Dear members and friends of SLA Toronto,

By the time this fall issue of the Courier is published, my term as President of the Chapter will be nearly concluded, and thus it seems like an appropriate moment to reflect upon the goals I set for myself and the Chapter this year:

Disseminating the work of the SLA First Five Years Advisory Council to the Chapter through the establishment of the ‘First Five Years’ Director position on the Executive Board and the resurrection of the UWO FIMS student group, chaired by Erin McDonald.

The UWO FIMS student group said goodbye to Erin upon her graduation and welcomed two new students as co-chairs: Beth McIntosh and Andrew Nelson. We welcome them and will continue to support both UWO and U of T student groups through our First Five Years Director, Shannon McMillan, who took over the position from Gillian McArthur (nee Horwood) in early fall. The First Five Years Advisory Council has released a series of webcasts relevant to those in the early years of their career and Shannon will be promoting these to the Chapter soon.

Broadening our current subgroup offerings (New Information Professionals and Solos) by bringing back the Toronto West Subgroup, with Mike Meth and Mindy Thuna as the new co-chairs.

Mike and Mindy engaged our members working and living in west GTA with the revival of the Toronto West Subgroup. Their first event was held in June and they are planning a few more for late fall and early winter. Unfortunately, Mindy will be leaving her role and so we are looking for a Chapter member to chair the group along with Mike. If interested, please contact Mike at Michael.meth@utoronto.ca.

Continuing to share and encourage uptake of the results of the SLA Alignment Project.

We were lucky to have Rebecca Jones, SLA Fellow, and Kim Silk, President of the U of T Faculty of Information Alumni Association take on the role of Alignment Ambassadors for our Chapter this year. Although things were a bit quiet on the Alignment front earlier in the year, Rebecca and Kim held a session to inform our membership of how they can apply the Alignment research and principles to their own careers and Kim reported on Alignment Project progress at the Chapter’s Post-Conference Wrap-Up event. The Alignment Project is currently focusing on drafting a revised Mission, Vision and Values Statement for SLA. Have your say on these topics and win prizes at http://www.slaalignmentportal.org.

Refreshing our Chapter website to make it a little more contemporary, while moving toward a seamless user experience across our web 2.0 & social media technologies.

Chapter members, Daniel Lee, Heather Ritchie and Britta Jessen have spearheaded a SLA-wide initiative to improve the association’s website technology and build a community of practice for SLA webmasters. In early 2011, SLA will begin offering a new web hosting service for all SLA chapters and divisions. Using WordPress technology, branded themes that have been designed specifically for SLA will be part of a stable and inexpensive hosting package, one that offers 24/7 technical support, a common content management system, and a 99.9% uptime guarantee. Toronto has been selected as one of the ‘early adopter’ units, which means we will be one of the first Chapters to utilize this new technology for our website. Stay tuned for more!

Enhancing the SLA Toronto event offerings through continued partnership & cross-pollination with such groups as CASLIS, Knowledge Workers Toronto, and the U of T Faculty of Information Alumni Association; and continuing to deliver programming of interest to SLA Toronto Chapter members, including the continuation of the Career Series with Ulla de Stricker.

SLA Toronto had a year full of great events from our first ever Carswell sponsored Member Appreciation Social to our Haunted Halloween Walking Tour! Our New Information Professionals and Solo Librarian groups were active and our capable Programming Director, Heather Brunstad, and her fearless team were able to organize everything from library tours to joint events with other local organizations such as CASLIS and Knowledge Workers Toronto! Thanks to Greg Barber for organizing our well attended Summer Social; Gayle Gossen for planning what is sure to be another great AGM (sponsored by The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones); and to our many Chapter members who, through hosting Dine-Around Series, generated conversation about the trends, opportunities and challenges facing our profession.

Finally, one of my unspoken goals for 2010 was to shore up the Chapter’s financial situation, a tough challenge in this lingering depressed financial climate. However, we were able to accomplish this through tremendous support from our sponsors:

• CEDROM-SNi and LexisNexis who are sponsoring our Holiday Social with CASLIS, TALL and the Faculty of Information Alumni Association. CEDROM-SNi was also the sponsor of our Post-Conference Wrap-Up session.
• FPinfomart who continued their support of the Student to Conference Award for the third year in a row.
• Carswell who helped us put on a great Spring Social, well attended and enjoyed by all.
• The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones who are generously contributing to the Chapter’s Annual General Meeting.

