You didn’t hear from me last month because there was a lot going on in library land.  One event that kept library board members and staff (including yours truly) busy was the annual Ontario Library Association (OLA) conference in Toronto.  The OLA is Canada’s largest library organization and their conference is Canada’s largest library continuing education event and tradeshow. The conference program balances the cutting edge and the practical and offers an excellent opportunity for library board members and staff to meet their counterparts from across the province and beyond.

The conference also features some of the world’s leading speakers from inside and outside the library world.  This year’s keynote speakers included: Farrah Khan, Co-Chair of the Gender Equality Advisory Council for the G7 Summit; Mona Chalabi, Journalist and Data Editor of The Guardian; and Nobu Adilman and Daveed Goldman, Creative Directors of Choir! Choir! Choir!.  All the speakers were inspiring as were the workshops and sessions. 
 
Staff brought back all kinds of new service and collection ideas they’re anxious to put into practice here in Niagara-on-the-Lake.  Sarah will be delving deeper into BIBFRAME, a newer bibliographic description model, and one that uses linked data principles to make bibliographic information more useful inside and outside the library community.
 
Kasia recommends adding new Manga versions of classic titles to the Young People’s collection and hopes to start a children’s gardening club.  Laura will be sourcing funding for staff training and the purchase of Cognitive Care Kits that support the skills and abilities of people living with early, mid, and late-stage dementia.  Debbie wants us to review our programs and workshops to ensure they reflect the diversity of seniors, who are not a homogeneous group.
 
I was truly inspired by the Wikimedia presentation and want to set up a Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon here.   I was also privileged to moderate Dr. Alison Frayne’s talk “Cultural Rights to a Public Library: Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) as an Ethical Space of Engagement”.  Dr. Frayne got us thinking about how public library policies accommodate individual and collective well-being as laid out in the UDHR, the UNDRIP, other international rights declarations, and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
 
I also attended the Ontario Library Boards’ Association all-day workshop with Board Chair Daryl Novak and board member Robin Foster.  Workshop sessions included a political landscape update and talks about municipal advocacy, community engagement and the board/CEO relationship.  Board member Dave Hunter attended two sessions presented by library systems from British Columbia; a strategic planning success story and a user-centred customer service workshop.

The OLA conference was a great professional development opportunity in which board and staff were happy to participate.  Watch the great ideas from the conference take shape over the remainder of the year.  Read on for all the new titles and programs coming your way this March including a very busy March Break program week.