What SLA Toronto Did On Its Summer Vacation
Dear Colleagues:

I don’t know about you, but I still function on an academic calendar, and for me, September marks the real “new year” and an excellent opportunity to pause and take stock of the progress we’ve made so far. As this is the Summer issue of The Courier, it’s the perfect time to look back at the activities and accomplishments of the Toronto Chapter and its members over the past few months.

In May, President-Elect Laura Warner hosted the bi-annual Volunteer Appreciation Event, which would not have been possible without the generous sponsorship of our partner, Thomson Reuters. The event, a cocktail reception at the Cajun-inspired Southern Accent in Mirvish Village, took place on the evening of May 31st and celebrated the contributions of over 40 SLA volunteers. It was a great success and a terrific way to kick off summer!

The SLA Annual Conference took place in Philadelphia from June 12-15th. Several SLA Toronto members were recognized at this year’s conference for their contributions to the SLA community. Melanie Browne, co-Chair of the Toronto West Subgroup, received the award for Best Contributed Paper. Her paper, “Communicating Value Through Strategic Alignment” has been published in the July/August 2011 issue of Information Outlook and is a great example of the power of strategic alignment.

Martha Foote, who currently serves as Awards Chair for the Toronto Chapter and who chaired the Contributed Papers at this year’s conference, received an SLA Presidential Citation at the joint Chapter Cabinet and Division Cabinet meeting. The citations are granted to SLA members for a notable or important contribution during the previous year that enhanced the Association or furthered its goals and objectives. Daniel Lee, a Past-President of the Toronto Chapter and member of the SLA Board, was also recognized for his leadership on Operation Vitality, which has revitalized the unit websites. Please join me in congratulating and thanking Melanie, Martha and Daniel.

The Toronto Chapter also hosted the annual Canadian Reception at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown on June 13th, together with our friends and partners CEDROM-SNi, whose generosity made this event a resounding success. Joining me to represent the Toronto Chapter was President-Elect Laura Warner, Programming Director Elysia Guzik, Partner Relations Director Pam Casey, Secretary Emmeline Hobbs, and Technology Director Kim Silk. The event was attended by over 150 delegates. The Canadians turned out en masse, and we were joined by many of our friends from the United States and from around the world, as well as SLA CEO Janice LaChance and 2011 President-Elect Brent Mai.

And finally, on August 25th, Greg Barber hosted the annual Summer Social on the patio at L’espresso, on what turned out to be a glorious late-summer evening. Given that August is traditionally prime vacation-time, the strong turnout was impressive – the patio got very crowded very quickly! It was a great opportunity to meet new and prospective members, chat with friends, and enjoy one of the last long summer evenings. I think we will all miss those! (We won’t, however, miss the wasps who were attracted to the berries in the delicious house sangria!)

In closing, I’d also like to take this opportunity to share some of my reflections on the 2011 Conference. The mood at the conference was optimistic, positive, hopeful, and forward-looking. The Pennsylvania Convention Center hummed with activity from dawn to dusk. In most of the sessions I attended, the words “resilience” and “flexibility” cropped up. They are words I have used frequently myself when talking about our profession. Hearing them so often at the conference prompted me to really think about these related concepts, and what the qualities of flexibility and resilience mean to me.

I define resilience as the ability to rebound after a setback. Flexibility is about being able to roll with the punches, adapt to new situations, and to consider other points of view, even if (maybe especially if) you disagree. While I believe that we all have the capacity for increased flexibility and resilience, in times of uncertainty, our natural reaction is a primitive, instinctive one that biologists have dubbed “fight or flight.”

Fight or flight has ensured the survival of many species, ours included, for millennia. But mere survival is no way to live! Flexibility and resilience are the keys to moving from surviving to thriving. They are qualities that need to be cultivated. They need to be nurtured and encouraged. They need to be modeled. What I took away from this summer’s conference is that we need to create a culture of resilience and flexibility, every day, in the present, so that we can build a successful future together.

All the best for the “new year”,

Welcome to the summer issue of the Courier. As always, thank you to everyone who contributed articles for this issue.

