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The topic of fitness and wellness programs in libraries is a growing and relevant trend. This session will include a presentation, videos, handouts and some (optional) yoga stretches and breathing techniques to get the audience into a body-positive state of mind. It will explore the neuroscience behind physical literacy, share case studies of what other libraries are doing (both academic and public), and offer program models and best practices.
Learning Objectives:

• Describe physical literacy and list ways it can be improved at any age
• Gain program models for delivering movement-based programs
• Identify ways physical literacy benefits staff

Presentation delivered at the Alberta Library Conference 2018 in Jasper, AB.
Communities all over Alberta are seeing an increase in self-represented litigants due to the recession and the high cost of legal representation. This means that more people are coming to libraries to access information about the law and their legal rights. Like libraries, public legal education organizations like CPLEA work to provide the public with reliable sources of information. Searching for legal information tends to be very reaction-driven (i.e. my landlord is evicting me; my partner and I are separating, etc.). By standing together, we can empower Albertans to know and assert their rights before a legal dispute arises. For more information about the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta (CPLEA) or to access free legal information resources, visit www.cplea.ca.

This is a copy of the presentation 'Breaking Down Barriers: On-Reserve Programs and Services for Indigenous Communities.' This presentation was given by Alexandria Daum (Parkland County Libraries), Allison Stewart (Stony Plain Public Library), and Britney Robinson (Spruce Grove Public Library) at the 2018 Alberta Library Conference in Jasper, AB. This presentation is about the work these three libraries have been doing in partnership with Paul First Nation to provide programs and services on-reserve. It covers strategies for building relationships, examples of programs and services, and the importance of partnerships in this type of work.

Academic libraries are under increasing pressure to demonstrate their value. This session provides an overview of the services and programs offered at an academic library to demonstrate the value of the library, and meet the evolving needs and expectations of a university community.
Learning Objectives:

• Assess potential opportunities to demonstrate the value of your library
• Recognize the power of partnerships and collaboration
• Become inspired to incorporate new services at your home institution

Be Anyone You Want while Becoming Information Literate in Virtual Reality

The Community Development Project is aimed at defining and implementing a new way of looking at community outreach activities throughout the Ottawa Public Library. It starts from the premise that we will engage with the community itself to help us define barriers to library service, identify solutions and work together to implement new initiatives.

Three years ago, our library wanted to get involved with makerspaces, but we faced some unique challenges. How can a library have a makerspace when the majority of clients cannot access the physical library? What can the library do to excite our remote users about emerging technologies that can be used in their classrooms? Our solution was to create a different kind of makerspace – a space with no space, no place, no walls. Come and learn how we adapted the idea of a makerspace to meet our clients’ needs.

It's 2017, why doesn't everyone have email? Or aren't we post-email? Rural librarian and technologist Jessamyn West will talk about some of the intended and unintended consequences of the digital divide and discuss libraries' roles in helping mitigate them. Breakout session for more constructive discussions afterwards.
Jessamyn West is a librarian and community technologist. She writes a column for Computers in Libraries magazine and is the author of the book Without a Net: Librarians Bridging the Digital Divide. A born outreach librarian, she teaches a course entitled "Tools for Community Advocacy" for the University of Hawaii's Library School. She was a research fellow at Harvard University Library Innovation Lab for 2016-2017, and serves on the Advisory Board to the Wikimedia Foundation. She works with small libraries and businesses in Central Vermont to help them use technology to solve problems.

This session will have you engaging in various education games suitable for both the classroom and for public library programming for school-age children. Challenges from grades 3 – 12 will be presented that ignite students’ natural drive to problem-solve and can be used to teach core academic subjects which already embed competencies and provide many cross-curricular connections. 

Innovation thrives on a digitally literate population with access to powerful computing tools. Data consumption is becoming more pervasive as everything becomes digitized and all levels of government are making a push for open data. However, access to tools is not evenly distributed, and the digital divide is growing deeper between those that have the means to use the tools and data and those that done. In our presentation, we will discuss how free and open tools are being used in Alberta and around the world to participate in the digital economy and increase digital literacy. We will highlight Jupyter, an open source analytics tool combining live code, visualizations, and text in an entirely web-accessible format.