Welcome to the Fall 2009 issue, Chapter members and extended readership.

The last time I penned my column, I began by lamenting the unseasonable summer weather (cool and rainy) in Toronto, and I now mark the all-too-rapid passage of time by commenting once again on the weather. Toronto went on to enjoy an unusual ‘Summer in September’ (hot and dry), and I personally went on a brief vacation to marvel at the brilliantly colored foliage that presented itself in early October (captured visually, and by digital camera, in upstate New York).

A busy time for Toronto Chapter and for the Association
Most significantly, it has been an extremely busy time for both the Toronto Chapter and our parent association, SLA, since the last Courier issue.

For Toronto Chapter -
The Chapter hosted a slew of well-attended, successful events. Recent events include:

• A joint Summer Pub Night (networking event) with CASLIS Toronto, Aug. 25;
• The continuation of the Career Development series presented by Ulla de Stricker, with the presentation of Self Promotion, No Cringe (number 3 of 5) on Sept. 8, and Dealing with People (number 4) on Oct. 6;
• A Fall ’09 meeting of the Solo Librarians or Solos (Chapter subgroup), Sept. 22;
• An AGO Library Tour at the Art Gallery of Ontario on Sept. 29;
• An event titled Knowledge Management and Social Networking, Oct. 1;
• An Autumn Social gathering of the New Information Professionals (NIP) (Chapter subgroup), Oct. 22.

Still to come in the remaining months of the year are the following additional events:-

• The final session in the Career Development series, Looking Professional, with Ulla de Stricker and Rani Pooran, Nov. 10;
• The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Chapter, followed by a wine tasting, Nov. 18;
• The traditional Joint Holiday Social, celebrated this year jointly with the members of CASLIS Toronto and FIAA (the Faculty of Information Alumni Association), Dec. 2.

For the Association -
The Association ratcheted up the level of activity for all its members and units with their October 14 announcement of the new name that is being proposed to replace Special Libraries Association (abbreviated to the short form or acronym SLA). I am sure that you are all aware of the proposed new name by now, thanks to the high level of responses and member reactions that circulated afterwards. Stated here ‘for the record’, the proposed new name is:
Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals (abbreviated to the short form or acronym – ASKPro)

I personally commend the Association, its Board of Directors, and staff on this choice, and for their procedures in selecting the name and rolling out the change proposal. For the record, I am solidly behind the adoption of the new name because I believe in the power of the words in the phrase, and because I have great confidence in the Alignment research processes that have brought these words to the fore. As explained to the leadership group on several occasions, some words and phrases ‘resonate with C-level executives’ (CEOs, etc.), while others, such as ‘special libraries’ and ‘special librarians’ simply do not. Words that do not resonate with executives that fund our activities may be worse than neutral (unremarkable), may in fact be open to questions of relevance, and may actually work to the detriment of our profession’s image.

While on this topic, we are happy to announce that the Chapter recently appointed Rebecca Jones and Kim Silk as our ‘Alignment Ambassadors’. Welcome, Rebecca and Kim, and thank you both for taking on this important role. Chapter members, please watch for the publicity and insights that they will be providing on all aspects of Alignment, including the name change proposal. They also plan to have one or more Chapter events at which we can come together, learn from one another, and express our unique opinions.

You may be thinking … what can I do now? I would suggest that you explore the Alignment research on the Portal that has been created, and familiarize yourself with member reactions to the proposed name change via the wiki, blog, Facebook fan page, and Twitter space that have all been set up to handle this flood of communication. Once you are fully informed, you will certainly want to exercise your right to vote on the name change during the time period allocated for e-voting, November 16 to December 9, 2009.

Recap of my year as Chapter President, and the fulfillment of my goals

My Presidency’s historical theme -
As Chapter President in 2009, I had the unique opportunity to devise programming that was linked in with the larger SLA Centennial Celebration that was launched in January, and to explore the part that Toronto Chapter has played within this history for the 69 years of our own existence (1940-2009). For programming with a historical twist, we had a very successful official SLA Presidential Visit from Gloria Zamora in May, coupled with a Gala Centennial Dinner. At the Gala, Gloria addressed attending members, invited guests, and thirty-two past Chapter Presidents with a forward-looking talk about the next 100 years. Her passion that the future should be built upon the foundation provided by the Alignment Project findings was most evident. We looked back by displaying archival photographs of Chapter Presidents, members and area special libraries, as well as specially compiled listings of awards bestowed on Chapter members throughout our history.