I would like to thank these partners for their contributions to the Chapter, which were so instrumental in helping us reach and support our members in their chosen profession. I am also grateful to Pam Casey for the countless hours she spent identifying opportunities and fostering relationships as Partner Relations Chair.

2010 was a successful year for the Chapter not because of my efforts but because of the commitment and passion of the Executive Board, the Advisory Board and our volunteers. I was lucky to have such dedicated, enthusiastic individuals working alongside me, and the benefit to the Chapter has been obvious. I would also like to convey my gratitude to our members for actively participating in the Chapter and for giving us your support in our efforts to deliver a valuable membership experience to you.

Let’s congratulate incoming President, Jennifer Burns, for filling her 2011 Executive Board. It has been an honour and pleasure for me to have served as Chapter President in 2010 and I wish Jen and her team the best of success in the coming year. Joy Shanfield, our Nominations Chair, and Jen will present the 2011 slate of nominees for acclamation at the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones sponsored Annual General Meeting on November 17th.

On behalf of the Chapter’s Executive Board, let me wish you and your family and friends a very merry holiday season! Please join us for the AGM and for the CEDROM-SNi and LexisNexis sponsored SLA, CASLIS, TALL and Faculty of Information Alumni Association Holiday Social on November 30th. Hope to see you there!

Welcome to the Fall issue of the Courier. Thank you to everyone who contributed articles to this issue.

This fall the Dine-Around Series continued to generate lively discussions. Elysia Guzik reports on the October dinner where conversation ranged from the relevance of a physical library space to ebooks. The discussion raised many questions which could become dine-around topics in the New Year. Ebooks were also the topic of discussion at a technolgy conference attended by Martha Murphy. Martha shares with us information on a session she facilitated which examined how Ontario government libraries are using social media and ebooks to enhance their services and collections.

This issue also introduces a new column directed at job seekers. Send your queries and quandaries to pattyplacement@gmail.com and Patty will provice you with helpful advice.

We wish you a very happy holiday season. Before celebrating the holidays, be sure to read Laura Warner’s amusing and useful article on surviving office holiday parties!

We hope you enjoy this issue. Submissions to the Courier are welcome at any time. Please send comments, ideas or suggestions directly to us.

Bruce Harpham

Bruce.harpham@gmail.com

Sandra Craig

sandracraig@rogers.com

Voting for SLA Board of Directors Reaches New High; Brent Mai is 2011 President-Elect

2010 election for the Board of Directors of the Special Libraries Association (SLA) drew a record turnout, as more than 27 percent of members helped elect five new members to the organization’s governing body.

When the polls closed at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on 29 September, the election results were announced as follows:

• President-Elect: Brent Mai
• Chapter Cabinet Chair-Elect: Ulla de Stricker
• Division Cabinet Chair-Elect: Richard Huffine
• Directors: Jill Hurst-Wahl and Sara Tompson

The five newly elected board members will begin their terms on the SLA Board of Directors on 1 January 2011 and will participate in their first board meeting during the association’s annual Leadership Summit later that month in Washington, D.C. Read more

Call for Nominations: 2011 Rising Stars and Fellows of SLA

It is that time of year again…. Nominations for the 2011 Class of Rising Stars and Fellows are now open!

Time to start thinking about which of your SLA friends have worked hard, consistently provided strong leadership, or gone above and beyond the call of duty on behalf of the association. Nominations will close on December 1, 2010. Directions and forms are available here. Read more

What’s Your vision for SLA?

Where does SLA need to be in 5, 10, or even 20 years if it wants to make a difference for librarians and information professionals?

Starting October 26, you can help us answer that question. Below is a draft vision statement, which is meant to be a forward-looking expression of SLA’s long-term goals:

To lead the information profession into the future by promoting its members as invaluable assets to their organizations. We will continually empower our members to be knowledge leaders who actively contribute to, and drive the success of, their organizations.

Do you think this statement accurately portrays the future direction of SLA? Let us know in one (or both) of the following ways:

Instant poll: Answer the vision-focused poll question to the right of this blog post. A new question will be posted next week, so be sure to visit this site again.

Comment: Share your thoughts about the draft vision statement by leaving a comment on this blog.

