Volume 7, no. 3 (Spring 2004)
News from Your Chapter Board
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President's Message - Claudette Cloutier
Chapter & SLA News - Christina Zeller
Editorial - Sandra Wong
2004 Chapter Board Candidates - Patricia Cia
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The Conference Cometh - Juanita Richardson
SLA Western Canada Chapter 2004 Annual General Meeting will be held Wednesday, May 12, 2004.
The AGM will be followed by a Factiva Program: Perception is Reality. Details are available here.
Professional Development
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A Participatory Development Resource Centre in Colombo, Sri Lanka - Valerie Patrick
Down Under Adventures - Katy Nelson
Electronic Journal Management - Don Taylor
Report on the 2004 Leadership Summit, Albuquerque, New Mexico (January 21-24) - Keith Low
Local Programs
For a listing of upcoming SLA WCC programs in your area, please view the Programs webpage.
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Vancouver Events
o Fee for Service - Carol Saxon
o Achieving Results Through Relationships: The Power of Influence - Carla Graebner
Calgary Events
o Linking Information Services to Compelling Business Events - Marjorie Munroe
Edmonton Events
o Visible Librarian: Asserting Your Value through Marketing and Advocacy - Teresa Bendall
o Business Planning: Building the Plan and the Buy In - Debbie Hunter
o "108" Street Special Library Tour For Students - Laura Lemmens
News & Resources
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Member News
News and Articles of Interest
Web Sites of Interest
Permanent URL for this issue: http://www.sla.org/chapter/cwcn/wwest/v7n3.shtml
Wired West, vol. 7, no. 3 (Spring 2004)
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© All articles are copyright by the authors.
News from Your Chapter Board
President’s Message
by Claudette Cloutier.
I don't know about you, but the last two months have flown by. Since my last President's Message, Keith Low (SLA
WCC President-Elect) and I have returned from the SLA Leadership Summit in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The
Summit is an opportunity for all Chapter Presidents and President-Elects and all Division Chairs and Chair-Elects to
meet with SLA staff and leaders.
A number of items that came up that will be of interest to our members:
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For those of you who are not aware, SLA now accepts membership dues in Canadian Dollars. Members who
pay by cheque to join or renew will pay the amount in Canadian dollars without having to convert their
currency to American dollars. This is only for members who pay by cheque.
The results of the SLA Elections have been announced. Congratulations to Patricia Cia, a Past-President
for SLA WCC, on being elected Chapter Cabinet Chair-Elect for SLA.
At the Summit, the SLA executive adopted a new naming model. The association will continue to operate
legally and financially as the Special Libraries Associaiton, but will operate publicly using its acronym in place
of its extended name. As a result of this you will see some changes to the SLA WCC website and
documentation. Rest assured this is not a name change and it allows the Association greater flexibility to
attract new market segments and deepen connections with information professionals and industry partners
around the world.
Mark your calendars for the SLA Western Canada Chapter Annual Meeting scheduled for Wednesday May
12th, time will vary depending on your location. Continuing on last year's succuessful virtual meeting, plans are
underway to recreate the experience this year using webcasting.
More information will follow in weeks to come about the schedule of events. One item on the Annual Meeting
agenda will be the revision of SLA Western Canada Chapter's Governing Documents. SLA recently replaced Chapter
Bylaws with Governing Documents that allow for more flexibility at the Chapter level. SLA WCC already has to make
changes to their documents to include Nunuavut! A motion for this change will be circulated to the membership
shortly. The Annual Meeting will be followed immediately by a virtual presentation from Factiva titled "Perception is
Reality: Creating your Elevator Talk and Nine Other Practical Marketing Ideas to Promote your Information
Function".
If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Claudette Cloutier
President, SLA Western Canada Chapter
Wired West, vol. 7, no. 3 (Spring 2004)
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© All articles are copyright by the authors.
Chapter & SLA News
by Christina Zeller, Communications Director.
Chapter News
You may have noticed that the SLA logo has appeared on the SLA WCC website. As part of SLA's implementation of
a new identity, they've requested that all chapters adopt the use of the SLA logo in addition to their individual
chapter logos or identities.
SLA WCC has adopted a transition look as we evaluate our chapter's logo and colours. In the next few weeks, you
can expect to see a survey posted on the discussion list that will give you the opportunity to provide feedback on
our ideas for the new SLA WCC look. When we adopt our new look, we expect to be more in line with the overall
organization identity, and we'll switch to using SLA instead of Special Libraries Association in our chapter name.
Upcoming Events & Conferences
Check our Programs page to find out plans for professional development and social events that SLA WCC will be
hosting this year. The events for the month are always posted on the home page of the website as well.
Be sure to monitor the following:
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Calendar of SLA Events - Schedule of SLA events and meetings, including chapter and division activities.
Information Industry Calendar - Schedule of Non-SLA Conferences and Exhibits maintained by SLA HQ.
SLA News Releases & Announcements
SLA has completed their website redesign at http://www.sla.org. You can now save your login information for the
members only section, so you can visit all the resources on the site without having to login at each visit (if you have
cookies enabled).
Event information and the personal planner are now available for the 2004 Annual Conference, June 5-10 in
Nashville.
Keynote speakers are Dr. Carl S. Ledbetter, Senior VP of Engineering/ Research & Development at Novell Inc., and
Bill Ivey, Director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy at Vanderbilt and former Chairman of the
National Endowment for the Arts.
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© All articles are copyright by the authors.
International Special Librarians' Day is Thursday, April
22. If you know of an SLA member that deserves recognition
for promoting or celebrating the day, nominate the member
for an award by May 14, 2004. If you need logos for
promotional materials, you can get them at the ISLD logo
download page.
Recent SLA News Releases include:
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SLA Launches Interactive Job Board for Information
Profession, March 19, 2004
Recognizing Demonstrated Achievements: SARC Calls
for Merit Award Nominations, March 19, 2004
Rollo Elected President of SLA, March 9, 2004
Special Libraries Association Adopts New Naming Model, February 27, 2004
SLA Creates Archival and Preservation Caucus, February 12, 2004
Reaching the Pinnacle of the Profession SLA Announces 2004 Award Winners, February 12, 2004
SLA Unveils New Website, New Online Community, February 3, 2004
Editorial
by Sandra Wong. Bulletin Editor.
Warm thanks go to all who contributed to this issue: Carol Saxon, Marjorie Munroe, Valerie Patrick, Katy
Nelson, Teresa Bendall, Debbie Hunter, Laura Lemmens, Carla Graebner, Keith Low, Juanita
Richardson and Don Taylor. Your contributions are greatly appreciated.
If anyone is planning to attend the annual conference in Nashville, please contact me about submitting a conference
report for the summer issue. Reports on individual sessions or tracks or general impressions are most welcome.
Please take this opportunity to share your experiences at SLA in Nashville with other SLA WCC members who are
unable to attend this year's conference.
Wired West is always looking for content. Contact me with your news or article suggestions at any time.
Have you changed jobs recently or been promoted? Have you received an award or recognition of any kind lately?
Have there been significant movements or changes in your organization? Are you an SLA WCC member taking a
leadership role in other library/information organizations? Did you participate (as panelist or speaker) at a
conference or published an article recently?
Wired West wants hear and publish your news!!!
Articles of interest to the SLA WCC community are always welcome, some suggestions for article topics can include:
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marketing your library or services
digitizing a collection
trends in library computing
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© All articles are copyright by the authors.
