The Future of Canadian Libraries…

…is the new librarians of today.

…is reserved for bloggers (and others who embrace change).

…stretches as far as the eye can see and has all the potential in the world!

Opening Remarks on the Summit

It has been a week since I left for the National Summit on Library Human Resources and I just wanted to go over my introductory thoughts before I give a more detailed blow-by-blow account of the two day’s events. I will say that it was at times welcoming and intimidating, inspiring and immensely frustrating, and energizing and utterly exhausting.

One of the best points I could say about the meeting was that it typified an essential trait of Canadians and their institutions. Despite the diversity in our experience and points of view we all can come together with the recognition that the issues facing libraries are real. We were all willing to do what it takes to act in the face of looming challenges. At the same time, as Maureen Sullivan noted, we also had an exciting opportunity to collaborate, to examine what works and doesn’t work in other contexts, and plan our future actions in this area.

I had the feeling that we were all impressed and inspired by the words of one of the first day’s speakers Daniel Caron of LAC-BAC. He argued that it was our job to define ourselves and what we want our profession to be based not on what has come before, but to really examine what our constituents and stakeholders demand of us. Our practice should no longer be governed by ideas and practices that are quickly becoming obsolete.

I hope to go into some of the details of the 8Rs study in my next post, but again and again one of the key issues identified as facing libraries in terms of human resources was the perceived approaching deficiencies between the need for library staff at all levels and the number of individuals working in libraries in the next 10 to 20 years. As someone who has been looking for a professional position for six months I had the standard incredulity about the job prospects for our profession, but many times over the weekend I met librarians and administrators who noted they could not even get people to apply for their postings, let alone find qualified candidates for the positions. The need for more definite data in the area was raised on numerous occasions.

The question of our future needs is by no means settled, but what we all agreed upon is that there are many of us who want to become library technicians or librarians, and our leadership should be directed towards the lowering of barriers to those ambitions: barriers of geography, of finance, of diversity, and of education. This also includes barriers of knowledge about the profession, demolished by successful marketing. Part of our efforts must be directed towards introducing to students a field which is noble, dedicated to public service, and full of intellectual curiosity on par with other distinguished professions. For those currently working in libraries as well, whether they are looking to formalize their knowledge or kept abreast of the latest trends we have to encourage individuals and employers of the importance of continuing professional development. Life long learning not only keeps people intellectually satisfied but the time and salary spent on education will bring great returns for those institutions willing to make the investment.

Many times participants urged us to remember that these issues are facing qualified library technicians as much as they face qualified librarians. In our discussion of education in particular the group continued to remind ourselves that we were not just discussing “library schools” but “library education” in general.

Lastly, beyond what our associations and institutions choose to do, we all have a role in this process and should be inspired to contribute our time. What came up time and again was the emphasis on leadership. Often librarians are reluctant to step into positions of leadership, and students and new graduates are often unaware of the importance of management skills. Institutions are therefore forced to go outside to other professional communities to fill their needs. Yet, all of us from the first to the last show need to adopt an ethos of leadership, inspiring others towards passion and professional achievement and exhibiting these traits in ourselves.

Overall I met a number of wonderful people and spent an interesting two days following the discussion and making my own contribution where possible. I felt the whole time that all of the senior participants were respectful of the experience and knowledge I brought to the discussion as a recent student and were willing to take my thoughts into consideration. The level of energy and concern was inspiring and I hope I can live up to the challenge of leadership in the library field myself as I gain more experience and knowledge.

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Personal Introductions

Hello to everyone reading, both involved with the summit and outside the summit.

I just wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself and my perspective on the future of Canadian library human resources. My name is Steven Chabot, and I am a recent graduate of the Masters of Information Studies (MISt) program at the University of Toronto. The field I am aiming to work in is academic libraries, specifically in reference, instruction, and liaison work.

I have just left my student position at Robarts Library at the University of Toronto, and I have not yet secured a librarian position, which is giving me a bit of grief. I seem to be somewhat successful in my interviews so it is just a matter of time.

Right now, I am looking forward to hearing everyone speak and meeting a lot of new people over the next few days. As a new graduate and someone deeply involved with the recruitment process and job requirements, I hope I can give some kind of insight from the other side of the interview table.

That is all for now. I have made some notes about the 8Rs report and its survey of the Canadian library scene, but that can wait until I have time over coffee to write tomorrow.

Please feel free to introduce yourself if you manage to read this over the time at the conference. I can also be found at http://subjectobject.net if you are interested.

Steven

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Your Thoughts on Human Resources Issues Facing Canadian Libraries?

[Edit: Someone wrote to tell me that you may lose your comment if you don't fill in your name, e-mail address and web site as they are apparently set as required fields.  If you would like your comment to be anonymous because you are job seeking or for whatever reason, you can always be "Bill Gates, bill@microsoft.com, www.microsoft.com".  But then again, why would you be job searching then?]

Tomorrow’s the first day of the conference and I’ve spent last night and this afternoon visiting with some colleagues who are new librarians here in Ottawa, asking about what messages they would send to the senior managers and decision-makers who will be at this conference if they could.

I may share some of those thoughts later but right now, I’d appreciate if anyone reading this would take a minute to share any thoughts you may have on any aspect of HR as it relates to libraries – from what you get (and don’t get) in library school to the job libraries are doing (or not doing) in preparing their new employees for their work to the job they’re doing (or not doing) in terms of even having positions available.

Your thoughts?

- Jason H.

On To Ottawa…

Hi.  I’m Jason Hammond, the recently hired Organization Development Specialist for Regina Public Library.  Just wanted to do a quick post to make sure my account is working.  You can find out more about me than you ever care to know on my blog.