Inside The Alberta Library

 

 

From the desk of Clive Maishment, CEO

 

What does the future look like?

While we can never truly know the answer to that question, we have to make day-to-day decisions based on the uncertainty of what is to come.

That is why The Alberta Library is presenting NEXT: A Library Futures Symposium, next month in Edmonton. NEXT is an opportunity for members of the library community to come together to think about future scenarios and what we can do to prepare. It opens the possibility of finding creative solutions and seizing new opportunities.

This reminds me of why The Alberta Library was created in the first place. It grew out of a grassroots movement of library community members coming together to address some fundamental issues, and deciding that we could achieve more together than we could alone.

Back in the ‘90s when The Alberta Library was created, we were just beginning to tap into the power of the Internet. Today, with the growth of the ‘Net and social media, we have the opportunity to engage many more community members in our discussions.

That is why we are looking at the NEXT Symposium as the beginning of deeper discussion about the future of libraries. The October symposium will bring together over 300 members of the library community – from recent graduates to seasoned administrators. These representatives have been identified by our members and library community stakeholders. Yet we know there are other voices that need to be heard. With the Internet and other social media, we have the technology.

The exciting news is that several members of the library community have come together to create a web site that will host that conversation. And the site is coming soon.

I look forward to seeing many of you at the NEXT Symposium. And I also look forward to a true community-wide conversation about the future of libraries.

Stay tuned!

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What's NEXT?

The Alberta Library presents NEXT: A Library Futures Symposium, October 21 – 22 in Edmonton.

Day one features five internationally-renowned speakers who will set the stage by focusing on the major cultural, demographic, social and economic shifts that are affecting libraries and communities in the 21st century.

Building on this information and analysis, day two is designed to engage community members in focused inquiry and deeper reflection, and ultimately to help come up with a viable roadmap for the future.

Symposium speakers:

Michael Adams, co-founder and President of Environics Research Group on The Shape of Things to Come: Where We’re Going and Why it Matters.

Thomas Frey, Executive Director of the DaVinci Institute on The Age of Enlightenment and the Library of the Future.

Mike D’Abramo, Strategist, Fresh Squeezed Ideas on The Influence of Young Canadians.

Patricia Graham, Editor-in-Chief of the Vancouver Sun on Crossing the Digital Divide: Exceeding Expectations in a 24/7 World.

R. David Lankes, Director of the Information Institute of Syracuse University on The Librarian Militant, The Librarian Triumphant.

Building on the inspiration, information and analysis of day one, day two is an opportunity for participants to address key issues in a small group discussion format that engages the collective intelligence of the community.

“Because space is limited and we want to ensure an equitable and representative cross-section of the library community has an opportunity to attend the symposium, The Alberta Library has invited public libraries, post-secondary libraries, regional library systems, library associations, library schools, vendors and government partners to select representatives to attend the event,” says symposium registration coordinator Stacey Bissell. “We will be creating a waiting list in the event additional spaces become available.”

For more information, contact Stacey at (780) 414-0805 ext. 225 or via email at Stacey Bissell

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New APLEN Director appointed

Julia Reinhart has been appointed Director of the Alberta Public Library Electronic Network (APLEN), an integral part of The Alberta Library, effective October 18th, 2010.

Created in 1997 in partnership with the Government of Alberta, APLEN’s mandate is the ongoing development of the public library network and provision of services to public libraries.

Julia will be responsible for the planning, implementation and evaluation of APLEN and for some organization-wide services of The Alberta Library (TAL), including the TAL Card and Ask A Question. She will also participate in TAL strategic and operational planning, policy development and management.

“The Alberta Public Library Electronic Network has proven its value over the past decade because it is responsive to public library needs across the province,” says Julia. “I look forward to building on that tradition of responsiveness and to working with my colleagues to enhance library services.”

Since 2008, Julia has served as Chief Executive Officer of the Shortgrass Library System, headquartered in Medicine Hat. In addition to serving as Assistant Director – Public Services, and Public Services Librarian for Shortgrass Library System, her previous experience includes acting as Head Librarian for the Brooks Public Library and as a Library Manager with the London District Catholic School Board in Ontario.

Julia has been a member of The Alberta Library’s Board of Directors since 2006 and has served on a number of TAL committees. She is also currently acting as Treasurer for the Library Association of Alberta.

“Julia’s experience and leadership qualities will be a tremendous asset to The Alberta Library and to public libraries across the province,” says TAL CEO Clive Maishment. “Julia has a deep understanding of the library community and brings a commitment to innovation and collaboration to the position.”

