Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to our Spring edition of The Courier. The warmer weather is here and so are conferences and convocations. An essence of renewal and growth is in the air. New professionals are entering the industry. Those already established are likely packing suitcases en route to a convention centre. The SLA Toronto Chapter supports everyone and their goals regardless of their plans for this season.

The Toronto Chapter has had an exciting and diverse line up this Spring. Article Clubs, co-hosted with TSLIS, have been an ongoing success. What is an article club? It’s like a book club, but (obviously) shorter. It couples a salon-like discussion with a debate on topics relevant to our profession. The sessions also provide a welcoming social environment for those new to the association to meet people and be heard.

On April 17th SLA Toronto hosted a tour of the newly renovated CBC Libraries and Archives. The group toured the main library space including music, reference, and visual resource services. They also took a tour through the deep archive and the newsroom. After a Peter Mansbridge sighting in the newsroom, the tour wrapped up with a discussion of media librarianship.

As for professional development programming, Ulla DeStricker has led a series of workshops for students and for practicing professionals. Ulla’s student workshops were hosted at the iSchool during the winter months. Her workshops for professionals—on branding and writing—took place on April 26th and May 17th, respectively. This series would not have been possible without the hard work of Bernadette Rocca, SLA Toronto’s New Information Professionals Program Coordinator.

Our Membership Chair, Christine DeLuca, organized a Membership Appreciation Event. With the generous sponsorship of Carswell, Toronto Chapter members were personally invited to enjoy an evening of hors d’oeuvres and fellowship at the Pogue Mahone on May 24th. Not a member yet? Feel free to contact Christine and she would be happy to discuss all the excellent benefits of an SLA membership.

Coming up in the later spring, the Toronto West Subgroup is hosting a speed-networking event at MapleLeaf Foods on June 11th. June also offers opportunities to brush up on your research skills before the summer holidays kick in. On June 12th Wendy Reynolds, with the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, will host a Legal Searching for the None Legal Librarian workshop, followed by a quick tour of the Ontario Legislature. To complement this session Mike McCaffrey will hold a Government Documents session later that month.

Also on the theme of member appreciation, I would like to welcome some new additions to the Toronto Executive and Advisory Boards:

Rob Ambra and Crystal Smith have joined our Partner Relations Committee.

Graham Lavender and Patricia Aspinwall have joined our Volunteer Pool.

The board is also happy to announce that Infomart has once again graciously sponsored two students to attend the SLA conference in Chicago this July. Thanks to Infomart’s partnership, Heather Buchansky and Stacey Nordlund will have an invaluable experience, which they will share through an article in The Courier’s Fall issue.

Speaking of the conference, please join president-elect Kim Silk, the Infomart Student-to-Conference winners Heather Buchansky and Stacey Nordlund, myself, and other members of the SLA executive in Chicago this July. Be sure to swing by the Canadian Reception hosted again by our generous partners, CEDROM. Looking forward to seeing you there!

— Laura Warner
SLA Toronto’s President

Welcome to the 2012 Spring issue of The Courier! As always, we’d like to thank everyone who contributed articles for this issue.

We received a tonne of great submissions for this issues, including one from SLA Toronto’s President Laura Warner sharing the insight and wisdom of her many conference experiences in hopes of helping members attending conferences get the most out of their investment.

This issue features a brand new recurring column, Partner’s Corner. This column will highlight updates or recent news from SLA Toronto’s partners, helping our membership get to know our partners better. We are also featuring Heather Buchansky and Stacey Nordlund’s winning statements for the Informart Student-to-Conference award. Congratulations to Heather and Stacey and we look forward to reading about their conference experiences in the Fall issue.

iSchool student, Sarah Farrukh, contributed an article describing her experiences job shadowing with Ulla de Stricker. Christina Kim offers a look at MaRS Discovery District’s Startup Library, which she helped develop. Stephen Spong details recent changes in Canadian copyright law and their effect on academic libraries. Katya Pereyaslavska attended the Art Libraries Society of North America annual conference and reported back on the sessions she found most interesting. Plus, SLA Toronto/TSLIS Green Article Club host, Jessica Darling, reviews the event and offers a summary of the discussion. Finally, Ricardo Laskaris provided a sampling of the questions he asked at the SLA Toronto & Toronto Desk Set’s April Pub Quiz.

