Members and friends of SLA Toronto,

Welcome to the first issue of The Courier for 2008.

First things first. It is my pleasure to present your new Executive Board:

Joy Shanfield – President Elect
Claire Lysnes – Membership Chair
Britta J. Charbonneau – Director
Jan Moffatt – Secretary
Faye Mitchell – Treasurer

As many of you know, volunteering for SLA is a rewarding experience. It can also be an invisible one as well. With that in mind, I want to be the first to recognize the above mentioned volunteers for committing their time and energy to advancing the mission and values of our Chapter and our Association.

I also want to thank the Chapter’s Advisory Board (http://units.sla.org/chapter/ctor/about/advisory.asp) for all their hard work delivering The Courier, planning events, maintaining the discussion list, managing the Archives, the career guidance program, awards, and furthering relations with partners and library schools.

I would also like to thank Past President Pam Casey and her Executive Board for their tireless efforts last year on behalf of the Chapter.

Goals for 2008
As President, I have set out three goals for myself this year:

• to increase the Chapter’s membership;
• to focus on the needs of students and new information professionals as they start their careers as information professionals; and
• to continue our partnerships with non-library groups and associations.

Our membership numbers have steadily declined over the years. This has had real implications for us in terms of the numbers of volunteers we can recruit, as well as the dollars we receive as our allotment from SLA to support our programs and scholarships. Claire Lysnes has developed a plan that I think will not only help us to attract more members, but also encourage our current members to retain their membership. It never hurts to refresh yourself on the benefits of your SLA membership: http://www.sla.org/content/membership/mbrbenefits/index.cfm

Student Sponsorship Fund
I am very excited to announce that the Chapter has established a Student Sponsorship Fund to offset the costs associated with allowing all students to attend SLA Toronto events for FREE. For many years, SLA Toronto has had strong ties with the University of Toronto, the University of Western Ontario, and Seneca College. We hope that by allowing all students to attend our events for free, they will quickly realize the benefits of active participation in professional associations as well as learning from our programs. The Student Sponsorship Fund also provides our members with an opportunity to support students while lowering the Chapter’s administrative overhead. It is, in our minds, a win-win situation, not only for our members, but also for the students who are the future of our profession.

Events
We are still in the process of finalizing the events calendar for 2008; however, we have many ideas for educational, intriguing and fun events this year:

• Partners in Technology Roundtable: in late winter or spring, which will provide an insider’s view of the R&D side of our partners products and service
• Joint event in the Spring with the Canadian Public Relations Society on media monitoring and management
• Joint social event with other library associations to celebrate International Special Librarians Day in April
• Cross border shopping or vineyard bus tour in the Fall
• A selection of Click U Live virtual seminars
• A screening of the film, “The Hollywood Librarian”
• Library tours

The Chapter’s sub-groups will also be planning events, so check the events calendar regularly. Or, better yet, add the RSS feed to your reader:

SLA Toronto Upcoming Events RSS Feed
http://units.sla.org/chapter/ctor/events/rss.asp

100 Years of SLA
In 2009, it will be SLA’s 100th anniversary. In preparation for this outstanding accomplishment, we will begin to republish a selection of classic Courier articles from the Chapter’s Archives going back to the 1940s.

We look forward to an exciting year of networking, learning, advocacy, and fun. The Executive Board welcomes your feedback as to how SLA Toronto can continue to deliver superior member value to you.

Daniel P. Lee, MLIS
President, SLA Toronto Chapter

Another holiday season has come and gone, and we’re already a month into the New Year. We hope this issue of The Courier will inspire you to make 2008 a success!

President Daniel Lee outlines this year’s goals, which include increasing Chapter membership and focusing on the needs of students and new professionals. Membership Chair Claire Lysnes has some great information about the benefits of membership that you will certainly want to share with colleagues who might be thinking about joining the Toronto Chapter, and Laura Warner has created a Facebook group for the New Information Professionals program.

It looks like it’s going to be a busy and productive year!

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!!

