Alberta

Members of The Dewey Divas and Dudes will present some of their favourite new books publishing between Sept. to Dec. 2021 and focusing on themes of diversity and inclusion. These books will offer mirrors and windows into many different identities and lived experiences for readers of all ages, help build empathy, and are just plain great reads. Get ready to grow your TBR pile!

The Dewey Divas and Dudes are a collective of publisher reps who specialize in the library market. Throughout the year, they give readers’ advisory presentations to libraries across the country highlighting their top picks and hidden gems of the latest new and upcoming releases.

Three library managers from small rural Alberta communities will discuss their experience with overcoming the challenges of providing big library service on a small library budget. Some topics that will be covered include:

Community and library overview

How does each library overcome budgetary restrictions

How each library exceeds expectations of "small library" service

Cat McIlroy (she/her)

Librarian, Sexsmith Secondary School

Information literacy has always been a part of librarians' vernacular, but because students are facing an increasingly endless abyss of digital information and misinformation, it is now librarians' responsibility to show them how to navigate.

Cat will discuss how librarians can help high school students become information and digitally literate. The session will include ways to partner with teachers, engage with students in-person and virtually, and the methods to make things relevant and fun.

Sensory Storytime is a program specifically designed for children with autism and other PDD.  Our community has asked for this kind of programming for quite a long time, but until now, we have not had the ability to offer it.  In this session, we will go through the process that led us to being able to offer a Sensory Storytime program at our library.  We will share the kinds of partners and professionals who guided us with their expertise and knowledge of autism and PDD.  We will also take participants through a Sensory Storytime to show what this program could look like in your library.  We offer tips of what worked and what didn’t and encourage participants to let us help them learn how to offer this program in their libraries.
 

Alberta Library Conference presentation by Harper Collins

Presentation by Harper Collins at Alberta Library Conference

Craig Silverman is an award-winning author and journalist and one of the world's leading experts on online misinformation, fake news, and content verification. He is the media editor of BuzzFeed News where he leads a global beat covering platforms, online misinformation, and media manipulation.

Craig was named to the Politico 50 for his work exposing fake news and its effect on American politics and is the 2018 recipient of the Carey McWilliams Award from the American Political Science Association, which honors “a major journalistic contribution to our understanding of politics.” His journalism and books have been honored by the Mirror Awards, U.S. National Press Club, National Magazine Awards (Canada), Digital Publishing Awards, and Crime Writers of Canada.

Craig previously was the founding editor of BuzzFeed Canada, and was also the founder of Emergent.info, a rumor tracking project that was developed as part of a research fellowship with the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University. His research resulted in the publication of Lies, Damn Lies, and Viral Content: How News Websites Spread (and Debunk) Online Rumors, Unverified Claims and Misinformation. From 2004 to 2015 he wrote Regret the Error, a blog about media accuracy and corrections, which became part of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies and was the basis for an award-winning book of the same name. 

In 2010, Craig was part of the team that launched OpenFile, an online news startup the delivered community-driven reporting in six Canadian cities. He is the former managing editor of PBS MediaShift and has been a columnist for The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, and Columbia Journalism Review. Craig also edited The Verification Handbook and The Verification Handbook for Investigative Reporting for the European Journalism Centre, and is the author of the award-winning book Mafiaboy.

It’s 20 years since the class of 1998 graduated! They are working in academic, public, and medical libraries, in government, in library consortia, as curriculum specialists, learning designers, information specialists, and more. For students or those early in their librart careers, this is a great opportunity to see the astonishing variety of career paths available to MLIS graduates and get some tips.
Learning Objectives:

• Learn about the different jobs and career paths open to librarians
• Get career advice from SLIS grads
• Discover top skills and strategies to succeed as a librarian