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cataloguing
managing an electronic collection
plus any other ideas...
Wired West is currently produced quarterly: October 15, January 15, April 15 and July 15. Deadline for text is
normally the first day of the month before the next publication date eg. October 1, January 1, April 1 and July 1.
Submissions to the SLA WCC web journal are welcome at any time. Please send comments, ideas, or suggestions to
the Wired West Editor.
2004 Chapter Board Candidates
By Patricia Cia.
Thank you to those who stepped forward and accepted nominations as chapter board members. We have filled our
slate*. At the AGM in May 2004, we will call for further nominations from the floor and then hold elections.
Nominees are:
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President-Elect - Christina Zeller
Treasurer - Debbie Schachter
Secretary - Robyn McDowell
Communications Director - Susannah Tredwell
Calgary Director - Marjorie Munroe
Edmonton Director - Barb Storms
* The SLA Western Canada Chapter requires only a single slate of candidates. This means that we do not need to
find more than one candidate for each elected position. Election by acclamation will be held at the AGM. Further
nominees may be proposed from the floor at the AGM.
Thank you also to board members who are completing their term:
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Keith Low (President-Elect, becoming President)
Diane Walker (Secretary)
Darren Hamilton (Treasurer)
Christina Zeller (Communications Director)
Lorraine Bedet (Calgary Director)
Debbie Hunter (Edmonton Director)
Submitted by Patricia Cia, Nominations Chair, SLA Western Canada Chapter.
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© All articles are copyright by the authors.
The Conference Cometh
By Juanita Richardson.
As you may have heard -- and some of us have been thinking about this for almost 10 years now -- the annual SLA
conference in June 2005 will be in Toronto! I have the great pleasure of being the Chair of the Conference Planning
Committee and so wanted to share some of the "behind the scenes" with all the Canadian chapters -- as these
scenes will soon be in our backyard.
They love us...they really really love us!
The SLA leaders in attendance at the Leadership Development Summit in January in Albuquerque are looking
forward with great enthusiasm to coming to Toronto next year. I had the opportunity to speak to both the Chapter
and Division leaders as well as the Board of Directors -- and everyone I spoke with was excited about the prospect
of coming to Canada -- for some, it will be the first time they've ever travelled outside the United States!
Where's the water?
The role of the Confererence Planning Committee -- as I told the unit planners in Albuquerque -- is to build the
plumbing -- the planners supply the water. What this means is that my committee is responsible for setting the
framework of the conference: the length of the sessions (1 1/2 hours); the length of the break between sessions
(1/2 hour); the exhibit days and hours (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday -- hours vary). It had been pre-determined by
decade-old contracts (which, in some cases unfortunately, could not be broken) that the conference would be in the
North Building of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, the headquarters hotel is the Royal York; however, we will
also block rooms in various other hotels near the convention centre -- including the Intercontinental (the one
connected to the convention centre). At the Board's mandate, the theme is the same as it has been for the past
couple of years: Putting Knowledge to Work. So now, with the plumbing established, the planners from all of SLA's
many divisions and caucuses are now planning the water -- which I'm sure will be sparkling! The unit planners are
the individuals who put together most of the content for the conference -- both the educational sessions and the fun
networking events. They are probably brainstorming the content right now as you read this -- and they were all told
that they should touch base with Canadian members of their units where possible to put a Canadian (ie.
international) spin on their products. Past experience has shown us that it's far easier for the planners if they have a
"local" connection on this side of the border. And I've already seen some requests to the Canadian lists for members
of XYZ division to come forward. So, for your unit affiliations -- division and caucus -- feel free to think of topics /
speakers / formats from a Canadian perspective and be prepared to put them forward. Remember: we want
sparkling water!
A great many objectives will have been achieved before the day the conference opens on June 4, 2005 -- and a
great many challenges will have been overcome. The SLA staff at headquarters in DC, all the unit planners and the
Conference Planning Committee are all working to ensure that the SLA conference in Toronto is a great one. At this
point, it may seem some distance away ... but the conference cometh! And, I KNOW it will be sparkling!
Wired West, vol. 7, no. 3 (Spring 2004)
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© All articles are copyright by the authors.
If you have any questions about the conference, please do not hesitate to
contact me: juanita.richardson@cedrom-sni.com
Juanita Richardson is Chair of the Conference Planning Committee for Toronto 2005.
SLA WCC Annual General Meeting, 2004
Factiva Presentation to follow: Perception is Reality - Creating Your Elevator Talk and Nine other
Practical Marketing Ideas to Promote your Information Function
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
AGM Start and Finish Times
10:15 am - 11:00 am PDT (British Columbia)
11:15 am - 12:00pm MDT (Alberta and Saskatchewan)
12:15 pm -1:00 pm CDT (Manitoba)
Presentation Start and Finish Times
11:10 am - 11:50 am PDT (British Columbia)
12:10 pm - 12:50 pm MDT (Alberta and Saskatchewan)
1:10 pm - 1:50 pm CDT (Manitoba)
Locations
This year's meeting is once again a virtual meeting. All members have the opportunity to attend the AGM by
conference phone call and simultaneous webcast. We have worked to ensure that last year's audio difficulties will
not be repeated. Reports and documents will be posted on the SLA WCC web site by May 5, 2004 for you to read.
We are going to connect 6 locations by speakerphone so that members have the opportunity to hear the AGM live,
contribute to discussions and vote.
In order to vote you must be a member in good standing of the SLA Western Canada Chapter.
Contact your Regional Director as listed below and RSVP by Monday, May 3, 2004 that you wish to attend. They
will let you know where your group will be meeting. There will be a nominal charge to cover the program and
refreshments appropriate to the time zone.
Regional Directors and Teleconference Location
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Winnipeg - Sharon Allentuck - allents@tc.gc.ca
Regina - Maria Swarbrick - mswarbrik@legassembly.sk.ca
Edmonton - Debbie Hunter - debbie.hunter@gov.ab.ca
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Calgary - Lorraine Bedet - Lorraine.Bedet@encana.com
Palliser Hotel, 139 9th Ave SW
Vancouver - Catherine McBratney - Catherine.mcBratney@icbc.com Teck Cominco, 5th floor boardroom,
200 Burrard Street
Victoria - Alison Halyk - alison.halyk@gems7.gov.bc.ca
You will need to contact your closest Regional Director in order to be checked off the active members list so you can
vote.
If you are distant from these centers and would like to attend please contact Claudette Cloutier ccloutie@ucalgary.ca - for web cast and teleconference instructions. You will need to have a pound sign (#) on your
phone.
Professional Development
A Participatory Development Resource Centre in Colombo, Sri Lanka
By Valerie Patrick.
Boombalaka boombalaka boombalaka boom!
Chingalaka chingalaka chingalaka ching!
What, you say? Don't librarians best know how to SSHHHH!?
This dramatic phrase came to encapsulate Participation for
Global Action & Change: Connecting practitioners, communities,
networks, organizations, a conference which took place in
Guelph, Ontario, in July 2002. The Boombalaka boom cry was
part of the participatory performance activities of the Amani
People's Theatre and Ubuntu Afrika group, who use theatre to
educate and change attitudes within and outside Africa
regarding a wide range of topics. Participatory theatre is just
one of the amazing methods that people are using around the
world that fall under the umbrella term of "participatory
methodology", which has gained popularity over the last few
decades in international development. Boombalaka boom! also
represents the crazy, fast paced year I spent learning about
participatory methods and establishing a resource centre in
Colombo, Sri Lanka, while on a Canadian International
Development Agency (CIDA) Youth Internship in 2002 - 2003.
