About the Board:

The Multitype Library Board, established by The Libraries Co-operation Act, provides a forum for representatives from all types of Saskatchewan Libraries to discuss different ways for libraries to cooperate.  The role of this Board member is to consult with the SLA regarding ways to build cooperative activities and to bring these ideas to the Multitype Library Board. The successful candidate will serve for a two-year term, with the potential for a renewed appointment.

If you are interested in representing the Saskatchewan Library Association on the Multitype Library Board, please submit a letter of interest and a brief bio to the SLA office by noon on Friday, October 22, 2010.  Applications will be accepted by email, fax or mail.

Please forward your application to:
Saskatchewan Library Association
#15 – 2010 – 7^th Ave.
Regina, SK  S4R 1C2
Phone: 306-780-9413; Fax: 306-780-9447
Email: slaexdir@sasktel.net

Researchers concluded that Canada has a “Learning Paradox”: there are positive signs with a mainly highly educated population, but also “signs of systemic weakness that, if left unchecked, will inhibit Canada’s capacity to grow and prosper” (p. 6). These weaknesses are throughout the education system.

Some conclusions that are of interest to academic librarians:

• “Nearly half of adults in this country lack the prose-literacy skills needed to cope with the demands of a competitive global economy” (p. 6).
• “Those who most need learning opportunities—such as work-related
  training―are, ironically, the least likely to obtain them” (p. 6).
• “Conventional measurement approaches rarely reflect the specific needs and aspirations of Aboriginal people” (p. 6).
• “Lack of recognition of the integral role of life-wide learning from early childhood through the adult years” (p. 7).
• “An absence of clear objectives, appropriate and responsive lifelong learning policies, as well as national data, measures and benchmarks” (p. 7).
• Canada lags behind other OECD countries in public expenditures on post-secondary education (p. 18).
• A significant number of immigrants have post-secondary education credentials when they enter Canada (43% in 2006) (p. 21).
• Canada lags behind most other countries in science and engineering graduates, who drive innovation and productivity (p. 22).
• “A large proportion (42%) of Canadian adults…have low levels of literacy; they perform below the internationally accepted minimum considered necessary for participation in a knowledge society” (p. 34).
• “Canada has yet to develop a comprehensive plan for fostering a learning society” (p. 35).

A personal aside: I wonder if the researchers considered the number of Canadians who graduate with degrees in other countries and never move back (the “brain drain”). These are people who need better incentives to return in order to advance Canada’s innovation and productivity.

Read the full report and a newspaper article with reactions from other organizations.

As Jacobsen stated, “The purpose of the investigation was to understand how students’ learning in grades four through nine is impacted in well-designed, well-supported, one-to-one personal technology-enabled environments.” Friesen explained,  “What we’ve found is that engaged teaching matters more than ever for learners and learning when computers come to school.”

While the Faculty of Education researchers were looking at elementary- and middle-school students, these findings are important for post-secondary instructors, too. First, these will be the students we will see in the future, and second, it shows that you must engage the students in order to teach effectively. As we start a new academic year, let’s not just incorporate technology, but consider how to engage our students (with or without technology).

More on the study from CBC News and Global TV.

CLA is pleased to announce that we are now accepting proposals for papers to be presented at the upcoming CLA National Conference, to be held in Halifax next May.  We would like to encourage colleagues from the library, information, archival and other related communities to submit proposals for consideration.

Proposals are being solicited on any topic relevant to the Canadian library and information professional community. The conference has no set theme, and there are no defined subject streams – proposals on all topics of professional interest will be considered. The Conference Program Committee would like to encourage proposals which express innovative and creative ways for presenting information to delegates.

Sessions may be presented in any format: panels of speakers, single speakers, round-table discussions, debates, “un-conference” session, interviews – let your imagination guide you! The only restriction is time: you may request either a 60 minute or 90 minute slot in the schedule.