Jennifer Burns
burns.jennifer@sympatico.ca

Heather Postill
hpostill@sympatico.ca

A Message from the Chief Executive Officer — Appreciation
“There are two things people want more than sex and money…. recognition and praise.” — Mary Kay Ash, founder Mary Kay Cosmetics.

Outgoing leaders may read this column and think of the immediate need of showing appreciation to the team with whom they’ve worked this past year or 18 months. A letter or handwritten note to the person or their supervisor noting specific achievements is appreciated. Recognition, where appropriate, in a newsletter column or on the discussion list shows all members that the energies of those who have given of their time is appreciated and recognized and it may inspire them to get involved.

Incoming leaders should look toward creating an environment in which people feel important and appreciated throughout the year. In addition to supplying a shared vision and direction, leaders must develop a relationship with the people they inspire to follow them. When this relationship is successful, it will motivate people to accomplish and achieve more than they may ever have dreamed possible.

The foundation of this successful relationship is your ability to make people feel important. Here are some ways to do this:

• Use common courtesy. Inquire about something that you know is important to the person outside of SLA.
• Listen to what they have to say.
• Use powerful, positive language. A simple “thank you,” “you’re doing a good job,” or “our Web site is vastly improved due to your creativity and efforts to try new things this year” will encourage them to contribute more of the same throughout the year.
• Put praise in writing and make it public where appropriate.

On a personal note, I do want to thank each of you for your efforts on behalf of SLA. As we approach a new year, I reflect on the many collective accomplishments that were only possible because of the extraordinary time and energies of SLA’s Board of Directors and you, our unit leaders. I am amazed at the innovative ideas, educational and networking initiatives that you’ve put into place to connect people and information and build a stronger community.

–Janice R. Lachance, Chief Executive Officer

Breaking Rules — Building Bridges in Seattle — Registration About to Open
Be among the first to register for the 2008 SLA Annual Conference which will be held in Seattle this year. There is exciting new programming – mark your calendar.

Dr. Vinton Cerf, Google’s chief Internet evangelist and one of the “fathers of the Internet,” will be the keynote speaker for the 2008 SLA Annual Conference & INFO-EXPO in Seattle. Cerf will be interviewed live on stage by Charlie Rose. You won’t want to miss it! Please visit the conference Web site (http://www.sla.org/seattle2008) for information.

FY08 Omnibus Bill Allocates $1 Million to Restore EPA Libraries
The FY08 EPA budget, approved in the omnibus budget bill, allocates $1 million to restore EPA’s network of libraries. The bill requires the EPA to provide Congress with a report regarding “actions it will take to restore publicly available libraries to provide environmental information and data to each EPA region within 90 days of the enactment of this Act.” In early 2006, the EPA budget proposed cuts of $2 million that would close its network of 27 libraries and information centers. SLA vehemently opposed this decision and took action, and continued communications stressing the importance of access to the unique information managed by the EPA’s network.

Read more.
EPA Library History (http://www.sla.org/content/SLA/advocacy/EPA/epaupdate.cfm)
Environmental News Stand (http://environmentalnewsstand.com)

SLA Opposes Closing of Canadian Health Network
In letters sent to Canada’s Minister of Health and Chief Public Health Officer, SLA urged that the Canadian Health Network, a leading source for heath information on the Web in Canada, not be closed. The letters emphasize the importance of public access to this well-vetted information portal as essential to the public health as more and more online resources become freely available.

Read letter to Canadian Minister of Health. (http://www.sla.org/pdfs/publicpolicy/112707CHNLtrMinisterClement.pdf)

Read letter to Canadian Chief Public Health Officer (http://www.sla.org/pdfs/publicpolicy/112707CHNLtrDrButlerJones.pdf)

Read news story. (http://www.ohpe.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9110&Itemid=62)

Sign the Friends of CHN Petition. (http://www.sla.org/documents/ppolicy/112707PetitiontoSaveCHN.doc)

CHN Petition in French. (http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/SauvonsRCS)

New Offers for Professional Learning and Development

Student Member Discount Now Available
SLA Student Members now qualify for a 25 percent discount on the following Click University professional development programs:

• Click U Live! Live Online Seminars
• Click U Live! Recorded Online Seminars (REPLAYs)
• Professional Improvement Libraries
• 2007 Annual Conference Sessions

To receive the 25 percent discount, student members should register for and purchase the appropriate program and then contact Click U at clicku@sla.org for the refund. Learn more.

