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President’s Report

President’s Report [PDF]

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45th Annual General Meeting / 45e Assemblée Générale Annuelle

Saturday May 05, 2018 / le samedi le 05 mai 2018
Travelodge Hotel
11 Bay Bridge Road
Belleville, ON K8P 3P6

President’s Report / Rapport du Président

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 Carolin Toppan, Lori O’Connor, Kelly Sobie, Jessica Reeve, Katherine Butler, Mary Chisholm and Shelby McEachern, the Appointed Officers including Jillann Rothwell and Katie Schedlich and the Appointed Executive Officers of the 4 Chapters.

On Sunday May 13th, 2017 the 44th 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 Conference Coordinator, which remained vacant.

The Board of Directors (“the Board”) met for the first time on June 12th, 2017, via an online meeting software (GoToMeeting). At this meeting Jillann Rothwell was appointed Membership Coordinator, Katie Schedlich was appointed Archivist, and the Board unanimously accepted the appointment of Mary Chisholm as the 2018 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 September, Katherine Butler stepped down as the Internal Communications Coordinator, and at the September 13th Board meeting her resignation was accepted. At our October 19th Board meeting the Board unanimously accepted the appointment of Jessica Reeve as the Internal Communications Coordinator for the rest of the year.

One of the large focuses of the Board during the summer was the implementation of Google Not for Profit as our email service and 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. Following this, the Board voted to transition the listserv from Yahoo! Groups over to a new Google Groups listserv, which launched in November 2017.

As part of this implementation, the Board also implemented our Privacy Policy, which was approved in August, and available on our website.

Lori O’Connor continues to work diligently to sort and digitize material with the assistance of Katie Schedlich, our Archivist who is managing these files.

The 2017 Presidential Award winner was also announced in November. The Board of the Association congratulated Sharon Wigney. This award recognizes the contributions of Library Technicians from communities across Ontario, whose leadership, commitment and persistent endeavours have contributed significantly to advancing the Association and our profession.

This year we held Student Meet and Greets at 3 of the 4 college programs. These include Algonquin, Durham College and Mohawk College. Due to scheduling issues, we were unable to organize an event at Seneca College.

Algonquin College – The Executive of the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa hosted our annual Meet and Greet event on October 3rd. This event was well attended, with 29 people in attendance, 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 Google Hangout events, taking place on November 15th and November 16th (from 7:30 to 9 pm). 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 attended the Student Placement/Employer Celebration at the Oshawa Campus on December 14th. 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 (Ontario Library Association), SLA (Special Libraries Association) and OALT/ABO spoke.

In November, the Board co-sponsored the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa’s event Live Well, Work Well, which took place on a snowy Saturday, November 18, 2017. This session was well attended by members, past members and non-members from the Eastern Ontario region.

The Association had another successful year at the 2018 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 February 1st, 2018 at Canyon Creek in Toronto. This event brought out a number of Seneca College students, who learned more about the Association, and members from the Toronto area. We had approximately 25 people in attendance.

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.

For forty-four 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/