Poster presentations are also being solicited. These presentations take the form of display boards, with presenters available for one-to-one discussion with delegates at a specified time. Again, any topic of broad interest to the library and information profession will be considered.

Detailed instructions for submitting proposals are available on the CLA website. 

The deadline for submissions is 1 October 2010.

Questions?  Please contact Wendy Walton, CLA Conference & Events Manager, at wwalton@cla.ca or phone (613) 232-9625 ext.302.

We look forward to welcoming you to Halifax!

There are only 4 weeks left until the first-ever Culture Days!

Culture Days provides the perfect way to market your cultural programs and services. It doesn’t have to be a new event, just a fun, interactive event!

-       Libraries can register one or more programs

-       Dance studies can register an open house dance trials

-       Museums can register guided tours

Events should be free to participate; however, donations and sale of food, or products are totally okay. For more information, please visit  www.culturedays.ca.

In an effort to raise awareness about Saskatchewan Library Week before it happens, the Saskatchewan Library Week Committee is organizing a guerilla advertising campaign and we are looking for volunteers.

Saturday, October 2, 2010, we are looking for people willing to go out into their communities and promote Saskatchewan Library Week and their own library.

What you need to know:

• Go somewhere in your community where you can talk to people, like outside a local sport area, outside a liquor store, near the local grocery store, a coffee shop, in the cafeteria at your workplace or at the food court in the university, etc. Just make sure you are not at a library since the people there already understand the importance of libraries.
• We are asking for an hour or two of your time, whenever on that day is convenient for you. Lunch hour, morning coffee time, afternoon to catch kids coming out of activities.
• We will provide you with a package of some items to hand out (postcards, bookmarks, possibly some buttons or other fun promo items) and a few things we would like you to tell people about our contests, and a few fun facts about Sask Library Week. Please make sure to promote your library and whatever you will be doing for Saskatchewan Library Week and the services you offer. If you work in a special or academic library, raise awareness of what that means, whether you offer services to the public, to a particular group, or just what you actually do. Or talk up your local library if you would like.
• We want people across the province, so whether you’re in a small town or a larger city, you can contribute!

If you are interested in participating, please contact Kirsten Hansen at the Saskatchewan Library Association at slaprograms@sasktel.net or (306) 780-9413 and provide your location, your mailing address, and what library you work at.

Deadline to volunteer: September 3, 2010

Looking forward to seeing you out there!

And now it’s your turn!  What are your favourite fictional books about the library profession? Tell us in the Comments!

The Depository Library Services Program Library Advisory Committee (DSP-LAC) will be meeting in Ottawa shortly. The Canadian Library Association’s delegates to the DSP-LAC, Caron Rollins and Frank Winter, would like to hear from CLA members with respect to any comments, concerns and/or recommendations with respect to the DSP and other aspects of access to federal government information. The DSP’s mandate extends only to depository publications but the DSP-LAC is a good venue to exchange information and raise issues.

Last year the major change in the DSP was the implementation of a new DSP agreement for full and partial depository libraries. This year there have been major changes with respect to the manner in which e-serials are linked.  As well, there is the new web site for Government of Canada Publications (http://www.publications.gc.ca/) which completes the integration of the Depository Services Program (DSP) and Publications web sites.

Do you have any comments, criticisms or suggestions with respect to these changes? Are they working well for you as well as your users?

During the past year there have also been developments with respect to access to federal government information, such as the discontinuance of Statistics Canada’s Market Research Handbook and the announcement that the print version of the House of Commons Committee minutes will be discontinued.  Are there any other matters that you would like to raise?

Please send your comments by August 18, 2010 to both Caron Rollins (crollins@uvic.ca) and Frank Winter (frank.winter@usask.ca).

Don’t forget to apply for the 2010 Library Awards if your library has been running the program this summer. The deadline is November 15, 2010.

Lisa Hanson O’Hara
Head, Technical Services
University of Manitoba Libraries
phone: 204.474.7852
fax: 204.474.7581