I am currently completing a Timeline of Toronto Chapter historical milestones, and it will be shared with Chapter members, and provided to headquarters for their records. Pulling this material together gave me a great deal of insight into how the Chapter’s volunteers have fulfilled their roles over time, and how Chapter Presidents (my predecessors) acted and spoke ‘presidentially’. A side benefit has been to bring much better organization to the Chapter Archives that unfortunately had to be moved several times within the last few years. We will likely reach out to members once we have firmly identified gaps within our collection of unbound newsletter issues, print Directories of Toronto Area Special Libraries, etc. There are also some clues that can be followed to locate missing material, as some external organizations (e.g., CLA) may have been provided with copies of our Chapter materials for retention at their locales.

My overall objective was to provide relevant programming to meet members’ needs during these challenging times.

The first goal I set for myself was to deliver a year of varied and interesting Chapter event programming, and it was accomplished through the following individual events or event themes:

• The official visit from SLA President Gloria Zamora in May that culminated in our Gala Centennial Dinner, with its historical theme (above).
• The unique series of 5 events on Career Development delivered by Ulla de Stricker, a past Chapter President and the current Career Guidance Chair – most helpful to members, students, and non-members alike in these difficult economic times.
• The augmentation of our customary two seasonal networking occasions that are enjoyed jointly with CASLIS Toronto and other associations (August, December), by adding two additional Networking Nights for our members in February and April. These were valued by attendees seeking to become better known, and to get to know us better.
• A repeat of previously successful event themes, the Best of the Web (June) and Knowledge Management (October), the latter coupled this time with a Social Networking component. We had wonderful turnouts for both, and received enthusiastic feedback on the value of these educational events.
• An assortment of other events, including a hosted Click U Live (May), a year-end Annual General Meeting with entertainment (November), and a library tour at Art Gallery of Ontario (September).
• Two special events, a Reception to welcome Dean Seamus Ross to the position he took up in January at Faculty of Information, University of Toronto (March), and a biennial Volunteer Appreciation Event, at which we feted and thanked the invited 2008 and 2009 Chapter volunteers (June).
• Chapter subgroups meetings for their members, the Solos (in February, April, and September), and the New Information Professionals (NIP) (in June and October).

My second goal was to explore ways to bring more members into event planning roles. This year’s events were organized by a variety of volunteers from all levels of the Chapter reporting structure – the Executive Board, Advisory Board, Expertise Pool, and Volunteer Pool. Quite a few of them were first-time participants in the Chapter’s event programming activities.

At this time, I would like to thank those volunteers who organized events in the second half of 2009. (Organizers of events in the first half of the year were thanked in an earlier newsletter.) My sincere thanks go to following volunteer organizers:

• Greg Barber, for the Summer Pub Night;
• Pam Casey, for the Career Development series, sessions three through five;
• Kathryn FitzGerald, for the AGO Library Tour;
• Claire Lysnes, for the Knowledge Management and Social Networking event;
• Gayle Gossen, for the AGM and wine tasting;
• Sandra Craig, for the Joint Holiday Social;
• Amra Porobic, for continued Solos meetings;
• Laura Warner, for continued NIP social events.

Heather Wilson, also a past Chapter President, volunteered to assist me in my efforts to involve more volunteers in event planning by offering to create a Checklist of Event Planning tasks and timelines. We were jointly of the opinion that such a document would reduce the ‘mystique’ around ‘event planning’ concepts, and would serve as a ‘blueprint’ for our event planning volunteers. The Checklist should contribute to helping members of the Volunteer Pool overcome any reluctance they might have in taking on aspects of planning and running Chapter events. Heather did extensive research into Checklists that had been prepared by other associations and organizations, and also drew on her own considerable expertise with our Chapter’s event planning processes. Sandra Craig, Heather and I are now finalizing this document, and will make it available to next year’s Volunteers.

While we were engaged in this Checklist exercise, we also looked critically at the way in which we are currently organized to deliver programs to members. We all agreed that, for a number of years, too few members and volunteers have been carrying responsibility for event planning. I am personally delighted that President-Elect Claire Lynses has decided to increase the number of positions on the Executive and Advisory boards for 2010 that will share in the roles and responsibilities for the event planning and implementation. After all, our events are the most visible local service that we provide to members, and former surveys indicate that they have always placed a high value on relevant and stimulating event programs.

My third personal goal was to embark on the creation of a new Strategic Plan for Toronto Chapter -
When I set this goal, I erroneously assumed that there was no plan in place. I have since learned that Toronto Chapter created a number of strategic plans between its first one in 1984, called the ‘Long Range Plan’, and the latest one, the ‘Strategic Plan 2002.’ When we created and issued a full membership survey this fall, we took the very important first step in reviewing and refreshing the Chapter’s Strategic Plan. We are only now beginning to analyze the member survey response data and comments, so it will fall to the 2010 Executive Board to carry this initiative further. I speak for myself and for Jennifer Burns, Membership Chair, in thanking the members who responded to the survey, and contributed to shaping future Chapter activities.