University of Toronto: Professional Learning Center
SLA members can enjoy an 11 percent discount on all web-based distance learning offered through the University of Toronto’s Professional Learning Center (PLC.) The PLC is dedicated to meeting the needs of information professionals and others interested in information issues or in learning new information technologies. Learn More & Register.

Leadership and Management Library
Click U welcomes members to the Leadership and Management Library–at no charge. This ebrary database covers a wide range of topics to enable business professionals to make important business decisions. From information on how to become a more effective leader to examining best practices from the world’s most successful CEOs, this database is applicable throughout a member’s career path. Key subject areas include: leadership, entrepreneurship, strategic planning, management, organizational behavior, personnel management, project management and risk management. Learn More.

Do you know an Information Professional in the Toronto area who is not a member of SLA Toronto Chapter? If so, you can tell them that with membership, many benefits are available to them:

Networking Opportunities: SLA Toronto Chapter members are in contact with colleagues in Toronto, around the world, and in countless fields of interest. Chapter Unit events, SLA’s Annual Conference, and the SLA Communities of Practice provide forums for knowledge sharing with fellow information professionals. The Membership Directory is also an invaluable tool, which members use to network with fellow members, find other members in the Toronto area, connect with members when they travel, and consult other members when they have questions or would like to share information.

Professional Development Focused on Their Needs: SLA’s wide variety of learning opportunities help information professionals stay up to date, ahead of change and at the same time become indispensable contributors to their organizations. Members participate in of-the-moment professional development opportunities not available elsewhere.

Information Outlook®: SLA’s monthly magazine features practical how-to’s to use on the job, industry trends, and all the latest in industry news and technology.

Career Planning: For recent graduates and seasoned professionals alike, SLA’s Career Center is a great tool for finding employment and learning skills that increase your colleagues’ market value and earning potential in the information profession. Members can post jobs or look for jobs in the information profession using this tool.

Member Only Discounts: Substantial discounts are available to your colleagues when attending SLA’s Annual Conference, and when purchasing publications and professional development programs.

If you know someone know is interested in joining SLA, refer them to SLA’s website, where they can learn more about joining online or by mail or fax, or tell them to contact me at clysnes@gmail.com.

Update to Members
In mid-2007, SLA updated its Association Management System, and they are still working toward full integration. As a result some members may have trouble renewing their membership. If so, please contact me at clysnes@gmail.com with details, and I can follow up with HQ on your behalf.

Claire Lysnes
SLA Toronto Chapter Membership Chair
clysnes@gmail.com

I would like to start this report with a few words about the purpose of the Solo group. We aim to support anyone who feels professionally isolated. Many of us work as the only librarian in our organization; others may be running an autonomous library or information centre as the sole professional with little contact with their parent library organization; there are still others who have staff who are not at the same level or qualification or experience. If you meet any of these criteria or are simply interested in what we do or a particular meeting theme, you would be most welcome to attend.

The true value of our group is that it provides a forum to discuss common concerns, keep up to date with professional developments and share knowledge. It is great opportunity to network with your peers.

Downtown Lunch Meetings
We held two meetings this fall. The first in November concerned the management of electronic resources and there was a lively and informative discussion on issues such as negotiating licenses and ensuring compliance with licensing agreements.

Our December meeting was a review of issues that concerned us during 2007.

Our next meeting, with a date to be announced shortly will be brainstorming session on how the Solo Committee can most effectively serve the solo community. The meeting invitation will include a list of questions to be discussed. We are also planning to have a discussion on media monitoring in the near future.