Bibile, Sri Lanka. Photo by Valerie Patrick.
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© All articles are copyright by the authors.
Participatory Methodology
Although it is difficult to describe briefly what participatory methodology entails, in general it is an alternative to the
traditional form of top-down, expert driven decision-making. It involves the use of a wide range of tools: from
logical framework analysis (LFA), testimonials, social assessments, to tools less reliant on literacy and language,
such as drama, diagram drawing, mapping, matrices and other visually based tools. However, a vital aspect of
participatory methodology must include a change in attitudes to acknowledge self-criticism and the validity of
experiences of a diversity of community members and, contrary to traditional research, aims for empowerment of
the community members and not extraction from the community (Chambers; 1996). The practitioner plays the role
of facilitator to help enable community members to do their proper investigation, analysis, planning, to come to
their own conclusions, and to do their own monitoring and evaluation (Chambers; 1993). Succinctly, the
Participatory Development Forum's (http://www.pdforum.org) mission, for example, is to:
promote a philosophy of participation that advocate's for people's capacity and right to define
and control their own development, in order to achieve equality and social justice.
"Participatory" methodology has come to be used legitimately in a wide range of fields and around the world.
Arguably, "good participation" is best defined by the community involved and is evaluated by how well tools and
attitudes are suitably adapted to the situation. However, the methodology has, in some ways, become a victim of its
own success in that it is almost a required "label" for projects, especially in international development. The result is
that project proposals are described as "participatory" to legitimise them, reinforcing them with research that is
heavily weighted by questions or activities that lead to desired answers. Other criticisms include the methodology's
over-emphasis on empowering the individual (not the community as a whole), and the potential "sway" influence of
the facilitator.
Institute for Participatory Interaction in Development (IPID)
The IPID resource centre is located in Colombo, Sri Lanka. IPID is a Sri Lankan non-profit organization that uses
participatory tools such as Project Planning Matrices (PPM) and Logical Framework Analysis (LFA) to assist
organizations and government bodies with project planning, poverty assessments, and participatory monitoring and
evaluation. They also conduct Participatory Rural Appraisal training workshops. Although the majority of their work
concentrates on Sri Lanka, the subject scope of their work is broad, ranging from agricultural issues to HIV/AIDS,
and includes working in rural and urban environments, and for governmental and non-governmental clients. The
organization operates in Sinhala and English.
IPID had accumulated a collection of their reports and other materials on participatory methodology. Many of the
resources were contributed to the resource centre due to IPID's membership to the Resource Centres for
Participatory Learning and Action (RCPLA) network, and consequently constitutes a core collection of English
language materials on participatory methods and development. The RCPLA Network is an alliance of resource
centres around the world concerned with the integration of resources and the dissemination of information and
knowledge within the practice of participation. As members of RCPLA, a focus is placed on making materials
accessible to those wanting to learn about participatory development or to those working in the field. For that to
happen in Sri Lanka, the IPID resource centre had to be organized and easily searchable. An attempt had been
made in the past to organize it. A database was designed and established years ago by a member of the RCPLA
network using DBText/InMagic software, and although a few items were processed before the RCPLA representative
left, the project stalled due to the lack of staff resources to invest in cataloguing what amounted to approximately
1200 items. The goal for the 2002-2003 project was to make it ready and usable as soon as possible for what is
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hoped to be a burgeoning Participatory Learning and Action/Participatory Rural Appraisal (PLA/PRA) community in
Colombo and Sri Lanka. Training other staff members would also be key.
Orphaned Baby Elephant (possibly 1 month
old), abandoned in jungle. Photo by Valerie
Patrick.
The Nitty-Gritty Process
This project allowed me to return to a
fundamental, basic examination of the
operations of a resource centre/library due
to its low technological scale and small size.
For the most part, we usually join a
functioning library; however, this situation
allowed for a centre's operations to be built
virtually from the ground up. Getting back
to the basics: how to shelve? How to
catalogue? How to label?
Items were sorted according to subject,
catalogued in the database, labelled, and shelved. A manual was written and training implemented for the two
principle resource centre managers. Given that an attempt had been made years earlier to organize the centre,
there were already some subject headings devised for browsing and shelving guidance. Those were preserved
because they were appropriate and were already familiar to users. I did however develop new ones for which there
was a substantial amount of materials to justify their addition. New headings included "management" and "poverty",
for example. The subject headings instituted at this stage of the project were broad, umbrella headings and directed
a researcher to the correct shelf. They also constituted the first subject heading in an item's record. The catalogue
also included additional subject headings to allow for more specific and complex searches.
Each of the items was catalogued in the DB/Text database. Items were analysed for their subject, and a controlled
vocabulary was developed based on the keyword list that was developed by the Institute for Development Studies
(IDS) resource centre in the United Kingdom. It was made quite clear to the future resource centre managers that
this list is amenable to their needs - items could be added or taken away from the list depending on the items they
received for the shelves. As it is, the list is several pages long to provide for versatility. The subject analysis stage is
the most difficult and time consuming, but in the long run allows one to address the multi-faceted and multidisciplined nature of items.
Labels were produced using a simple Word template with columns and rows, into which call numbers were entered,
and then printed on label paper. Once new items are only occasionally added to the collection, the resource centre
can switch to simply writing codes on a pre-printed template grid, since it is not always feasible to print just one call
number at a time without wasting a whole sheet of label paper. Call numbers were made as simple as possible: a 34 letter abbreviation for the broad subject area (POV) and then a sequential number (003). If necessary a copy
number (c.1, c.2, etc.) and/or a language differentiation (if there were different languages for the same item).
Therefore, a label could resemble:
POV
003
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© All articles are copyright by the authors.
c.3
Eng
The reports by IPID for IPID clients were organized a little differently. They are shelved under the name of the
organization for which the project was carried out. This reflects the desire of the administrators and the method by
which items were requested for retrieval by staff assistants. They were then shelved in magazine boxes
alphabetically. Whereas for published materials, such as books, the first subject heading reflects a broad subject.
For IPID reports, the first subject heading is the organization under which it is shelved. The assistant who usually
retrieved items spoke little English, but was familiar with the appearance of reports, their thickness, and the name
of the organizations for which the reports were produced, therefore this method was hopefully a compromise
between having both systematic and visual cues for document retrieval.
All these processes are included in the manual, which includes instructions for searching the catalogue, cataloguing,
and additional contact and maintenance information.
Library Applications and Resource Centres as Participatory Tool
A resource centre or a library is an important participatory tool. It offers collective and communal access to
resources (in this case participatory development materials) that many individuals or communities could not afford
to own or collect on their own. Resource centres and libraries create opportunities for lifelong learning, as well as
individual and community empowerment because they can supply literacy tools, participatory tools, and a wide
scope of information. Increasingly, resources are being accessed or provided electronically, thus a resource centre
can potentially serve as an outlet for such technology, since such access may be beyond the economic reach of
many. Libraries and resource centres provide a space for the exchange of experiences, knowledge, and a space for
learning.
