Freedom to Read Marathon Reading Event and Intellectual Freedom Panel

FREEDOMPlease join us for an all day event celebrating our Freedom to Read!

Sign up or drop in to read from your favourite challenged or banned book, or read from one of the many books we will have available. 9-12 & 1-3:30 Sign up at http://tinyurl.com/FreedomToRead-UBC

Featuring a panel moderated by UBC University Librarian Ingrid Parent discussing how intellectual freedom is lived through everyday life experience and work. Light refreshments will be served.12-1pm

We will also have a Freedom to Write space and welcome everyone to come write and share your words.

Tweet to share your 3 favourite banned or challenged books using #FTRWeek. We’ll also have an (actually physical!) board where you you can write and post them at the event.

Come pick up a book mark on banned books or come read about current news on challenged, banned or censored materials in Canada.

The intellectual freedom panel at noon will feature:

Christopher Kevlahan, Branch Head at Joe Fortes VPL
Dr. Gregory Mackie, Assistant Professor, Department of English, UBC
Tara Robertson, Accessibility Librarian, CAPER-BC at Langara College
Miriam Moses, the Acquisitions Librarian at Burnaby Public Library

Moderated by Ingrid Parent, University Librarian, UBC

Programming Panel

P1030905We recently held a panel about programming libraries! Thank you to Sarah Felkar, Digital Access Librarian at West Vancouver Memorial Library, Sarah Green, community librarian at the Renfrew branch of VPL and an advocate for community-led libraries, and Devin Soper, a copyright liaison at UBC Library.

University of Washington Student Visit

This past weekend we hosted some students from the University of Washington iSchool student ALA group! This was the return trip for the trip some of us took down to Seattle last January. We’re hoping they will continue to happen in the future!

While we (or at least I) didn’t get any photos of the tours we went on, we at least got a couple of many of the students involved.

P1030887 P1030882 Back row, left to right: Twanna Hodge (UW), Xochitl Rocha (UW), Anna Ferri (UBC).
Front row, left to right: Christina Appleberry (UBC), Heather Newcomer (UW), Sarah Leslie (UW).

Meeting Minutes, November 18th, 2014

Joint meeting with CLA/BCLA

ALABCLACLANovemberMeetingMinutes.odt

Tuesday November 18th, 2014
IKBLC Room 461
Chair: Sarah Arbeider
Minutes: Kaja Dawkins

In attendance: Sadie Tucker, Laura MacDonald, Prof. Judi Saltman, Sarah Arbeider, Mark Christensen, Christina Appleberry, Krista Parham, Anna Ferri, Tim Rainey, Alex Kuzkowski, Blake Hawkins, Kelsey Ockert, Roxanne Kalenborn, Chloe Riley, Maggie Faber, Bonnie Paige, Kaja Dawkins, Marche Riley, Dr. Eric Meyers

