Would you like to know more about the many opportunities and resources available for keeping current and informed? The Manitoba Library Association sponsored a session at the PLS 2007 Conference: Igniting Innovation on how you can get more for your professional development buck. Many of the sites and resources highlighted offer access to leading speakers in the profession, and are free of charge.

The session was presented by Carolyn Minor, Sherri Vokey and Kathleen Williams.

The Manitoba Library Association congratulates the Winnipeg Public Library on its successful nomination of this year’s International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. The IMPAC is the largest literary prize for a single work of fiction published in the English language. This year De Niro’s Game by Montreal writer Rawi Hage bested 136 other nominees in a contest that saw nominations from 162 public libraries representing 122 cities in 45 countries. Well done colleagues!

Read the Winnipeg Free Press article.

Background
On November 8th, 2007 the Government of Manitoba passed an adult literacy act becoming the first province in the country to do so. The Adult Literacy Act affirms the contribution that high literacy levels make to the economic and social health of the province and makes provisions for annual funding of literacy programs under a Manitoba Adult Literacy Program (MALP).

The MLA is supportive of the legislation as a whole, but regrets that libraries received one word of mention in the Act and, as such, were not recognized as integral partners in the province’s literacy landscape. In the related discussion paper produced by the Province libraries receive no mention.

The MLA presented its views at a public consultation session in Winnipeg held on June 16th, 2008. The Association argued that libraries’ resources and services constitute significant value-added factors for literacy groups, in addition to supporting related goals of lifelong and intergenerational learning and providing socially inclusive spaces. Three key recommendations were made and can be read in the submission paper found below.

Now is your time to be heard!
The strategy related to the Act – including the specific terms of funding arrangements, related reporting and measurement of the overall success of the MALP – is still in the development process. The Province has hosted or proposed a series of public consultation sessions in Winkler, The Pas, Thompson, Brandon and Winnipeg.

The MLA remains in contact with provincial officials regarding the strategy. We are here to assist libraries and library systems throughout the province communicate their perspectives on this issue – now is the time to make your voices heard!

Please send any input or questions to either:
Carolyn Minor (President): northwest@hotmail.com
or Monique Woroniak (Advocacy and Promotions Director): mworoniak@winnipeg.ca

Related links:
Read the Adult Literacy Act
Read the province’s Discussion Paper

An obituary appeared in the Winnipeg Free Press, Saturday, August 30 for Miss Nettie Siemens. Miss Siemens was a former City Librarian and the obituary notes that she was active in the Manitoba Library Association, at one time as President. She is fondly remembered by many staff at the Winnipeg Public Library.

Here is a link to the obiturary.

http://www.passagesmb.com/obituary_details.cfm?ObitID=139874

Welcome to the new Manitoba Library Association web site. While we are moving to this new website from the old, you will still be able to access information on both sites at the same time. After the change has been completed, information on the old website will be available at the following address: old.mla.mb.ca  .

MLA members will be receiving an email explaining how to log into this website, provided we have your current email address.

Many who work in libraries and education have expressed concern over Bill C-61, which was announced earlier this year and then "died" when Parliament was dissolved. Although intended to update Canadian copyright law particularly by incorporating provisions for digital technologies, critics have pointed out that it the bill would go too far in penalizing Canadians for downloading and copying - in fact,Liberal industry critic Scott Brison warned that it smacked of "police state" tactics. 

Librarians are especially worried that the bill's proposals for digital locks will make interlibrary loan services extraordinarily difficult and penalize patrons with perceptual difficulties.

To learn more about these and other problems with the bill,visit the CLA website to view their analysis of Bill C-61.

While the bill as written is no longer pending in Parliament, should the Conservatives gain another minority or a majority, they are certain to reintroduce the bill. Therefore, the upcoming federal election presents an opportunity to ask questions and raise awarenes with politicians about the important copyright concerns facing libraries and other cultural institutions, so that a more appropriate bill can be submitted in the next session. 

To help library advocates on this issue, theCLA has prepared an elections kit with suggestions for questions to ask and ways to contact local politicians.

For more information, check outCLA's Copyright resources page.

The Manitoba Chapter of the Canadian Association of Special Libraries and Information Services (CASLIS) and the Manitoba Library Association present...

Noon time Lunch and Learn

Join us over the lunch hour and learn how you can make use of 2.0 web technologies, improve your library's website, and offer excellent on-line services to your users. This event will include a delicious lunch and a one hour Education Institute audio conference session, Web 2.0 for Smaller, Underfunded Libraries by Sarah Houghton-Jan.

More information on the audio conference and Sarah Houghton-Jan can be found on the Education Institute website at http://www.thepartnership.ca/partnership/bins/calendar_page.asp.

When: Noon on Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Where: Buchwald Room,  2nd floor of the Millenium Library
Cost: $10 for MLA and CASLIS Manitoba members; $15 for non-members

Contact Kerry Macdonald at macdonaldkerry1@yahoo.com to register. Registration deadline is Thursday, November 27.

The Friends' annual book sale will be held at Grant Park High School on Saturday, October 25. Visit the following page for more information.

http://mla.mb.ca/Events/autumn-leaves-market