In addition, and specific to the resource centre at IPID, the participatory literature serves to educate novices and
seasoned participatory practitioners, thus providing resources for research and practical action. Why is this
important in Sri Lanka? The field of participation is new to Sri Lanka; however, interest is being piqued on the
subject. As a result, even before the resource centre was completed, enthusiastic government ministers and
employees started to trickle in to explore the resources. This in itself is a positive development: the transformation
of government leaders and bureaucrats from accepting a top-down traditional structure to one that is inclusive and
participatory is key to enacting change and plays a vital role in poverty alleviation. Without the support for such a
paradigm shift from those who control both power and money, the struggle for increased empowerment on behalf
of those with fewer resources would be fierce, and perhaps for naught.
Finally, there is an interesting and increasing potential role for resource centres: documenting the grassroots
experiences of those working in the participatory field, and the preservation of institutional memory. This would be
an effort to collect, preserve, and disseminate best practices and lessons learned in participatory projects. Although
practitioners spend time trying to gather testimonials from others, they don't collect their own stories! Also, when
employees leave an organization, they take with them their experiences, lessons, best practices, and project history,
which are lost to that organization and other practitioners if they are not collected and available for learning
purposes or disbursed. The effort to capture practitioner experiences is a way to make resource centre collections
dynamic, lively, and less static. The goal would be to go beyond the reports written for clients, sometimes perceived
as dry and not useful for increasing the understanding of the practice of participation. Resource centre co-ordinators
can work with others, such as the RCPLA Network, to initiate and design methodologies, frameworks, and to outline
the required practical aspects for practitioners and groups wanting to commence the documentation process.
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Documenting the experiences of library practitioners is equally valuable. Reportedly faced with the prospect that a
large percentage of the profession will be retiring in the next few years, it begs the question whether a worth while
endeavour would be to document the experiences and lessons of retiring librarians and knowledge professionals.
Does the profession lose anything from not capturing their reflections and experiences?
Participatory methodology holds potential for libraries in the administrative planning process. Although using some
participatory tools, such as dance and theatre, is probably not realistic, formal tools, such as the logical framework
analysis (LFA) - a systematic method to collect and relate back to participants their collective goals - and
assessment tools could be useful for long term planning, problem solving, and collective decision-making. The
central tenet behind using such tools would be to bring employees from throughout the organization into the
decision making process, to participate in establishing visions, missions, goals, and distributions of responsibilities.
A prominent aspect of participatory methodology is the documenting of "lessons learned" (LL) and "best practices"
(BP) which are evaluation tools for a particular project, but are also methods to share experiences with other
practitioners for learning purposes. This strongly relates to an attitude in the participatory field to embrace error and
to learn from it. The LLs and BPs become part of publications and conferences, but are also the basis for innovative
knowledge sharing among participatory development practitioners with PD Forum's Virtual Resource Centre (VRC).
The VRC is a database where practitioners from around the world can contribute and access (via the Internet)
lessons learned and best practices. Such literature constitutes a body of previously less documented, "grey area" of
information, which falls between academic and practical literature. From a librarian's point of view, this is interesting
in two ways: it provides a model by which librarians and library practitioners could potentially share their
experientially based best practices or lessons learned, either in print or electronically; and as an observer of how
organizations are using technology to find alternatives to traditional publications, in both medium and content, and
on a local and global scale.
Issues and Challenges
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Resource centres and libraries are not panaceas: resource centres do not directly serve people without
literacy skills or those who cannot read in English - the language in which most participatory materials are
written. Libraries do, however, provide practitioners with resources; practitioners working in the community
can use these resources and are free to adapt tools appropriately.
There is a dearth of information in languages other than English.
Resource centres and libraries are not cheap. They require competent and dedicated staff, print resources,
and space. Increasingly, electronic resources are an integral part of resource centres, thus adding the costs
of computers, software, automated databases, and internet access.
There is an increased focus on electronic resources and print sources are sometimes devalued. Ideally, a
good resource centre offers options and a mix of resources, and takes a cautioned look at using technology.
Technology in developing countries offers a variety of access challenges.
Electronic resource centres, or those that rely overwhelmingly on technology, tend to shut out those who do
not have access to the necessary technology and high-speed access. Books and other print items are still
effective and appropriate methods to educate, and to distribute knowledge and experiences on any topic. At
the Guelph conference, a woman who works in Mozambique pointed out that 45 minutes of Internet access
at an internet café in the nation's capital cost the equivalent of a civil servant's daily salary. The "digital
divide" a cliché? Not for most of the planet.
Literacy, access to information, knowledge of how government works, and access to government reports is
a form of empowerment. Although a strong argument can be made that literacy is a colonially imposed skill
and not inherently needed for survival, the power to shape public policy is firmly entrenched in the hands of
those with literacy skills, and power structures put people with literacy skills at the top.
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Best Practices and Lessons Learned
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Appoint persons interested in resources as resource centre managers to ensure continuity. If someone is
appointed against their will and has no interest in its value, it will become his or her lowest priority and can
be perceived as an inconvenience.
If the project planning, implementation, and maintenance does not have administrative support, the
resource centre will not last. Although a resource centre is an investment for the community, it also requires
basic investments: including hiring staff interested in maintaining the resource centre.
Try to integrate users into the decision-making process. Also, collect feedback, evaluation, and testimonials
to use when advocating for the resource centre. It is also important to find out why other members of the
organization do not use the resource centre.
Train as you go: don't pass up a possibility to show people how the resource centre works.
Make things simple and consistent, but not so simple that the complexity of items is lost. Yes, it takes extra
time to add subject headings to item records, but additional headings allow for locating items that do not
include their keywords in another field.
Use a controlled vocabulary for consistency when cataloguing.
Be flexible, but as consistent as possible: some rules and guidelines can be broken - want to lend to an
outside user but the policy is not to? That is a situation that can call for flexibility, but stay consistent in
your ability to trace the item to the most recent borrower and/or whether you collect a monetary deposit.
Back up, back up, back up. Databases should be backed-up on disks and kept in a safe place. This should
be done regularly, especially if the computer system is of dubious robustness.
A project is more than a final report: documenting the process undertaken during the project and the
experiences of the project participants is as valuable as the results. It can be especially useful to go back
during the project to review ideas from the start of the project.
Document, document, document results: During this project, I was informed that there had been some
documentation done during a previous attempt at cataloguing this resource centre, it could not be located,
and was told that it was irrelevant. The past may be past, but having access to the documentation of the
previous planner's objectives, goals, policies, and ideas may have helped for the current project. I did not
know whether there were plans to consolidate the catalogues within the RCPLA network or why certain
fields were added, thus I was reluctant to reduce the number of existing fields, lest there be a problem with
consolidation later. I know now, that was a mistake, I should have reduced the number of fields for the
sake of simplicity, but I did not have a solid grasp of the big picture that had initiated this overall project.
Long term contract information can also be invaluable for later follow up. Documentation should especially
include a user's manual for searching, cataloguing, and circulation policies.
Document, document, document, part 2: The resource centre can play a role in documenting the
experiences of grassroots practitioners.
The users should be of most consideration when planning a resource centre, be it electronic or print based.
Local needs may also mean making items accessible and useable to those who do not read English and
must be able to find items by recognizing key words only, or by size, colour, and shape of the item. For
example, IPID reports were organized in magazine boxes so that they are easy to browse alphabetically, by
size, colour, cover, and labelled with key words.
Suggestions for further reading and/or information.
Chambers, Robert. Whose reality counts: putting the first last. London: Intermediate Technology, 1997.
