History of the Saskatchewan Library Association

• Originally formed in 1914, the Saskatchewan Library Association (SLA) consisted of a group of seventeen people from urban centres, who pressed the government to take steps to provide rural communities with library facilities. After four years, the organization ceased to exist.
• SLA formed again in 1942 when the Canadian Library Council was developing and needed provincial representation.
• Individuals have formed several special interest groups over the years with specific interest in children’s library service, young adult library service, special libraries and college/university libraries.
• Since 1967 the Association has honoured Mary Donaldson, a former Provincial Librarian, through the presentation of the Mary Donaldson Memorial Lecture at the annual conference.
• Further, for several years the Association has presented the Mary Donaldson Award to a graduating Library Technician and the SLA Frances Morrison Award of Merit for outstanding service to libraries.
• In 1976, the Saskatchewan Library Association began sponsoring Saskatchewan Library Week, held annually the third week of October.
• In 1977 the Summer Reading Program was initiated
• In November of 1988, SLA held the Echo Valley Library Forum.
• In 1992, a document: Independent But Together: A Vision for a Multitype Library System for Saskatchewan was published with the help of a grant from the SK Trust for Sports, Culture and Recreation.
• In 1992, SLA celebrated its fiftieth anniversary and marked the occasion with collaboration with Coteau Books to publish a reprint of the first 25 Mary Donaldson Memorial lectures, entitled Survival of the Imagination.
• In 1994, the government of Saskatchewan established the Multitype Library Development Advisory Committee. The work of the Advisory Committee resulted in the establishment of the Multitype Library Board, a Board that advises the Minister of Municipal Affairs regarding the development of library co-operation in the province, and SLA has a seat on this Board.
• In 1998/99, SLA teamed with the Saskatchewan Provincial Library, Industry Canada, and the Saskatchewan Government to present, Every Library Connected, which enabled the distribution of 300 computers to rural and urban libraries throughout the province.
• In 2000, SLA teamed with the Saskatchewan Provincial Library and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to distribute computers to libraries for Internet use in lower income areas in the province. This project was completed in 2002.
• In 2002, SLA initiated the Saskatchewan Libraries Education Bursary in partnership with Saskatchewan Learning and the Saskatchewan Provincial Library.
• In 2003, SLA teamed with the Saskatchewan Publishers Group (SPG), Saskatchewan Writers Guild (SWG), Saskatchewan Book Awards (SBA), Saskatchewan Motion Picture Association (SMPIA) and the Saskatchewan Recording Industry (SRIA) to work on the Saskatchewan Designation Project to create an identifiable label for books, music, and film & videos to be used in all libraries across the province. This project was completed and launched in 2005. We also became involved with the SYRCA Willow Awards, and held a joint conference with many cultural and library associations.
• In 2004 – SLA formed an alliance with the British Columbia Library Association (BCLA), the Library Association of Alberta (LAA) and the Ontario Library Association (OLA), which became known as The Partnership to benefit all of our members. A re-design of SLA’s website and new look to our newsletter and stationary was implemented this year. The same year, the SLA E-Bulletin began as an electronic format for bringing up-to-date information to the members.
• In 2005 SLA was involved with The Partnership, which became a national partnering of provincial and territorial library associations. In particular, the expanding the Education Institute benefited SLA’s members by offering distance continuing education workshops that were easily accessible via teleconferencing and online. SLA was also involved with the Saskatchewan Bibliography Project, in conjunction with SWG, SBA, SPG and Saskatchewan Learning. As well, SLA coordinated the Lieutenant Governor’s Celebration of the Arts: Libraries and Author Centennial Tour. This was also the year SLA joined with the national TD Summer Reading Club, and reached out to the French community in Saskatchewan by providing bilingual Saskatchewan Library Week materials.
• In 2006, The Partnership began work on a national job posting centre (hosted by BCLA) and a national library career centre for which SLA took the helm for hosting the site and coordinating the material for the centre.
• In July of 2007, the national Partnership Job Posting web site was launched from BC, and in the fall the Library Career Centre is to be soft-launched.
• In 2008 SLA’s publication, Fourm, went entirely online and moved to the new Open Journal System (OJS) format. Libraries Matter document was released, launching a new advocacy campaign. A brief was presented to the Honourable Ken Krawetz, Minister of Education. In May 2008, the Manitoba Library Association and Saskatchewan Library Association held a joint conference in Regina, Prairie Partnerships.
• 2009 –A new mission and vision statement was approved at the AGM. The mission of the Saskatchewan Library Association is to be the voice of Saskatchewan’s library communities. The vision is to build an engaged library and information community that is an active force in Saskatchewan’s social, economic and cultural development. SLA Board developed a new strategic plan 2009-2012. SLA launched a new website. Libraries Matter campaign was also launched. SHLA became an Associate member.
• 2010  – Continuing Education Grant was introduced. SLA became a member of Heritage Saskatchewan.