Submissions are always welcome. Please send your comments, ideas, or suggestions to:

Kelly Butler
kelly (at) kllybtlr (dot) com

Yannet Lathrop
yannet_l (at) yahoo (dot) com

Happy Spring, everyone! Welcome to the latest edition of Board Watch.

2013 SLA Board Candidates Announced

SLA President-Elect Deb Hunt recently announced the eight fellow SLA members who have agreed to stand for office on the SLA Board for 2013. You will be voting for your preferred candidate this coming fall, so be sure to learn about these outstanding professionals by reviewing their bios posted on SLA’s website and for their posts on the SLA Blog where they will be answering key candidate questions. The first question asks about non-traditional career paths and each candidate offers their advice and perspective to both new and established professionals.

You also can easily follow and interact with the candidates via Twitter.

For President-Elect Kate Arnold and Juanita Richardson (Past-President of SLA Toronto!!!)
For Chapter Cabinet Chair-Elect Joy Banks and Kama Siegel
 For Division Cabinet Chair-Elect Stacey Greenwell and Tara Murray
For Treasurer John DiGiglio and David Stern

An easy and painless way to keep up-to-date is to subscribe to the RSS feed for the SLA blog—just fill in your email address to the right navigation bar.

Travel Awards Make Chicago Easy

With the 2012 SLA Annual Conference coming up in Chicago this July, there have been lots of travel grants being awarded to members. I’d like to recognize our colleague, Amanda Adams from Nipissing Law Library in North Bay, who has been awarded the Wolters Kluwer Law & Business Non-U.S. Law Librarian Travel Grant Award by the SLA Legal Division. Congratulations to Amanda, and see you in Chicago!

Tuesday at the SLA Conference is Leadership Focused!

Learn more about the many leadership opportunities within SLA by attending the leadership meetings on the afternoon of Tuesday July 17th. See the SLA 2012 Conference Planner for times and locations.

Trip Planning using Pinterest

For those going to SLA 2012 in Chicago, take a look at the Pinterest board of Favourite Chicago Places & Spaces put together by the Social Science division.

Keep in mind that Advance registration for the SLA 2012 Annual Conference is open until Friday, June 29th.

All the best,

— Kim Silk
SLA Toronto’s President-Elect

Please join me in welcoming the following new members who joined our Chapter from February 2012 through April 2012

Adrienne Van Halem, Toronto
Alexandria Stalteri, Toronto
C. Jennifer Lee, Toronto
Christine Hintzen, Mississauga
Crystal Smith, Oakville
Danielle Lee-Muma, London
Daphne Horn, Toronto
Erica Hendry, Toronto
Katherine Cuyler, Toronto
Laurie Karnis, Montreal
Marisa Maharaj, Toronto
Mauri Rosenstock, Toronto
Megan Leslie, London
Melissa Bird, Toronto
Milena Todosijevic , Toronto
Natalie Boon, Toronto
Phil Richards, Toronto
Roberta De Gregorio, Toronto
Sarah Bonato, Toronto
Sarah Farrukh, North York

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

— Christine DeLuca
SLA Toronto’s Membership Director

Jessica Darling has joined Devon Group, a Government Relations/Public Relations firm located in Toronto. As their Research Librarian, her work includes research, media monitoring, and subscription management. She recently graduated from the iSchool, making this her first job in the field. She can be reached at jdarling@devongroup.ca.

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, or volunteer work with column editor Kim Stymest.

What’s in a Name? The New Infomart

What do you call us? FPinfomart? FP Infomart or just Infomart? Our brand has evolved several times over the years. Depending on when and how you first came to know us, you may think of us in different ways.

If you’re a user of our service, you’ve already seen a new logo at the top of our product site, the relocation of our blog, and changes to our email addresses. We’ve gone back to our roots—Infomart. (You may have noticed we switched our Twitter handle from @FPinfomart to @infomart several months ago in preparation for this change). We will continue to offer the same suite of media monitoring and Financial Post Data that you rely on. Cosmetic and functional changes to the Infomart product will roll out in future, but for today, it is only the brand that has changed.

