During meetings last month, your Executive Council was hard at work. We finalized the 2013 budget and have a balanced budget. We deliberated on various membership fee structures that would both financially sustain the association and meet the needs of institutional members. Over the next couple of weeks, we will be providing members with a proposed revised fee structure along with the opportunity to provide feedback and suggestions. We need your input to get this right so please let us know what you think. I would like to thank those institutional members who continue to support CLA through this transitional period. It is greatly appreciated.

CLA Executive Council invited Dr Daniel Caron, Deputy Head and Librarian and Archivist of Canada, to meet with us and provide responses to specific questions pertinent to CLA members. Unfortunately Dr Caron was unable to attend our meeting; Fabio Onesi and Pierre Gamache attended on his behalf. While we had a good conversation, specific responses to our questions were lacking. We have sent a letter to Dr Caron requesting responses to our questions and we agreed to continue meeting with LAC on a quarterly basis to improve dialogue.

Executive Council reviewed the "National Statistical and Values Profile of Canadian Libraries" report witten by Dr Alvin Schrader and Michael Brundin, and agreed to form a task force to develop strategies for implementing the report recommendations and to develop advocacy tools based on the report's rich data and information. This is a wonderful opportunity for member engagement. Look for the call for volunteers for the Task Force in this Digest.

Stay tuned for more details on the activities of Executive Council in the next edition of Feliciter.

Pilar Martinez
CLA President

CLA Executive Council is seeking volunteers to contribute to the CLA Library Statistics and Values Task Force. Working from the “National Statistical and Values Profile of Canadian Libraries” prepared by Dr. Alvin Schrader and Michael Brundin, this Task Force will develop strategies to implement the report's recommended actions and develop advocacy tools using the value statements and statistics.

Terms of Reference Document (pdf)

We are seeking library staff from various library sectors and geographic regions to participate on this Task Force for a six-month term (with possibility of extension). Interested individuals should be experienced in assessment, research, and marketing and have excellent written communication skills. If you are interested, please complete the call for volunteers form; your statement of interest should describe your experience, why you are interested, and how you would contribute to this exciting CLA initiative.

Expressions of interest should be sent no later than 2 April to kmoore@cla.ca

CLA continues to monitor the legal action taken against Dale Askey by the Edwin Mellen Press. While the lawsuit in which both McMaster and Askey are named has been dropped, the second lawsuit in which Askey is named as an individual remains.

CLA strongly reiterates our support of Dale Askey and of intellectual freedom. We urge Edwin Mellen Press to drop this second lawsuit against Dale Askey.

As the WSIS+10 review meeting at UNESCO in Paris draws to a close IFLA is pleased to launch a new set of resources relating to the role libraries play in the information society and the way they can contribute to Internet governance. The new webpages look at the different forums of the information society, such as the World Summit of the Information Society (WSIS) and the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), and highlight why the involvement of libraries is important. In addition to these resources, a 2013 revised version of the IFLA Position on Internet Governance stresses our view of the multistakeholder approach to Internet governance issues, and the pages also provide information on how you can get involved with the issues at national and international levels.

You can access the new pages here:
http://www.ifla.org/information-society

You can access the revised Statement on Internet Governance here: http://www.ifla.org/node/7515

It is our intention to build these resources over time. We would welcome feedback about the pages.

Please feel free to inform your network about our new pages and do not hesitate to contact us with questions or suggestions.

Read the web version of this message >>

On the 4^th and 5^th March 2013 IFLA, in association with the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) hosted a high-level meeting in Mexico City to help prepare the IFLA Trend Report. Ten experts from eight countries were invited to discuss the trends that will affect society over the next ten years, with a particular emphasis on the effects they will have on the information environment in which libraries operate.

The experts submitted papers prior to the meeting that helped formulate the agenda. The submitted papers, along with a literature review and document repository, form the first part of the IFLA Trend Report which will be launched at the WLIC in Singapore in August 2013. Topics discussed included copyright and the market; public goods and online culture; empowerment, security and political culture; and identity and location. The purpose of the Trend Report is to encourage discussion across the international library community about how libraries can adapt their services to cater for a changing world.

  6. IFLA Launches webpages on Libraries and Development  

IFLA is pleased to launch a new set of resources relating to the role libraries play in supporting development. Access to information is one of the core needs of society and libraries are stepping up and fulfilling this need through capacity building, partnerships, training, and access opportunities for everyone.

The new webpages look at how libraries are furthering development worldwide as well as highlighting the role of public libraries as agents for development. They share links to information resources on development projects and research, highlight what IFLA is doing to further development through libraries and how you can get involved in the process.

