President’s Report / Rapport du Président
49th Annual General Meeting / 49e Assemblée Générale Annuelle
Saturday May 14 2022 / le samedi le 14 mai 2022
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 2021 Board of Directors, including Lori O’Connor, Kate Terech, Sarah Goodyear, Janna Munkittrick-Colton and Jeka Dupont, the Appointed Officers including Tiffany Ribeiro, Jessica Hymers, Tamara Monster and Mary Doyle and the Appointed Executive Officers of the 4 Chapters.
On Saturday May 04, 2021, the 48th Annual General Meeting of OALT/ABO was called to order via Zoom Meetings. Having obtained quorum through a combination of proxyholders and members present the membership proceeded with the business of the Association. Most of the Board positions were filled except for the position of President-Elect which remained vacant.
During the meeting, the Presidential Awards Committee announced the 2021 recipient as Barbara Cope who is a member of Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa.
The Board of Directors (“the Board”) met for the first time on June 03, 2021, via the Associations’ online meeting software (Zoom Meetings). Over the course of the year the Board met formally 10 times. All of our Board meetings this year took place online. Members of the Association also attended Advisory Committee meetings of the Algonquin and Mohawk Colleges’ Library and Information Technician Programs.
Communications & Programming
In March 2022, we released the Winter 2022 Issue of NewsLETTER/NouvELLES. This special issue introduced our Board of Directors team, a Conference Recap from 2021, our Lunch and Learn Series, an update from the Archives, and a look at our Membership Anniversaries and introduced new members.
In 2021, we announced our Professional Development Lunch & Learn Series. Sessions hosted included:
Chapter Discussion (with Jeka Dupont and Linda Landreville)
Revamping your Early Reader Collection (with Lindsay Shaw)
2021 Shop Talk Sessions with each Chapter
Oshawa’s Black History – One Family’s Story (with Jennifer Weymark)
Support your Mental Health and Return to Work (Canadian Mental Health Association)
Following these sessions, we complied the results of our short survey, to provide feedback to the Professional Development Committee for future sessions.
Again, this year the Board continued with 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 retrieve these electronic files. All Committees and Chapters also are now using Google as their document management platform.
The Board continues our work on membership engagement and communications with our membership and the wider library community. The association further shares news and events on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. We also maintain the OALT/ABO Discussion list, which contains 226 members (as of May 1, 2022).
At the end of 2021, our social media following included:
- Facebook 643 fans
- Twitter 906 followers
- Instagram 136 followers
- LinkedIn 662 followers
A summary of our social media highlights can be found at the end of this report [PDF version].
Student Engagement
The Board recognized the OALT/ABO Outstanding Student Award winners of the three college programs, including: Yuli Sato, Deborah Boulton (Mohawk), and Victoria Dattoli (Seneca).
This year we held virtual Student Meet and Greets at all 3-college programs. These included Algonquin College Mohawk College and Seneca College
Algonquin College – The Executive of the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa and Board of Directors hosted a virtual Meet and Greet via Zoom on October 13th. Students who attended this session had some great questions, and we received positive feedback from attendees.
Mohawk College – This year we held two Zoom meetings, taking place on November 9 and November 10. Students who attended these sessions had some great questions, and we received positive feedback from attendees.
Seneca College – This year we held a Zoom Meeting on October 7th. Students who attended this session had some great questions, and we received positive feedback from attendees.
OLA Super Conference
This year, the 2022 OLA Super Conference again was virtual. The Board of Directors took part in the 2022 Virtual Expo, with many visits from conference attendees during the conference. Thank you to Mary Doyle as the Library Technician Stream Planner.
Every year we look forward to our annual conference as an important time to connect, share and learn together. This year, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, our planning and conference went virtual. Thank you to Janna and her conference team for their planning, and execution of our conference. Please communicate with the Conference team with your feedback.
For forty-nine 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) 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 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,
-Original signed by Vincent Elit
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/