We’re pretty excited around here—this is the first in a series of fantastic changes to come. We think the new brand is a better representation of our core strengths, and an excellent description of what we do.

Other big things are under way at Infomart. We’ve got amazing product upgrades in the pipeline. Our recent rebranding is just the first step in a transformation that will take Infomart to the next level as a media monitoring, intelligence, and analytics platform. We’re building the tools to make daily work for our core audiences (of which SLA members are a critical part) easier, faster, and exciting.

If you have any questions about our new brand, please don’t hesitate to:

Call us at 1 .800 .661 .7678 or 416 .442 .2121
Email us at contactus@infomart.com
Tweet us at @infomart
Read our blog at www.infomart.com/blog
Fax us at 416 .442 .2968.

We look forward to having you along for the ride with us and hope to hear from you!

— Jennifer Stein
Infomart Product Manager, B2B

SLA Toronto Chapter is pleased to announce that Heather Buchansky and Stacey Nordlund are the winners of the 2012 Infomart Student-to-Conference Award. The Infomart Student-to-Conference Award provides each of the winning students with a $1,500 stipend for travel to and participation in the 2012 SLA Annual Conference & INFO-EXPO in Chicago, July 15-18.

Heather and Stacey were selected by the Executive Board of SLA Toronto on the basis of their résumés and the quality of their statements on what they expect to gain from the conference experience.

Heather will graduate with a Master of Information from the Univerisity of Toronto’s Faculty of Information this June. During her time at U of T, she worked as a Student Library Assistant at Robarts Library in Reference and Research Services, the Harry R. Abbott Dentistry Library, and was Professional Development co-chair for two years on the Master of Information Student Council. Heather also holds a teaching degree, and taught overseas before embarking in the field of librarianship.

Stacey has a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Toronto, and graduated this Spring with her Master of Library and Information Science from the School of Library and Information Science, San José State University. At convocation, Stacey was student speaker and was named recipient of the Ken Haycock Award for Exceptional Professional Promise. In addition to her studies this year, Stacey served as Editor-in-Chief of the Student Research Journal, a scholarly student-governed publication of San José State University, and also worked virtually as an Embedded Librarian at San José State University’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library.

Statement by Heather Buchansky’s

I am writing to apply for the FP Infomart Student-to-Conference Award for 2012. I believe professional development cannot start soon enough, and I have made an effort, since attending the University of Toronto’s iSchool, to get involved in councils and associations to increase my skill set as I embark on a new career path. I have been a co-chair of the Professional Development Committee on the Master of Information Student Council for the last two years. In this role, I organized events such as the clubs and association open house; resume critiques; interview workshops; and the annual Employer Showcase, bringing over 20 organizations to the iSchool for students to learn about the varied paths in the information profession. This year, I am also an executive member of the Special Libraries Association Toronto Student Group. Through these volunteer experiences, I visited a wide variety of special libraries, spoke with a number of individuals in the field, and have come to realize the importance of networking and getting involved. Attending the 2012 SLA Conference in Chicago would allow me to continue my professional development, as well as expand my network, which I see as an integral part of being in the information field.

During my time at the iSchool, I worked on projects as a practicum student at two diverse placements: PwC and MaRS Discovery District. I saw firsthand the rewards and unique challenges involved in working in a special and corporate library. These placements also introduced me to other areas of the profession I am interested in exploring, including knowledge management and competitive intelligence. The SLA Annual Conference offers a range of presentations regarding these topics, and it would be an excellent opportunity to hear firsthand from practitioners about what is currently happening, and be “future ready,” as is the theme of the conference.

Since this conference brings together a large number of individuals in the library and information field from all over the world, it would be extremely beneficial to be a delegate and network with other information professionals, both new and seasoned, about their roles in special libraries, and learn about the challenges and opportunities taking place in the field. I am also interested in attending the INFO-EXPO to see the variety of specialized products available, and have a better insight into the current and future trends and technology available from vendors and information providers.