Other indicators of a successful Chapter year

• Our membership numbers increased from 386 at the end of 2008 to 419 (my latest figures), and this is largely attributable to the fine job done by Membership Chair Jennifer Burns in reaching out to new members, and following up on lapsed ones.
• We supported our members during the economic downturn by providing more networking opportunities, by offering the career development series of events, and by providing information interviews to members who were seeking employment. Members also continued to avail themselves of ‘career’ the one-on-one career offered by the Career Guidance Chair, Ulla de Stricker. We approved one request for financial assistance with membership dues, and we publicized the policy of the reduced dues for lower income earners introduced by the Association this year.
• We strengthened our relationship with the iSchool (at Faculty of Information, University of Toronto), by holding a reception for Dean Ross; by contributing to iSchool events (the graduate conference Housing Memory, March 13-14, and the Management of Corporate and other Special Information Centres course exhibition, in its 6th year and now called iConnect @ iSchool, April 7, 2009); and by showing renewed support for the activities and needs of the SLA Toronto Student Group.
• We renewed our connections with the Faculty of Information and Media Studies (FIMS), University of Western Ontario (UWO), by inviting Dean Thomas Carmichael to the meeting of the two Deans with visiting SLA President Gloria Zamora, and to the Gala dinner that followed. We initiated a discussion with Dean Carmichael about re-establishing an SLA student group at his campus.
• We endorsed a member’s application to the highly-regarded leadership training institute, Northern Exposure to Leadership Institute (NELI), and funded the travel of our candidate, Jennifer Burns, to Western Canada when she was accepted to attend.
• With our Chapter Partner, FPinfomart, we co-sponsored awards that enabled two students to attend the SLA 2009 Annual Conference & INFO-EXPO in Washington, DC in June. The winning applicants, Kate MacDonald and Bruce Harpham, were selected by the Executive Board on the basis of the written statements and résumés that they submitted.
• We provided a year of free SLA student-level membership to the students who led their cohort in the overall course of study (Matthew Blacquiere at Seneca College, Library and Information Technician (LIT) program, and Christine Beamish, at the University of Western Ontario, FIMS), or in a special libraries course (Yvonne (Eve) Leung at the University of Toronto, iSchool, the Kathleen Reeves Memorial Award). We publicized their names at the Gala Dinner earlier in the year, and also invited them to be our guests at the forthcoming AGM.
• Executive member Claire Lysnes served on the headquarters-level Chapter Assessment Committee that surveyed the need to change the names of some SLA Chapters (geographical units).
• Immediate Past President Daniel Lee served on the Association’s Board of Directors, a position to which he was elected in 2008, while serving as our Chapter President.

Other volunteers to note
In June, Robert (Rob) Ambra and Shannon McMillan were named co-Chairs of the SLA Toronto Student Group for the academic year 2009-2010.

In the late summer, Julia Brewster resigned her position as Chapter Secretary with great reluctance after she accepted an employment opportunity in Western Canada and relocated to Calgary, Alberta. Jan Moffatt, the Chapter Secretary on the 2008 executive board, has consented to take up the vacant board position for the remainder of 2009.

Claire Lysnes is to be commended for filling all positions for the Executive Board 2010, and most of the Advisory Board ones by the early date she was striving for, and allowing the maximum amount of time in which to call for additional Nominations from members. She worked hand-in-hand with Daniel Lee, in his capacity as Nominations Chair. They also put a great deal of thought into re-working the reporting structure of the Chapter, expanding the number of positions on the Board, particularly those contributing to event planning (discussed above), and presenting these changes to the board for approval. Because no further nominations were received in the allotted nominations period, Claire and Daniel’s slate of nominees for 2010 will be acclaimed at the AGM.

To the current volunteers who have not ‘re-upped’ for board positions in 2010 (e.g., Laura Knapp – Partner Relations Chair, Michael MacSween – iSchool Student Liaison, Juanita Richardson – Awards Chair, and Heather Ritchie – Webmaster), I convey a special thank you for serving well in 2009! Other volunteers are staying on in their positions or taking on the fresh challenge of new ones.

Another Chapter Award winner!
We are very proud of Claire Lysnes (President-Elect) for the recognition she received for committed volunteerism to the Faculty of Information, University of Toronto. On September 14, 2009, the University of Toronto President, Dr. David Naylor, and Chancellor David Peterson presented the University of Toronto’s Arbor Award to Claire, for the duties and responsibilities that she assumed within the volunteer association FIAA (Faculty of Information Alumni Association) over a five-year period since she graduated from the FIS (former name) program of study.

