President’s Report / Rapport du Président
46th Annual General Meeting / 46e Assemblée Générale Annuelle
Saturday May 04, 2019 / le samedi le 04 mai 2019
Best Western Cairncroft
6400 Lundy’s Ln
Niagara Falls, Ontario L2G 1T6
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, Mary Chisholm, Jessica Reeve, Janna Munkittrick-Colton and Shelby McEachern, the Appointed Officers including Jeka Dupont and Katie Schedlich and the Appointed Executive Officers of the 4 Chapters.
On Saturday May 5th, 2018, the 45th 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 Conference Coordinator, which remained vacant.
The Board of Directors (“the Board”) met for the first time on June 7th, 2018, via an online meeting software (GoToMeeting). At this meeting Katie Schedlich was appointed Archivist, and the Board unanimously accepted the appointment of Janna Munkittrick-Colton as the 2019 OALT/ABO Conference Coordinator.
Over the course of the year the Board met formally 9 times. 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, Shelby McEachern stepped down as the Chapter Coordinator, and at the November 15th Board meeting her resignation was accepted. This position 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.
In 2018, 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: Nicole Lasalle (Algonquin), Breah Dent (Durham), Shannon Haydon (Durham, 2017), and Kristi Backus (Seneca).
This year we held Student Meet and Greets at 3 of the 4 college programs. These include Algonquin, Durham College and Mohawk College. 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 2nd. 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 October 22nd, 2019 (one from 7 to 7:40pm, and the other from 9 to 9:40pm). Both of these events were well attended. Students who attended these sessions had some great questions, and we received positive feedback from attendees.
Durham College – This year, Vincent Elit and Mary Chisholm attended the Student Placement/Employer Celebration at the Oshawa Campus on December 4th. This event is geared towards first year students, who have displays set-up about their first field placements, and talked about their experiences. We were joined by the faculty and students following the event, where OLA and OALT/ABO spoke.
The Association had another successful year at the 2019 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 Elizabeth Obermeyer-Kotash for her work on the OLA Super Conference planning committee.
At this year’s super conference, the Board held our Winter Social event on January 31st, 2019 at the Elephant and Castle in Toronto. This event brought out a number of Seneca College students, who learned more about the Association, and members from the Toronto area.
Launched in 2016, the Board has continued to work diligently with looking at improvements available through our website platform. In conjunction with our Google Not for Profit implementation, we have been able to streamline a number of our processes, one of our main objectives from this year was our membership processing behind the scenes. Thank you for Lori and Jeka for their work on this.
For forty-five 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/