However, my main goal for wanting to attend the SLA Annual Conference is to experience, and gain more understanding of, all that is going on in the information profession on a global level, through the presentations, networking, and social events. It would be a privilege to have the opportunity to attend an international conference focusing on my new career in special libraries.

Thank you for your consideration,
Heather Buchansky

Statement by Stacey Nordlund

Dear SLA Toronto Executive Board,

I am writing to submit my name for consideration for the Infomart Student-to-Conference award to attend the 2012 SLA Annual Conference in Chicago. As a student in the online Master of Library and Information Science program at San José State University (SJSU), I am gaining experience in what I deem the key elements of the future of librarianship: global research conducted by virtual teams, a focus on emerging technologies, and the organization and use of information in a changing knowledge economy. As I near the end of my academic career and prepare to enter the profession, my keen interest in forging a non-traditional path as an information professional has been cemented.

I am presently in my final semester of the MLIS program with a focus on information organization, and information intermediation and instruction. After taking a course in Special Libraries and Information Centers in 2010, I became interested in nontraditional information settings. I am a member of our newly-formed SLA Student Chapter at SJSU, as well as a member of SLA Toronto Chapter.

Regardless of the type of environment in which I may practice, the core principles that define my professional identity provide me with a solid foundation to guide my practice as an information professional (see Figure 1). My educational experience in the SJSU School of Library and Information Science MLIS program has provided me with transferable skills that may be applied to any information environment, whether a special library, specialized academic library, or even an organization without a library. However, much of the knowledge I have gained has been based in theory, and I look forward to immersing myself in a professional environment to learn directly from practitioners. For this reason, I believe that attending the SLA Annual Conference will allow me to further develop my knowledge, enhance my professional network, learn more about the profession, and perhaps more importantly, help me determine ways to give back to the profession of which I am thrilled to be a member.

Figure 1

In particular, I am eager to experience the unique opportunity to network with information professionals who function in a variety of specialized settings across the globe. One of my core professional values is collaboration; I would relish the prospect of connecting with future colleagues and developing contacts with the diverse pool of SLA members for future career development and learning opportunities, and to determine how I may best contribute to the organization.

If I am selected for the Infomart Student-to-Conference award to attend the 2012 SLA Annual Conference, I would have the chance to initiate my future involvement in SLA. I am interested in contributing to the SLA community, and in particular would welcome a position on the SLA Toronto Chapter Executive or Advisory Board. As a newinformation professional, this experience would certainly be invaluable. I look forward to participating in the conference and contributing to the future development of the information profession.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Stacey Nordlund

As the weather heats up in the spring, so do the conference schedules. Right now, many information professionals are gathering in conventions centers to be reunited with colleagues, visit trade shows, and engage in exciting sessions about emerging technologies and other professional trends. Conferences are an amazing opportunity to communicate ideas, hone new skills, and rub shoulders with the leaders in your profession.

Since attending my first professional conference in 2005, I instantly became enthralled with these occasions. From attending about a conference a year since—and thanks to a few tips from trusted colleagues—I find that I get more value out of conferences with every season. Because attending a conference is usually a significant venture, one wants to make sure they get their best return on investment. Below is a list of best practices for optimizing one’s conference experience.

Research the program inside and out. Spend a significant amount of time prior to the conference preparing for what sessions you want to attend. The best way to ensure you get a learning experience is to attend sessions you know very little about. Remember, sometimes the sessions can be quite popular, so be sure to get there early.

Research what speakers you want to meet and contact them in advance. By targeting the leading thinkers in the profession you will make even stronger connections. Also remember to read their stuff—blogs, twitter feeds, publications—prior to your conversation.

Also research the trade show floor plan. Make appointments in advance with the exhibitors you’d like to meet. Being able to prepare for a conversation, amidst the busyness, will give the dialogue more substance. Find out if the vendors you already subscribe to are attending the conference so you can touch base in person. It’s good to maintain that personal aspect to the relationship.