  1. Meeting Minutes: Kaja to take minutes on behalf of ALA and BCLA/CLA
  2. Freedom to Read Week (FTR)
    1. Similar to Banned Books Week in the US, but not sponsored by CLA
    2. In the past, SLAIS has done a reading event in which people read from challenged books for approximately 5 minutes; we have also used the opportunity to host a panel discussion and hold a bake sale
    3. UBC Libraries also participate with contests and displays but we would like to work more closely with them in terms of planning and advertising the event; hopeful a student will volunteer to liaise with the library
    4. Judi: The panel last year was mostly focused on writers, illustrators, and publishers of children’s books
    5. Marc: You don’t have to read from anything salacious, for instance Matthew read from Batman comics last year; it was really interesting to hear from the panel about their experiences with works being challenged
    6. Sarah: Were there any librarians on the panel last year? Answer – no, but it’s something to think about for next year
    7. Dave: Did people on campus really engage? Answer – not as much as we’d like; more people attended the panel, but it can be hard to convince people outside the program to participate in the readings; we should think about advertising better
    8. Anna: It might be fun to have smaller tables set up where people can read in groups, less intimidating than getting up at the front
    9. Sadie: Should we consider a different location that might draw in more people? Suggestions – the SUB (could be loud on the main floor, but less exposure on the second floor
    10. Sarah: The IKBLC is pretty heavily used
    11. Krista: So do we feel good about doing this reading? Do we want to have another panel?
    12. What do other schools/libraries do?
    13. Judi: FTR website (http://www.freedomtoread.ca) is a good source for finding out; not every library participating lists their activities but some do
    14. Krista: Edmonton also incorporates Freedom to Write (FTW); this suggestions was enthusiastically received
    15. Should we have a display or any other activities? The library usually does a contest where you can guess the banned book based on a subtle description; last year we hosted this contest at the FTR event
    16. Sarah: Koerner puts up a display of a timeline of banned books in Canada and a display of the most frequently banned books
    17. Eric: The bookstore also does displays and has public spaces, so that could be another alternative venue
    18. Mark: The more things we add, the more we need people to actually attend to make them worthwhile
    19. Judi: People sign up for reading slots in advance and faculty can sign up as well as students. The creative writing department has indicated in the past that they are interested in getting involved
    20. Anna: We could visit classes with the sign up sheet and encourage people to sign up in person
    21. Krista: So in the morning we’ll have a few hours of readings, then the panel in the afternoon, and then maybe some time for Freedom to Write?
    22. Sadie: Let’s keep it a one-day event, we don’t want to get overextended
  3. Move to create a committee for Freedom to Read
    1. Committee will oversee posters and advertising, room booking, liaise with librarians and potential panel guests, collaborate with the library, and organize/maintain a template for the event
    2. Committee will still call on other members to help and support their activities
    3. Marche, David, Tim, Anna, and Appleberry volunteered for the committee
  4. Further planning discussion for Freedom to Read
    1. Tim: Should we consider having a pro-censorship voice on the panel?
    2. Sadie: Interesting idea, could add depth to the discussion
    3. Tim: There are other factors that go into why a book gets banned or isn’t included in the library catalogue; would be interesting to look at that perspective
    4. Sadie: Novelty to working with the bookstore as an event venue; Krista: we should check the feasibility of this
    5. Krista: Should we have a bake sale?
    6. Marche: Would it be possible to have free food?
    7. Krista/Mark: The budget doesn’t really allow for it; snacks will be priced reasonably
    8. Anna: We could have something like popcorn available for free
    9. Judi: a top researcher in censorship, Ann Curry, has just retired from University of Alberta and is living in Victoria; she’s a great presenter and has a recent book about scatology in children’s books; this would potentially be a longer talk, maybe not appropriate for the panel
    10. Anna: If we do the event at the bookstore, we would not be able to do a bake sale
  5. Announcement of Student-to-Staff Winner
    1. Eric: Very competitive this year, and the winner is Alex Kozkowski; interest in this opportunity is growing
    2. Student-to-Staff is an award that sends on student to the ALA Annual Staff Meeting; pays registration, some lodging, and includes a per diem
    3. Kelsey: Reminder that there is also a student conference travel award, so check it out!
    4. Judi: There is a Student-to-CLA program as well; applications to the director are due usually around March/April
    5. Eric and Judi both stressed that if you have something (research, etc) to present, that will make you a stronger candidate
  6. ALA Discussion (Mark)
    1. ALA members voted to order tote bags
    2. Peer Mentorship Program
      1. Connecting new students with current students to advise on degree path and how to get the most out of your time at SLAIS; idea of implementing this program was well received
      2. BCLA also has a mentorship program to connect students with professionals
      3. ALA would base their program on ACA
    3. ALA Exchange
      1. A group of students from the University of Washington ALA student group will be visiting Vancouver in January (students from UBC went down to Seattle last January); there will be library tours and social events; if you’re willing to have someone stay on your couch, we’ll be looking for volunteers
      2. Will be emailing more information in December
      3. Anna: Great way to make lasting connections
      4. Mark: Networking is sometimes treated like a dirty word, but it’s essential
      5. Talk to Matthew Murray for more information
    4. Sadie: Rooms are confirmed for the Programming Panel, January 28 from 12:00 – 1:00; whoever nominated successful panel candidates needs to contact them; focus on public and academic libraries and programming for adults
  7. BCLA/CLA Discussion (Krista)
    1. Laura: Bake sale raised $123.00 and so far no one has asked to be reimbursed for money put into the float
    2. Sarah: Richmond Public Library will be hosting us for a tour on December 2nd at 10:00 AM; this is after classes and assignments are completed so we hope for good attendance; tour will be 60 minutes followed by a Q&A session and will focus on the new workroom and collection development
      1. Note – Event has been plugged on Facebook social group and BCLA/CLA website with email to follow; register at Eventbrite (https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/bclacla-tour-of-richmond-public-library-tickets-14490305895)
    3. YAACS: Last meeting on December 3rd at 1:00; will be screening “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas” and looking at non-Christmas focused holiday books for children
    4. Mark: CLA was awarded the grant money we applied for but it will be doled out in two installments instead of one; we have to demonstrate to them what we’ve done with the money, so everyone please keep records and send them to Mark – especially anything related to FTR week
    5. Anna: RAIG – Chloe Riley will be attending the RAIG meeting in December
    6. Anna: Discussed having a forum to talk about the LIS degree as a whole, not just at SLAIS; should this be a more practical/professional degree program or more academic? We could host a debate including people with different types of library degrees/certificates
    7. Anna: BCLA – submit conference proposals if you have them; the conference will be held in Richmond May 20 – 22, 2015; if you’re doing research work, contact Anna; possibility of coordinating a UBC students group presentation
    8. Marche: Not a lot to report for communications; please continue sending any info you want to go on the website
    9. David: ViMLOC – first meeting had a discussion about creating a $2000 award, but CLA doesn’t have the money; talked about arranging a local, informal meetup
    10. Tim: Intellectual Freedom Committee – no meetings yet and none currently planned
    11. Anna: We have to confirm Tim as an executive
      1. Marche: Call to approve
      2. Judi: Seconded
      3. Krista: Call to vote – majority vote yes
    12. Judi: Looking for a co-moderator for CLA network of children’s/youth library services
      1. Danielle Wing is withdrawing
      2. Looks good on your resume – contact Judi for more information
  8. Next Meeting
    1. Meet again in January; date to be chosen early in the month but check with SLAIS calendar to see when new student events are happening so there’s no conflict
    2. Kaja to chair CLA/BCLA meeting; will contact the group about setting a date
  9. Meeting Adjourned

