The Scholarships and Awards Committee is very pleased to announce that the recipient of the 2010 Manitoba Library Service Award in the professional category is Kathleen Williams, Administrative Coordinator of Community Outreach and Marketing at Winnipeg Public Library. The service award honours an individual who has made an important contribution to the development of libraries and library services in our province. Kathleen received her award at the Manitoba Libraries Conference held at the Delta Winnipeg in May.

The list of Kathleen’s accomplishments is lengthy, however, some recent highlights include the development of initiatives targeted toward newcomers, Aboriginal communities, and adult literacy learners; the creation of a series of Canadian Language Benchmark orientation materials on WPL for the EAL classroom; the establishment of the Check It Out! Reading Zone mobile library service, which currently serves two core area sites in Winnipeg on a bi-weekly basis; and in April 2010, Kathleen established the first provincially-funded Adult Literacy Program in Manitoba to be hosted and administered by a public library.

Congratulations to Kathleen on her achievements, and best wishes for continued success!

Didn't make it to the conference this year? Looking to get information on some of the sessions that you didn't get to attend? Presentations are now available via the conference website.

Please note that this is not a complete list of presentations, and that only presentations for which the author(s) have given permission to post, or which have been posted in a publicly-accessible space, are included.

From CLA:

This afternoon, MP Merv Tweed (Brandon-Souris) re-introduced his private member’s bill C-509 on the Library Book Rate in the House of Commons for second reading and debate. MPs of all parties spoke in favour of the bill. You can watch the action at: http://parlvu.parl.gc.ca/Parlvu/ContentEntityDetailView.aspx?ContentEntityId=6209. Just click on “View this clip” and choose the stream. You will need to fast-forward as the discussion starts at 3:12:00 on the video.

From the May 17 press release:

The provincial government has committed annual funding of $5.8 million to 58 municipal and regional public libraries, Culture, Heritage and Tourism Minister Flor Marcelino announced today.

“This funding is an investment in Manitobans,” said Marcelino. “Public libraries are valuable gateways to literature and information, benefitting Manitobans no matter where they live, work or read.”

The announcement of ongoing funding was made today, on the first day of the annual Manitoba Libraries Conference being held in Winnipeg until Wednesday.

The $5.8 million will be used for:

• Establishing new libraries or expanding regional agreements to provide greater access.
• Supporting existing systems through operating grants. (The province annually matches municipal contributions up to $8.50 per capita.)
• Collection development grants to support local acquisition of library materials.
• Funding for library technologies.

Read the full press release.

Interested in becoming an MLA Board Member?

We are looking for directors who are interested in chairing the following committees, as well as two directors-at-large and vice-president:

* Advocacy Director
* Communications Director / Website
* Conference Director
* Director-at-large
* Director-at-large
* Vice-president (officer)

The available Terms of Reference for the MLA Standing Committees as well as Board Position Descriptions (draft versions) are available for viewing at http://mla.mb.ca/mla-committees-positions.

The deadline for receiving nominations is April 15. Nominations may be
submitted to Carolyn Minor, cminor@winnipeg.ca, 986-4206
or to manitobalibrary@gmail.com.

Go to http://mla.mb.ca/news/mla-call-for-nominations for more info on nominations and MLA board activities.

April 16 is the last day to register for the Manitoba Libraries Conference at the early bird rate - that's just one week away!
http://www.manitobalibrariesconference.ca/registration

Programming information has been updated as of April 1, with a number of sessions now added to Wednesday.
http://www.manitobalibrariesconference.ca/program 

The cutoff date for booking a room at the Delta at the special group rate is April 14, and a very limited number are left.
http://www.manitobalibrariesconference.ca/hotel-and-travel-information

If you have questions or comments, don't hesitate to get in touch with the Conference Committee.
http://www.manitobalibrariesconference.ca/contact