Library Land Loves: Recent Episodes
Michelle Arbuckle
Library professionals are passionate about a lot of things. Be it the pop culture they consume or the databases that drive their libraries, Library Land Loves A Lot!
Dr. Michael Stephens joins us to chat about empathy - why it's important and tools to help us develop our empathy muscles. Adjacent to the important topic of empathy is compassion fatigue and how the work that we do requires us to take care of ourselves, to step out our work roles, take time for dreaming and find joy in our lives and our work.
Join us at the upcoming "Empathetic Public Libraries" workshop. More information on the OLA website or email us at education@accessola.com
Referenced in today's episode:
"A Wholehearted Approach to Service...and Burnout or Soft Skills are Heart Skills" by Michael Stephens
"Let's Bring Joy Back: Learning, Exploration, Experience & Story" by Stacie Ledden and Michael Stephens (PLA 2022 Slide deck; Attendee Ideas Document)
Purchase Michael's book "Wholehearted Librarianship: Finding Hope, Inspiration and Balance" at The Library Marketplace.
Follow Michael Stephens @mstephens7 or at www.tametheweb.com
Follow Michelle Arbuckle @citybrarian and OLA @onlibassoc
On July 8, 2022 Canada experienced one of the largest telecomm outages in recent memory when Rogers Communications experienced a massive network failure. Millions of people were unable to access wifi, or process debit transactions, and even getting a cup of coffee proved difficult. Today three library systems are sharing their stories of how they handled the challenges of that day. They'll tell us what it looked like in their branches, how library staff coped, and what lessons we should all be taking away from this.
Thanks to Margie Singleton from Vaughan Public Libraries, Michael Ciccone from London Public Library and Laura Warner from Brantford Public Library for sharing their stories.
Nancy Cooper, First Nation Communities READ coordinator is here to tell us all about the program, this year's 2022/2023 selected titles and how you can learn more and get involved.
Links from the episode:
First Nation Communities READ website
Goodminds.com
First Nations Public Library Week website
FNPLW Poster
Follow @FNCReads
Follow Michelle @citybrarian
This week we're talking about banned books with host and creator of The Stacks podcast, Traci Thomas. Earlier this year Traci hosted a five part series on banned books where she had some really interesting conversations with librarians, authors, students, teachers, performers, politicians, and bookstore owners. The series explored all the nuances around the implications of banning books and she joins Michelle to chat about what she learned over the course of that week.
Here are some links to things that we chatted about in this conversation:
- The Stacks - Day 1 - Banned Books in the Stacks with Katrina Stokes and Thursday Williams
- The Stacks - Day 2 - Banned Books in the Stacks with Alison Bechdel and Kelsey Reynolds
- The Stacks - Day 3 - Banned Books in the Stacks with Ghazala Hashmi and Hannah Oliver Depp
- The Stacks - Day 4 - Banned Books in The Stacks with Timya Wright and Azar Nafisi
- The Stacks - Day 5 - Banned Books in The Stacks with Kiese Laymon
- NPR It's Been a Minute - What People Miss When Talking About Banned Books
- ALA's Top 10 Most Challenged Books List
- Freedom to Read Week
- CFLA-FCAB Intellectual Freedom Challenges Survey
Follow The Stacks @thestackspod_ on Twitter and Instagram
Follow Michelle @citybrarian and OLA @onlibraryassoc
This keynote conversation was recorded at the 2022 OLA Super Conference.
Get obsessed with us. OLA is thrilled to bring the hosts of National Public Radio’s Pop Culture Happy Hour to chat about how pop culture will save us all. From lowbrow to highbrow, what culture are we consuming during our pandemic journey? And more importantly, what culture is making us happy this week?
Join arts journalists Linda Holmes, Glen Weldon and Stephen Thompson in conversation with Michelle Arbuckle about all the culture that’s fit to talk about.
Five days a week, Pop Culture Happy Hour serves you recommendations and commentary on the buzziest movies, TV, music, books, videogames and more. Hosted by Linda Holmes, Glen Weldon, Stephen Thompson, and Aisha Harris - plus a rotating cast of guest pop culture aficionados. The Happy Hour team leaves room at the table for exploring a range of reactions and opinions on every bit of the pop universe.
Listen to NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour
Connect with Michelle on Twitter @citybrarian
Follow OLA @onlibraryassoc
Many libraries now make their own podcasts, but there are also people who make library and book-related podcasts outside of their jobs. Panelists will discuss why they make podcasts, how they engage with their audiences, what makes a successful podcast, balancing work vs podcasting, and where they’d like to see podcasting go in the future.
Thank you to Matthew Murray, Brenna Clarke Gray, Alanna King and Maurice Coleman.