Cooke, Bill and Uma Kothari, eds. Participation : the new tyranny? London: Zed Books, 2001.
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Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the oppressed. Translated by Myra Bergman Ramos. New York: Continuum, 1993.
Institute of Development Studies Participatory Resource Centre
http://www.ids.ac.uk/ids/particip/information/index.html
Mosaic.net International: http://www.mosaic-net-intl.ca
Participatory Development Forum: http://www.pdforum.org
Resource Centres for Participatory Learning and Action: http://www.rcpla.org
References
Chambers, Robert. "Start, stumble, self-correct, share". Face to face. March 1996.
-----. Challenging the professions. London: Intermediate Technologies, 1993.
[This is an adapted version of an original e-views submitted to http://www.pdforum.org]
Valerie Patrick is a freelance librarian in the Lower Mainland, British Columbia. She is interested in
further work in international development and public libraries.
Down Under Adventures
By Katy Nelson.
During 2003, I applied for and
received approval to go on study
leave from my Reference
Librarian position at the
McPherson Library, University of
Victoria. I would be investigating
computer applications in
academic libraries and
specifically, Institutional
Repositories (IRs). I decided I
needed to research this topic in
Australia (why not?) so I planned
a trip there during September
and October of 2003. A good
background article on IRs is
available at:
http://www.arl.org/newsltr/226/i
r.html.
Sydney Opera House, photo by Katy Nelson.
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Organizing my itinerary was not a simple task. I spent weeks deciding exactly which universities I would visit,
according to which institutions actually had an IR in production and which cities I would visit and when. Then I
basically invited myself to these libraries and hoped that I would be welcomed. Amazingly, many of the places I
contacted were more than pleased to have a visiting Canadian academic librarian and organized elaborate visits for
me, with structured agendas and often lunch! I sometimes gave a talk about my research to a group of the
librarians, but often I met with one or two people and interviewed them about their projects.The Australian
librarians I encountered were fantastic people, for the most part. I was traveling alone, and got quite homesick after
a while. I really appreciated the friendliness of some of these new colleagues who, even though I was in their city
for only a few days, showed me such lovely hospitality. My most memorable experience was in Canberra, Australian
Capital Territory where I met a librarian, Jeanette Regan, with whom I had worked with some years ago. Jeanette
and I were on the International Relations Committee of the Physics-Astronomy-Mathematics Division of SLA some
years ago and we worked on a survey using email to communicate. I don't get to the annual conference very
frequently, so Jeanette and I had never met in person. When I knew I was going to be in Canberra during my
Australia trip I sent Jeanette an email and suggested we meet face to face. She emailed me back almost
immediately and invited me to stay with her for the week I was in Canberra! I thought about this for about 5
minutes and said yes I would love to! It was so refreshing to stay in a private home after weeks in hotels, motels
and hostels. Jeanette and her husband looked after me and arranged for me to visit the Parliamentary Library (not
on my original itinerary) and I enjoyed myself thoroughly.
Jeanette used to be the Astronomy Librarian at the Australian National University but now works for the Australian
Electoral Commission. She is doing great things with Knowledge Management and digitization at the Commission so
we had lots to talk about. In fact, we got on so well that we are planning to room together at the conference in
Nashville this year. I can hardly wait.
When I returned to Canada I was glad to be home again but I definitely want to travel to Australia again. The
experience of being in Australia overshadowed the research data I collected while I was there. However, the study
leave was the right thing to do. I've been back at work about 3 months now and feel a renewed enthusiasm and
interest for my work. I'm working on developing an IR at the University of Victoria and my experience with the
Australians gives me another perspective on that project.
Katy Nelson is an Information Services Librarian at the University of Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia.
Electronic Journal Management
By Don Taylor.
The management of electronic journals encompasses many features, including subscription issues, licensing and the
provision of access to the electronic journals themselves. Most periodicals provide some type of online access for
subscribers, but the form of that access varies significantly, particularly amongst popular and trade-oriented
publications. If one counts as electronic journals periodicals that are included in full-text databases, there are
further access issues to deal with.
Subscriptions
Print periodical subscriptions either provide free online access or a surcharge for access to the online. It is also
possible in many cases to simply have an online-only subscription to a periodical. An online-only subscription brings
with it either the need for archival access, in the event the subscription is cancelled, or else a willingness to say
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goodbye to all the content that you paid for over the years. The ability to continue to access the content online for
which you paid after you cancel the journal depends on the publisher. Some will permit access to continue via the
publisher's site; others will provide the library with the content on a storage medium such as CD-ROM which can
then be networked. Others, such as the Economist, simply cut you off. When faced with the total loss of content,
many organizations decide to maintain the print subscription and are still able to provide online access since the
print subscription comes with free online access. If the publisher differentiates between personal subscriptions and
corporate or institutional subscriptions, then the subscription should be at the institutional rate if you plan to open
up online access to the entire organization. If the library has a large journals collection and uses a serials vendor,
then the serials vendor will also look after online subscriptions.
Licenses
Most online periodicals are covered by a license - a license that is frequently just quickly scanned and signed
without much thought given to the terms and conditions you've just agreed to. Most licenses are from non-Canadian
publishers and therefore impose foreign copyright law and make the governing law and legal jurisdiction the
publisher's main locale - that is, the license is not governed by Canadian law. Publishers are usually willing to
change the wording so that Canadian law is the governing law and that Canadian copyright is the relevant
copyright, especially if your organization has a policy that discourages or forbids the organization from entering into
contracts that make foreign law the governing law of the license. If the publisher will not agree to make Canadian
law the governing law of the license, they usually at least agree to strike the copyright and governing law clauses
from the license entirely. A good source for licensing information is the Liblicense website
(http://www.library.yale.edu/~llicense/index.shtml). As well, Lesley Ellen Harris offers online licensing courses
through copyrightlaws.com.
Licenses can include restrictions on the dissemination of material from the electronic journal. For example, some
titles may not allow a copy of an article to be e-mailed to another employee. If access is via password, make sure
you know what the license says about the dissemination of the password. For example, can it be posted on the
organization's intranet? License restrictions can also vary depending on the type of access you choose. For example,
when a publication offers both free online access with the print subscription as well as a site license for online
access, the license governing the former may be more restrictive than the license governing the latter- for example,
free with print may mean a single workstation access only. The American Medical Association journals are an
example of this sort of license differentiation. The free online access that comes with an AMA print subscription
restricts the number of users, does not allow IP authentication, and restricts access to business premises only. On
the other hand, the site license provides unlimited users, allows IP authentication, and allows authorized users to
access the journal from anywhere in the world, not just at the employee's place of business.
Access considerations
Providing access to electronic journals begins with knowing if online access is available. The print publication, its
website, or the publisher's website should state if online access is available. Unfortunately, some publishers only
allow personal subscribers to have online access to individual journals. Institutional subscribers are forced to
subscribe to the publisher's online service that provides access to all of their journals in one online package. It is
usually against licenses to use personal subscriptions to provide online access within an organization. If the
collection is large enough that a serials vendor is used, the vendor can let you know which journals come with
online access.
What should the point of access be? As most databases allow for linking from a database field to the internet, the
logical choice is to access e-journals via the library's catalogue. The catalogue record also offers a convenient place
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to post any required username and password for accessing the e-journal. However, a separate electronic journals
database, or simply a list of them on the library's intranet site, is often appreciated by users, or just simply easier to
maintain.
