Libraries

The Open Air Library: A Community Program The Open Air Library, the Saanich Peninsula Literacy task group’s signature program, takes reading outside and is a fun summer community event that celebrates literacy. Behind the scenes is a growing exchange of collaboration and communication across multiple literacy organizations. Reflecting on five years of collaboration points to the continuous need for literacy organizations to work alongside one another.
Two Libraries, One Peninsula Public Libraries share a common goal of promoting literacy and lifelong learning. The Saanich Peninsula is served by two public libraries that find fun and exciting ways to work together and best serve their communities. Reflecting on five years of collaboration points to how libraries have moved outside of their spaces to build community.
Growing Readers Together Supporting literacy, growing minds, providing resources and tools to flourish and learn – public libraries and schools share similar goals but often work in isolation. Reflecting on past collaboration shows us that one good thing leads to another and points to where we will be five years from now.
Presented by Saanich Peninsula Literacy Task Group, Greater Victoria Public Library and South Island Distance Edcuation School

In this presentation, Kehoe and Boudinot will share the findings of their research on “double dipping” occurring in the ebook marketplace. A number of well known and fringe publishers with Open Access (OA) ebook publishing models are offering these titles freely on their own publisher platforms, as well as for sale on third party aggregator platforms. This publisher practice has implications for library budgets, approval plan ordering, authors, and vendor relations. Strategies will be shared on how to identify “double dipping” publishers, how to block OA titles from approval, and questions to ask when you are reviewing publishers’ OA publication agreements.

Three topics were the focus of my study leave activities: 3D modelling of specimen collections, citizen science in the sciences, and science data visualization by artists. All three topics are interconnected by the overarching framework of science data. My first goal was to experience the research data life cycle by creating a 3D data set of botanical specimens and thus explore issues around data creation, metadata, data description, data deposit, data sharing & access. A second goal was to explore the role citizen scientists play in collecting and working with scientific data. A third goal was to explore how artists are engaged in artistic visualizations of science data and knowledge mobilization.

The Celebrating Girls Celebrating Community program, offered in partnership with Island Health and Hannah Beach of Dandelion Dance, was a long-term program designed to increase the confidence and self-efficacy of teen girls in the Nanaimo community. Between October 2017 and May 2018, a total of 11 girls participated in the project; 6 followed all the way through with the planning, choreographing, and performing of a full length dance performance inspired by their social justice passions and the ways they see themselves in the world. This program gave a group of teens who had never danced - or spent much time in the library! - a safe space to learn how to express themselves, a deep and continuing connection with their library, and a platform from which to create real and meaningful change in their community

The University of Victoria Libraries is home to the world’s largest Transgender Archives (TGA). We are exceptional in our focus, size, and scope when compared to other archives in that our collections are explicitly dedicated to the preservation of the original documents recording the history of pioneering activists, community leaders, and researchers who have contributed to the betterment of trans, non-binary, and Two-Spirit people. In this presentation, Lara Wilson and Michael Radmacher will discuss the past, present, and future of the Transgender Archives. They will answer questions such as: How did the TGA start at UVic? What unique and one-of-a-kind materials are housed at the TGA? What new collections have been recently donated? What are the TGA's current and future projects related to community outreach, accessibility, and digitization? Lastly, this presentation will offer a hands-on experience with a selection of the TGA’s rare materials. Come put your hands on hirstory.

Electronic resource issues can be complex to fix, and electronic resource management requires tracking a lot of information from many different silos. Patricia Pang and Sue Bengtson will talk about some challenges and discuss how unexpected implications of a new system demanded a larger conversation about cross-unit collaboration.

Liz Blackburn and Nick Rowlands will give an introduction to Courthouse Libraries BC and our LawMatters program. CLBC is a non-profit library system providing access to legal information to all British Columbians. We would like to share information with our library colleagues about Courthouse Libraries BC resources and services to which they may want to refer library users. Through our LawMatters program, we work in partnership with public libraries to help ensure that legal information is accessible for British Columbians who need it in every community. This support comes in the form of training, collection development guides, and grant money for books.

All aboard the STEAM train! In 2018, Vancouver Island Regional Library launched a STEAM initiative to bring more science, technology, engineering, arts, and math opportunities to customers across our geographically widespread service area. From using internal-use equipment to support STEAM programming in branches to circulating STEAM materials to support family learning at home, join VIRL staff for a glimpse into the nuts and bolts of this major undertaking. We’ll share our successes and challenges and discuss the realities, practicalities, and logistics we encountered throughout our STEAM planning journey. Learn about the origins of the project and see the end results: Programs in a Box, Tinker Totes, and a road show that took STEAM to some of our smallest rural communities.
The speakers at this presentation are librarians and information technicians at Vancouver Island Regional Library: Amy Dawley, Julie Carter, Ginger Warden, and Emma Ritchie.

An introduction to the changes in the used and rare book business from brick-and-mortar to virtual (but not always virtuous) vendors; the rise of algorithms, resellers, and megasellers; and why ordinary books cost $1K and up.

VIU Library Special Collections has started working closely with Milner Gardens & Woodland – a property with 60 acres of woodland and 10 acres of garden surrounding a heritage house in Qualicum Beach – in order to piece together and preserve the Veronica & Ray Milner Collection. With the help of a handful of people who knew the Milners personally, we are working together to collect and preserve the history of the land, property, and owners (ca.1930s-1998) so that it can be shared and made more accessible for the 200+ volunteers who work at the Gardens, as well as visitors and researchers further afield.