 In addition to our regular contributors, Stella Palikarova has provided a summary of the May dine-around where e-books were discussed. Also in this issue are articles by Jane Dysart and Laura Warner about the SLA Conference in June.  In July, Darinka Tomic attended one of the Marshall McLuhan events  honouring his life and work.  In her article she shares her experience at the session and her thoughts on the future of communication.  And, Kate Petch and Kim Stymest present their survey results about professional development among students at the iSchool.

We hope you enjoy this issue. 

 Submissions to the Courier are welcome at any time.  Please send your comments, ideas or suggestions directly to us.

Sandra Craig
sandracraig@rogers.com

Bruce Harpham
Bruce.harpham@gmail

Recruit-a-Member Campaign Promoted to Membership Chairs
Today membership chairs of all our units were sent a special message regarding the SLA Recruit-A-Member Campaign. This campaign is not just for membership chairs but for the entire membership and I hope your unit is planning a campaign to get your colleagues to join SLA and your unit. This is a special time to focus on recruitment and growing SLA.
Read more

Research is Alive and Well in SLA
Financial constraints may have put SLA research grants on hold, but not research itself. For proof, check out the contributed papers that were presented at SLA 2011 in Philadelphia.

The papers addressed a variety of topics, with titles ranging from “Libraries and Cloud Computing” to “Leading Future-Focused Scenario Planning Efforts in Knowledge Organizations.” A paper titled “Communicating Value through Strategic Alignment,” submitted by Melanie Browne of Maple Lead Foods in Toronto, was named the best contributed paper and is published in the July/August issue of Information Outlook.

To read contributed papers from past SLA conferences, click on “Events” on the menu bar of SLA’s Website, then click on “Conference Presentations.”

SLA Future Ready Video
In case you missed this Future Ready video at SLA’s 2011 Annual Conference, which debuted in front of an audience of 3,000-plus, you can view it for the first time (or take a second look) on SLA’s YouTube channel.
Read More

SLA 2011 Candidates
Be sure to follow the SLA Blog for ongoing Q & A with candidate for Big SLA 2011 executive.

Please join me in welcoming the following new members who joined our Chapter from May through July 2011.

Heather Buchansky, Toronto
Traceyann Crawford, Brampton
Erika Dickenson, Toronto
Katherine Johnson, Toronto
Angie McHodgkins, Toronto
Doris Nussbaumer, Halifax
Elizabeth O’Brien, Toronto
Allison Pedler, Toronto
Eric Reinberg, Concord
Pamela Saliba, London
Alison Walker, Toronto

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

Barbara Chu, Physics Librarian at the University of Toronto, officially retired in June 2011. In her 38.5 years of tenure, she saw the transition of her library from the print world to the electronic world and she feels privileged to have been part of this transition era. Since the University of Toronto saw strength in the electronic resources, it gave the University of Toronto Library special support in this area and felt it was the direction to go for a large library system.

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.
Submit your news to Frances Wong at FWong@blgcanada.com.

I had almost forgotten how inspiring, invigorating and important professional conferences were. The last time I had attended one I was completing my graduate studies and trying to finagle my way into a professional position through some intense networking. Upon securing oneself within the information practice, it is so easy to get comfortable within one’s daily tasks. Inside our libraries and knowledge centres we can develop theoretical blinders, focused on what we are doing. While it’s all still special and fulfilling, that initial za za zoo slightly fades a bit. Every once in a while we need a reminder as to how important, fascinating and exciting our careers are. Conferences are perfect for this. That is how I rekindled my passion for my profession, appropriately enough, in the City of Brotherly Love.

Discovering Emerging Industry Trends and Technologies
Attending seminars is an excellent way to educate oneself on emerging trends, ideas and technologies. A great example was Connie Crosby’s Session on Collaboration Tools and Practices. SLA Toronto’s very own Connie led an exciting seminar on the theories of collaboration and suggested methods and technologies to use when getting people to successfully and efficiently work together. Other interesting sessions included 60 Apps in 60 Minutes and 60 Sites in 60 Minutes. Both staple sessions were great for keeping professionals in the know, through micro presentations of – obviously- 60 useful sites.