If you are new to conferences, secure a conference mentor. Your mentor should be someone who is established in the association, who can introduce you to the who’s who of the information world, and provide you with more great conference tips. A lot of conferences do have a mentoring program set up. If not, ask a manager if they can recommend someone who is attending the conference and doesn’t mind showing you around.

The location of your accommodations will make the trip much more enjoyable.  For financial reasons, particularly as a student, in the past I decided to stay off route, way off route. Typically in a 1.5 star motel, which I shared with four other student attendees (I think we may have violated a fire code!).I would painfully rise up hours before the breakfast session and take a rather uncomfortable bus ride down to the convention centre. Rather one goes than not, but my best experiences were when I stayed at the designated conference hotel. It will be much easier for you. Sometimes the lack of stress is worth the money. It will also expand your networking opportunities because you’d be meeting another attendee every time you got into the elevator.

If you pack anything, pack your business cards. Bring lots of cards, circulate them, and collect them from others. After you’ve collected a business card from another individual, write down on the back of it where you met them and what you chatted about. This will be helpful when you follow up and make the connection via LinkedIn. If you don’t have your own business cards, make your own. There are a lot of great printing companies that will let you design and order cards online for a relatively low cost.

Dress to impress, but don’t overdo it. Occasionally there will be conference attendees who either over do it or under do it. To be safe, I would recommend packing business casual attire. Always be mindful of the industry standards, which may vary between a more academic focused conference and a corporate one. Unless you’re giving a presentation you can forgo the power suits (you may be mistaken for a vendor). At the same time you want to ensure you look professional for your colleagues and show that you respect your industry. Pack items that make you look presentable, comfortable, and memorable.

Attend association meetings and speak up. Making comments during sessions or at the annual general meeting will put a face to your name. Yes, it is nerve racking to put yourself out there in front of everyone, but people are very respectful of it. After the meeting, people will know—and remember—that you were there.

Add a vacation day or two to your schedule pre or post conference. Since you’re already there, this is a great opportunity to take in a few extra days and explore the attractions. Especially if the conference is held somewhere really cool, like, lets say…Chicago.

Get your social media act in gear. Mention your conference attendance on your LinkedIn and Facebook pages. Also make sure your pages are up to date and polished in case anyone follows up with you later. Find out the conference hashtag on Twitter so that you can contribute your thoughts and experiences to those following the action.

This top ten list is only the tip of the iceberg. There are plenty of fantastic trade publications, blogs, and websites that offer fantastic conference tips. So you’ll have some homework to do. Whether you are a first time conference goer, or a full-blown conferenceaholic, have a wonderful season!

— Laura Warner
SLA Toronto’s President and Media Librarian at the Canadian Broadcasting Company

I recently had the fortune of job shadowing with Ulla de Stricker thanks to the Faculty of Information Alumni Association (FIAA). Each year, FIAA hosts a Job Shadowing Program for iSchool students at the University of Toronto, which pairs currently enrolled students with practicing information professionals. Job shadowing with Ulla opened my eyes to the realities of working as an information professional. It also gave me a way to bridge my course of study with those realities.

As a first-year student focusing on the knowledge management path, my career at the iSchool so far had involved courses on the management of information organizations, records management, and organizational information behaviors and knowledge creation. These courses were invaluable in giving me a means of identifying information silos in organizations as well as tools to remedy them. I started developing an interest in information consulting and the process of the information audit, which led me to the opportunity to “follow” Ulla as she carried out a project for a client (with the client’s permission and a non-disclosure agreement Ulla provided for me to sign). The project was typical of the work she does, in that its focus was determining the way in which the organization would provide access to professional and scientific information for its knowledge workers and leverage information professionals’ skills in supporting collaboration between knowledge workers.

Ulla explained to me the steps she was going to undertake, showed me the instrument she would use in obtaining the views of staff members identified for her to interview, and shared the evolution of the project as she gathered factual information (e.g. measures of current practices) and subjective views from client employees. She walked me through her experience during the interviews and then through her findings and recommendations reports, clarifying the reasons for their structure and content and emphasizing the need to understand the mindset of current and potential future readers. I could trace the links from hearing about “what was said” to “what Ulla would recommend.”