Podcasts:
- Read Into This: https://www.canadianschoollibraries.ca/read-into-this/
- Hazel & Katniss & Harry & Starr: https://hazelkatnissharrystarr.simplecast.com/
- You Got This!: https://yougotthis.trubox.ca/
- T is for Training: https://tisfortraining.wordpress.com/
- Book Club for Masochists: A Readers' Advisory Podcast: https://bookclub4m.libsyn.com/
A full transcript of this episode can be found here.
What does it mean to be neurodivergent or neuro-atypical in library land? Today’s conversation is about what it's like to be an adult with ADHD, and how we can better support workers with this condition.
ADHD is a condition that affects 1.5 million Canadians but is still often confused or dismissed as something that only affects children. Aries Casteel, from the Dartmouth Heritage Museum recently spoke in a presentation about her own personal experiences with ADHD and made suggestions on how workplaces could make spaces and work life more inclusive to those with ADHD.
A little program note here, I was super stressed about the editing of this podcast because it was recorded while I was dog sitting for my mother-in-law and of course the dog chose this exact time to tap dance her way across my office. So you may hear some little clicks and growls throughout, I apologize, life interrupts!
Resources mentioned in this conversation:
Centre for ADHD Awareness Canada
"What We Do and Don't Talk About When It Comes to ADHD" by Sulagna Misra in the Harvard Business Review (Sept 30, 2021)
Does getting your library on TikTok live in your mind rent-free? Already there and wondering how to land on everyone’s #FYP? The creators and faces of four booming #librarytok accounts join us for a panel discussion breaking down how they got started on the app, the time and resources it requires, how they measure success and why sometimes TikTok just hits different. A representative from TikTok also joins the panel to offer some tips and tricks, advice on posting cadence and content creation best practices.
This conversation was recorded at the OLA Marketing Libraries Think Tank on Monday October 25, 2021.
Panelists:
Jessica Bellows, Reference Assistant, Whitby Public Library, tiktok.com/@whitbylibrary
Bailey Randolph, Teen Services Librarian, Grand Prairie Public Library tiktok.com/@gppubliclibrary
Mychal A. Threets, TikToker & Digital Community Librarian, Solano County Library tiktok.com/@solanolibrary, tiktok.com/@mychal3ts
Erin Wilson, Children's and Adult Fiction Assistant, Whitby Public Library, tiktok.com/@whitbylibrary
Laura Nicolucci, Media Partnerships Lead - Entertainment, TikTok
Panel hosted by Melanie Boatswain-Watson, Toronto Public Library
Connect with OLA @onlibraryassoc or Michelle @citybrarian
Dreaming of faraway adventures and landscapes beyond your local park? This week's list has got you covered with the top five travel books from library land's own Ken Haigh. Ken was formerly the CEO of Collingwood Public Library and has authored two books, most recently "On Foot to Canterbury, a son's pilgrimage". Escape with us through his favourite travel books and as we head out on walking, cycling and culinary adventures!
Ken's Top Five Travel Books
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Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes by Robert Louis Stevenson
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The Lands of Lost Borders by Kate Harris
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Behind the Wall: a Journey through China by Colin Thubron
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The Old Way by Robert Macfarlane
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A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor
Have a topic that you want to bring to Library Land Loves? Get in touch with Michelle @citybrarian or OLA @OnLibAssoc
This week Steven Kraus from Ontario Library Service chats about the key ingredients for making a successful virtual event. It's a great conversation with some excellent tips on how to set your organizers up for success and create the right atmosphere for your attendees. So whether you're working on an upcoming virtual conference, story time, trivia night or book talk - this one is for you!
References from this episode:
Google Jamboard
Padlet
Connect with Michelle on Twitter @citybrarian
Follow OLA @onlibraryassoc
Looking for some spooky, scary program ideas for the teens in your library? Teen Librarians, Brooke Windsor and Cameron Ray join us this week to talk about all of the amazing work they're doing with the teens at their libraries and their top five Halloween programs.
Their list includes:
- Fear in the Stacks
- Zombie Survival Night
- Classic Haunted House
- Ghost Story Concert
- Special Effects Makeup
- Witching Crafting Hour
We hope that you'll join us November 1-2 for the OLA Child & Youth Services EXPO. For more information click here.
Follow Brooke @brooke_windsor and Cameron @eurodisco
Get in touch with Michelle if you know where to purchase Guacamole Doritos @citybrarian and follow OLA @OnLibraryAssoc
October is Canadian Library Month and this week we're recognizing Ontario Public Library Week. In an ode to public libraries we're thrilled to speak with "power library user" Lanrick Bennett Jr. Five years ago, Lanrick spearheaded #jackslibrarytour, a project that took him and his son Jack to all 100 branches of the Toronto Public Library system using public transit. This episode is a love letter from a library user to libraries, and a reflection on the place libraries fill in our world right now. Big shout-outs to the Jones Branch of TPL!