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Graham Community Library Q & A

Stefanie Schranz, Library Supervisor of Graham Community Library, shares what's new.

 

 

What is your library's biggest current challenge?

Our biggest challenge right now is the cutback of funds, last year and this year. Another constant challenge is making people aware of all our services.

What area is changing fastest in your library?

The electronic resources are increasing and gaining fast popularity.

What idea are you most proud of over the past five years?

We have a very popular summer reading program. The kids come to the library and play Monoporead during the summer holidays. This can be done once every day of the summer holiday or as many days they want or can. That way all kids can participate and even the boys get inspired to read. The drawing cards, of course are the prizes that are abundant and coveted.

Where do you see the most opportunity for innovation over the next decade?

Again, the electronic items are a great new resource. We are hoping to greatly expand the e-book and e-audio for download resources and eventually to include the DVD collection.

How does your library stay in touch with clients / library users?

We are able to advertise on the radio and also through several newsletters that are distributed to the community and CFB Suffield.

How do you stay in touch with political leaders in your community?

Our ‘political leaders’ are the British and Canadian Military Commanders. We tend to have good relationships with both parties and we report to them on occasion.

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Rachel Sarjeant-Jenkins off to serve a "new public"... in Saskatchewan

Rachel Sarjeant-Jenkins shares memories of her time with Medicine Hat Public Library and looks forward to new challenges.

 

Rachel says farewell to friends and colleagues

 

What are you most proud of from your time as Chief Librarian with Medicine Hat Public Library?

There have been many exciting projects that have happened in the 11 years that I have been at MHPL - all of which I have been proud. So to pick one about which I am most proud, is pretty difficult! If I was to, however, it would be thinking about where MHPL was when I started, just beginning to feel the impact of technology on library service and beginning to recognize the importance of reaching out into the community, and where MHPL is now. Even though we are a smaller public library, we are using technology to reach out to our community and to ensure that the services and collections within the library are delivered in as efficient and effective a manner as possible. We are also more involved in our community, through services to seniors and homebound people, services to teens, and the use of social networking.

What will you miss?

I will miss the public librariness of the public library - the children's storytimes, the conversations with the public about anything and everything. And I will miss all the people I have had the good luck to work with - all the library staff, the library board trustees over the years, the people within the City of Medicine Hat, all the tradespeople from whom I have learned so much, and all the library folk from across Alberta! My sincere thanks to all of you for your advice, insight, and laughter over the years.

What's next for you? What are you looking forward to?

Well, having worked in a public library for 11 years, I felt that it was perhaps time to challenge myself and to try something a bit different. I am off to a position within the library system at the University of Saskatchewan. And while I will miss MHPL and Medicine Hat, I am looking forward to the new challenges that working in an academic library will bring - from learning about the governance and organizational structure of both the university library and the university as a whole and learning from all the people who work in the university library to ensuring that the students and faculty of the university (what I think of as my new 'public'), are served as efficiently and effectively as possible.

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Election message: libraries enhance our quality of life

With local politicians across the province soliciting support for municipal election day on Monday, October 18th, the Alberta Library Trustees Association (ALTA) has developed some key messages about libraries.

And some may be surprised that the message is not all about asking for increased funding.

“At the municipal level, everyone knows that libraries need funding,” says ALTA President Karen Lynch. “Why would you tell people something they already know?”

Instead, the messages focus on what libraries offer and how they enhance our quality of life.

“We have to tell our story,” says Karen. “We have to tell people the value of investing in libraries and how it improves lives in our communities.”

The emphasis is also on building relationships, rather than asking for support. It’s about relationships and building credibility,” says Karen. “Relationships are the most important thing. Talk about your own experience and your own story.”

ALTA Vice-President Doug Cooper, who is also past chair of the Chinook Arch Regional Library System, talks about how his local library in the Village of Stirling is connecting with people in his community.

“We were noticing that people and cars were gathering outside the library,” says Doug. “At first there was some concern that the library was becoming a spot where people were loitering – but it turned out that people were actually coming to the library to tap into our free WiFi Supernet connection to get wireless access to the Internet.”

For Karen, that story is an example of why libraries matter more today than ever before.“As a province, we’re trying to attract talented people,” says Karen. “People stay in a place because it’s a great place to live. Libraries make our communities better and make us more competitive. Libraries are part of the economic story.”