Claire was lauded for the many fine qualities that she brought to various roles and initiatives for the alumni association. The selection committee mentioned the fact that she was simultaneously volunteering for another association, the SLA Toronto Chapter. Claire’s past efforts have certainly contributed to our group’s successes in a major way.

A wonderful accomplishment, and congratulations, Claire!

But for the contribution of our esteemed Chapter Partners …
The accomplishments of 2009 were in large measure made possible by the generosity of our 2009 Chapter Partners, CEDROM-SNi, Grey House Publishing Canada, and FPinfomart. We thank them most sincerely for enabling our major events, and for contributing in a major way to providing an SLA conference experience to the deserving winners of our Students-to-Conference award competition.

CEDROM-SNi

• The Official Presidential Visit, May
• The Gala Centennial Dinner, May
• The Annual General Meeting (AGM) and wine tasting, November
• The Joint Holiday Social, December

Grey House Publishing Canada

The Career Development Series of Events provided by Ulla de Stricker
Five topics, six sessions, in the months of March, April, May, September, October, and November

FPinfomart

The FPinfomart Students-to-Conference Awards

I am reminding our members and readers to think of our sponsors when the time comes to renew or refresh services in your workplaces. The Partner web sites addresses are shown above. The Chapter web site and issues of The Courier provide additional lead-ins to their product lines and services.

From 2009, Onward to 2010
In conclusion, it has been an honor and a pleasure for me to have served as Chapter President in 2009, a year very deserving of the phrase ‘we live in interesting times.’ The Centennial Celebration, the call to Align in ’09, the proposed new name for the association, and the precarious (but improving) worldwide financial and economic situation come readily to mind. These ‘externals’ have shaped the Toronto Chapter year, and given us all a unique focus and a keen sense of purpose.

By and large, however, we have continued to strive for the goals that have persisted over our Chapter’s history – to provide the members with networking and educational opportunities, to exercise prudent management of Chapter finances, and to find a sense of fulfillment through volunteering among peers to support and strengthen the information professionals who align with us. (The latter sentiment can be translated to: I’m happy to have been a part of this ‘Gaggle of Librarians’ – with credit to Stephen Abram’s Facebook and blog, circa May 14, 2009!)

Thank you, one and all, for working with me this year to fulfill my goals as President. I end by wishing Claire and her incoming volunteers every success next year. I am confident that they will take on new, unique challenges and handle them superbly!

Joy Shanfield, MLS
President, SLA Toronto Chapter

The changing colours of leaves, cool weather, and now a new issue of the Courier – yes, it’s fall! Before we all start hibernating for the winter be sure to check out this last Courier for 2009. It’s been a year of looking at our past through the SLA Toronto archives and now we look to our future with a possible name change in 2010.

A reminder to our readers that submissions to the Courier are welcomed from our members on a variety of topics including (but not limited to) book reviews, technology tips, conference experiences or personal reflections about the profession. Please feel encouraged to submit articles which you think would be of interest to the chapter, but please note that the editors of the Courier reserve the right to accept, decline and/or edit submissions and to decide in which issue approved submissions are printed.

As we both move into new positions with SLA Toronto in 2010, this is our last issue as co-editors. The new editors are Bruce Harpham and Sandra Craig. We look forward to their first issue in Winter 2010.

Enjoy what remains of the fall season and this issue of the Courier!

Let’s focus first on a topic that has generated much discussion amongst the SLA Toronto Chapter members – the SLA Alignment Project and the proposed association name change to the Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals.

As you may know, SLA members will be asked to voice their opinion on this proposal by casting an electronic vote in a special referendum that will begin on 16 November and end 9 December. The result will be announced on 10 December. The SLA Toronto Chapter strongly urges all of its members to vote after equipping themselves with knowledge and information about the Alignment Project from the sources below. Please note that the scope of the vote will not extend to an acronym of the proposed name.

The Toronto Chapter’s Alignment Ambassadors are Rebecca Jones (Rebecca@dysartjones.com) and Kim Silk (kim.silk@rotman.utoronto.ca). Please feel free to reach out to them (or to the Chapter Discussion List) to ask questions, voice concerns, and share your thoughts on the Alignment Project and the proposed association name change. In addition, we welcome you to join Rebecca and Kim for an in-person and webinar roundtable discussion on this topic, which will take place on November 25th at 5:30 p.m. Please watch the website and the Chapter Discussion List for further details.