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 pcheeseman@cppib.ca.

Happy New Year!

My name is Laura Warner and I am pleased to introduce myself as the new coordinator for the SLA Toronto’s New Information Professionals group. I am a graduate of Dalhousie University’s MLIS/MPA program and I now work for the CBC as a Reference Librarian. I am thrilled to be a member of SLA Toronto and I am looking forward to a great year ahead with the NIP.

I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to join our group on Facebook. It is listed as “SLA Toronto – New Information Professionals”. There you can join discussions and be updated on events and issues. You can also make suggestions for events or topics you would like the NIP to cover.. If you are not a Facebook member and you have some suggestions, please feel free to contact me at Laura_Warner@cbc.ca.

The SLA’s NIP first event will be a pub night held this winter. All students and new information professionals are welcome to share a fun evening with friends and colleagues. Please stay tuned for the date and location.

Cheers!

Laura Warner is a graduate of Dalhousie University’s MLIS/MPA program and is a Reference Librarian for the CBC.

A fun time was had by all at the Annual General Meeting in December. Pam Casey kicked things off by recalling the chapter’s many successes in 2007: these included recruiting McGraw-Hill Ryerson Canada as a sponsor, affiliating the chapter with Toronto Talks and ending the year in the black.

Many thanks to Pam for her work over the past year and congratulations on her appointment as Co-membership Chair for the SLA Leadership and Management Division.

Ulla de Stricker was awarded the ‘Member of the Year’ for her contributions and dedication to the chapter.

Daniel Lee then spoke about his goals as new Chapter President for 2008; for more on these read his column in this issue.

It looks to be another great year for SLA Toronto.

Heather Postill is a graduate of University of Toronto, Faculty of Information Studies and is the co-editor of the Courier.

Oh the weather outside was frightful … but the 35+ SLA Toronto chapter members thoroughly enjoyed the presentations by Laura Knapp, Manager, Knowledge Services at the Ontario Securities Commission, Laura Purves, President of L. Purves Consulting – a consultancy specializing in knowledge management, Heather Ritchie, Knowledge Manager, McCarthy Tétrault on Thursday, November 22.

We kicked off with a little “knowledge management humour” – which we all agreed we sorely needed. The HR dog, Dogbert, in the Dilbert cartoon says to resident moron: “We’ll need to disguise the fact that you’re a moron. Ironically, the best way is to become an expert in something called ‘knowledge management’.” There was much laughter around the room but many heads nodding in appreciation.

We then went on to a ice-breaker to help warm up the audience by playing “librarian bingo” where we had a bingo sheet of questions and we had to identify someone in the room who could answer yes to questions like “have you used an OPAC today” or “name three Jane Austen books”. What fun! (I won – and I have to say the hardest question to find someone who could answer was: what books are found at 914? Answer: European history.)

So, what exactly is Knowledge Management? Laura Knapp opened the discussion by attempting to define KM. According to the Gartner Group, KM is defined by formalizing the management of the enterprise’s intellectual capital. A less formal definition would be not reinventing the wheel but redefining a better wheel. We all know that KM requires finding ways of getting at the other 80% of the knowledge residing in our heads – and often the extraction method is verbal. Note that this is not about technology; however, KM is dependent upon technology, as we see with web 2.0 and all the social networking services out there. Finally, success of a KM initiative is entirely dependent upon your end users actually embracing and using the system.

Heather reported that at McCarthy Tétrault they use “after-action reviews” as a process to capture the knowledge around documents to reflect nuances and to cull documents, making sure only the really important ones are maintained. This process enables you to create relationships between issues on the table and answer issues needing to be resolved by understanding the context.

Laura Purves agreed that KM is a term applied to many situations, and often erroneously. Sometimes what is needed is a records management system or a collaboration tool. The key to a successful KM initiative is to ensure that all the cogs are inter-operative rather than having individual pieces each taking on silo-ized projects. Classic KM is all about relationship building.