Knowledge and Skill Development
Conferences can also serve as a sort of intensive skill development boot camp. Many of the sessions one can choose from are also excellent how-to seminars. One sitting I found particularly educational was Breathing New Life Into Your Newsletter and Online Presence. The session was kicked off by a journalist and editor, rather than a librarian. A refreshing perspective from someone outside our profession is always greatly valued, especially given the topic. True to his journalistic style, he gave us the five-W low down of newsletter and website publishing. Who is reading your material? What is your publication? (An educational tool? A marketing tool?) When do you schedule publications? Where are people reading this? And, of course, why are they reading it? Tapping into the knowledge and skills of others helps us remove those “daily blinders” and opens us up to a whole new world of possibilities.

Personal and Professional Development
Acquiring new skills and information to bring back to your local chapter and office is great, but you also owe it to yourself to take the time to personally develop. This is the perfect environment to take an introspective analysis of your accomplishments and your future aspirations. Seminars that were helpful for this objective included Alternative Use of the Library Degree, Using Social Media in the Workplace and SLA Career Connection Seminar: Reinvigorate Your Resumé. Whether you’re looking for work or a career change, it’s a great idea to take an inventory of your accomplishments and update the materials you use to market yourself. While the creative juices are flowing, why not re-brand yourself all together? Since I always want to know how to market myself and my skills, I attended Elevator Speeches: How to Develop Them, hosted by the famous Mary-Ellen Bates and Toronto’s talented Gayle Gossen. Mary-Ellen and Gayle engaged us in fascinating practices on how to grab the attention of those you meet and keep them wanting more. This becomes your secret weapon the next time someone says: “but you don’t look like a librarian”. With a new elevator speech, they won’t know what hit them.

Networking and Bonding
Of course conferences are great for networking. Thousands of interesting information professionals all under one roof, all eager to talk about what they do and hear your story as well. There are also an abundance of social events, made especially for mingling, such as the Canadian Reception and other evening hootenannies. If formalities are more your thing, there are the business meetings – SLA Chapter Cabinet Meeting and the SLA Joint Cabinet Meeting – to engage with new professionals. However, meeting new people can happen at any point during your voyage. Like finding a kindred librarian while waiting in the Air Canada customer service line after your initial flight was cancelled (details need their own separate article). Just goes to show you, you should always have your trusty business card on hand.

While we become preoccupied with making new connections, we should not neglect building on our established connections. Back at the ranch, when I’m burdened with an insane work/life balancing act I don’t always have time to truly get to know my SLA counterparts, so I enjoyed several meals with local Toronto professionals and colleagues. I also had the pleasure of rooming with SLA Toronto Chapter President Jennifer Burns. (Who is an excellent roommate if I may add.)
Attending a conference can be like going on a second (or third or fourth or so on) honeymoon with your professional self. Like John Lennon’s lyrics, it’s just like starting over. Surrounded by educational tools, new vendor products and new ideas, it was a wonderful retreat to fall in love with your exciting, provocative and ever changing profession.

Laura Warner has been an active SLA member since 2007. Since moving to Toronto that same year she has held various positions with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. This year she attended the SLA conference in Philadelphia representing the Toronto Chapter as their President-Elect.

Jane Dysart posted this summary of the 2011 SLA opening keynote address in her blog (http://dysartjones.com/) on June 13th, 2011. For more knowledge management information, check out the Dysart & Jones ‘KM Today’ feed of tweets.

Kinder, gentler libraries are dead, and there will be winners and losers. The winners have solid strategies and action plans that support and align with a bigger and comprehensive community. They are so embedded in their communities that funding and resources are not issues. These successful libraries have a strong voice in their community. Currently, there are some good examples (see our recent article on innovative services in libraries). However, my vision is even bigger, put partnerships and collaborative projects together with other cultural and ICT communities. More on that when I have more time!

In other words, successful libraries with strong community voices have

* built solid relationships with all the movers and shakers in their communities — the politicians, the major for-profit and not-for-profit organizations,

* formed strong partnerships with key players in their communities whether they are publishers, other community/cultural organizations or companies,

* taken a stand with other community organizations and exclaimed in a loud voice how much they impact their community in positive ways

On the other hand, the losers are those who take a narrow view and use their voice not in a collaborative, positive way but in a derisive way that shows little tolerance for the community at large. e.g. join a union which precludes them from teaching when literacy is a most critical community goal or scream at publishers about ebook publishing/lending instead of thinking critically and problem solving with them.