Doug provides another, more personal, example.“We have some medical issues in my family,” he says. “Through the RISE (Rural Information Services Initiative) Network at our library in Stirling, my wife and I are able to video-conference with a medical team in Calgary. In addition to saving us a great deal of time and expense, it also gives us peace of mind and contributes to our quality of life.”

“Libraries are about much more than books,” says Karen. “We are the gathering place at the heart of the community. In many ways, that message may be clearer in smaller communities, but it is relevant across the province.”

Doug and Karen also suggest talking about partnerships and collaboration – especially partnerships outside the traditional library community.“In Stirling, we’re partnering with the local historical society, and our village council is very excited about it,” says Doug.

After the election, invite politicians for a tour or an event, Karen suggests. Make sure they have a library card, but don’t deluge them with information.

“Send them updates, but take the time to add in a couple of paragraphs about why it matters and why they should care,” she says.

When it comes to what libraries are doing for communities across the province and why libraries matter more today than ever before, the story never ends.

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Lethbridge Public Libary opens new branch

August 30 marked the opening of The Crossings Branch, Lethbridge Public Library’s new branch. Todd Gnissios, Director and CEO of Lethbridge Public Library, talks about the newly opened library.

 

Background

The Crossings Branch is located in the West Lethbridge Centre, a partnership between the Lethbridge Public Library, the public and separate school districts and the City of Lethbridge. Representing one of the largest construction footprints in the history of Lethbridge, the total project cost is budgeted at $107 million with the library’s share at approximately 10.5 million not including books and materials.

The Westside was chosen for the new branch as a result of a community survey conducted by LPL as part of its Plan of Service. The branch is also part of the City of Lethbridge’s strategic plan to develop a new economic centre in West Lethbridge. It is great that the City sees the library as able to draw economic development to an undeveloped area.

Sustainable design

The new branch is 20,000 square feet, with a 2,800 square foot public corridor, 2,500 square feet of expansion space (to be leased) and a 14,000 square foot library. The whole facility is seeking Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design LEED® Silver Certification, however the library has some unique environmentally friendly features all its own. Sustainable design features include a distinctive heating system supplied by hot water radiant panels which dramatically reduce the energy required to heat the space, a displacement air circulation system that uses the body’s warmth to pull cooled air up from the floor vents, all linked to the automatically opening and closing fresh air windows that allow the heat to be vented naturally at the ceiling.

Community use

The branch has been designed to serve our community’s changing use of the library. The teen area has gaming stations, counters with plug-ins, and lounge furniture along with traditional library materials. The children’s area has a dedicated programming space, computers designed for small children, along with comfortable seating for parents and their children. There are places for adults and students to lounge in, furniture throughout for private reading or study, as well as tables and seating areas for group discussion. Listening stations allow customers to quietly enjoy CDs with up to five friends at the same time. High speed wireless internet is available both inside the building and outside in the outdoor amphitheatre.

One of the areas that will be most utilized by the community will be the meeting rooms. The branch has a multipurpose room for up to 100 people with full HD projection and sound system, an 8-seat board room, an 8-station digital training lab with full software suites and a community room that can double as a quiet study area when not booked by organizations.

Library staff

Another benefit to the community is the increase in professional staff. Three new professional librarians, including a teen specialist, a children’s specialist and a community outreach specialist will liaise with the schools and the surrounding community to develop programs. Additionally, two Library Technicians have been hired to assist in providing customer services, collection maintenance and program delivery at the branch along with over twenty other staff, 13 FTE in total.

Fundraising and Partnerships

One of the challenges LPL faced in opening the branch was the need to fundraise. We needed to raise $967,000 to pay for 55% of the library collection, budgeted at approximately one million dollars, and to top up the furniture and equipment budget. The library is very close to reaching its fundraising goal and in the process we have developed partnerships with the business community.

One example is the partnership we have with Servus Credit Union. Servus sponsored our community meeting room space and created a book donation program where each child who opens an account gets their name on a book that is donated to the library. As we approached our opening date, Servus also provided space in their Westside Branch to allow us to register customers and provide borrower cards. Our relationship with several of our donors is looking to become long term as they realize that a library is directly related to much of their service and donation philosophies.

Promotion

A challenge for LPL is to get the message out that the surrounding community has a new neighbour. An awareness and fundraising campaign run over the past two years is being used to generate public interest about the branch opening. Advertising in the local newspapers included a picture of the branch, maps of the location and bus information. A card will also be delivered to all homes on the Westside listing the branch location and program information.

So far all of the comments have been positive. The Crossings Branch is certainly looking to be a roaring success for the Lethbridge Public Library and the citizens of Lethbridge and surrounding area.