You can access the new pages here >>

It is our intention to build these resources over time and to focus on innovative library projects that contribute to development. We would welcome feedback about how we can increase the numbers of case studies highlighted, or provide links to information resources that can raise awareness of the way libraries can contribute to development activities.

Please feel free to inform your network about our new pages and do not hesitate to contact us with questions or suggestions.

7. The 2013 Life Literacy Awards

The Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life Literacy Innovation Award recognizes a community organization that has developed, implemented and delivered an innovative literacy program that has made a tremendous impact in its community, in hopes it can be translated for other community organizations to adapt. The top award provides $20,000, and up to four other submissions may be selected to receive $5,000 each. Submissions are accepted online until May 31, 2013.

For more information >>

April is National Poetry Month in Canada! Join the League of Canadian Poets in celebrating the 15th annual National Poetry Month.

Find information, resources, and more at www.poets.ca or www.youngpoets.ca

Follow our National Poetry Month blog at https://lcpnationalpoetrymonth2013.wordpress.com/

9. CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: IBBY Canada’s Joanne Fitzgerald Illustrator in Residence Program

IBBY Canada invites applications from Canadian children’s book illustrators for the inaugural Joanne Fitzgerald Illustrator in Residence Program. The program provides published illustrators the opportunity to participate in a unique residency hosted by a public library, administered by IBBY Canada, and funded by Joanne’s family, with additional support from publisher Groundwood Books.

The one-month residency will encourage and arrange exchanges between the illustrator and the community through workshops, public readings and presentations, evaluation of submitted portfolios, one-on-one and/or group meetings with artists, presentations to art students, participation in online forums, and connections with the general public, children, parents, and teachers. The estimated time for these and other activities will be up to 14 hours per week, primarily at the library. The remaining time each week is available for the illustrator to work on his or her own projects.

For More Information >>

The Canadian Library Association (CLA) is pleased to announce the approval, by its Executive Committee, of a project generated from Voices for School Libraries Network through the CLA School Library Advisory Committee, to develop a new standards document for school libraries in Canada. This endeavour was a focal point of discussions by school library leaders and practitioners across Canada, at “Treasure Mountain II”, a research retreat aligned with the CLA 2012 Conference in Ottawa.
 
The approved project proposal is not a re-write of Achieving Information Literacy, 2003, reprinted 2006, but a new document reflecting the present school library landscape and reaching into the next decade. CLA will publish the new document as an e-book, in English and French.

Read More>>

Program and Registration now available!

The Canadian library community will gather in Winnipeg from
29 May-1 June 2013 at the Winnipeg Convention Centre.

CLA 2013 will be an action-packed event with opportunities for:

Wisdom
Invigoration
Networking
Noshing
Interaction
Participation
Education
Growth

Don't miss the "Advocacy Boot Camp", the Living Library, the NEW Learning Lounge sessions and the Social Media Bar in the Trade Show.

Some of your favourite sessions are back including the Great Debate, CLA Battle Decks, and the CLA Book Award Notables.

Register now!

CLA is excited to announce that our Closing Keynote Speaker will be Rebecca McKinnon.

Rebecca MacKinnon is a leading voice on issues of privacy, free expression and governance (or lack of) in the digital networks, platforms and services on which we are all increasingly dependent. She is a Bernard L. Schwartz Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation, where she conducts research, writing and advocacy on global Internet policy, free expression, and the impact of digital technologies on human rights. She is author of Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet Freedom (Basic Books, January 2012). MacKinnon is also cofounder of Global Voices, an international citizen media network.

Read Rebecca's Full Bio >>

    The 2013 CLA Advancement of Intellectual Freedom in Canada Award was presented to The Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto on 28 February during the event CENSORED, presented by the Book and Periodical Council & Raconteurs. The award was presented by Pilar Martinez, CLA President and accepted by Masashi Crete-Nishihata, the Research Manager of the Citizen Lab.

To read the press release go to >>    

Reminder of 31 March deadline for the CLA Student Article Award
The contest is open to all students registered in, or recently graduated from, a Canadian library school, a library technician program, an information science program (including distance education programs), or faculty of education library program.

Registered students may be full or part time; graduates should have completed their studies within one year of the competition's closing date of March 31, annually. Articles submitted must be written while the student is enrolled in a program of study, or within one year of graduation.

Each contestant must submit a faculty member's statement attesting to the fact that the article fulfills the above requirements.

Multiple-author papers are eligible, but in the event such a paper is selected, only one prize will be awarded.

Submissions may be in English or French.