Last month (April) Labour and Immigration Manitoba released a guide for new immigrant women out of the Status of Women Office. The guide, entitled Manitoba My New Home. Living in Manitoba. A Resource Guide for Immigrant Women, is the first of its kind in Canada.

Unfortunately this document - promoted as a key resource to support the full range of new immigrant women's needs - left libraries virtually unmentioned. No library or library system is listed in the Guide's directory, and libraries receive 3 scant mentions in the 109 page document.

The MLA feels this was a significant oversight. Our community - libraries from a range of sectors - know the value we have to offer new immigrants. We are aware of the services we deliver to them and the difference we make to their social and economic status.

Following a review of the Guide, I sent a query via the MLA and other listservs asking for your stories about interacting with new immigrant women and their families. Thank you for your feedback. Messages were received from many sources including small, rural libraries, academic libraries and special libraries and reinforced that we are serving this group in creative and effective ways.

Your input informed the letter to Minister Nancy Allan included below. I am happy to report that talks with the Status of Women office have begun and the MLA hopes to shortly have news to report as to how the omission in the Guide can be rectified or mitigated.

Stay tuned! And many thanks,
 
Monique Woroniak
Director of Advocacy

Click here to read MLA letter to Minister Allan

Visit here to read the Guide: http://www.gov.mb.ca/msw/publications/index.html
 

This past May the MLA communicated to Labour and Immigration Minister Nancy Allan our frustration and disapproval regarding the omission of libraries in the Province’s guide for new immigrant women.  For background and MLA’s letter to the Minister, see:

MLA action in response to oversight re: new immigrant women

I am happy to report that MLA action has resulted in some improvement to the information about libraries being disseminated to new immigrant women in Manitoba.  After consultations with the Status of Women Office, MLA produced and had posted to the Office’s website an appendix to the Guide.  A hardcopy of this document was also included in the Office’s continuing distribution of the Guide to immigrant stakeholder groups.

See:  http://www.gov.mb.ca/msw/publications/index.html

In addition, the MLA submitted numerous edits/additions to the Guide, effectively embedding mentions of libraries and their value throughout the document.  The Office is currently undertaking the French translation of the Guide (which is to include some amendments) and we are hopeful a number of our suggestions will be included.  We have strongly suggested that the changes we submitted be used to inform future English-language editions of the Guide.

Many thanks to those of you who responded to our request regarding the services you currently offer immigrant women and their communities.  We hope that this result demonstrates the value of your feedback, as well as that of your communication with MLA.

Monique Woroniak
MLA Advocacy Director

It's Operating Budget planning time at the City of Winnipeg and recently staff members at Winnipeg Public Library "went public" with the message that the city's library system should not - and cannot - withstand another round of budget cuts.

Winnipeg Public Library workers are members of CUPE Local 500. The Local recently produced a pamphlet titled "Public Libraries Serve Winnipeg" which is being distributed to library branches and other locations in the city, and which staff members handed out in front of the Millennium Library earlier this year.
 
The 2010 Operating Budget is expected to be approved by the end of March. The 2009 Operating Budget, found here:

http://www.winnipeg.ca/FinEXT/FPR/files/2009_adopted_operating_budget.pdf

has projected staff cuts for this fiscal year and moving forward (see pages 108 and 109 of the PDF).

For more information about the Local's campaign to support public library service in Winnipeg visit:
http://cupe500.mb.ca/campaigns/publiclibraries.htm

and be sure to contact your City councillor to let your voice be heard on behalf of libraries.