BC Library Conference

In a time when workloads have never seemed heavier and resources more scarce, many of us feel overworked, under-appreciated, and frustrated. One approach in achieving better work-life balance is becoming empowered through knowledge about the policies, collective agreements, and processes that shape our work. In this hands-on workshop, attendees will have the opportunity to explore the scope of their rights in their workplaces as members (or prospective members) of collective bargaining agents (unions). To gain a deeper, practical understanding of their own workplace context, participants are encouraged to bring a print or digital copy of their own union’s collective agreement. Possible topics to explore include: free speech in the workplace and beyond; code of conduct policies; workload and overtime; access to professional development; performance reviews; job descriptions; and discipline and termination.

Can I use Photoshop to make a business card? Should I be scared that Facebook is mining my data? What’s Minecraft? How do I make a website to sell my hats? Which apps are safe and educational for my preschooler? Can you help me email photos to my grandchildren? How do I spot fake news?

Demand for digital literacy learning opportunities at the public library is both increasing and diversifying. Many still need to learn the basics; privacy and security concerns are ever-present; and people of all ages want to explore advanced, cutting edge and creative technology.

Your library needs to not only decide what to offer, but how it will fit in with community needs, strategic goals, and staffing. Join an interactive discussion with panelists from four B.C. libraries who have recently created new, evidence-based digital literacy frameworks, programs and resources. Learn what we learned, what worked and what didn’t, and how you can adapt our work for your library.

Presented by: Diana Marshall, FVRL, Samantha Mills, VPL, Cindy Ho, RPL, Sarah Felkar WVML

Find out how to serve your clients in your community with free legal information resources and services from Legal Services Society (Legal Aid BC)!
Legal Aid has free print publications, written in plain language, and translated into different languages.
Areas of law covered include family law, criminal law, welfare, abuse & family violence, child protection, and Aboriginal law. Legal Aid also has legal information websites that cover family law, Aboriginal law, foreclosure, and wills & personal planning.
Lastly, Legal Aid has in-person and phone services in communities around BC which provide legal information and referrals, do community training, can take legal aid applications, or connect you to legal aid.
http://legalaid.bc.ca/
http://familylaw.lss.bc.ca
http://mylawbc.com
http://aboriginal.legalaid.bc.ca

In 2017 the West Vancouver Memorial Library received a Canada 150 Community Fund grant to plan and implement activities to share and promote an understanding of Canadian and local history as a way to encourage conversations about reconciliation. Honouring Reconciliation: Hearing the Truth consisted of Reading Circles, an educational exhibit, a film series and a panel discussion. It was clear from the beginning that planning this initiative was different from our usual program planning. The planning team members grappled with a number of questions. How do we create meaningful events when our processes and deadlines made it impossible to consult with Indigenous people in advance? How do we prepare ourselves to work with protocols that are new to us and that respect Indigenous ways of learning and knowing? How do we create a safe space for Library staff and members of the public to discuss topics that can be personal and emotional? This session will explore the ways that we faced these challenges through training, collaboration, dialogue and a willingness to consider new ways of operating. It will also outline the implications for the Library's work culture in the future as well as how we were impacted as individuals.

How can we make our digital inclusion efforts more just? The Capability Approach provides a framework to help us determine which practices and programs will make our technology more accessible to the most marginalized of our users.

Three librarians at three different libraries in search of an assessment plan. How do you do it when assessment is but one of several responsibilities, and when your library's assessment practices are at different levels of development? Hear three different stories about the challenges, successes, and process of assessment planning at some of BC's newer universities. Participants will have the opportunity to consider a planning strategy for their own library's assessment efforts.
Presenters:
Amy Paterson, Thompson Rivers University
Colleen Bell, University of the Fraser Valley
Laura Thorne, UBC Okanagan

Presentation on survey of attitudes towards print and ebooks by Engineering and Environmental Studies students at Seattle University

F08 - Connecting With Multicultural Communities: Intercultural Communication Workshop
Fri Apr 21 2017, 10:30am–11:45am, Cordova Ballroom

SESSION DESCRIPTION

BCLA's Diversity and Multicultural Services Committee conducted an online survey in April 2016 to identify challenges faced by libraries when serving multicultural communities. The survey received 77 responses from libraries in BC: 71% indicated that their biggest challenge was a lack of familiarity with multicultural communities and their needs, while 81% of the libraries indicated that intercultural training would help them better serve ethnically diverse communities.
This workshop will be a first step in addressing these challenges through exercises, problem-solving, and interactive discussion of real-life library scenarios submitted by library staff.

SPEAKERS

Ravi Basi, Surrey Libraries

Biography: Ravi Basi is Manager of Multicultural Services at Surrey Libraries. For the past 25 years she has provided outreach, programs, and workshops to newcomers, immigrants, and refugees in Surrey, BC, one of Canada's most ethnically diverse cities, as well as formed strategic liasions with community stakeholders such as immigrant settlement agencies and the City of Surrey's diversity departments. Ravi has also been involved with ongoing anti-racism programs and initiatives. 

Ravi's work with multicultural communities is fuelled by her own family's experience as immigrants, as well as the conviction that immigrants enrich our communities and are vital to Canada's success on the world stage, and that libraries can play a crucial role in their transition and success.

Fereshteh Kashefi, BSC, MLS, North Vancouver City Library

Biography: Fereshteh Kashefi is Multicultural Services Librarian at North Vancouver City Library where her passion for all things multicultural is focussed on building multilingual collections and improving library services to immigrant communities. 

Prior to moving to Canada, Fereshteh was Head of National Bibliography at the National Library of Iran and also taught Cataloguing and Classification at the University of Tehran.

When a Children’s Librarian from the Vancouver Public Library and an Aboriginal Infant Development Consultant from the YWCA got together to co-create a weekly early literacy program for Aboriginal families with young children, the planning process, by all appearances, took only an hour over coffee. But the relationship-building behind that coffee hour had started almost two years earlier, and involved intention, reflection and effort from  the two professionals, as well as considerable support, conscious policy creation, and staff development on the part of their respective organizations.
In this session, we will present a model of community engagement and collaboration between a public library and a local organization serving Aboriginal families, including the background principles and policies that the Vancouver Public Library and YWCA Crabtree Corner brought to the process. We will discuss the values that facilitated our partnership, including a shared belief in the importance of individual relationships, a commitment to process over product, and knowledge of and respect for Aboriginal culture. Finally, we will share guidelines that other libraries can apply and adapt when working with Aboriginal and other marginalized groups in their own communities.
The attached files include our slide presentation, which is quite brief, as well as our handout, including:
1) A table of the handout of values, policies and procedures that supported and enabled our program, "Rhymes, Rhythm and Read"
2) A short bibliography of links to supporting materials, including the Vancouver Public Library's Guidebook for Community Engagement
3) Contact information for both presenters

Part One: Beginning Assessment