As Thomas Friedman of the New York Times & author, The World is Flat & Hot, Flat & Crowded 2.0, said at the SLA conference in Philadelphia,

*we can’t just do the job, we have to continuously reinvent it — inspire, incent & innovate

* average is dead; we all have to find our “extra” — find it, develop it, exploit it

*critical and reasoned thinking is the key to employment now and even more so in the future

*the importance of right side brain thinking is increasing — synthesis, creative, storytelling

* we have to sort the signals from the noise

* we have to use different frameworks to think afresh

* anything can be done from anywhere, and will be (flat world), so for competitive advantage you need to use your imagination and spark ideas — the world will be either high or low imagination enabled

It’s a competitive world and libraries can no long be kind and gentle, or they will be dead.

“The Future of the Profession: Professional Development at the iSchool 3” was a poster presented at the 2011 CLA National Tradeshow and Conference. The project was begun in 2008 by Meghan Ecclestone and Bruce Harpham, and was presented at the 2009 CLA conference. We took it over the following year, and presented a previous iteration at the 2010 conference.

Our survey collected both quantitative and qualitative data from Master of Information students, and was created to answer two broad questions:
1. What professional activities students had undertaken in the summer between the first and second year of their Master of Information (MI); and
2. What professional development opportunities do they desire from the Faculty?
What we found was interesting: the diversification of the field of Information Professionals is also happening on the student level. The clearest indication of this was seen through changes in students’ career choices.

Little change was noted in the 2008 study between student’s career choices before and after the summer (graph not shown – changes in survey questions made the data difficult to compare). 2009 reflected a majority of students shifting their career goals from academic librarianship to special librarianship. This shift continued in 2010, but was less dramatic than in the previous year.

The most significant shift from 2008 to 2009 regarding summer employment was found in the category of “Other” work experience, where the majority of students reported working for the summer of 2009. While “Other” work remained high in the summer of 2010, library work in “Academic” saw a resurgence. All such responses were found to be related to fields under the umbrella of Information Studies. Some of these work environments included: international organizations; non-profit organizations; and various museum positions. Most notably, however, was a dramatic increase in students’ summer employment in areas of research analysis.

Rates of job satisfaction remain high; though not as high as in 2008 or 2009: 71% of students were satisfied, or very satisfied with their summer work experiences in 2010, compared to over 80% in both previous studies.

We believe that some of this satisfaction is directly related to steps that are being taken by professionals in the field, and that facilitating student opportunities during the summer months can open their eyes to the wealth of possibilities in the information field. Other steps that professionals can take include offering practicum placements for students, participating in iSchool professional development events (e.g. guest lectures, Job Shadowing, Ask an Alum, etc.), and generally, being open to talking to students at social events. These opportunities were noted by students in the survey, and were highly valued.

From 2008 to 2010, this project has noted a large majority of students finding well paying work in fields of interest, with high levels of job satisfaction. These promising results suggest that information organizations are doing well matching students with their desired areas of work; nonetheless there is potential for more challenging, meaningful work for students.

We believe that the increase in career goal changes, coinciding with the increase in “Other” work opportunities, is reflective of the growing diversity of job prospects in the information profession and in the diversity of student interests coming into the Faculty of Information.

The Faculty of Information has continued to increase the professional development opportunities available to students since the beginning of this study in 2008. Let’s meet the students half way.

Kate Petch is a Media Librarian at the CBC. She graduated from the University of Toronto’s iSchool in 2010 with a Master of Information Studies. She can be contacted at katherinepetch@gmail.com.