Two choices are available for managing access to electronic journals: username and password or IP authentication.
IP authenticated access is best since there is no login procedure provided access occurs on the business premises.
The license or subscription information always states if IP access is an option. Personal subscriptions never offer IP
access.
Rather than providing access through their own website, some publishers choose to contract out the online version
to a third party service (e.g. Ingenta) that hosts e-journals for publishers. Advantages with this model are a
standard interface and the ease of dealing with the same customer representative when problems arise rather than
dealing with a variety of different interfaces and publishers.
Setting up access can be as simple as being provided with a username and password with your print subscription.
Normally though it involves contacting the publisher (via their website) to state you want online access to the
journal; reviewing, modifying if needed, and then agreeing to the license; and then activating the online access
through the publisher's website. Depending on the publisher/vendor, you may even be able to get usage statistics
showing how many times articles from a particular journal have been accessed online.
Maintenance of online journals is different from print journals, but as online journals gained in acceptance,
maintenance has eased and publishers have put more resources into supporting e-journals and the customers who
use them. For example, links now usually do not change - at least not without significant notice - and the traditional
print grace period for subscription renewals also now applies for most e-journals, sparing everyone the sudden loss
of online access due to a late subscription cheque.
Taking advantage of the online access offered by publishers improves the productivity of both library staff and
library patrons and has the definite potential to increase usage of the library's collection.
Don Taylor is the Electronic Resources Librarian at Simon Fraser University Library.
Report on the 2004 Leadership Summit, Albuquerque, New Mexico (January 21-24)
By Keith Low, President-Elect.
Arriving in Albuquerque late Wednesday afternoon, I had just enough time to catch the tail-end of the SLA board of
directors meeting. Right away, I knew that this edition of the Leadership Summit would be memorable when the
"doing business as SLA" issue (emphatically presented as NOT a name change) was presented to the board (and
subsequently to the chapter cabinet). Not surprisingly, there was plenty of discussion! Wednesday concluded with a
group dinner at a popular local restaurant famous for its blue corn tortillas. We joined fellow out-of-town delegates
for what proved to be the first of several meals featuring chili sauce, tortillas and beans.
The Leadership Development Institute (LDI) began the next morning with keynote speaker Anne Rhoades, a
founding executive of JetBlue. A leading discount air carrier in the United States, JetBlue is renowned for its high
level of customer service, its innovative management and its employee relations. By sticking to its values through
even the most difficult times, JetBlue continues to be recognized as the best domestic airline (Conde Nast Traveller,
2003 reader's choice) while still managing to be profitable.
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Barb Spiegelman presented the next session of the LDI: "Communicating to get what you want." She outlined the
four basic communication styles (intuitor, thinker, feeler, sensor). Effective communication takes place when your
presentation style matches the communication style of your intended audience. For example, "thinkers" are
analytical, logical, reason-based, effective organizers and often skeptical (e.g. engineers). Thinkers appreciate
communiqués which are linear, use bullets, emphasize procedure and are orderly. "Feelers," on the other hand, are
empathetic listeners and are attuned to the unspoken/political; they prefer the use of images, slogans, informality,
and emphasis on morale- and team-building.
During the Thursday lunch session, we heard presentations from the various candidates for the SLA board of
directors (including WCC's own Patricia Cia). It was a great opportunity to put faces (and voices) to the names of
our candidates. More importantly, we were able to see how passionate all the candidates were about the profession
and our association.
The sessions on Thursday afternoon concerned programming at the chapter level, covering the who's, what's,
where's, how's and how much! We were also given a preview of the newly redesigned SLA website and of the
Communities of Practice tools. Thursday concluded with a reception at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center (more
beans and chili!) where we had a chance to meet and mingle around the bonfire.
The sessions of Friday morning addressed leadership
and recruitment issues: how do we attract new
members, fresh volunteers and enthusiastic leaders
and, crucially, how do we hold onto them? Marjorie
Hlava gave a very useful presentation on the
mechanics of running a meeting, answering many of
our questions about parliamentary procedure.
The business portion of Friday's activities concluded
with the Chapter Cabinet meeting, where fellow
chapter Presidents and President-Elects discussed
Association business, including but not limited to:
new chapter governing documents (i.e. bylaws);
alternative membership structures and dues; and the
Association doing business as "SLA." A brief joint
meeting of the Chapters and Divisions followed.
By Friday evening, we were ready for a break. A few
of us were treated to a tour of Intel's gargantuan
manufacturing facilities in Albuquerque and then to
an off-road excursion on the mesa just outside the
town limits. What a treat to be able to see the stars
in the clear desert sky!
Fiesta on the Rio Grande, Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. Pictured are Geneviève Lemire (Treasurer, SLA Eastern
Canada Chapter), Claudette Cloutier and Keith Low. Photo provided by Claudette Cloutier.
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I began Saturday by attending the SLA board of directors meeting. After the Board meeting concluded, I finally had
time for an extended talk with Claudette Cloutier. We walked over to the "old town" and over lunch, discussed
WCC issues and strategies. You'll see the fruits of our brainstorming in the coming months and years! Saturday
concluded with an informal dinner with almost all of the Canadian delegates to the summit in attendance. It was a
great opportunity to network with representatives from the Toronto and Eastern Canada chapters. And there wasn't
a bean or chili pepper in sight!
Keith Low is a corporate librarian at Teck Cominco and is President-Elect for SLA WCC 2004 - 2005.
Local Programs
Vancouver Events
Fee-for-Service & ILL in Vancouver
by Carol Saxon.
SLA WCC's "Fee-For-Service & ILL In Vancouver" panel discussion was held at the offices of Teck Cominco on
February 12, 2004. Approximately 25 members and non-members attended the event, which featured presentations
by Debbie Schachter of the BC Courthouse Library Society, Maureen Matthews of InfoAction (Vancouver Public
Library), Kate Bird of InfoLine (Pacific Newspaper Group), and Amber Lannon of UBC Robson Square. The
presenters spoke of the challenges addressed in creating fee-for-service information products, services currently
provided by their organizations, and their plans for the future. The discussions sparked a lively question and answer
period with questions from both attendees who wish to use these services and from attendees who are considering
starting new fee for service products or services.
The session was sponsored by Stanford Solutions Inc. and Thompson ISI. Stanford Solutions also provided speaker
gifts of a one-year subscription to KnowMap: The Knowledge Management, Auditing and Mapping Magazine, as well
as a draw prize of a subscription and framed print, won by Del Rosario of the BC Provincial Museum.
Carol Saxon is with Business Intelligence and Customer Research at ICBC.
Achieving Results Through Relationships: The Power of Influence - Heidi Porth
by Carla Graebner.
According to Heidi Porth, a consultant with the Dialog Graduate Education Program, priorities for Librarians and
other Information Professionals should include ways to enhance professional influence within their organizations.
Speaking to a group of 22 people, hosted by the SLA Western Canada Chapter Vancouver, on March 22nd, Porth
outlined how professional influence is key to ensuring that librarians become a valued part of any organization's
strategic decision making process.
Porth outlined four steps to achieving professional influence, noting our biggest obstacle is that of perception versus
reality - the way we see ourselves is not necessarily the way others see us.
1. Evaluating our image through self assessment (how we see ourselves) and opinion audit (how others see
us).
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2. Assessing our environment by determining who or what is valued and what external forces may have an
impact on the organization as a whole.