You can find many details on the Alignment Project here:
Alignment Portal – An overview of how the project started, who was interviewed & how, and research findings.
Alignment Wiki – A central storing place for presentations, member discussion on the name change, and other Alignment tools.
Alignment Project – For earlier presentations and information about the Alignment since the initiative was first announced.
SLA Name Change Wiki – SLA members are having a lively discussion on the subject of changing the association’s name to better reflect the value information professionals add to their organizations. Add your voice to the conversation.

Other updates about the Alignment Project:

How We Got Here… from Gloria Zamora, SLA President
At the January 2009 Leadership Summit, SLA CEO Janice Lachance and I presented the results of two years of extensive alignment research. Following that meeting we continued refining the direction of the alignment project and made great strides in communicating information and research findings to all SLA members.

Over the last year, as more members reviewed this alignment information, they started recognizing that the time has come to go down the name change road once more. Janice Lachance and I announced at this year’s SLA 2009 Annual Conference that, based on the findings of the alignment research, the Board of Directors had voted to pursue a name change for SLA.

Read more.

Naming Research Results Posted

A lot of members have asked about the research done in arriving at the proposed new name Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals.

We have just posted a PowerPoint summary of that research conducted with corporate, academic, healthcare and government professionals as well as information technology, human resources, marketing, strategic planning and information professionals across all sectors.

Read more.

Name Change Discussion Forum
There has been a whole lot of great discussion happening around the association in various forums. Many have asked about a central place where all of these thoughts can be shared amongst all of the members.

I do want to encourage everyone to keep talking and voicing their opinions and comments. Please take some time to read the research in the Alignment Portal, and once you have, share your thoughts in any number of forums.

Read more.

2010 SLA Board of Directors Election Results
When the polls closed, 2802 SLA members had cast their ballots and participated in the election. The results are finalized and the winners are:

2010 SLA President- Elect (three-year term on board): Cindy Romaine, Romainiacs Intelligence Services, Beaverton, Oregon

2010 Treasurer (three-year term on board):
Dan Trefethen, Boeing, Seattle, Washington

2010 Division Cabinet Chair-Elect (three-year term on board):
Mary Ellen Bates, Bates Information Services, Inc., Niwot, Colorado

2010 Chapter Cabinet Chair-Elect (three-year term on board):
Liz Blankson-Hemans, Dialog, London

Romaine and the other newly-elected board members will begin their terms on the SLA Board of Directors on January 1, 2010, and participate in their first board meeting during the association’s Annual Leadership Summit later that month in St. Louis.

Learn more about the elected board members.

Read more.

2009 Fellows of SLA

“The SLA Fellows are an unrivaled group of intelligent and dedicated professionals. I am confident that these five SLA members will continue to be important assets to this organization and the profession,” said SLA President Gloria Zamora. “I congratulate and thank them for their service to SLA thus far, and I look forward to seeing what they do with their talent and drive as they move into the next leg of their SLA journey.”

The honor of Fellow of SLA is given annually to SLA members to recognize leadership in their career as information professionals or librarians. Fellowship in SLA is bestowed on mid-career professionals in recognition of past, present and future service to the association and the profession.

The 2009 Fellows are:

• Ellie Briscoe
• Stacey Greenwell
• Nancy Minter
• Pam Rollo
• Tony Stankus

Nominations for 2010 are OPEN for Fellows and Rising Stars! Nominate someone in your chapter or division today!

Read more about the 2009 Fellows.

Recruitment Campaign On!
Who knows the value of SLA membership better than you? There has never been a time when SLA has delivered so much value to its members. There has never been a time when members have needed their association more to prove their value to their employers, keep their skills on the cutting edge, or possibly have a network to assist in securing their next position. Encourage all of your members to invite someone they know to the next chapter meeting or a work colleague to experience a Click U course along with them. It will give them an opportunity to share first-hand what SLA means to them and provide an opportunity to invite them to join SLA. Or it’s as simple as sending an e-mail.
The Recruit-a-Member campaign is on until 31 December. All the information and tools needed are available on the SLA website. Bulletin editors or web masters can download an ad from the Bulletin Editors Electronic Resource Center.

Read more.

The SLA Big Easy
For a genuine New Orleans experience, SLA 2010 will feature two local keynoters. Come hear a spirited discussion between Democratic strategist, commentator, and “Ragin’ Cajun” James Carville and his equally sharp-witted wife, Republican Mary Matalin, also a strategist, author and commentator. If you have seen them on CNN, you know that you can expect to see some sparks fly!

Register today for SLA 2010.

2010 Call for Papers: “Entering SLA’s Next Century: Let the Good Times Roll”
SLA Contributed Papers

An opportunity to share your knowledge! How are you putting your hard work into action? How are you using the long-planned, expertly-vetted, SME-approved technologies in your library? How are your users responding to these new services?