Comments and poll answers about the vision statement will be accepted for two weeks. All comments and poll results will be collected and used to guide the development of the final vision statement. Read more

One Year and Growing – Taxonomy Division Celebrates

The Taxonomy Division is celebrating its first anniversary. A year has already gone by and so much has been accomplished reports Chair Marjorie Hlava. Highlights include:

• Over 200 members and growing
• Sponsored/Co-sponsored more than 10 taxonomy-related sessions at the SLA 2010 Annual Conference in New Orleans. And, there were additional topics on taxonomy as well.
• At least two programs are planned on taxonomies on the 2011 program.
• Established a webinar series for Division members.

Designed exclusively for SLA Taxonomy members, the division has had two webinars already: one by Christine Conners and one by Marjorie Hlava. Additional webinars are scheduled:

Oct. 26 – 1 p.m. EDT Wendi Pohs will speak on Taxonomy Mapping

Nov. 18 – 1 p.m. EST Marti Heyman will speak about Taxonomies: Build vs. Buy

Visit the wiki for details as they emerge. Read more.

A Gracious Farewell To A Lifelong Member

Dorothy Beckemeyer Skau (“Becky”), a cherished and lifelong member of SLA, passed away on October 14, 2010. She left behind a legacy of dedication to the association, both on the national and chapter level, and a lifetime of commitment to the library field.

Becky’s life is characterized by valued contribution to numerous associations, groups, and institutions, and her professional and personal legacy is appreciated by all those fortunate enough to have come into contact with her. Her story as a librarian coincides with the story of the Southern Regional Research Center Library of the United States Department of Agriculture. She helped found the library in 1939, and was a librarian there until her retirement.

Becky joined SLA in 1944, and over the past 60-plus years she never ceased to give back to the association community. She has held office as the president of her Louisiana Chapter, and has served on the national board of directors. She was awarded the Oberly Memorial Award by the American Library Association for a four volume compilation she co-authored on the chemistry and technology of tung products. She was a lifelong member of the St. Paul Lutheran Church.

For a full story of her accomplishments and recognitions, and information on making contributions in her honor, click here.

On behalf of the SLA community, we’d like to offer our supreme gratitude. Farewell, Becky.

Please join me in welcoming the following new members who joined our Chapter from August to October 2010.

Julie Anderson, Toronto

Jenice Batiforra, Toronto

Jessica Darling, Toronto

Jessica Derreck, Toronto

Alice Desrocher, Toronto

Candice Fong, Toronto

Samhita Gupta, Brampton

Mary Hanson, Toronto

Aarash Kalra, Toronto

Shannon Latham, Toronto

Yannet Lathrop, Toronto

Andrew McAlorum, Toronto

Beth McIntosh, St. Marys

Tomasz Mrozewski, Toronto

Andrew Nelson, London

Maile Reeves, Aurora

Amalia Roskies, Toronto

Adrianne Sarich, London

Lina Traboulsi, Toronto

Le Dieu Tran, Markham

Candy Yip, Mississauga

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

In September 2010, Bruce Harpham started work at BMO Financial Group in Toronto. As an Information Governance Consultant, his work covers a range of research, analysis and records management responsibilities. His office phone number is 416-513-5723.

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

Job-Seekers! SLA Toronto is pleased to offer a new columnist to the Courier.

Send your job hunting queries and quandaries to pattyplacement@gmail.com

Dear Patty Placement,

Now that everyone is submitting their applications electronically, is it okay to submit an unsigned cover letter? How would I put a signature on my cover letter if I don’t have a scanner?

Signed,

No sig No scan

Dear No sig No scan,

I’m not really sure how much it matters if you submit an unsigned cover letter. However, I think it looks more complete and professional if your letter is signed and at the very least it shows potential employers that you are technologically savvy enough to figure out how to do it.

Personally, I don’t scan every cover letter I write. I took a black marker and signed on a piece of white paper and then scanned it so that I have it stored as a jpg. If you don’t have a scanner you can get someone else to do this for you and just email it to you or put it on a memory stick. Then, you will always have it and can simply insert it into practically any document you want.

Good luck!

Patty

Dear Patty,

Should I send my applications as word files or pdf files? I don’t have Acrobat on my computer and can’t afford to buy it. Please advise.

Signed,

Pondering pdfs

Dear Pondering,

I prefer sending pdf files as they will always look to the receiver the same as they look to you. With Word, I have had the bad luck of having my carefully formatted CV turn out all messed up when it was opened in a different version of Word.
Most versions of Word have the option to either save as pdf or export as pdf. Alternatively… there are places on the internet where you can get documents converted to pdf for free. (Try freepdfconvert.com or expresspdf.com)

Good luck!