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TAL Profile: Ron Sheppard, Director, Parkland Regional Library.

 

Ron Sheppard

 

What drew you to your profession?

I have always liked books and the knowledge they contain. I have also always been an obsessive person when it comes to needing to know things. The idea that I could be employed in a profession where I could have almost unlimited access to knowledge and help other people access knowledge were the driving forces for my decision to become a librarian.

Why do you think libraries are important?

Libraries are essential to our society because they provide a vast array of services and materials for both entertainment and education. Moreover, they offer their services and materials at little or no cost. I also believe public libraries are an excellent barometer for measuring the openness and prosperity of a society. In fact you will virtually always see good public library service in countries that are free, affluent, and enlightened.

Who had the most influence over your career?

Professor France Bouthillier at the School of Information Studies was very encouraging when I began taking management courses at library school. She observed that the library profession is generally weak in the area of management. She also suggested that if librarians do not improve their management skills, eventually MBAs will be running libraries with librarians doing the service and collection work. McGill (where I completed my MLIS) had a very good management program. Professor Bouthillier thought I would be good at management and for the years I have been in the profession, what Professor Bouthillier taught me has proved extremely useful.

Another individual that I admire is J. Edgar Hoover, the founder of the FBI. He started his career as a librarian at the United States Library of Congress. It was because Hoover had learned how to acquire and leverage information that he was able to develop the FBI into a knowledge based organization and one of the best law enforcement agencies in the world.

What major changes have you notices in your time in the library community?

Technology has become much more central to both library services and library operations than in the past. There is also a staggering array of new library materials. I remember when video cassettes starting entering library collections. Now we have CDs, DVDs, databases, downloadable e-books and e-audiobooks, playaways, and data streaming to name just a few new library materials. While libraries continue to offer all the traditional resources, I am constantly amazed at the collections of new materials that are being developed.

Two other major shifts I have observed are the decline in mediated reference and the increased interdependence of libraries on one another for resource sharing. Even big library systems cannot supply all the items their patrons want so resource sharing between libraries and systems has continued to grow almost exponentially over the last few years.

What has been the most rewarding part of working with the library community? What have you enjoyed the most?

I have spent most of my professional life dealing with small, rural libraries. I have always felt a tremendous sense of satisfaction at the thought that I am helping ensure that the residents of what are often small, isolated communities have access to all the library resources and services that people living in larger urban centres have. At least this is the ideal that I have always striven for.

What is the best/most memorable item you ever borrowed from the library?

This is hard question to answer...Certainly one of the most memorable items I ever borrowed was the 1988 VHS movie version of “Little Dorrit”. It stars Derek Jacobi, Alec Guinness, and Sarah Pickering. While there have been other excellent movie depictions of this famous Charles Dickens novel, Sarah Pickering’s touching and melancholy portrayal of Little Dorrit is without equal.

Tell us something about yourself that might surprise others in the library community.

I hold an undergraduate degree in history and an MA degree in Military History. I attended Old Dominion University in Virginia and most of my classmates were serving officers with the U.S. military. My thesis research involved studying convoy operations in the Atlantic during the Second World and I am somewhat of an expert in the areas of convoy operations and imperial Russian naval history. Also, while I had for many years seen myself in a library career, I originally thought that I would be in an academic or archival environment. It was only because of an excellent management opportunity that I found myself happily employed within the public library community.

What is your involvement with The Alberta Library?

I have been a TAL Board member since 2005 when I was hired to be Director of Parkland Regional Library. I have been a member of the APLEN Standing Committee since 2007 and chair of the committee since the spring of 2010.

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Canadian Library Month

This October, libraries across the country will celebrate Canadian Library Month.

Posters and bookmarks have gone out across the province. This year’s theme, Your Library – Your World: Opening Doors to the Future, emphasizes the ability of libraries to introduce new ideas, new stories and new opportunities to the world through traditional and emerging technologies.

From a national perspective, 97 per cent of Canadians reside in a community served by a public library, and approximately 21 million people have a library card.

According to the most recent statistics at Alberta Municipal Affairs Public Library Services, 99.5 per cent of Albertans have access to a public library; 48 per cent of adult Albertans have used a library in the past month, while 64 per cent of households include a member who has used a library in the past month.

Hosted by the Canadian Library Association, the Canadian Library Month website includes a backgrounder and some tools, including ideas to help celebrate the month including displays, games and contests, special events and ideas for reaching out to local media.

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