If you have a success story to tell your colleagues, we would love to hear it! SLA is now accepting proposals for papers to be presented at its 2010 Annual Conference in the “Southern and Soulful City” of New Orleans, Louisiana, with the theme “Entering SLA’s Next Century: Let the Good Times Roll!” Accepted papers will also be published on the SLA website.

Every SLA member is eligible and encouraged to apply. Proposals will be evaluated by a panel of SLA members in a blind review, and the best will be selected for development into full papers, which are due 7 May 2010.

Read more.

Creating the Future – SLA Leadership Summit 2010
If you’re a leader, you simply must attend the upcoming summit. You’ll learn practical skills to grow in your leadership role in SLA or other volunteer organizations…

Read more and register.

SLA Now Has a Taxonomy Division!
“SLA members demonstrate expertise across a very broad spectrum of industries and disciplines, and the profession is rapidly growing to include an even wider range of career tracks,” said SLA Chief Executive Officer Janice R. Lachance. “With so many of our current members asking for the creation of a taxonomy division, it is clear that info pros are providing these type of value-added services to their employers, making information easier and faster to find, saving users valuable time, and ultimately contributing to cost-savings and a healthy bottom-line.”

The leadership of this new division will be:

Chair: Margie Hlava, Access Innovations, Inc.
Chair-Elect: Hannah Rubin, Library of Congress
Secretary: Mary Chitty, Cambridge Healthtech,
Treasurer: Janice Keeler, NERA Economic Consulting

Read more.

SLA Joins Alliance Calling for Investigation into Google Books Settlement
SLA has signed on to join the newly formed Open Book Alliance which seeks resolution on issues of copyright, access, anti-trust and privacy in the Google Books Settlement case.

The formation of this unique alliance bringing together SLA with non-profits, library groups, corporations, and other consumer groups to call for a detailed investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice into the Google Books Settlement is being widely reported by the news media today.

Read more.

Is There Room on Your Resume for Additional Expertise?
As an SLA member you have access to hundreds of video tutorials to broaden your skills and test the waters of new technologies. Create Excel charts like a pro, discover Photoshop, master your Mac, or even explore your film making abilities. You’ll be amazed at how much is at your fingertips. Your SLA membership is all you need to get started. Ready to jump in? Simply:

• Go to www.sla.org/innovate and log in to the SLA website with your SLA member information
• Click “Atomic Learning” link to see your access info for the learning site. (appears on the lower right corner)
• Go to the Atomic Learning page and log in using the access info displayed.

Need help? Contact membership@sla.org or +1.703.647-4900.

SLA Centennial Flickr group

We now have over 1000 images in the group.

While we are building an impressive collection of images, most were taken within the last 2-3 years. We would particularly like to see older photos from chapter events and conferences of years past. We realize that many of those images would need to be scanned, but imagine what a nice addition those images would be to your unit’s website or digital archives. Please consider looking through your old photos and scanning them for our Centennial celebration.

To submit photos, you have two options:

Send an email to: slawebsite@gmail.com
Subject line: Flickr photos
Submit the photos as attachments

Or if you have a Flickr account, you can share your photos with the group that way. All (appropriate) images are welcome. The more, the merrier! Please remember to tag your photos with “sla100″.

See our Flickr group and more on the Centennial website.

Please join me in welcoming the following new members who joined our Chapter between March and September 2009.

I look forward to meeting you all at an upcoming SLA Toronto event!

Meghan Ecclestone started a position as a Business Librarian at the Bronfman Business Library, York University in May 2009 and is working in the areas of reference, instruction, collections development and library research. Her email address is meghane@yorku.ca.

Wendy (Yuan) Kong has joined Durham Region Health Department as their Resource Coordinator in September. Prior to this position, Wendy was employed with the Oshawa Public Libraries for over 2 years as an Adult and Information Services Librarian. She can be reached at: 905-668-4113 ext. 3290, wendy.kong@durham.ca.

SLA Toronto Chapter President-Elect, Claire Lysnes has been honoured with the University of Toronto’s prestigious Arbor Award in recognition of her committed volunteerism to the Faculty of Information since her graduation with a Master of Information Studies degree in 2004. The award was presented to Claire on September 14, 2009 by the University of Toronto President, Dr. David Naylor, and Chancellor David Peterson.

Jennifer Burns has joined Baker & Taylor’s YBP Library Services as Collection Development Manager, Western Canada. YBP provides books, collection management and technical services to academic, research, and special libraries around the world. Previously, Jennifer was the Information Specialist at BMO Financial Group’s Institute for Learning. She will continue to be based in Toronto, where she serves the Toronto Chapter as Membership Chair. Jennifer has also been nominated President-Elect of the Toronto Chapter for 2010.