Heather reported that many law firms have tried to create expertise locators – and that it’s hard! The key is to find a balance between peer review, technology and efficient self-appraisal.

Laura Knapp talked about the fact that the OSC, like any typical organization undertaking or considering a KM initiative, wants KM as long as it doesn’t impact them – which means that the biggest challenge is the cultural change. How do you get people to understand the inherent value of sharing knowledge? The key to answering the question: “how am I going to make this palatable to this group of people?” is by creating the value to make the solution attractive. What are the sweet spots and what are the pain points? A key KM skill is listening – to find those sweet spots and pain points and figure out how to address them. In Laura’s case, she has chosen to undertake smaller initiatives (“lower lying fruit”) which make for quick successes rather than one major project which fails. The next step is finding the sponsors who will support initiatives – and having the initiatives based upon the culture of the organization.

Heather reminded us that the importance of a sponsor is fundamental. You need your backing from someone in power. If you can find out what motivates the toughest nut to crack, you can bring them on board and, when convinced, they become the biggest champions. But the key is to understand what motivates them and how you can make their lives better / easier.

Challenges to success:

• Cultural change (and resistance thereto)
• Communication amongst the different departments (or lack thereof)
• Operating without an independent budget (as is often the case) means continually begging and pleading for resources

Suggestions to ensure success:

• Insert yourself into people’s team meetings
• Set up joint meetings (with an agenda!)
• Make sure you tell people what it is you bring to the table
• Be aware of where your resources are going to come from
• Leverage projects which reflect more than one goal
• Make the plan and ask for the money
• Tie your plans to specific business problems
• Don’t blow the business problem out of proportion – do you need a document management system or do you just need policies and procedures for documents

Are you still interested in KM? Yes? Then read on…

What do you need to be a good KM manager?

• A curiosity about people’s needs
• An understanding of technology
• An ability to forge relationships
• You need to be a good sales person – who can ask probing questions and listen to what clients say and then find the solution
• Marketing skills
• Networking skills
• The ability to keep a database in your mind of who’s working on what and making those connections
• Project management skills – including being able to manage scope
• Business analysis skills
• Business process management skills

How does a KM role differ from a librarian role? Many skills are transferable but what is different is the emphasis on relationship building and the need to be proactive. You have to be persistent – track people down – to get on their radar. Library directors are in the same sort of position. Note that many of the skills taught in library school are relevant eg. classification, organizational skills, the ability to draw out the real issues (ie. the reference interview).

So you are now a Knowledge Manager and have launched your first KM project. How do you know it’s working? You need to think through your evaluation strategy before you’ve even started. Quantifying your ROI is indeed difficult – you need to be able to gather your metrics. Think about what you want to measure and how you’re going to evaluate that ahead of time. Some situations will need to be anecdotal – because not everything lends itself to metrics. So don’t forget to talk up the anecdotal experiences!

Successful KM initiatives can be very high-profile and benefit your organization in ways beyond just “managing the knowledge”. KM can become your organization’s marketing edge to attract new talent – both in terms of having a database of deal examples which will help junior staff be immediately successful and by reflecting best practices in the industry to ensure your firm a place on the leading edge. Final words of wisdom: “As librarians, you are all in KM – so go for it!”

P.S. The presenters worked off a wiki page to create this session – which they will open to the session participants – so we can then all contribute to / continue the exchange on this topic.

“Keeping found things found” is a new book just out on KM recommended by Daniel Lee.

Juanita Richardson is a member of the SLA Finance Committee and Chair-Elect of Leadership & Management Division.
In “real life”, she is Principal of Richardson Jalakas & Associates and Business Development Consultant for CEDROM-SNi and can be reached at juanita.richardson@cedrom-sni.com

Martha Foote
Martha Foote is now the General Manager of LibraryCo, the organization that oversees the administration of the 48 county and district law libraries in Ontario. Martha is located at Osgoode Hall and can be reached at 416-947-3952 or by e-mail at mfoote@libraryco.ca.