Meeting Minutes, October 14th, 2014

2014-10-14 MINUTES

Present: Sadie Tucker, Mattias Olshausen, Anna Ferri, Maggie Faber, Chloe Riley, Bonnie Paige, Emily Nickerson, Shannon Cheng, Alex Kuskowski, Mark Christensen, Christina Appleberry, Kaylin Anderson, Matthew Murray, Chelsea Shriver

Minutes: Sadie

• Minutes
o Minutes from March and September approved.

• Swag
o Swag poll has been done. Results are similar to last year, top picks: Water bottles-10, Bags-6, T-shirts-5
o Chelsea will look into ball-park pricing and send out a second poll to get final decision.
o Pricing usually depends on how many orders are made. Generally, the group will charge X dollars and then cover the difference if there is any (e.g., subsidize each item by $2). Depending on order numbers, this isn’t always necessary.

• Logo
o Will keep current logo as no one has expressed any interest in submitting a new one.

• University of Washington exchange
o Considering that we went there in the spring, it is only fair that they get to come here now.
o Matthew spoke with them about visiting and they asked us to provide some dates. Matthew will suggest the weekend of November 15th or 22nd
o Once date is confirmed we need to start organising library tours (on and off campus), pub outing, and housing.
o There will likely be fewer than 10 people.
o Please give some thought to how you can help out (e.g., lend out your couch for the weekend, organise a tour, etc.).
o Discussion about having a regular exchange (i.e., we go to Seattle in the spring and they come here in the fall).