In September, Bruce Harpham successfully defended his Master’s thesis (The Role of Civil Society Organizations in the Net Neutrality Debate in Canada and the United States) at the University of Toronto. He will be receiving his Master of Information Studies degree in November. He will be starting an information management consulting project in November and continues to look for a suitable full time position.

Not on the move, but local celebrities: U of T Faculty of Information Studies students (past and present) Bruce Harpham, Von Totanes and Norah Xiao are featured on the SLA Blog. The photo was taken at the SLA conference in DC last June and along with other solo and group pics will be used in the blog, as well as in future SLA publications, including the cover of the latest issue of Information Outlook.

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.

Solo Group held three meetings this year, each one drawing on average of 14 participants. This represents a noticeable increase compared to the recent few years. Teleconferencing option may have been one of the reasons for higher interest, as it minimizes the loss of time (a major concern for solos). It does require more preparation and juggling: all the handouts, and lists of participants need to be distributed before the meeting – with frequent last-minute changes, this can be a very challenging task.

Other factors, introduced this year, may have contributed to the participation increase:

1. topics of discussion are chosen based on Solo Survey* results (evidence-based)
2. date of the meeting is selected to accommodate the majority (members are invited to vote on two to three date options offered)
3. meetings are more structured and agenda notes carefully prepared
4. minutes from the meetings are distributed by email right after the event
5. summaries of discussions, along with the resources are posted to the Toronto Solos wiki soon after the meeting (adding to resourcefulness and transparency)

First meeting was devoted to the issues around managing e-resources. The discussion focused on e-mail management, shared folders, SharePoint use/features/limitations, and software packages, including cataloguing tools. A couple of solos took courses on Records/E-mail Management offered by the Faculty of Information PLC, and were able to share some recent trends and recommendations. While a small number of solos are involved in some sort of enterprise content management, majority seems to be at the starting point.

Our April gathering covered tools and techniques that help solos in keeping current, such as email alerts, listservs, online forums, conferences, webinars, and various social media applications. Several resources for staying abreast with new technology, as well as for keeping up with professional trends, were exchanged. It is encouraging that many solos use and play with a variety of tools.

Finally, the September event helped placing the work of our Group in the context of broader Solo Division efforts. It was packed with briefings and notes from the SLA 2009 conference. Our special guest, Carolyne Sidey, SLA Solo Division Secretary shared her insights and a few documents prepared for the Division. A selection of sessions was presented in a very condensed form. It is amazing how much you can still learn about the conference by going through the blogs, tweets, and post-conference reports (even when you have actually attended the conference).

Worth mentioning are a few other tasks accomplished this year:

• Guidelines for Solo Chair are revised and posted to the wiki (offering some pointers for future chairs)
• A chronological list of past topics discussed by solos, based on reports published in The Courier is created for the wiki (providing a quick snapshot of solo themes)
• Solo Directory on wiki is being regularly maintained and updated, along with the email distribution list.

Featuring a promising theme of “Preserving organizational memory”, our next get-together is planned for the early winter of 2010.

One of the challenges ahead is how to encourage solos to review one free SLA U-Click webinar of their choice and agree to report back to the Group at one of our future meetings. It would be a great step towards maximizing our resources.

*All links in this document require SLA wiki login.

Amra Porobic is the SLA Toronto Solo Chair. She can be contacted at the Insurance Bureau of Canada (Tel: 416 362-2031 ext. 4350 or aporobic@ibc.ca)

The SLA Toronto New Information Professionals Autumn social will be held on October 22, 2009 at the Madison Avenue Pub. The NIP socials are a great way for new and aspiring professionals to meet.

Check out the NIP Facebook group for new discussion topics and postings from your colleagues. If you are not a member of the group yet, the name is SLA Toronto New Information Professionals.

We are also happy to announce that Stacey Piesner will be taking over as the new NIP Co-ordinator in 2010. Stacey and I have begun transition and it is obvious that she will be a welcoming and knowledgeable contact for those new to the profession or the city.

Thank you for making this year’s events so much fun!

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

For most information professionals, one of our key roles is that of educator – whether we acknowledge it or not. While this role is clear for information professionals that work in academic or even public libraries, it is seldom put front and centre by special librarians, or their professional associations. However, if we drill down deep enough in examining the core competencies for information professionals as put forth by SLA we will find that it is something that most Information Professionals do on a regular basis.

SLA’s “Competencies for Information Professionals of the 21st Century” lists a number of core professional competencies including: Applying Information Tools & Technologies. One of the applied scenarios given to this competency is that ” Information Professionals educate others in the use of information tools and technologies in a variety of ways, from training people in finding the information they want on the Internet or in proprietary databases to integrating information tools into their clients’ workflow or curriculum.”