Kim Stymest is the Information Specialist at the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development & Trade. She graduated with a Master of Information Studies from the University of Toronto’s iSchool in 2010. She can be contacted at kstymest@gmail.com

From left to right: Stella Palikarova, Ricardo Laskaris, Lisa Leggett, Elysia Guzik, Stephanie Quail

“Le Papillion on the Park” seemed the perfect place to kick off spring with a lively discussion of e-books, e-book readers—their potentials and potential pitfalls! Cozying up to one of the tables set up for our SLA group in the back area of this quaint French restaurant on Eastern Avenue, I thought to myself: hasn’t this topic been sickeningly over-debated? What is there possibly left to say about e-book readers? But my sense of paranoia soon lifted as the fruity mixed cocktails began to circulate and we dug into the tasty, hot crepes that are a signature of “Le Papillion”. One dine-arounder was quick to whip out her quilted, stylishly clad Kindle and espouse its remarkable merits: the battery life lasts forever, you can read an insanely long book without having to feel like you are carrying a brick in your backpack, downloading from e-book stores is a breeze! She also informed us where to find cheap and stylish covers: Etsy. Still, other SLA members expressed a concern for the “dying book” in print and echoed what I’ve long heard to be the frustration of public libraries in having limited digital copies and licensing agreements to certain e-pubs. Does the e-pub necessarily signal death to cozy, snuggly paperbacks and the musky scent of bound leather?

Still, the benefits of e-book readers cannot be dismissed. I noted my own interest in this booming technology: for many readers, e.g. those with physical disabilities, e-book readers represent a new and exciting accessibility tool—a next phase in the disintermediary movement begun by the advent of the Internet. Ironically, however, e-book readers may just as easily contribute to an existing digital divide.

In this electronic age, where readers find themselves inundated with information and have easy access to digital downloads in the form of music, video, and text publications that can be quickly transferred from your PC to your portable device, who needs libraries or librarians anymore? Is it possible that such e-reader technology as the Kindle are only going to provide further munitions to those political forces that want to shut down or privatize our public libraries? If so, then devices like the Kindle, may come to be less representative of freedom for the reader than of a handicap. These would be interesting topics to expand upon at a future SLA dining event.

The phenomenon of communication seems to be more topical than ever with its many layers of meanings yet to be discovered. This, of course, multiplies with the current explosion of modern technology devices, idiomatically coined as social networking tools. What further complicates this trendy algorithm is a spontaneous creation of a system of codes that could be potentially identified as a new human language. Various acronyms and drastically shortened words are used among a new generation to accelerate the communication process. The competitive race against time, and perhaps space, has just begun.

 The first known theory of communication goes back to Ancient Greece. Aristotle, disciple of Plato, came from the great school of Athens known for its peripatetic style where the dialogue was the main form of building and creating knowledge both in oral and written form. When a speaker was ready to convey the speech (message) he was at the centre of the communication process with the intention to influence or persuade the (passive) listeners. However, most important was the content of the speech.

 Illustration: Plato and Aristotle from the fresco of Vatican Palace, by Raphael Sanzio in 1509, decorating the private library of the pope, the Stanza della Segnatura. Plato points to heaven while Aristotle points to earth – symbols of their teachings.

 Source: Socrates (2005)

 The Aristotle model of communication remained highly effective and applicable particularly among scholars for over 23 centuries. Although many changes happened with the development of technology – the invention of telegraph or radio, for example – that greatly improved the communication process, there were not any significantly new theoretical models of communication theory until Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver published “The Mathematical Theory of Communication” in 1949. This theory was a prototype of “a model which reduces communication to a process of ‘transmitting information” (Chandler, 1994).

  Illustration:Schematic diagram of a general communication system. Also known as mathematical (information) model of communication.

Source: Shannon & Weaver (1949)

In its core this model presents the transmission of the electrical impulse from one point to another. However, its mathematical logic was quickly spread to social sciences and humanities. The message at the receiving end might not be exactly the same as when the transmission started due to obstacles (noise) in the process. This was very much appealing to non-exact sciences. Although empirical in its essence, this model was missing error correction or feedback.

 Perhaps, after the invention of the telephone, there was no more fascinating communication device than the personal computer. Among those who envisioned its potential in shaping global communication was Marshall McLuhan, born in Edmontonin 1911. Marshall McLuhan’s work was rather observational and reflective. It is said that when working on his theses in Cambridge, England, he was influenced by the works of English philosopher Francis Bacon, a well known empiricist.  McLuhan refused to recognize theory as the method of his thinking and preferred throwing probes to his listeners (McLuhan, 2008). His published pieces though reflect an undertone of a theoretical approach to understanding communication.