• Student to Staff Program
o There are 40 spots for a special student volunteer position at the annual ALA conference (June 2015). The student works (very) approximately 16 hours at the conference (usually one shift per day) and in return gets free room/board and their conference fee is paid for (travel is NOT covered). Only one student from each library school may participate.
o Eric Myers is holding an essay contest to choose who will get the position from UBC. A good essay will demonstrate an understanding of how the ALA (and attending the conference) fits into your career plans and also a commitment to give back to your local ALA chapter (that’s us!).
o Important notes:
If you are chosen it is a firm commitment. They do not allow substitutions, so you must be 100% committed to going. You must still be a SLAIS student in June 2015. You do not need to be a member of ALA to enter the contest, but if you are offered the position then you will need to join in order to accept it.
o Eric will post detailed information about the program and essay contest on the SLAIS website, so stay tuned!

• Panels
o Discussion about panel topics, main suggestions are conferences and programming.
o Decided to go ahead with programming in January as there are not a lot of course offerings having to do with programming (other than a children’s course).
o We will hold a student panel (students who have gone to conferences previously) in March. This is a bit easier to organise as the speakers are all in-house.
o Sadie will book rooms for January 28th  @ noon and March 25th  @ 1pm.
o If you have ideas for people who can attend the programming panel, email your suggestion with the person’s name and a one sentence bio to Sadie. After the names are gathered, she will put out a poll so we can decide as a group who we feel will best fit the panel. If one of our top choices can’t make it then we will go down to the next person in the list. Attention will also be paid to balance (we want a diversity of experience and viewpoints).

• Programs at libraries
o Mark suggested that we start taking note of programs offered by various libraries (academic and public).
o There are many free programs available that offer training relevant to library and information work.
o Decided that group members will rotate responsibility for taking a look at available programs and sharing them on the blog. Anna will do it this month.

• Conference on open access information
o On November 28th & 29th there will be a conference dedicated to open information. It will be in the IKB building.
o There will be booths, panels, etc. Should be super interesting!

• Next meeting
o November 18th  @ 1pm in the Trail Rm.
o This will be a joint meeting with the CLA group. We will discuss Freedom to Read, etc.
o There will be a limited agenda since the two committees will be sharing an hour.

Meeting Minutes, September 9th, 2014

2014-09-09 MINUTES

ALA Student Chapter Minutes

September 9, 2014 @ 1pm

Present: Sadie Tucker, Krista Parham, Rebecca Lahr, Mattias Olshausen, Kelsey O., Anna Ferri, Chelsea Shriver, Saguna Shankar, Kaylin Anderson, Bonnie Paige, Jason Martin, Jen Streckmann, Blake Hawkins, Clare Aspirth Finegan, Alex Kuskowski, Maggie Faber, Roxanne Kalenborn, Shannon Cheng, Chloe Riley, Christina Appleberry, Mark Christensen, Matthew Murray

Chair: Mark Christensen

Minutes: Sadie Tucker

  • Introductions

    • Faculty advisor: Eric Meyers

    • Co-Chairs (after elections): Mark & Appleberry

    • Co-Treasurers (after elections): Hedda Monaghan & Kaylin

    • Secretary: Sadie

    • Webmaster/communications officer: Matthew

  • About ALA (American Library Association)

    • We are the only active ALA student chapter in Canada. There is a chapter in Toronto, but their site has not been updated in a few years.

    • CLA (Canadian Library Association) is great, but ALA is huge and has a lot of clout and resources.

    • Check out the student group’s site at https://blogs.ubc.ca/alaplace/ . You will find all sorts of information (minutes, names of the executive officers, blog posts, etc.) here.

