conferences

 ABQLA is pleased to invite members of the library and information professional communities to propose conference submissions for their 80th annual conference to be held in McGill University’s New Residence Hall. The theme for this year’s conference will be Opening Up: Innovation and Access. This year’s theme focuses on emerging trends in open access and emphasizes the role of librarians and information specialists as educators and innovators developing strategies, approaches, and attitudes appropriate to a new twenty-first century context.

The following three sponsorship options are available for the 2012 ABQLA Conference:

GOLD OPTION ($600.00)  

In line with ABQLA's goal... to Strengthen Ties With National, Provincial and Local Library Associations and Other Related Organizations the ABQLA is offering a free registration for attending le Congrès des milieux documentaires du Quebec (November 30 - December 2) to one of its members. The registration is valued at $450.

To qualify... Write a brief (100-150 word) paragraph explaining how you will use your attendance at the Congrès to help strengthen ties with other Quebec associations.

The annual conference of the ABQLA would not be possible without the support of our sponsors. Please take a moment to see who is providing us their support this year and consider patronizing their business.

Ristech Company Inc.
Contact Person: Julie Galardo (jgalardo@ristech.ca)
8-5115 Harvester Road
Burlington, Ontario L7L 0A3
Phone: 905-631-7451 | Fax: 905-634-4813

To Our Canadian Colleagues: A warm Welcome! Soyez la Bienvenue! Please circulate the following invitation widely.

This fall brings a unique event to the library world in New England. The New England Library Association and Vermont Library Association are partnering to present their first-ever joint conference, October 2 – 4 at the Sheraton Burlington Hotel in Burlington, Vermont. It includes more than 50 individual program sessions, several author appearances, networking opportunities and social events in the premier professional event for library staff in New England.

We would like to thank everyone who attended the ABQLA Annual Conference 2011 and filled in the online evaluation form. Your feedback is essential in helping us plan future conferences, and we thank you for taking the time to complete the evaluation. Among all the evaluation forms we received with contact information, we picked an entry at random to give out a prize of a $25 gift card from Nicholas Hoare Bookstore. The lucky winner is Kathy Conroy, Manager of Children Services at the Eleanor London Côte Saint-Luc Public Library.

Linda Hazzan, Director, Communications, Programming & Customer Engagement for the Toronto Public Library, gave a lively and interesting presentation describing the TPL’s experience with the one-day Human Library pilot project in 2010.

A well thought out PowerPoint presentation took us through the early planning stages, media relations throughout the process, and concrete descriptions of how the one-day event ran in the five branches across the city. Many anecdotes peppered the presentation, giving us a real sense of the kind of stories that emerge, and how valuable an experience it was for the library patrons who spent time learning about diverse members of the community through the one-on-one interviews.

Anne Lagacé Dowson is an award-winning radio journalist.  She holds a master’s degree in Canadian studies and champions culture, especially literacy and books, in both English and French.  

Anne began her presentation by giving a little history on how she became an avid reader and an aficionado of libraries.  As a child, she recalls that her parents would send her and her siblings off to the library on weekends. She now realizes how fortunate she was because this allowed her to discover the power of reading.  The library quickly became for her a refuge, a wonderful place to learn how to grow up.

The conference sessions ended with our afternoon keynote, Amanda Etches-Johnson who spoke to all the conference attendees about User Experience and the Mobile Web. Amanda’s focus on both the design and user experience aspects of mobility shone light on some new issues facing libraries in a world of ever-increasing mobile devices. She had very clear advice, and examples to back it up, on how to create mobile sites that both help and delight your patrons.