The Board of the Manitoba Library Association is looking forward to hosting you at the Association’s 86th Annual General Meeting.
This year’s meeting will be held virtually on Tuesday, March 1, 2022 from 7:00 to 8:00 pm. Further details on registering and accompanying documents are forthcoming and will be posted here on our website and on social media.
This past December, representatives from the MLA Board spoke with representatives from the CFLA Board to address concerns about the lack of consultation regarding the CFLA Intellectual Freedom Statements. After stating concerns, a verbal agreement in principle was made by the meeting attendees that greater consultation should be undertaken. A tentative and high-level plan was discussed whereby CFLA and MLA would jointly consult with MLA members. Meeting attendees agreed to bring this high-level plan back to their respective Boards to obtain commitment on next steps.
Following our organizations’ Board meetings in December and January, CFLA has provided the following response:
“The CFLA board understands that there are divergent opinions on the topic of intellectual freedom in libraries, especially as it relates to the goal of supporting social justice and inclusion. We thank MLA for their commitment to engaging in a consultation process with their members to inform future directions, but feel that at this point CFLA does not have the capacity to develop a consultation process with the robustness and attention it deserves, so this issue is being deferred until after a new Board takes office in February. We are also committed to facilitating a National Forum on this topic, as was planned for the canceled MLA conference in 2020, but this event continues to be deferred due to the pandemic.”
– Todd Kyle, Chair, CFLA
The MLA Board will continue to engage CFLA on this matter, and will keep our membership informed of new developments as they arise.
The Manitoba Government issued a news release announcing a public engagement online survey is now live. Please go to https://engagemb.ca/budget-2022 to find additional information and to complete the survey.
Posted in Advocacy
MLA has sent this letter in support of the Librarians, Archivists, Professors, and Instructors represented by the University of Manitoba Faculty Association (UMFA), dated November 17, 2021.
Posted in Advocacy
MLA wrote this letter to CFLA outlining concerns over CFLA’s lack of consultation with members regarding their support/lack of support for CFLA’s position, dated November 21, 2021.
Kirsten Wurmann and Ashley Huot of the Prison Libraries Committee will be discussing their work with the correctional facilities in Manitoba at the Burlington Literary Festival. Please tune in on November 25, 2021 via Zoom. More information is available here.
On October 22, 2021, the Government of Manitoba announced it will be investing $769,000 to support rural public libraries and library services across the province. Please read the news release here.
Posted in COVID-19
Manitoba Library Association has reached out to Manitoba Government Inquiry, and attended an information session on September 10 concerning Enforcement of Public Health Orders for Non-Profit Organizations.
At this time, public libraries are not specifically addressed in the Orders and may open without restrictions. However, masks are required in all public spaces, including public libraries.
Reporting of COVID-19 cases in the workplace still apply to all businesses.
Provincial Health Orders currently do not require proof of COVID-19 vaccination or proof of exemption for employees or patrons of public libraries. Public library organizations wishing to implement vaccine requirements for patrons or employees may seek to do so through their governance structure.
Posted in Uncategorized
The 2020 Annual Report is now ready for your reading pleasure!
To read previous reports, please go to our AGM page.
Manitoba Library Association Awards were not distributed in 2021.
Each year the Manitoba Library Association provides scholarships to deserving students. The Scholarship funds are managed by The Winnipeg Foundation with two Awards being given out to one or more recipients. This year, the Association had $19,000 available for the John Edwin Bissett Scholarship and $4,000 for the Jean Thorunn Law Scholarship. In addition, the Association’s Library Technician Division supports the annual Red River College graduation award. More information on our Scholarships is available on our website.
The successful applicants for this year are:
John Edwin Bissett Scholarship:
Jean Thorunn Law Scholarship:
Red River College Library & Information Technology Student Award:
We wish all of these students the best of luck as they continue with their studies this fall!
Thank you to this year’s selection Committee, Kerry Macdonald, Danielle Hubbard, and Ebony Novakowski, for their willingness to serve in this capacity. We appreciate all of your hard work!