    • We recommend that you join ALA. It is $35 a year for students. Being a member is not required for participating in the student group (although you do need to be a member to be on the executive), but it has its benefitis: membership provides you with access to volunteering and learning opportunities; you also get a nifty magazine in the mail.

      • If you do join, take a look at the divisions and groups. Some of them are free for students, some cost extra money. Depending on the group the cost can be worth it, though.

  • Last meeting’s minutes

    • We are looking for them.

    • Sadie will email her past co-secretary to see if she knows where they are.

  • Reimbursements

    • Anna is having a hard time getting reimbursed from LASSA for t-shirts from last year.

    • There is lots of confusion around paying American companies for things.

  • Swag/Merchandise

    • Last semester we had a poll about merch/swag. We will do it again since many people have graduated and new people have joined. Last semester bags and t-shirts were neck and neck.

    • In the past, logo contests have had very few entrants. If you are interested in doing a design, please let us know!

  • University of Washington exchange

    • Visited Seattle last year. It is a great way to meet people and see other library school programs.

    • There are library tours and social events. It is lots of fun!

    • At the meeting there was a show of hands to gauge interest in doing another exchange and many hands went up, so we will look into it and report back.

  • Elections

    • By acclamation:

      • Co-treasurer: Kaylin Anderson

      • Co-chair: Christina Appleberry (“Appleberry”)

  • Don’t be shy!

    • If you have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to talk to someone on the exec. You don’t even need to remember our names!

  • Conferences panel

    • Had a general discussion on the topic. The panel would be about attending conferences.

  • Collaboration

    • We would like to focus on working and collaborating with other student groups (e.g., CLA).

  • Meeting dates

    • Our meetings will be on the second Tuesday of the month at 1pm.

    • We will need to reschedule our November 11th meeting as it is a holiday. Anna will look into perhaps having a joint meeting with CLA on Tuesday, November 18th (their meetings are the third Tuesday of the month).

Meeting Minutes, March 5th, 2014

(Because we’re amazing we couldn’t find these for ages, so they’ve only now gotten approved.)

ALAUBCMinutesMarch2014

ALA @ UBC Student Chapter Meeting
[PhD Lounge] Room, 11:30am
March 5, 2014

Attendees: Anna Ferri, Carolyn Heine, Matthew Murray, Mark Christensen, Hedda Monaghan, Chelsea Shriver, Matthew Root, Sadie Tucker, Lauren Washok, Krista Paham, and Monica

1. UW ALA Student Chapter Exchange
a. Looking for a time when they can come to visit Vancouver
b. April might be OK. They just had elections so they are a bit disorganized at the moment
c. Matthew is in communication with their group

2. Freedom to Read Week Recap
a. ALA student feedback: overall, it went well
b. SLAIS student feedback: the panel was really good
c. Possible change for next year’s event: read a section, then open up for group discussion

3. T-Shirt Design Contest
a. Doodle Poll top 3 results: tote bag, t-shirt, mug
b. New Doodle Poll: pick one of the above

4. Publishing Panel
a. March 25, 12pm-1:30pm in the Lilloet Room
b. Panelist Update
i. Ellen George put out a call for panelists on the UBC library listserv
ii. Anna will ask Heather O’Brien for contact information for ProQuest and EBSCO reps
iii. Alison Curtis from Langara has been emailed
iv. Chelsea S. is in contact with Morgan Gariepy for a possible panelist
v. No one confirmed at the moment. We will wait a few days to see if someone responds then alter our strategy as needed
c. Event Logistics
i. Gift: iTunes gift cards (Chelsea S. will obtain these)
ii. Parking Pass (Anna)
iii. Food: hummus, veggies, bread, etc. (Sadie will make a Costco Run if possible)
iv. Advertising: PPT Slide (Sadie); Posters (Monica)
v. Room Booking Update: need to include food in the booking request (Carolyn will update)

5. An Event for May?
a. ALA annual interest event
b. Will send out feelers after term ends to see if there is any interest in a meetup for those attending ALA in June

