Several members of the MLA Board and Committees participated in the 2022 OLA Superconference through their workplaces this year. Megumi Ishibashi, a member of our Communications Committee, attended on behalf of Manitoba Library Association through the conference pass provided generously through The Partnership.
OLA Superconference is known for its breadth for timely and relevant conference session offerings, covering a wide variety of topics within the library and information professions. Specific highlights from this year’s conference included featured speakers Priya Parker, Cherie Dimaline, Albert Dumont, Lawrence Hill, Naheed Dosani, and many others. Manitoba library and information professionals were proudly represented by:
- Breanne Selman, Joe Curnow, and Marika Prokosh in the session Fighting Securitization of Libraries
- Philip Wolfart in the session Information Referral for Libraries and Librarians
- Justin Fuhr and Emma Popowich in the session Working Well Together: The Value of Building Community Through Relationships and Connection
- Me-Linh Le, Janice Winkler, Christine J. Neilson in the session Gathering Research: Why All Librarians Should Care About Systematic Reviews
- Bruce Fiske in the session Social Worker in the session Public Libraries: Meeting the Needs of the Entire Community
Manitoba Library Association, as a member-based, volunteer-run organization continues to value conferences such as this to help inform our collective practice as library professionals. Conference sessions on intellectual freedom as Sam Popwich’s Gathering Information: The Carrier Bag and Intellectual Freedom and James Turk, Mark Williams, Rabia Khokhar and Erin Patterson’s Intellectual Freedom Spotlight: Dealing with Challenges – Perspectives from School, Academic and Public Libraries are part of the national conversation on IF that in turn informs MLA’s part in the ongoing discourse. Sessions on pandemic response, leadership, technology and accessibility, and equity, diversity, and inclusion also help to inform our individual, and in turn collective understanding of what librarianship looks like in 2022.
MLA would also highlight that while we continue to miss the in-person company of our colleagues, the online conference format made this year’s event accessible to many Manitoban professionals who otherwise would not have had the opportunity to attend an multi-day event in Toronto. MLA has found much in way of opportunity to make professional content accessible through virtual means over the last two years, and while a return to in-person opportunities is welcome, we anticipate there will be accessibility benefits in having such rich content available online.
We give congratulations to our OLA colleagues on a successful conference this year, and our thanks to their team for working hard to make that experience happen!
