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The CLA Conference in St. John's Newfoundland.

Posted by Richard Beaudry on June 6, 2007 at 5:04pm
So much for promises to write during the conference. I discovered that being the new president of the Canadian Association for School Libraries meant that I had a lot of meetings and social gatherings to attend. This is rather late but here are some highlights. School Libraries in Canada Western Canada is holding its own with strong provincial associations in BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan. Manitoba's provincal association is lacking members but the government still supports the idea of school libraries and there are some dedicated teacher librarians that are still making an impact in the province and across Canada. Ontario is in the best position. After several years of cutbacks in budgets, the provincial government is reinvesting in school libraries. They have the stongest provincial association in Canada and have been instrumental in the first Canadian study on school libraries and achievement: School Libraries and Student Achievement in Ontario. http://www.accessola.com/data/6/rec_docs/137_eqao_pfe_study_2006.pdf The Ontario School Library Association hosts, with other divisions, the Superconference each year which is well attended. Quebec is holding its own but when we head into the Maritime provinces, teacher librarianship is in crisis. Due to a lack of membership, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia have ceased to have provincial associations. The few teacher librarians left in Nova Scotia work at district offices or for the Ministry of Education. One member is a councillor with our national Association. Prince Edward Island, Canada's smallest province, has a provincial association that is still going strong with support from the government. Newfoundland and Labrador finds itself in the same boat as Nova Scotia and New Brunswick without a provincial association. In 2003, Dr. Ken Haycock, director of the School of Library, Archives and Information studies at UBC wrote: The Crisis in Canada's School Libraries: the Case for Reform and Re-Investment. http://www.cla.ca/slip/final_haycock_report.pdf Four years on and school libraries are still in a crisis in Canadian provinces. Copyright As with most jurisdictions in North America, we are struggling with this issue. Copyright laws in Canada are being changed and we are still trying to figure out the impact in Canadian Schools. Another issue that is being hotly debated is Open Access. Technology My research interests have been on information technology in school libraries. I was hoping that there would be more sessions on Web 2.0, Library 2.0 or any other technology associated with the new information structure of the web but there was very little offered.
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