Training or informing people is a regular part of our professional lives. We work one-on-one with our staff and clients to assist them to use the available information tools. We give presentations, seminars and workshops to colleagues, staff and clients on our work to inform and educate.

For Information Professionals in the special library sector our educational efforts are almost exclusively aimed at adults. To reach adults effectively in our efforts it may prove useful to know a little about adult education theory. In general, modern adult learning theory posits that learning should be student-centred and focus on the learner’s needs, while taking into consideration the previous experiences and knowledge of the learners. Adults learn best when they are treated as active participants in their own learning.

In the next issue of the Courier I will expand a little on the characteristics of the adult learner; and the role of the instructor to maximize successful learning.

Sandy Iverson is a consultant, researcher and educator based in Toronto. She holds graduate degrees in information science and adult education and is currently undertaking research on information literacy with senior citizens. This is the first of three articles. She can be reached at sandy@sandyiverson.info

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A Change Agent is typically assigned the task, “Make this happen!” and it is their responsibility to force/cajole/steer/entice/motivate etc. the community towards a specific destination. The CA fails if ‘this’ doesn’t happen exactly as. In the real world, the CA typically does not have a lot of wiggle room.

Regardless of the specific task assigned to a CA, they must function within the context of how people respond to Change in general. This is why the Change Agent role is a difficult one.

How do people respond to “Change in General”? The honest answer is that we don’t, or rather we can’t, respond to Change “in general”. We can, and do, respond to specific Changes.

If confronted by a CA exclaiming, “I’m here to Change how you do things!” no rational person will gleefully respond “Okay! Do what you have to do!” Instead we immediately try to get specific and respond (retaliate?) with a simple question, “Why should we change?” This in turn, is immediately tagged as resistance, and even as a mild form of insubordination.

If the statement, “People resist Change” is true, then it is true in the same sense that Newton’s 1st law of Motion, The Law of Inertia is true, “An object at rest tends to stay at rest, and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.”

Like a stone unconsciously following Newton’s Law, we will continue doing what we’re doing, until we have a reason to do something else.

When we ask “Why should we Change”, we’re not trying to annoy or frustrate anyone, we’re merely following Newton’s 1st Law.

The CA’s handicap is not only that they’re here to Change us, for reasons as yet unexplained, but they’re here to Change us regardless of how we feel about it. Remember, the task of the CA is to “Make this Happen” if they don’t, they fail.

So, the CA must Change us, otherwise they fail. This flies in the face of how we decide whether or not Change is necessary. Not only is the Change Agent’s task a threat, but the very title isn’t conducive to a participatory environment. Change AGENT… brings to mind James Bond 007, secret AGENT – license to kill you… oops… license to CHANGE you.

When a Change Agent is appointed, the decision to Change is fait accompli. Nothing anyone has to say has any bearing on the matter. They do, in a very real sense, have a license to Change us.

There’s an alternative approach to this problem, perhaps the term, “Change Coordinator” would work better? It suggests that at worst the person is assigned the task of coordinating the Change of others, rather than inflicting them with a predetermined decision?

The term “Change Agent” has accumulated far too much negative baggage, and isn’t conducive to the notion that real Change is not mandated, but instead grows out of a common understanding that it is necessary, for specific reasons, to respond to a growing threat, or to seize upon a potential future opportunity.

© 2009, Peter de Jager – Peter is a keynote speaker, writer and consultant you can read more of his work and contact him via http://www.technobility.com/.

Four And A Half Decades Of Putting Knowledge To Work: A History of The Toronto Chapter Special Libraries Association 1940 – 1984

The following is a history of the SLA Toronto Chapter written in 1984 by Helen Katz with Donna Ivey, on the occasion of the Association’s 75th Anniversary (1909-1984). It was originally distributed to the Chapter readership with the June issue of The Courier, volume 21, number 7, June 1984 rather than being published within it. We have followed suit by publishing the article as a separate attachment scanned from its original format.

Thanks to Brenda Wong for finding this snapshot of our chapter.

Link to PDF.

The following is a history of the SLA Toronto Chapter written in 1984 by Helen Katz with Donna Ivey, on the occasion of
the Association’s 75th Anniversary (1909-1984). It was originally distributed to the Chapter readership with the June issue
of The Courier, volume 21, number 7, June 1984 rather than being published within it. We have followed suit by
publishing the article as a separate attachment (http://units.sla.org/chapter/ctor/newsletter/pdfs/courier_1984.pdf) scanned
from its original format.

Thanks to Brenda Wong for finding this snapshot of our chapter.