April is here, DST has arrived and announcements about the conference
are out. Spring has truly arrived.

This is a wonderful time of the year. Everything seems fresh and
clean. New flowers arrive; the trees are starting to bud and the sunny,
warm weather is trying to make a breakthrough through the cool, grey
skies. Change is everywhere.

With that sunny start, I would like to say welcome to new members of
the exec and advisory boards.

Please welcome:

Executive Board

• Claire Lysnes is our new Membership chair

Advisory Board

• Nathan Loeppky is our new Archivist
• Evan Vella is our new Vendor Relations coordinator
• Sandra Stephenson and Jenn Reid are our new Registrators
• Von Totanes is our new discussion list manager
• Laura Anderson is our new survey coordinator

The email addresses for each of the new volunteers are listed on our
website under ‘About Us’: href="http://units.sla.org/chapter/ctor/about/executive.asp">http://units.sla.org/chapter/ctor/about/executive.asp and http://units.sla.org/chapter/ctor/about/advisory.asp

Thanks to all who volunteered and thanks to the volunteers who have
left. Your experience and knowledge has been an assist to the chapter;
however, having new volunteers helps to keep our chapter vibrant and
alive. Think about taking a turn at volunteering if you have not
already. Please contact our President Elect – Daniel Lee, if you are
interested.

At the end of January, Daniel Lee, Joy Shanfield and I represented
our chapter by attending the Leadership Summit in Reno, Nevada. It was a
great conference with over 200 leaders in attendance from all over the
world. We attended sessions on such things as how to run effective
meetings and how to communicate by learning how to write an elevator
speech. I was inspired by our two keynote speakers: on Thursday morning
Chip Heath presented “Made to Stick: The Six Hooks of Successful Ideas
“; and on Friday, Key Haycock gave a speech titled “Leadership and You:
Tackling the Dragon “. At Thursday lunch we networked and practiced our
elevator speeches with our tablemates. On Friday we were introduced to
our new AMS system which should be unveiled in the summer 2007. I
relaxed, met and had discussions with other chapter leaders. It was a
very full-filling 2 days and I filled up three pages with ideas for
myself and the chapter.

After the summit there was training for each of the executive board
positions. I attended the training for the Presidents and
Presidents-Elect. Linda Broussard and Anne Caputo gave the presentation
and it was useful and insightful with a handout at the end. So if you
are thinking of volunteering down the road for a leadership position
there is lots of assistance and resources available.

Just to remind everyone the board meets once a month – usually the
first Wednesday of the month and the location is posted on our website
along with the previous month’s minutes href="http://units.sla.org/chapter/ctor/about/meetings.asp">http://units.sla.org/chapter/ctor/about/meetings.asp.
Keep a watch out for the events page because Sandra Craig our events
coordinator and the other programmers have been busying working on
planning interesting meetings and webinars for us. I hope that I get a
chance to meet some of you at our upcoming events.

June is also fast approaching so don’t forget to read up on our
upcoming conference in Denver href="http://www.sla.org/content/Events/conference/ac2007/index.cfm">http://www.sla.org/content/Events/conference/ac2007/index.cfm.
Hope that you can all attend as it looks like one of our best.

All the best and enjoy your spring,

Pam Casey, CTT+
President

The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is
another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a
month.
Henry Van Dyke (1852-1933)

Things are warming up in the SLA Toronto chapter this spring. Check
out some of the great events planned for April and May, and don’t forget
to celebrate International Librarian’s Day, April 19.

In this issue, Pam Casey welcomes some new members to the Executive
and Advisory Boards and discusses her experiences at the recent SLA
Leadership Summit. Are you a cell phone or BlackBerry addict? If so,
don’t miss Peter de Jager’s article on how cell phones may actually be
detrimental to succession planning and delegation.

As always, we are looking for writers, occasional and regular, to
contribute ideas, comments, thoughts, and news items. Share your
experiences with your colleagues. Contact us directly anytime for more
information.

Enjoy!!

Heather Postill
hpostill@sympatico.ca

Elizabeth Malak-McMullan
href="mailto:elizabeth.malak-mcmullan@vaughan.ca">elizabeth.malak-mcmullan@vaughan.ca

Leadership Summit 2007

The Leadership Summit held this past January in Reno, Nevada was very
well attended and the energy level was extremely high. Members from as
far away as New Zealand attended the meeting. January Board Meeting
Agenda and Documents can be found here: href="http://www.sla.org/content/SLA/governance/bodsection/pastbodmtg/07janbodmtg.cfm">http://www.sla.org/content/SLA/governance/bodsection/pastbodmtg/07janbodmtg.cfm

2008 SLA Board of Directors Candidates Announced

On February 8, 2007 the 2008 SLA Nominating Committee presented 10
highly qualified candidates to the sitting Board for election to the
2008 SLA Board of Directors. Candidates will speak at the annual
conference in Denver, Colorado, 3-6 June, 2007. Elections will be held
electronically in mid-September 2007.