I was able to directly connect what I was learning in the iSchool program with what she shared, and my meetings with Ulla added healthy doses of reality checks.

For me, the biggest reality check was this: even in organizations whose mission depends on quality information access and research, the opinion may prevail that “all subject matter experts are qualified researchers” and “everything anybody needs is available on the internet for free.” I draw the conclusion that in today’s economy, organizations with little or no obvious information-specific component in their mandate would be tempted not to invest in professional information services.

I also learned that the value of an information service must be stated in as concrete and quantitative terms as possible. An information audit like Ulla’s must elicit the link between knowledge, information, and knowledge worker productivity by framing questions such as: “If you did not have access to [the information content and librarian support in question], what would be the impact on your work?” For example, statistics about kinds and numbers of articles retrieved by knowledge workers—while by no means persuasive by themselves—are necessary in demonstrating to upper management that appropriate information services are integral to knowledge workers’ day-to-day activities.

Further reflection on these matters made me even more aware that ongoing advocacy and awareness-raising about information services is not an optional matter. Events such as budgeting exercises may trigger reviews of information services, but there is a need for vigilance. Knowledge workers are busy and may fall into “poor habits”—they need to be constantly shown how valuable “real” information services are.

Although the professors in my program continuously caution us about the need for ongoing advocacy for the role of information professionals, being in school inevitably means being in a highly “information friendly” environment. We are told advocacy is part of being an information professional, but in a bubble such as this, we are rarely put on the spot to have to defend our skills and our services against budget cuts. Job shadowing with Ulla on her project brought me face-to-face with the need for future librarians to shed light on the value of their work and on the direct link between their efforts and the organization’s ability to realize its stated strategic goals.

The lesson is clear: the time to start advocating is now. Don’t just be good at what you do. Make sure others see it—and be sure they tell the ones who manage budgets “access to appropriate professional information is a non-negotiable.”

— Sarah Farrukh
iSchool Student, sarahfarrukh.com

In 2006 the University of Toronto Libraries (UTL) and the MaRS Discovery District—an incubator that supports startups in ICT, Cleantech, and life sciences in Ontario—created a market intelligence department. Market Intelligence provides premium secondary market research services to qualified Ontario entrepreneurs in order to meet their information needs so they can successfully bring their innovative ideas to the marketplace.

As MaRS Market Intelligence nears its 6^th anniversary, we have been rethinking the ways in which we deliver services to our clients. We have seen an increase in the number of clients and questions that we cater to because of an extension of our services to the entire province of Ontario. We have also witnessed the startup landscape grow more complex for budding entrepreneurs due to more sophisticated competition and niche markets. MaRS Market Intelligence has responded to these changes by developing new ways of helping our clients intelligently navigate the information landscape.

We also noticed that entrepreneurs approached us with similar information needs and asked many of the same questions. To both address these concerns and to extend our services in order to serve our clients better, MaRS Market Intelligence created the Startup Library. Developed for entrepreneurs to help them search less and do more, clients are empowered by the Startup Library to locate information efficiently when answering common market research questions, and to help their understanding of the startup ecosystem. The Startup Library is a curated collection of links to public domain resources from the government, private, and non-profit sectors.

The MaRS Market Intelligence team designed the Startup Library to be a practical guide to the best of the Web for online and mobile startups. It allows entrepreneurs to focus their market information searches on only the most relevant and useful sources. As of the official launch (January 12, 2012), it comprises:

• ‘how-do-I’ guides for commonly-asked market research questions, which include identifying competitors and finding Canadian and US market data
• annotated links to quality online content across a broad range of online and mobile topics. These include accelerators and incubators, business models, lean startups, and funding
• feeds from a shared repository of bookmarks selected by MaRS Market Intelligence’s research experts

This resource is itself a startup—it was launched with plans to add additional content over the next year, and to expand it to other sectors, Life Science and Cleantech—so stay tuned.

Screen capture of Startup Library:

— Christina Kim, BSc, MISt
Information Specialist, Gerstein Science Information Centre – MaRS Discovery District