Frances Wong
Frances Wong was excited to transition from Head Reference Librarian into Manager of the library at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP in November and is happy to continue working with a great team. Frances replaces Vivienne Denton, who has retired after 20 years as Manager. Vivienne looks forward to spending time with her grandchildren and doing some volunteer work. FWong@blgcanada.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.

Submit your news to Frances Wong at FWong@blgcanada.com or Radikha Jaggernauth at rjaggernauth@hsf.on.ca.

The beginning of a New Year invites reflection and resolutions to do things differently, and many New Year’s resolutions are career-related. We resolve to challenge ourselves professionally, to advance in our careers, to get organized, to find work/life balance, to learn something new, or to contribute to the profession in some way. Here are some resources that might inspire and encourage you to take those steps in 2008!

Career

Career Intelligence
Barbara Moses
Toronto: Stoddart, 1997
ISBN 1576750485

The Canadian career guru outlines strategies for becoming a “career activist” in the 21st century workplace.

Career Q&A With the Library Job People
http://www.lisjobs.com/careerqa_blog/

Tiffany Allen and Suzanne Markgren answer career questions from librarians and information professionals.

A Day in the Life: Career Options in Library and Information Science
Edited by Priscilla K. Shontz and Richard A. Murray.
Libraries Unlimited, 2007
ISBN 1591583640

95 information professionals describe a “typical” workday in this guide for anybody at any stage of their information services career.

Info Career Trends
http://lisjobs.com/career_trends/

LISJobs.com’s career development newsletter, now in blog format. Launched in November 2007. Pre-November 2007 archives are available at http://www.lisjobs.com/newsletter/archives.htm

Continuing Education

Click University
Special Libraries Association
http://sla.learn.com/learncenter.asp?id=178409

SLA’s very own distance education provider! Learning is just a click away.

Professional Learning Centre
Faculty of Information Studies, University of Toronto
http://plc.fis.utoronto.ca/

It’s the largest continuing education program for information professionals in Canada, and it’s located right here in Toronto. Distance learning is also available.

Organization and Time Management

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
David Allen
Viking, 2001
267 pages
ISBN 0142000280

Getting Things Done is an action-management method developed by David Allen, who believes that our productivity is directly proportional to our ability to relax. In 2005, Wired called GTD “a holy book for the information age”.

Lifehack.org
http://www.lifehack.org/

A blog devoted to life hacks: geek-friendly tips and tricks for productivity in an information-rich world.

Productivity Café
http://www.productivitycafe.com/

Susan Sabo, Principal of Organizers.Inc, shares organization tips and tricks that will help you get and stay organized and reduce stress.

Time Management, Planning, and Prioritization for Librarians
By Judith A. Siess
Published 2002
Scarecrow Press

A time management handbook especially for librarians. Siess backs up her suggestions with practical examples.

Work/Life Balance

“Get a Life: The Challenge of Balance in a Post-Modern World”. Saint-Onge, Michael, (January 2007). LexisNexis InfoPro http://www.lexisnexis.com/infopro/profdev/column/2007/200701.asp.

Michael Saint-Onge shares his insights on how librarians can achieve work-life balance.

“Running on Empty: Dealing With Burnout in the Library Setting”. Baird, Tim and Zahra M. (April 2005). LIScareers.com. http://www.liscareer.com/baird_burnout.htm

A thoughtful article examining the causes of librarian burnout and outlining strategies for getting back in the game.

A Library Writer’s Blog
http://librarywriting.blogspot.com/

Maintained by Corey Seeman, Director of the Kresge Business Administration Library, University of Michigan. A source of information on publication and presentation opportunities for librarians and information professionals.

Dolores’ List of CFPs
http://www.personal.psu.edu/dxf19/blogs/WEBLOG-NAME/

Dolores Fidishun, Head Librarian at the Penn State Great Valley Library, posts calls for papers and presentations on this blog. Disciplines include Library/Information Science, Instructional Design and Technology, Education/Adult Education, and Women’s and Gender Studies.