Other

More than ever, the role of the library as a social hub is needed to fight social isolation. This session will provide an overview of this crisis, and examples of libraries using deliberate strategies to fight it. We will use structured small group discussions designed to create connection between the participants, and discuss ideas for enhancing the role of libraries as social hubs in every community.
Learning objectives:

• Greater understanding of social capital crisis
• Understand ways to create social connection through libraries
• Increased connection to fellow community librarians

LegalAve.ca is a new free website that helps Albertans learn about their legal matters and how to resolve them. This session will go over the key features of LegalAve.ca that library staff can use to find legal information for their patrons without crossing the line into legal advice. Our approach to promoting the website provincially will be outlined, along with lessons learned.
Learning objectives:

• Find accurate, reliable legal information
• Explore features of LegalAve.ca designed for library staff
• Better serve diverse audiences, including Aboriginal people, immigrants, and low-income Albertans

Thu Apr 20 2017, 11:00am–12:15pm, Tuscany Room
 
SESSION DESCRIPTION
Generously Sponsored By: Vancouver Public Library
 
From common stumbling blocks experienced by library patrons to broader challenges facing libraries in the 21st century, this hands-on session provides a practical introduction to service design methodology that can be used to improve the quality of library services and prepare libraries for new services that might lie ahead.
 
Service design is an emerging discipline that combines user research, business strategy, and design practice to innovate the way services are traditionally conceived of and implemented. This methodology is based around interactions with users, touchpoints, service personnel, and stakeholders. It uses design thinking as an approach and follows a structured and organized process.
 
Drawing from our user experience and design expertise, we will highlight case studies of service design and user-centred design in practice with examples from the Vancouver Public Library and in other nontraditional design environments. We introduce participants to processes and strategies that can be used to identify or frame problems, test potential solutions, and implement evidence-based outcomes in their own libraries and communities.
 
Participants will be encouraged to bring their own experiences to the table as they engage in a collaborative design exercise that challenges them to apply these strategies to a real-life service problem in a library setting. Attendees will walk away from this session with a stronger understanding of how service-led approaches that put library users front and centre can powerfully impact the way libraries operate and adapt to change.
 
 
SPEAKERS
Mary B Castellanes, B.Des, Vancouver Public Library Biography: Mary Castellanes is a Web Graphics Designer at Vancouver Public Library with formal training in communication design, who has grown up with libraries very much a part of her life. She is interested in the open nature of web technologies, and the thoughtful application of design in our everyday lives. As a member of the Digital Services Web Team, Mary has been involved in the redesign of VPL.ca. The firsthand observations and feedback gathered from consultation and testing sessions with the public helped inform many of the visual design decisions for the new website.
 
Jessica Whu, MLIS, Vancouver Public Library Biography: Jessica Whu is a Web Librarian at Vancouver Public Library. Most recently, with her work on VPL’s website redesign project, she’s worked with staff across departments to assess and design web content that supports effective service delivery. Jessica loves how her work in information design, web development, and user experience intersect with her passion for people, communities, and user-centred services.

Thu Apr 20 2017, 9:00am–10:15am, Salon C

SESSION DESCRIPTION

Creating a compelling business case or grant application can make the difference in getting the resources you need. A well-written RFP can result in competitive, high-quality proposals. The skills, structure, and approach used in business cases, grant applications, and RFPs can also be applied elsewhere with great effectiveness. Panelists will share their expertise and best practices from varied perspectives to help you build your own tool kit for business writing success.

SPEAKERS

Deb Hutchison Koep, North Vancouver City Library

Biography:
 

Deb Hutchison Koep is the new Chief Librarian at the North Vancouver City Library. She has several years’ experience in library finance, preparing business cases for operating, capital and staffing resources and participating in public procurement processes for both facility and IT projects. She is an expert in library technology planning and implementation, and in her previous role at West Vancouver Memorial Library recently implemented new models for public technology service and staff technology skills assessment and development.

Ben Hyman, Vancouver Island University

Biography:
 

With leadership and management experience in Co-ops, government, post secondary, public library and private sector environments, Ben’s take on business cases is a little different. For operationalizing inclusive community approaches, and advocating for the use of open tools and social procurement processes, he has been labelled a “lightning rod.” Ben is currently the University Librarian at Vancouver Island University.

Daphne Wood, Greater Victoria Public Library

Biography:
 

Daphne Wood’s experience in the public, private, and non-profit sectors includes strategic planning, media relations, and brand management. She is a graduate of Carleton University's school of Journalism with a Masters of Business Administration from Royal Roads University and an Executive Masters of Library Information Science from San Jose State University. Daphne is the Director of communications and Development at the Greater Victoria Public Library and is serving as the President of BCLA in 2016/17.

Publisher reps present their picks for the best new books of the Winter/Spring and Summer 2017 seasons. This session will be informative for collection development staff, readers’ advisory staff, and teacher librarians looking for new recommendations for schools.

Publisher reps present their picks for the best new books of the Winter/Spring and Summer 2017 seasons. This session will be informative for collection development staff, readers’ advisory staff, and teacher librarians looking for new recommendations for schools.

The Darakht-e Danesh Online Library for Afghan Educators is a repository of open educational resources (OERs) for teachers, teacher trainers, school administrators, literacy workers and others involved in furthering education in Afghanistan. It uses a multilingual web platform custom-designed for this initiative, and currently houses resources in 14 subject categories, for both primary and secondary teachers, in Dari, Pashto, and English. The Darakht-e Danesh Library aims to increase access to quality resources for Afghan educators, encourage teachers to consult a wide variety of resources in their practice, to use these tools to adapt their own, and to share their own resources with other teachers. This session will describe the process of developing the library and some of the challenges that it has faced in amassing a collection of multilingual, open-licensed content.

Wikipedia is viewed 8000 times each second. The 8th largest referrer to DOIs, Wikipedia has become a ubiquitous starting point for discovery; many students, members of the general public, even professionals like medical doctors use it in their information seeking. Because of this, professionals from libraries, universities, archives, and publishing increasingly recognize Wikipedia's importance as a way to reach where readers already are--on Wikipedia. The Wikipedia Library is an initiative founded in 2012 to facilitate access to research sources for Wikipedia editors. It has since expanded into reference services, research literacy instruction, and outreach to cultural institutions. This session will explore some of these initiatives and how librarians, archivists, and educators can get involved.

Scholarly literature is often described as a conversation among readers and writers of a particular field or discipline. In this presentation we will share our research on how one journal in particular, The Partnership: the Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research, strives to provide a platform for conversation for the library community in Canada. As the journal reaches its tenth anniversary, we are exploring how the Canadian LIS community perceives the role and value of this publication. Is there still a place for a journal of such breadth? Is there anything special about a Canadian library journal? How important is open access to Canadian library literature readers/writers?” How does the journal fit into the reading and research habits of contemporary practitioners? How might the journal look going forward? We take the temperature of the value and meaning of Canadian library literature for Canadian librarians and library paraprofessionals.

We are amidst one of the most dynamic and transformational periods of time in the field of library and information science. The impact of technological change is now global and the role of libraries and the professionals that work in them are rapidly and continuously changing. What does this mean for the vitality of libraries in our communities? What does it mean to serve a local community in a global information landscape? And what skills are needed by the library professional to help libraries thrive in this global information market? In this keynote presentation, Dr. Hirsh will summarize the global and technical trends impacting all sectors of the library and information field, highlight the role libraries can serve as the technological and educational hub for their communities, and define the new roles and skills that will be required of LIS professionals to help their organizations thrive in today’s global information market.