8:30-9:15am: AGM + President’s Update
9:15-10:15am: Government Relations Update with Counsel Public Affairs
Library Board members have the opportunity to play a key role in strengthening their library’s relationship with government. Becoming an effective local advocate requires an understanding of the political landscape and recognizing the balance between local and government priorities. It is built on establishing and maintaining constructive relationships with both municipal government and provincial representatives. Our government relations partner, Counsel Public Affairs, will help get you started by providing insight on how to enhance your advocacy skills, as well as provide deeper insights into their recent provincial advocacy on behalf of Ontario’s libraries, including the impact of recent provincial policy changes, forthcoming changes to development charges, and the recently completed Regional Governance Review. Presented by Devan Sommerville and Caroline Pinto of Counsel Public Affairs.
Handout
If you attended this session, please complete a brief session evaluation here.
10:30-11:45am: Municipalities: What Public Library Boards Need to Know, Part Two
This session will touch on a few topics, including: Municipal Staff vs. Councils, Municipal Evaluation, and Advocacy in the support of the Municipality/Library relationship. The discussions from this panel will provide Board members and Library CEOs with a more in depth understanding of how the workings of a Municipality impacts the Library, and vice versa. We are hoping this will allow them to be more confident in connecting with, and/or supporting their library staff to connect with municipal staff, Councils, and building better relationships. Presented by Rebecca Jones, Manager Partner of Dysart & Jones, Meighan Wark, CAO at County of Huron, and Chas Anselmo, Senior Manager at KPMG.
If you attended this session, please complete a brief session evaluation here.
12:30-1:45pm: Community Engagement: What It Looks Like and Why It’s Important
Ongoing community dialogue and engagement is crucial work for public libraries at a time when communities and individuals are experiencing significant change and are struggling to find a way forward. By convening and promoting community conversations, public libraries can play an important role in helping communities and individuals build resilience; playing this role will position the library as a community leader. Presented by Karen Franklin, Director of Library Services at SDG Libraries, Jaipaul Massey-Singh, Board Chair of Brampton PL, and Heather Robinson, CEO of St. Thomas PL. Moderated by Anne Marie Madziak, Service Development Director at SOLS.
If you attended this session, please complete a brief session evaluation here.
1:45 – 2:45pm: Board + CEO: The Crucial Governance Partnership
For many aspects of governance, the work cannot be done effectively without the library board and CEO working as partners. The partnership needs to be rooted in trust, respect and mutual empowerment, with the library’s mission, vision and values providing a shared sense of purpose. Policy, Financial Stewardship, Planning & Evaluation are four governance functions that will be highlighted because they are crucial to a sustainable future for the library and they require the board and CEO to work together as partners. Presented by Brandon Fratarcangeli (SOLS) and Steven Kraus (OLS-N).
Handout
If you attended this session, please complete a brief session evaluation here.
3:00-4:00pm: Governance Spotlight: Leslie Weir
Leslie Weir became the Librarian and Archivist of Canada on August 30, 2019. Before coming to Library and Archives Canada, Ms. Weir was the University librarian at the University of Ottawa from 2003 to 2018. During her tenure as University Librarian, she founded the School of Information Studies in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Ottawa, and was cross-appointed as a professor. Prior to her arrival at the university, Ms. Weir held positions at the National Library of Canada and the Statistics Canada Library. She holds a Masters in Library Science from McGill University and a Bachelor of Arts (Canadian History) from Concordia University. Ms. Weir has guided many transformative moments at the Canadian Research Knowledge Network and research libraries in Canada. She is one of the founding architects of Scholars Portal, the state-of-the-art research infrastructure in Ontario universities that brings together information resources and services in support of research and learning, and served as Chair of the Ontario Council of University Libraries from 2010 to 2012. Ms. Weir served as President of Canadiana.org, where she oversaw the introduction of the Heritage Project, in collaboration with Library and Archives Canada, to digitize and make openly accessible some 60 million Heritage archival images. She also served as President of the Canadian Association of Research Libraries from 2007 to 2009 and the Ontario Library Association in 2017. Over the course of her career, Ms. Weir’s vision, dedication, and outstanding service have been recognized with numerous awards including the CLA/Ken Haycock Award for Promoting Librarianship in 2015, the Ron MacDonald Distinguished Service Award from the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) in 2016, and, in 2018, the Ontario Council of University Libraries Lifetime Achievement Award and the Canadian Association of Research Libraries award for Distinguished Service to Research Librarianship.
If you attended this session, please complete a brief session evaluation here.