3. Understanding our stakeholders by finding out what the strategic roles of the organization are, where
information is needed, how it will be used and so on.
4. Building professional relationships by establishing credibility and learning when and when not to promote
services.
The recurrent theme in Porth's discussion was the importance of librarians taking an active approach in ensuring the
results of the self assessment be adopted by the organization as a whole. Our perception, everyone's reality.
For further reading, see: http://quantum.dialog.com/q2_resources/whitepapers/
for several white papers on this topic as well as others.
Carla Graebner is a Liaison Librarian at Simon Fraser University's WAC Bennett Library.
Calgary Event
Linking Information Services to Compelling Business Events, March 18, 2004
by Marjorie Munroe.
We were fortunate to host an event with Heidi Porth recently called "Linking Information Services to Compelling
Business Events". This presentation is part of Dialog's Quantum2, a professional development program for
information professionals. For further information about Quantum2, and a collection of case studies, white papers
and seminars please visit the website at wwww.quantum.dialog.com.
Heidi reiterated something we have heard before: that financial decision makers rarely see how libraries impact the
bottom line. But rather than getting bogged down in this issue, she quickly launched into a constructive strategy to
leverage your skills as an information professional to identify compelling business events, and use those events to
enhance the profile of the library and win new patrons and clients within your organization.
The first step in the process is, of course, to identify your existing patrons and clients, and especially your potential
clients. Use your skill as an environmental scanner, searching, as Heidi put it, for puzzle pieces and mysteries. Be
sure to look outside your organization to funders and board members, as well as within.
The second step is to use your research skills to identify compelling events: to anticipate when big decisions have to
be made, and provide the information to inform those decisions. Heidi defines compelling events as those which
require an action to be taken, resources to be committed, sponsorship to be assigned, or those forcing an outcome
within a particular time. Examples include mergers or acquisitions, new products introduced, regulatory or legal
changes, staffing pattern changes, and markets opening or closing.
The third step of course is to provide key information to decision makers, and this is when Heidi's talk got quite
interesting as she issued some quite practical advice. She spoke at length about the importance of building a brand
for your library, and protecting that brand. Send all information in a PDF format with a brand or logo in a
watermark; use the same brand everywhere; and stamp it within the leaves of reports. It is not beyond some
assistants to adopt a report you have created and pass it off as their own! She also spoke of the value of identifying
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what format your core users prefer and templatizing it. This saves users time, but also adds value. If you choose to
do this, do follow-up to ensure this format works.
Finally Heidi spoke of what sources to monitor to find compelling events, including for:
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Mergers, acquisitions and divestitures: annual reports, research and analyst reports, industry newsletters,
local press, media transcripts for interviews with executives, and analysts' phone calls on the web
Products changed or introduced: competitive patents, industry news letters, demographics, manufacturing
demographics, regulatory actions against the manufacturer or similar products, and regulatory changes
affecting HR issues
Regulatory or legal issues: legislation, consultation/white papers, filings of enforcement actions, industry
newsletters, industry watchdogs.
Staffing pattern changes: employment and social security regulations, web links to recruitment and
outsourcing services providers.
Markets opening or closing: country risk assessments, "doing business in…"publications
Distribution channel changes: marketing databases: e.g. Channel, Company Directories.
Heidi was required to shorten her presentation for us, so we missed out on doing the group exercises she provided.
Reviewing these as a large group was not quite as effective.
If you have questions about this presentation, you are welcome to email Heidi at heidi.porth@thomson.com. There
is also a newsletter on the Quantum2 website.
Heidi Porth is the MLIS Consultant, Western Region North America for the Dialog Education Program.
Marjorie Munroe is an Account Executive with LexisNexis Canada.
Edmonton Events
The Visible Librarian: Asserting Your Value Through Marketing and Advocacy
By Teresa Bendall.
The virtual seminar was held during the lunch hour on January 30, 2004 at Alberta Learning in Edmonton. The
group was very small due to the extremely cold temperature outside. The audio-taped, PowerPoint presentation by
Judith Seiss covered the topics of customer service, marketing, publicity, public relations and advocacy. These are
not new concepts to the special library community but the presentation helped explain the differences between the
concepts.
Some thought-provoking statements for me were:
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Customers want their problems solved
The library's biggest and most dangerous competitor is customers doing without the information they need
Brochures should tell customers what you can solve instead of what you have and they should be targeted
to a particular group
It is not our job to save money
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
Be proud to be a librarian.
Teresa Bendall is the Head Librarian at Alberta Government Library, Seventh Street Plaza Site which provides
services to Children's Services and Persons With Developmental Disabilities
Business Planning: Building the Plan and the Buy In
By Debbie Hunter.
The SLA Western Canada Chapter, Edmonton presented the virtual seminar Business Planning: Building the Plan and
the Buy In on February 12, 2004 from 11:30 am - 1:30 pm. 10 people attended the event, which was held in the
Capital Boulevard Building. The presentation was very informative, as we learned more about the relationship
between strategic and business planning, tools and processes involved in business planning, and how to gain buy-in
for the business plan.
Debbie Hunter is the Head Librarian at Alberta Government Library, Labour Site which provides services to Alberta
Human Resources and Employment, Personnel Administration Office, Alberta Justice and Alberta Solicitor General.
"108 Street" Special Library Tour For Students
By Laura Lemmens.
On the afternoon of Tuesday, March 9, 2004 students from the University of Alberta's School of Library and
Information Studies and the Information Management and Library Technology Program at Grant MacEwan College
students took part in a tour of Alberta Government Libraries. The tours centered on government libraries in
proximity to the Government Centre being the Labour Site, Great West Life Site, North Petroleum Plaza Site,
Seventh Street Plaza Site and the Capital Boulevard Site. These libraries collectively serve the Departments of
Human Resources and Employment; Sustainable Resource Development; Environment and Parks and Protected
Areas division of Community Development; Energy; Children's Services and Persons with Developmental Disabilities;
and Learning. At the end of the tour Christina Andrews gave away an official SLA mug to one of the students.
The tour received a very positive reception from the students in attendance.
Laura Lemmens is the Head Librarian at Alberta Government Library, North Petroleum Plaza Site which provides
services to Alberta Department of Energy.
News & Resources
Member News
Congratulations
2004/05 Board of Directors-Elect
Patricia Cia, elected Chapter Cabinet Chair-Elect for the 2004/05 Board of Directors-Elect.
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SLA WCC Members Contribute to Award Winning Website
BCSC e-services, a Web-based, interactive public filings system, has won the Canadian e-Content Award for best
legal product. "This site meets the highest standard of access to information by a public agency," said the E-content
Institute in their news release. "Essentially, the editors and programmers at the BCSC have done the work for you
by analyzing and categorizing all the documents in their collections, facilitating access, expediting research and by
making administrative and regulatory processes cheaper and faster."
SLA WCC member Christina Zeller wrote the design standards for the e-services interface and contributed her
expert knowledge to develop the research requirements for the system. Carol Williams, also an SLA WCC
member, is responsible for overall content development for the BCSC website.