Patty

It’s that time of the year again. Your inbox has probably been frequented with invitations and save-the-dates for the notorious office party. If the alleged “holidays” were not already busy enough with fall deadlines, home winterizations, exams, last minute shopping, travel bookings and accommodating our out-of-town second, third, and forth cousins, we now have the added affliction of the office holiday social.

There are some of us who may go to great lengths to avoid what we fear to be the stuffiest social event of the year. Many others dutifully make the effort, but with the enthusiasm of an 8-year-old on their way to Saturday morning piano lessons. However, with the right attitude, this night could actually not only be tolerable, but one of the best this year. If I could present a little bit of motivation, and mix it with a few professional tips, hopefully you will have one less reason to fret this winter.

Celebrate Yourself

Depending on your event it will most likely be populated with clients, potential clients, managers, or faculty members. Suddenly everyone you have been trying to have a conversation with all year is now right in front of you and in a good mood. Yes, an open bar and a few twinkly lights can transform any otherwise hurried professional into a right jolly old elf. If you have been trying to highlight your newest accomplishments to a preoccupied manager; if your ideal thesis advisor, who has an aversion to email, is now back from sabbatical; or if have been relentlessly trying to prove how intelligent, interesting and forward thinking librarians/information professional are to your otherwise sheltered colleagues; then tonight the world is your oyster. With a little preparation, you can pull off the perfect showcasing of yourself. So have that business card, CV, website, elevator speech and wardrobe updated and polished. When things reconvene in January your talents may be needed for an upcoming project.

Do Not Leave Your Manners at the Coat Check

Lydia Ramsey, business etiquette guru and the author of Manners that Sell: Adding the Polish That Builds Profits, warns that the biggest and most common mistake professionals make is that they fail to realize that the office party is still a business event. True, it is a much more relaxed and festive atmosphere, but the rules of etiquette still apply. A few helpful hints should begin with a reminder that simple manners and smiling are essential. A little pleasantness will go a long way (well they will at least keep you out of trouble). To uphold this, be sure to limit your beverage intake to one to two glasses, depending on how well you hold your liquor. Also, be sure you mix and mingle a bit. Your best friend is awesome, but do not attach yourself to them the entire evening. Finally, the most mind bending dilemma of all cocktail parties: the plate of food in one hand and drink in the other. I struggled with this conundrum for years — perilously balancing a glass of wine atop a plate of shrimp so I could squeeze in a hand-shake – until it occurred to me: choose one or the other. I would suggest working through a plate of food first, so you’re A) not hungry and B) you have a cushion to “absorb” that cocktail afterwards.

Why Not Enjoy The Evening?

I know this is totally out there, but why not have fun for goodness sake? Yes I did just stress how important this event is, but acting dignified and having a good time are not mutually exclusive. Think of it this way, it’s one of the few parties of the season that you are not expected to cook, clean, and/or decorate. There will be no nosey or overbearing relatives present (unless you’re in the family business) so things are quite relaxed compared to the other parties you’ll be attending this month. Get dressed up, feel good about yourself and have some fun. If you act enthusiastic, you’ll be enthusiastic.

If You’re Still Not Having Fun: Yes You Can Go Now

If the season is just too overwhelming, or if you are just not enjoying the evening despite your best efforts, there is no sense in torturing yourself. If you’ve been there for two hours and made a few connections, nobody will notice if you slip out a little early.
Yes, you do have to talk to the boss, so that they know that you were there, but since s/he will be in such high demand that night, it doesn’t have to be a prolonged experience. If this is done, you can make a clean getaway. If you’re nervous about whether you’ll make it to this point, psyche yourself up with some personal indulgences. Try a rewarding system: promise yourself new shoes, a movie, or a drink with friends on the way home, the motivation should keep you poised for the duration of your stay.

Hopefully you’ll try seeing professional functions in a more positive light. If you need to practice your enthusiasm, come out to the SLA/CASLIS/TALL/FIAA Holiday Social on November 30th. You won’t have to do the dishes and if your boss isn’t there you can even up your drink limit, but just by one (we do have standards).

Happy Holidays!

Laura Warner is a graduate of Dalhousie University’s School of Information Management. She has held various positions including, Media Librarian and Business and Economics Librarian. This year her office party will be in the CBC Music Library and she will enjoy every moment of it, without embarrassing herself.

