

I look forward to seeing all of you again in the fall.

Gillian Clinton is the principal of Clinton Research. Her company provides information research, knowledge management and library services to corporations or individuals on an as-needed basis. She can be reached at clintonresearch@yahoo.ca or 416-218-9038.

Stephanie Hilson has accepted a new postion at MacMaster University as a prospect researcher in the University Advancement department.

Rani Pooran, a recent FIS grad, will be moving to London, England to work for PwC as an Assistant Consultant in the Tax Knowledge Management Department.

Marjan Farahbaksh, a recent FIS grad, has accepted a position at the Globe and Mail as a New Researcher.

Sandy Iverson is Ebsco’s new Account Executive in Southwestern Ontario.

Michel Adrien Sheppard is moving to Ottawa for a librarian position with the Supreme Court of Canada.

Gayle Gossen will be the Corporate Sales Manager at Order it.ca, a division of Restaurants on the Go. She is also chairing the SLA Chapter Modelling Task Force.

Amanda Valpy has retired from the Globe and Mail.

Laura Knapp is the new VP, Business Development and Client Relations at de Stricker and Associates.

Pam Casey just completed her second Walk to end Breast Cancer. She raised over $2000. This is Pam’s second time doing the weekend long walk and she is committed to going again in 2006.

Caroll Shortell is the newest team member at the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.

Did you know that there is such a thing as beer ice cream?? This beer novice certainly didn’t, but that’s just one item on the menu at Beerbistro, a unique restaurant dedicated to beer and beer cuisine. On September 22, the Toronto Chapter held it’s first event of the fall season at the Beerbistro on King St. E. With a book sized beer menu, the sheer number of choices were overwhelming but staff were on hand to give recommendations.

Despite the rainy weather, about 25 members came out to enjoy some beer tasting, great food and opportunities for networking. There were lots of new faces and the organizers came up with a particularly effective icebreaker to help everyone meet and get to know each other. Board members gave us a glimpse of what we can expect in the year ahead; including changes to the AGM, upcoming events and feedback from the recent SLA 2005 Conference.

Many thanks to Sandy Iverson who organized the event. Keep an eye on the website and Listserv for upcoming events.

This fall, the IGLOO Research Portal (International Governance Leaders and Organizations Online), an initiative of the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), is aspiring to set new standards for international governance solutions by providing free and immediate electronic research resources and online meetings places.

The creators of IGLOO appreciate the value that factual information and original research has to the creation of solutions for global development, and recognize just how inaccessible and unreliable this information can be on the World Wide Web. Access to information is the key to improving upon global governance, and solutions require more immediacy – people need to remain connected to each other, as well as to the most up-to-date information – this is best provided by a vehicle such as the Internet.

CIGI employs a knowledgeable and experienced staff to offer research and technical support to anyone, anywhere, anytime. Web developers are building a website that allows for the lack of high-speed technology, for users in the developing world. CIGI believes that everyone everywhere requires access to the best resources in order to improve governance and international development.

The IGLOO Research Portal brings to new heights the concept of individuals collaborating online by uniting institutions, academics, and practitioners through public and private web communities. Knowledge is not only found within libraries, but also in personal and community experiences. Within web communities, academics, leaders and practitioners can review and discuss new research, current events and build private libraries. The only payment CIGI requires of communities is that they submit their new and original research to the IGLOO Research Library.

The Research Library improves upon the concept of online repositories. It offers access to a free and permanent collection of electronic resources pertaining to eleven categories of international governance – Economy, Energy, Environment, Health, Humanitarian Issues, International Institutions, International Law, Millennium Development, Peace and Security, Science and Technology, and Social Development. This collection is protected by an open access “some rights reserved” Creative Commons licence, allowing IGLOO users to freely download and share knowledge in the spirit of governance innovation.

IGLOO uses the materials for the sole purpose of redistributing them at no charge to researchers working in the international governance field. CIGI has selected a copyright license that best assures access, both technically and legally. These freedoms are expressed in a way that the average person can understand (the “Commons Deed”), in a way that courts will enforce (the license) and in a way that computers can understand (with machine-readable metadata). The version of the Creative Commons licence which CIGI has selected allows the licensor to retain the original copyright of the work; copy the work; distribute the work; display or perform it publicly; and/or shift the work into another format as a verbatim copy. The end user is allowed to copy, distribute, or display the author’s/organization’s work, so long as the author is given credit; the work cannot be used for commercial purposes; and no derivatives of the original can be created without seeking permission from the copyright owner. To learn more about Creative Commons, please visit www.creativecommons.org.

The Research Library’s primary acquisitions method is the development of content partnerships. A content partner is defined as any individual, organization, or government body that produces quality content (research/working papers, briefs, speeches, reports, statistics, bibliographies, pamphlets, books/manuscripts, policy, legislation, resolutions, etc.) pertaining to international governance, and has agreed to allow CIGI to house the material in the IGLOO Research Library.

The Library is also developing a trustworthy submissions system allows anyone to submit content. The content will pass through a filtering process to ensure that the content is appropriate to the IGLOO mission, and will then proceed to be catalogued. IGLOO is interested in hosting unpublished submissions, making way for an Editorial Review Board – an international group of research fellows from the CIGI Global Fellowship Program, each of whom specialize in one or more of the 11 thematic categories represented in the Library.