New Members
The Western Canada Chapter welcomes the following 15 new members: Carla Graebner (Simon Fraser
University), Marjorie Monroe (Lexis/Nexis), Diana Zimmerschied (MLIS Student, University of Alberta),
Suzanne Geba, Frances Main (CCRA, Research and Knowledge Centre), Orvie Coles, Joan Martin (Canadian
Agriculture Library, Saskatoon, SK; Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada), Anne O'Shea (MLIS Student, University of
British Columbia), Nadine Anderson, Suzanne Nykoluk, Christopher Pepin (Lloydminster Public Library),
Lesley Perkins (MLIS Student, University of British Columbia), David Bantrock (Stressgen Biotechnologies),
Chris McBratney (MLIS Student, University of British Columbia), and Patrick Neal.
Marjorie Munroe joined LexisNexis in 1999 and has been serving clients as account executive in Britishc Columbia,
Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Prior to LexisNexis, Marjorie worked for a variety of different publishers,
including the former Prentice Hall, and McClelland & Stewart as an acquisitions editor and a sales representative.
She currently lives in Calgary.
Carla Graebner is a graduate of Carleton University (BA English/Film Studies, BA Hons Anthropology) and
completed her MLIS at the University of Western Ontario in 2000. Since February 2003, she has been working as a
Liaison Librarian at Simon Fraser University. Prior to moving to Vancouver, she worked for several years at the
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in Ottawa. Carla is interested in new technologies, issues
surrounding electronic privacy and freedom of information.
Diana Zimmerschied is completing her final semester of studies at the University of Alberta's School of Library
and Information Studies. She also has a B.Ed. from the University of Alberta and numerous of years of experience
teaching elementary school children. Years back, she received a Computer Graphics and Dynamic Media Certificate
and a Microcomputer Applications Certificate, and continues to have an interest in technology and Web design. Her
other interests include belly
dancing and yoga, when she's not watching the Space Channel.
Joan Martin is a librarian with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) in Saskatoon. She has been with AAFC for
7 years. She was previously in Ottawa with the Canadian Rural Information Service and then as an Internet
Information Manager with the departmental web site team. She is currently the Librarian for the Canadian
Agriculture Library - Saskatoon serving the researchers at the AAFC Saskatoon Research Centre. Joan has a B.A.
(1993) from the University of Saskatchewan and an MLIS (1995) from the University of Alberta.
Frances Main is a librarian with the Canada Revenue Agency in Vancouver. Frances received her MLIS from South
Africa's University of Cape Town and worked as a cataloguer for four years before moving to Canada in 1994.
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Seeking a change from cataloguing, she tried editing for a while and spent six years working as an editor for a local
legal publisher. When the constant misuse of commas finally got too much, she returned to libraries and found her
true calling as a research librarian. She has been with the Revenue Agency since 2000 and is responsible for legal
and international taxation research. Frances is currently learning Spanish for an upcoming
vacation in Costa Rica and training for her first half-marathon.
Chris McBratney graduated from UVIC in 1998 with a BA double major in political science and history. He joined
SLAIS at UBC in September 2003 for the MLIS program and anticipates completion in April 2005. He is interested in
the competitive intilligence/information architecture side of things in special libraries.
Dave Bantroch is a graduate of the University of Guelph (B.Sc. in botany/ biochemistry, 1989) and University of
Western Ontario (MLIS, 1993). He worked for a short while in museum, hospital and environmental consulting
libraries before moving to Victoria, British Columbia in 1996. Since that time Dave has been with Stressgen
Biotechnologies providing information support for R&D, reagents, IP, and business development groups.
Lesley Perkins is completing her MLIS at the University of British Columbia. Originally from Toronto, Lesley moved
to Vancouver in 1990 and has spent most of her working life designing and managing marketing research studies
for a wide range of private and public sector clients. Graduating in 2005, Lesley looks forward to using her newly
acquired skills along with her established business experience in a special library setting.
News and Articles of Interest
compiled by Sandra Wong.
Exodus Libris
Heard on The Sunday Edition on CBC Radio One on February 29, 2004, this radio documentary by Alisa Siegel
profiled the public librarian brain drain from Canada to New York City. The audio is still availabe [as of April 2004]
from the Sunday Edition's website.
Hacking the Library
Clark, Kendall Grant . The Library of Congress Comes Home. XML.com (March 17, 2004).
The second installment of Kendall Clark's column in XML.com where he provides advice to
persons living the "dijalog" lifestyle on how to organize "your personal medial collection."
Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2004-05 Edition, Librarians
From the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor comes this entry on Librarians in their annual
Occupational Outlook Handbook.
Jobs for librarians outside traditional settings will grow the fastest over the decade.
Nontraditional librarian jobs include working as information brokers and working for private
corporations, nonprofit organizations, and consulting firms. Many companies are turning to
librarians because of their research and organizational skills and their knowledge of computer
databases and library automation systems. [From the section on Job Outlook]
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Internet Use in Canada
From Statistics Canada, Internet Use in Canada is a freely available resource providing access to Statistics Canada
Research papers and articles as well as some data tables from various surveys that measure internet use. Some
interesting topics include: Household Shopping on the Internet, Electronic commerce and technology, Internet use
among older Canadians, and free access to Changing our ways: Why and how Canadians use the Internet.
Pew Internet & American Life
America's Online Pursuits: The changing picture of who's online and what they do.
Who uses the internet, where, when, why and how? The Pew Internet & American Life Project is
a non-profit project of the Pew Research Center for People and the Press that conducts and
funds "original, academic-quality research that explores the impact of the Internet on children,
families, communities, the work place, schools, health care and civic/political life."
[From The NSDL Scout Report for Math, Engineering, and Technology, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2003.
http://scout.wisc.edu/ ]
The high cost of not finding information
Feldman, Susan. "The high cost of not finding information." KM World 13(3). Available online.
Web Sites of Interest
compiled by Sandra Wong.
Nashville

Frommers.com: Destinations: Nashville
Contains information from Frommer's Nashville & Memphis, 5th edition (2002). Categories include:
Overview, For Foreign Visitors, Planning a Trip, Getting to Know, Attractions, In Depth, Side Trips,
Organized Tours, Walking Tours, Active Pursuits and Spectator Sports.

Nashville travel | Lonely Planet World Guide
A webpage from the Lonely Planet Online, containing basic information for travellers to Nashville. Links
include: Introduction, Orientation, When to Go, Events, Attractions, Off the Beaten Track, Activities, History,
Getting There and Away, Getting Around, and Further Reading.

Nashville Scene
A weekly newspaper/magazine covering arts and politics in Nashville, includes links to special issues on Best
of Nashville®, Dining Guide, Summer Guide™, plus others.

Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau
Official website of the Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau.
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
Blueshoe Nashville Travel Guide
According to this site: A BlueShoe Traveler does the town in style, with imagination, curiosity, and
discernment— making the discoveries that can turn even the most humdrum business excursion into a
journey of revelation and delight.
Remember to subscribe to the SLA WCC Discussion List, a perfect way to keep up-to-date on Chapter news and
events. SLA members can sign-up at the SLA website, or contact the Discussion List Chair to post a message.
Disclaimer Special Libraries Association Western Canada Chapter and the Special Libraries Association assume no responsibility for the
statements and opinions advanced by contributors to this site. Editorial views do not necessarily represent the official position of Special Libraries
Association. Acceptance of an advertisement does not imply endorsement of the advertiser's product(s) by Special Libraries Association. Links
established from this site do not imply endorsement of the site's products and services by Special Libraries Association. The Special Libraries
Association will not be held liable for damages resulting from any errors, omissions, or information contained beyond this site, or for use of the
information at this site.
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© All articles are copyright by the authors.