Marking the beginning of a crisp new fall season, five SLA Toronto members warmed up over a hearty meal at Baldwin Street’s Thai Paradise to ponder the topic “library as place vs. library as state of mind”. Not long into the conversation, we discovered that this issue raised more questions than answers. Our initial exploration of issues such as the type of environment that best supports knowledge sharing, and whether place is even relevant in information centres that rely on technologies for research, social and administrative purposes led to insightful comments about the power relations that have become embedded in how we organize information. One SLA member asked, “isn’t an electronic space still technically a physical one?”. Later discussions centred around the pros and cons of e-books: which type of book resonates more profoundly with readers — one that offers a more nostalgic, comforting, tactile experience of flipping through the pages or one that is light, portable and just as easy to take to the beach as it is to the office? Reflections on creative approaches to cataloguing practices in specialized library environments encouraged participants to deliberate about the changing role of librarians and information professionals: we’re not defined by our “shushing” abilities, but do we still maintain certain ideals about the traditional library? We envision contemporary libraries as centres for collaboration, but are we willing to grant a higher priority to social spaces than to quiet study areas in our organizations? Future dine-arounds could investigate these issues further.

The relevance of a physical library space is particularly timely, in light of a recent article in SLA’s monthly publication, Information Outlook, highlighting a study conducted by the not-for-profit organization ITHAKA which concluded that faculty in the United States are using libraries less often to carry out their research activities (see http://ithaka.org/ and http://www.sla.org/io/2010/07/889.cfm for more details). Even learning styles are evolving according to our increasing use of technology in daily life. SLA members at the dine-around referred to an article about electronic book formats inspiring children to read (http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/868327–do-e-books-spur-kids-to-read ), and considered the implications that this trend could have for specialized libraries. What does this all mean for our profession, and for the organizations in which we work? Only future conversations can tell. Where these conversations take place — in a physical library or an online forum — is up to you.

From left: Katya Pereyaslavska, Sergey Nekrasov, Mohammad (Mumtaz) Ahmad, Elysia Guzik, and Shannon McMillan.

References

___. 2010. Info news: Faculty using libraries less often to conduct research. Information Outlook, 14(5): 6.
2010.

ITHAKA home page, http://ithaka.org

Reuters. September 29, 2010. Do e-books spur kids to read?. Toronto Star, http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/868327–do-e-books-spur-kids-to-read#article

As a government librarian, I had the opportunity to attend the Ontario Government’s technology conference Showcase Ontario. I facilitated one session on behalf of the Ontario Government Libraries Council with participation from the following librarians:

• Gabrielle Gaedecke – Ontario Agency for Health Promotion and Protection (OAHPP)
• Heath Finley – Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR)
• Mercedes Lee – Ontario Legislative Library

Gabrielle and Heath discussed how government libraries utilize social media to assist their users with policy development, communication and information gathering as well as the implications for records management. Mercedes gave an overview of the eReader pilot project at the Legislative Library and the marketplace for the eReader along with the outlook for eBooks products.

The session lasted ninety minutes and I don’t want to overwhelm you with details. Therefore, I have loaded the presentation to Slideshare for those of you who are really keen … grab a coffee and block off an hour to go through the slides … are you ready to be inspired?! http://www.slideshare.net/MMURPHY18/showcase-2010-social-media-and-ereadersebooks

Ms. Gaedecke – Presentation

Gabrielle provided a synopsis of the social media tools that are currently used by the libraries i.e. Twitter, blogs, YouTube, Facebook and RSS feeds. At the OAHPP Library social media such as Twitter and blogs are used for tracking illness, epidemiological tracing and monitoring issues of the day (e.g.) wind turbines, salty diets, and outbreaks. The MNR Library uses the tools to collaborate on policy development, monitor Twitter, Blogs, RSS feeds for disasters (floods, forest fires) and keep up to date on current scientific research and developments. The Library at the Ontario Fire Marshal keeps current on fire incidents across the province and Canada by subscribing to over fifty RSS feeds, using Twitter, blogs and Facebook to monitor community response to fire incidents, and YouTube postings of fire scenes assists fire investigations. The Finance Library engages Twitter, Facebook and blogs to track trends and monitor public opinion and to help convey the Ministry’s message. The Finance Library has been quite busy tracking the public’s response to the HST via social media channels. Government libraries play a large role in delivering real-time “unfiltered news” to their colleagues.