 Resembling the peripatetic style of ancient times, we gathered on the 21^st of July to mark the Marshall McLuhan centenary. The former coach house, which became a home for the newly established (in 1963) University of Toronto Centre for Culture and Technology in 1968, has not changed much. This place, where McLuhan held his rhetoric Monday evening seminars, brought back vivid memories to his former students and gave a rare opportunity for us who signed in for the DesignMeets session to connect to what it might have felt like.

 The interior walls of the Coach House, painted in white, carried the art works of Robert Bean who has been commissioned to create a site-specific exhibition for the CONTACT festival. The exhibition was organized with McLuhan100, the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology of the Faculty of Information Coach House Institute, University of Toronto.

The “Illuminated Manuscripts”, a selection of photographs depicting communication technologies of the past, exhibited alongside video projection of 100 of McLuhan’s original manuscripts from Library and Archives Canada, made a perfect backdrop for the celebration of what would have been McLuhan’s 100^th birthday. The birthday cake and drinks made it real.

Illustration: McLuhan Program in Culture & Technology – the Coach House – at 39a Queen’s Park Crescent E, Toronto.

 Photo by: D.T.

 The DesignMeets McLuhan + You was one of many festivities that took place to honour the life and reflect on the work of a remarkable Canadian thinker. This event on the hottest day of July was special in many aspects.

 Upon registration, each guest was given a McLuhan Probe to reflect upon and present at the Coach House as an opportunity to initiate a discussion with the group. The Probe I received was: “Today computers hold out the promise of a means of instant translation of any code or language into any other code or language” (McLuhan et al., 2003, p. 112-113).

 It felt like providence.

Frequently, I have thought about language as a set or system of codes. It made me understand better the theory of literature during my studies back in Belgrade and helped me in reading.  Today, we have Google Translate which is becoming an extremely reliable tool that provides “instant translation”.  What cannot be ignored, or treated as a side effect of social networking technology, is the fast development of a new system of codes – a new language used and understood predominantly by youngsters whose lives depend on gadgets like smart phones and electronic tablets of all sorts. Will this rather spontaneous development that came as a desire to pass on information using fewer characters (codes) like in Twitter in the fastest possible way, spending the shortest amount of time, lead us to develop a unique set of codes for all humans to use and understand without a need for translation or interpretation?

 Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase: the medium is the message. The concept, often misunderstood when created some 40 years ago, seems so obvious now. It appears that we are closer then ever to identifying ourselves with the medium – emphasizing the instrumental aspect of communication. However, we have to keep in mind that the Turing test has not yet proved the supremacy of computers over humans (Turing, 1950).

 We live in an electronic era and our modern communication devices are based on this technology. The explosion of electronic publishing requires e-readers that are becoming better, more affordable and easier to use as we speak.

 And, as we are getting used to reading Tolstoy or Shakespeare on the newest Kindle, Kobo or Sony reader, Stephen Hawking is thinking about how to transfer the message from our planet Earth into space and communicate with aliens. Perhaps, it won’t take long before we talk about a different set of codes, a completely new language to develop and learn in order to communicate with the universe.

 References

Chandler, D. (1994). The transmission model of communication. Retrieved from http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/trans.html

McLuhan, E. (2008). Marshall McLuhan’s theory of communication: The Yegg. Global Media Journal — Canadian Edition, 1(1), 25-43. Retrieved from http://www.gmj.uottawa.ca/0801/inaugural_mcluhan.pdf

McLuhan, M., Carson, D., McLuhan, E., Kuhns, W., & Cohen, M. (2003). The book of probes: Marshall McLuhan, David Carson. Corte Madera, CA: Gingko Press.

Shannon, C. E., & Weaver, W. (1949). The mathematical theory of communication. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Socrates, S. (2005). Raphael’s School of Athens. Retrieved from http://www.ancientsites.com/aw/Article/555679

Turing, A. M. (1950). Computing machinery and intelligence. Mind, 59, 433-460. Retrieved from http://www.loebner.net/Prizef/TuringArticle.html

  Recent research interests of Darinka Tomic are in effects of modern technology on the development of communication theories. She holds degrees in theory of literature from University of Belgrade and library and information science from University of Western Ontario. Darinka works with iDivision of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and can be reached at darinkatomic@gmail.com