IGLOO’s innovative Research Services are attempting to change the way governance experts do research. Users can employ the Virtual Research Assistant to create bibliographies (simple or annotated) of any length, on any topic related to international governance. The Bibliography Builder (name is subject to change) collects citations and notes while the user searches, and allows him/her to reformat and save the bibliography to a personal workspace. The World Reference webpage provides current demographic information and statistics on any country in the world.

The IGLOO Research Portal aims to provide librarians and libraries with a comprehensive, up-to-date, free, and authoritative database that will enhance their services to the patrons. Designed, constructed and maintained by professional researchers and information specialists, the IGLOO Research Library has an easy-to-use interface and orientation that can save librarians time in exploring these new online repositories and instructing their patrons. Different from other traditional online information services, which only enable library patrons to query the database and retrieve information, IGLOO encourages the participation of its users by sharing and exchanging their own ideas on international governance through online communities (public and private) and forums, or by contributing their own articles to the library. By introducing this new concept of IGLOO to patrons, libraries are bringing them a value-added service that will satisfy their special needs.

The individual researcher is encouraged to create a personal workspace called “myIGLOO”. The personal workspace is an online work space to store documents; build bibliographies and create research reports; employ virtual research assistants; submit content to the Research Library; receive news feeds and notifications; maintain a global events calendar; track expert blogs; and correspond with librarians. The workspace has all the necessary tools to produce research and stay abreast of the world’s development.

Imagine a world where information is free, where international governance materials are stored in one permanent and searchable database. Imagine researching without ink or paper, and having access to personal research files and notes wherever there is an internet connection. Imagine leaders and policymakers communicating and solving global governance issues without having to leave their country. Imagine the general public and small NGOs from the developing world sharing a reliable research environment with leaders and large academic institutions. Imagine the publishing of research in a trusted and peer-reviewed environment, where the author maintains the ownership of his or her work. This fall, the IGLOO Research Portal will make all of this a reality in a single online environment, and change the way global governance solutions are found.

The Centre for International Governance Innovation recently joined the Special Libraries Association, and Toronto chapter.

If you don’t occasionally experience failure, you’re not trying hard enough. That’s what you might call ‘contrary’ advice; it’s certainly not what they taught us at school. Mistakes and failure, generated scrawling red marks on our homework, and too many errors could keep us from getting to the next grade.

In the real world, the opposite is true. Even though failure isn’t perceived by many as something to strive for, it’s the only way we advance.

Here’s a real life, silly and simple, example. I’m an avid reader. When I’m at the airport bookstand, the chances are very good that I’ve read everything by my favourite authors on the shelves in front of me. Yet, if I’m going to be sitting in a plane for the next five hours, I must have something to read. What do I do? I chose two numbers at random, say five and seven, and then I count off… five columns to the right, 7 books down, and I buy that book… if I haven’t read it already.

Using this method, I’ve bought a lot of awful books (i.e. failure) and I’ve found some great authors I’d never heard of before, (i.e. success) which I would not have read unless I was willing to risk a few dollars on a random choice.

The core idea in my peculiar book hunting strategy, is the notion that it is okay to risk some small failure if the goal is to achieve greater success, in this case, finding a new author. To place this in a business context, think back to the last time you were in a meeting, at the point where the chairperson needed to assign new duties. When you raised your hand to accept a task, did you take the one you could handle without any trouble, or one which would stretch your talents?

Most people, myself included most of the time, assume responsibility only for those tasks we know we’re qualified. Yet the opportunity for growth doesn’t reside in the shallow end of the pool. If we want to grow, then seizing the task at the deep end, the one we know nothing about, is where we’ll find all the fun, and of course, all the risk.

“We can’t afford failure” is the excuse offered by many managers, as they hand out tasks only to those capable of delivering results without risk. Each time they do, they choose to lose an opportunity to grow their staff.

“But! We can’t afford constant failure on ‘must do’ operational tasks!” is the response once again… and to a limited degree, it’s a good response. Giving every “must do” task to the unqualified is the path to chaos, not progress. On the other hand, never stretching staff abilities leads to stagnation.

The real problem with a “no risk” approach to all “must do” tasks is that our cautious pattern of behaviour can become engrained, resulting in a culture of risk avoidance.

With “must do” tasks, this isn’t such a bad strategy, but what about those tasks which can come into existence only when we deliberately seek out new, and usually risky, ways of doing things? A culture of risk avoidance prevents us from even thinking about the new, the unfamiliar, and out of the ordinary ways of achieving our goals. It leads to a “leave well enough alone” and “if it isn’t broke don’t fix it” mentality, which serves only a single purpose, to ensure that what we did yesterday, is exactly what we do tomorrow and next week.

The reality is, we cannot practice innovation without increasing the risk of failure, and the more innovative the idea, the greater the risk. Sadly, most people will reject even the tiny risk associated with randomly selecting a new book to read, never mind the much larger risks involved in finding new solutions to real problems.

© 2005, Peter de Jager – Peter is a Keynote Speaker, writer and consultant focusing on issues relating to Change Management and the Future. You can contact him at pdejager@technobility.com and visit him at www.technobility.com

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