Mr. Finley – Presentation

Heath presented the challenges imposed on records management and security that social media brings to an organization. While social media applications are popular and provide a unique way for the Government to interact with the public and be more transparent and accountable, the new technology does raise IT and security concerns to the organization. Large organizations are somewhat apprehensive about security of third party websites whose servers reside outside Canada. Threats through viruses and hacking, protection of privacy and controlling privacy breaches are all issues when content resides on third party websites. Retention of information becomes an issue when libraries are obliged to archive information on Government websites. Are libraries obligated to archive material on a third party site used by the Ontario Government? These issues are not new to government. We can use the implementation of web-based mail systems as an example, but our need for high security and protection has changed.

Heath argued that social media is a contradiction of terms — is it really open and social? Social media defies records management. Who owns the content? How are records defined? How do we capture, retain and preserve information? How does existing legislation apply? How can we make it searchable for our libraries? How can one schedule something that is not necessarily complete at a particular point in time? The problem of excessive, never ending content becomes an issue. How can one filter out what is important in an environment in which thirteen hours of content are uploaded to YouTube every sixty seconds and millions of Tweets are posted each day?

Ms. Lee – Presentation

Mercedes discussed her experiences at leading an eReader pilot project at the Legislative Library and astonished us with how quickly the market evolves for the eReader/eBook. eReaders are one of the hottest devices in the market place today. The Legislative Library purchased an Amazon Kindle and a Sony eReader. They uploaded them with content and invited staff to evaluate the eReaders and thereafter complete a survey. As a result of the feedback they received, the Library will move forward by focusing on supplying e-content to their clients (eBooks, ePUB, PDF material). Other issues to be dealt with include copyright, privacy, ongoing acquisition of materials (hardcopy versus electronic), lending out eReaders, licensing issues, creating a “tech collection” and identifying sources of “free content.” Mercedes also provided a summation of vendors supplying e-content: MyLibrary, NetLibrary, Ebrary, Canadian Electronic Library, and public libraries. Mercedes gave an overview of some popular readers — Chapters Kobos, Sony eReader, and the Amazon Kindle. She compared each of them with regards to price, storage, format, functional design etc. The new Apple iPad was identified as perhaps the “death knell for eReaders” as it provides the user with much more than just the “reading capabilities” — it is a tablet computer with “eReader functionality”.

Martha Murphy is the Librarian at the Fire Sciences Library and Audio-Visual Resource Centre, Ontario Fire Marshal, Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services. Martha is an emerging technology enthusiast with a passion for Web 2.0 and libraries. She can be contacted at martha.murphy@ontario.ca. Connect via LinkedIn http://ca.linkedin.com/in/marthamurphy

Librarians are passionate about many things: books, knitting, cooking, and roller derby. OK, the roller derby part is just one awesome Toronto librarian who is not afraid to throw a few punches around and wrestle with ladies on wheels in her spare time. But I digress. The point is that librarians are passionate about many things, which is exactly why last year a group of public librarians in British Columbia raised nearly $4000 in support of the Stephen Lewis fight against AIDS and HIV in Africa (http://www.adaretoremember.com/). Their Dare? To dress up in outfits which conflicted with the public perception of what librarians should look like — crazy neon and fishnets. They set out to challenge stereotypes and prove to the public that librarians are not afraid to have fun. This group has served as the inspiration for a local gang of information professionals, the Toronto Desk Set, which has partnered up with the Stephen Lewis organization with the hope of making a difference in the lives of men and women suffering from AIDS and HIV in Africa.

The premise of the Desk Set Dare is simple: to talk about the concept of shushing in the context of libraries. Equipped with notepads and cameras, our mission in October and November is to interview as many librarians as possible. These interviews will take place over the coming weeks in conjunction with National Library Month. This Dare is intended to question the traditional librarian stereotypes and challenge the accepted notion of libraries as quiet spaces (an issue which is increasingly being brought up for debate, both within the general public and within the field of librarianship). In a direct homage to the B.C. group of librarians, we would like to examine a negative librarian stereotype in a new positive light by creating a public forum about the concept of shushing.

We want you to tell us what you think about how the concept of ‘shushing’ plays into negative stereotypes of the ‘traditional librarian’. It’s daring to talk about this negative stereotype and explore it in a positive light!

Our team is asking for pledges in support of our DARE. All donations go directly to the Stephen Lewis Foundation.

Participating librarians (with their permission) will be featured on the Toronto Desk Set website (torontodeskset.org).