6. Next Meeting
a. This is the last official ALA meeting until September
b. Elections?
i. Secretary
1. Carolyn is graduating during the summer
2. Sadie will take over all secretarial duties with the option of holding elections for a second secretary
ii. Co-president
1. Anna will possibly be stepping down this fall
2. Elections would take place in September if needed

Academic Libraries and Publishing Panel

We recently held a panel on Academic Libraries and Publishing and it went really well! Thanks to everyone who came, and a HUGE thank you to all the people who made this event possible. A lot of helping hands were involved, and the group effort made this a success.

The panelists present were:
Karen Meijer-Kline from the Public Knowledge Project
Edward Loera, ProQuest & ebrary Training & Consulting Partner (via Skype)
Kevin Madill, Music Librarian, University of British Columbia
Melissa Pitts, Director, UBC Press

We took some notes during the libraries/publishing panel in the Google Doc where we collected questions. They aren’t the best notes ever taken since we were focused on moderating, but if anyone who was there has further notes/comments, please, please consider adding them!

Also the wonderful Karen Meijer-Kline from the Public Knowledge Project sent some resources on Open Access publishing and libraries that we put into the notes.

Check them out!

(From left: Kevin Madill, Karen Meijer-Kline, Melissa Pitts, and Edward Loera via Skype on the projector.)

Trip to Seattle (part 5)

Earlier this year we went down to Seattle to visit the student ALA group there. We had a great time! Here are photos of some of the things we saw.

Here’s part onepart twopart three, and part four.

Okay, so remember how in the last post I said we didn’t just go to libraries while we were in Seattle? I lied.

We got a super sweet tour of the Central Branch of Seattle Public Library! (Photo actually from an earlier trip.)

Their automatic sorting machines.

Their break room was on a floor that is mostly for admin staff, and is completely empty on the weekend.

A long way down!

From leff: Daisy, David, Eka, Matthew, Kelsey, Anna, Sarah.

Models of the library from before it was built.

A boat! What doesn’t this library have?!

Checking out the non-fiction section with our awesome tourguide Lisa!

All libraries need a cat right?

All libraries need a negative round right?

The nonfiction section is super neat, it’s a series of ramps in a spiral, so you can walk through the entire thing from 000 to 999.

On the computer level (or “living room”) they have this super neat sign. I think this one is showing representations of what people have checked out.

Computers!

All libraries should have these. So cool!

Also, weirdass video art you have to watch while riding the escalator. All libraries should have these too.

Up to the “red floor”.

It’s like a weird sci fi movie set or something.

Apparently there’s meeting rooms on this floor, but they were all locked.

The second floor.

Games in the teen section!

The Starbucks teen section. Lots of corporate sponsorship around.

We were there while there was a playoff game happening.

People were super excited to watch the game on huge projection screen. Also, this room is pretty nice.

Kids section.

Anna is short.

The floor.

Disability services.

While I think this is super cool, I really think it exists because there aren’t enough Chinese speaking staff members to catalogue the material properly.

On the way to the bus back to Vancouver.

The end! Thank you Seattle! Thank you SALA at UW! We’ll come see you again soon, but first you have to visit us!

Trip to Seattle (part 4)

Earlier this year we went down to Seattle to visit the student ALA group there. We had a great time! Here are photos of some of the things we saw.

Here’s part one, part two, and part three.

So in between hanging out with library students, and checking out lots of libraries, we also had time to do some other stuff while we were down in Seattle!

We rode buses!

We checkde out the Seattle Public Market (comics and books and pastries!)

And fish I guess. I tried to ignore those.

And this thing! The gum wall! How on earth does this thing have a Wikipedia article?

Vancouver is clearly missing out by not having a tourist attraction this gross.

Plus: Mysterious robots!

And cephalopods! They led us to a store that sold sexy librarian embroidery patterns.

Even when we’re not being library nerds, we’re being library nerds.