President’s Report / Rapport du Président
47th Annual General Meeting / 47e Assemblée Générale Annuelle
Saturday May 02, 2020 / le samedi le 02 mai 2020
online / en ligne
On behalf of the membership of the Ontario Association of Library Technicians/Association des bibliotechniciens de l’Ontario (OALT/ABO), I would like to first begin by thanking the members of the Board of Directors, including Lori O’Connor, Sarah Goodyear, Heather Casson, Janna Munkittrick-Colton and Jeka Dupont, the Appointed Officers including Tiffany Ribeiro and Mary Chisholm and the Appointed Executive Officers of the 4 Chapters.
On Saturday May 4th, 2019, the 46th Annual General Meeting of OALT/ABO was called to order. Having obtained quorum through a combination of proxyholders and members present, the membership got on with the business of the Association. Most of the Board positions were filled except for the position of President-Elect and Internal Communications Coordinator, which remained vacant.
The Board of Directors (“the Board”) met for the first time on May 23rd, 2019, via the Associations’ online meeting software (Google Meet). Over the course of the year the Board met formally 12 times. The majority of our meeting this year were held online, with an in-person meeting in March 2020. All of the meetings this year were held online. Members of the Association also attended Advisory Committee meetings of the Algonquin and Mohawk Colleges’ Library and Information Technician Programs.
In October, Heather Casson stepped down as the External Communications Coordinator, and we welcomed Sarah Goodyear as the Internal Communications Coordinator, and Tiffany Ribeiro as Association Archivist. The position of External Communications Coordinator remained vacant for the rest of the year.
One of the large focuses of the Board again this year was the continued implementation of Google Not for Profit as our document management platform. This platform now allows the Board to manage all OALT/ABO documents, correspondence and archives in a centralized location, with access control to access these electronic files. All Committees and Chapters are also now using Google as their document management platform.
The Board has also continued our work on membership engagement and communications with our membership and the wider library community. The association created an Instagram account, and have continued to share news and events on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. In the later part of the year, the Board also began to pilot a weekly “Update from the Board of Directors on the OALT/ABO Discussion List. The Board also distributed the results of the 2017 Salary and Library Profile Survey.
At the end of 2019, our social media following included: Facebook (583 fans), Twitter (874 followers), Instagram (69 followers) and LinkedIn (579 followers). A summary of our social media highlights can be found at the end of this report.
In 2019, there were no nominations received for either the Presidential Award or the Award for Innovation this year. The Board recognized the OALT/ABO Outstanding Student Award winners of the four college programs, including: Abby Marteja (Algonquin), Kyle Crossman (Durham), Sharon Hoedlmoser (Mohawk), and Jennifer Conley (Seneca).
This year we held Student Meet and Greets at 2 of the 4 college programs. These include Algonquin College and Mohawk College. Durham College and Seneca College students meet with members from the Board at the OLA Super Conference and Winter Social event.
Algonquin College – The Executive of the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa hosted our annual Meet and Greet event on October 9nd. This event was well attended, including members from the Association. This was a great turnout. Our thanks go out the Executive of the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa for their planning and execution of this event.
Mohawk College – This year we held two Zoom meetings, taking place on November 6 and November 14. Both of these events were well attended. Students who attended these sessions had some great questions, and we received positive feedback from attendees.
The Association had another successful year at the 2020 OLA Super Conference with much interest at the booth in the Expo and fantastic sessions. The Board would like to thank Deborah Kay, Dolores Harms Penner, Helena Merriam and Susan Pratt for their work on the shared booth and to Mary Chisholm as the Library Technician Stream Planner. There were eleven sessions in the Library Technician stream that were of interest to library technicians in a variety of roles, from government, to academic, to school libraries and more. This is the highest number of sessions in the Library Technician stream to date.
At this year’s super conference, the Board held our Winter Social event on January 30, 2020 at the Elephant and Castle in Toronto. This event brought out a number of Durham and Seneca College students, who learned more about the Association, and members from the Toronto area.
Every year we look forward to our annual conference as an important time to connect, share and learn together. This year, however, we are facing a unique global challenge with the introduction of the COVID-19 pandemic, sparking alarming public health concerns.
Therefore, after very careful consideration, the Board of Directors made the decision to cancel our 2020 annual conference. We made this decision factoring in the on-going uncertainty around COVID-19 and its potential impacts on the health and safety of the attendees, speakers, and the local community.
For forty-seven years, the Ontario Association of Library Technicians/Association des bibliotechniciens de l’Ontario has been a source of initiative and innovation for library technicians of the province. The Association and the membership have been called upon to give their skills, time and energy to:
- Define clearly the role of the Library and Information Technician and to make this definition widely known.
- To publicize the value of Library and Information Technicians and promote wider understanding and acceptance of their status.
- To institute recognized standards operating on the Provincial level.
- To work to liaison with related professions and institutions and to promote effective communication among Library and Information Technicians and others in closely related fields.
- To be receptive and aware of the constant changes and needs in the field of Library and Information Technology and the community
- To disseminate information related to Library and Information Technicians
I would like to encourage any member (new or existing) who would like to be part of the Board of Directors, Chapter Executive, or a Committee. It is an extremely rewarding opportunity, which allows you to help out the Library Community at the same time. I have had a great chance to work with an amazing team of committed volunteers, where all our interests, skills and expectations have been matched and met. I encourage you to do the same. I would like to extend my deepest thanks to the members of the Board of Directors, Appointed Officers and the Chapter Executive Teams for their work this year.
Respectfully submitted,
Vincent Elit
President, Board of Directors | Président, Conseil d’administration
Ontario Association of Library Technicians/Association des bibliotechniciens de l’Ontario
info@oaltabo.on.ca | https://oaltabo.on.ca/