For President-elect:
Lynn Berard
Gloria Zamora

For Division Cabinet Chair-elect:
Tom Rink
David Shumaker

For Chapter Cabinet Chair-elect:
Susan Fifer-Canby
Lisl Zach

For Director (Two to be elected):
Deborah Hunt
R. James King
Martha McPhail
Ty Webb

Conference Registration is Open

Maximize your membership benefits by signing up early for SLA 2007
and save US $100 off the regular member onsite registration amount
(Member Early Bird discount ends 1 May 2007). Keynote Speakers in Denver
are Al Gore, 45th Vice President of the United States, and Scott Adams,
Creator of the Dilbert Cartoon. Also, the Annual Conference Personal
Planner is up and running ( href="http://www.sla.org/content/Events/conference/ac2007/planner/index.cfm">http://www.sla.org/content/Events/conference/ac2007/planner/index.cfm).
To make the most of your time with our exhibitors, take some time to
visit the SLA Virtual INFO EXPO online and plan your agenda while you
are in Denver ( href="http://www.sla.org/veh07/">http://www.sla.org/veh07/).

EPA Libraries

According to SLA CEO Janice Lachance, SLA’s efforts in calling
attention to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) plan to
dramatically cut services at its regional network of specialty libraries
are definitely paying off. The U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works
Committee, which deals with issues related to the environment and the
nation’s infrastructure, recently held a hearing with EPA Administrator
Stephen Johnson. After conversations with committee staff, Janice also
sent a letter to EPW Committee Chair Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
stating SLA’s concerns about EPA’s intentions and suggested several
questions she might ask during the hearing.

Here are some of the upcoming events presented by SLA Toronto
Chapter. For details see the Toronto chapter website ( href="http://units.sla.org/chapter/ctor/">http://units.sla.org/chapter/ctor/).

April 19, 2007: International Special Librarians Day Joint
Social
A joint social to celebrate International Special Librarians Day, Duke
of Westminster

May 2, 2007: Executive Board Meeting

May 10, 2007: Effective Negotiation Strategies for Purchasing
Information Resource Contracts – Rescheduled

This program will cover the following topics:

• Creating a competitive edge when negotiating contracts with online
  vendors.
• Effectively managing resource acquisitions and contract renewals for
  optimized budget planning.
• Understanding how information resource providers formulate pricing
  strategies: (Owned content vs. licensed content.) (Flat fee vs.
  transactional charge backs.)
• Becoming knowledgeable of contract terms and terminology
• Accurately tracking usage statistics and user activity to identify
  opportunities for resource cost reduction.
• Applying new methods for ethical cost recovery of online research.
• Tactical strategies for cost reduction and negotiating contracts.

Presented by Joanie Olivier, Executive Partner and founder of
Iconitel, Inc.

Thanks are due to Kolette Taber of The Canadian Health & Life
Insurance Association (CLHIA) who continues to provide meeting space for
the Downtown Solos.

Downtown Lunch Meetings

The Solos will continue to meet on a regular basis and at the time of
writing we have meetings planned for April 23rd on promoting your
library services, May 14th on networking for the solo professional and
June 18th. Meetings are posted to the Toronto Chapter listserv in
advance of the event and we are always delighted to welcome new members.

Paul Cheeseman is the Librarian at the Canada Pension Plan
Investment Board and can be reached at 416-868-5060 or href="mailto:pcheeseman@cppib.ca">pcheeseman@cppib.ca.

1. In 2006, Helen Kula left her position as Business
Information Specialist with the Rotman School of Management’s Business
Information Centre – InfoSolutions – to join MaRS Discovery District as
a librarian, cross-appointed with the University of Toronto Library.

As Manager, Market Intelligence, Helen works with members of the MaRS
Venture Group to support emerging technology and life sciences
entrepreneurs and companies.

Her contact information is:
Helen Kula
Manager, Market Intelligence
Venture Group

MaRS Discovery District
T 416.673.8108
E hkula@marsdd.com

2. Anne Choate Little has retired from Nortel Law
Library. For now, Anne may be contacted at 1498 Agnew Rd., Mississauga,
Ontario L5J 3G9 Telephone: 1-905-823-8477

Email: href="mailto:achoatelittle@rogers.com">achoatelittle@rogers.com

People on the Move will be a regular column highlighting the
achievements of our members and help keep us all in touch. Please share
your career changes, retirements, life changes, volunteer work.