References from this episode:
Ontario Public Library Week
First Nations Public Library Week
Canadian Library Month
You can follow Lanrick Bennett Jr. @LanrickBennett
99% Invisible Podcast - Episode "Palaces for the People"
Find out more about the work of 8 80 Cities
For years Andrew Colgoni has been the beauty and brains behind Ad/Lib, a website and social handle dedicated to documenting and analyzing the marketing and branding efforts of libraries around the world. We chat with Andrew about some interesting examples of libraries attempting to branch out in new directions (with varying levels of success), and some fun and surprising ways that libraries are engaging with their communities.
References from today's conversation:
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Seattle Public Library rebrand
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Toronto Public Library rebrand
-
Library of Congress rebrand
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Engaging elevators: Ride #1; and Ride #2
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Saskatoon Public Library rebrand
Anythink - Beer by Design
Join us at the Marketing Libraries Think Tank on October 25, more info here.
Follow Ad/Lib at @adlib_info or adlib.info and Andrew at @colgoni
Follow OLA at @onlibraryassoc and find Michelle at @citybrarian
This week we chat with Bessie Sullivan, CEO of Orillia Public Library and get her top five reasons why libraries should go fine free, and why we should be challenging the power structure in libraries and start examining the principals of our profession. We close our conversation with a brand new (and as yet unnamed) segment where we pebble our guest with a series of rapid-fire questions that help us get to know the person outside of the library.
References from this week's conversation:
Things Are Not Fine: Fines in the Library by Bessie Sullivan
Fines & Fees, Customer Experience Update from Hamilton Public Library
Overdue Fines: Advantages, Disadvantages, and How Eliminating Them Can Benefit Public Libraries, by Sabrina Unrein
Bessie recommends the read Tin Manby Sarah Winman
It's season four and we're back with some practical, inspiring and wisdom-chocked life tips about how to survive in library land as both someone who is managed and also does the managing. Joanna Aegard from Bruce County Public Library gives us her top five professional life tips and talks about losing that loving feeling at work and getting over her bad attitude towards management.
This week's episode was captured as part of the Ontario Library Service conference, on Tuesday September 21, 2021.
If you have a topic you'd like to discuss with Michelle reach out @citybrarian or email marbuckle at accessola dot com
References from this week's conversation:
Find out more about OLA's MentorMatch program
Nominations are open (Sept 15-Nov 15) for the OLA Board and Divisional Councils. Nomination form can be found here.
Library Land Loves is back for season four! Every Monday, host Michelle Arbuckle will be joined by someone from library land to discuss their work, their library and their loves. We'll be back next week, coming straight to your ears on September 27.
Have ideas for a show? Pop Michelle a note @citybrarian or marbuckle at accessola dot com
This week we are thrilled to welcome Lauren McKeon, the author of "Women of the Pandemic: Stories from the Front Lines of COVID-19", a LoanStar Adult Top Pick last month. Many of the themes she writes about relate very poignantly to the work we do in library land - the toll of emotional labour, the importance of self care and mental health first aid. We also speak about what she learned from the incredible women in her book and how she prepared herself to write about a global pandemic while also living through it.
Find out more about the LoanStars program here.
Follow OLA @onlibraryassoc and Michelle @citybrarian
If you are interested in a library leadership role then it's important to be realistic about the fact that library school couldn't teach you what you need to know in order to be a successful leader, and you're going to need to get some experience and training that exposes you to big picturing thinking and planning. This week we sat down with the most recent graduates of the Public Library Leaders program, a partnership between CULC and the University of Toronto's iSchool. They told us about their experiences with leadership training and their top takeaways from the program.
Thank you to Lisa Radha Weaver from Hamilton Public Library; Amanda Fullerton from Halifax Public Library; Jorge Cardenas from Burnaby Public Library and Marcus Logan from Oakville Public Library.
You can learn more about PLL and apply to be part of the next cohort here: http://plleaders.ca/
Follow OLA at @onlibraryassoc and find Michelle at @citybrarian.
This week Kevin Sylvester, one of our favourite authors and head of the Forest of Reading cheer squad joins us. Because it's Forest of Reading week! Kevin tells us all about the virtual Forest of Reading events that will be taking place over the week and some of his favourite memories as a 15 time nominated author.
He'll also take us through his list of the top five things that are making life more bearable these days. And he hits the big five - tv, books, baking, games and comedy. Let us know if you also think Ted Lasso is one of the most heart warming tv series of all time @onlibraryassoc And don't forget to share your heartiest sourdough recipes!
You can find Kevin @kevinarts
And Michelle @citybrarian
Have you heard about Discord yet? And more importantly do you know how it could revolutionize your library programming!? If not, Brady and Matt from Pickering Public Library are here and they have your back. This week they are taking us through the top five reasons to use Discord in your library.
We discuss how they got approvals from library management; the types of connections to the community they're able to make; the audio visual quality of the platform and of course the quality of the user experience.
I'd be remiss if I didn't add that Discord might be responsible for bringing karaoke back into your life. You're welcome.
Follow the work of Brady and Matt at @pickeringlibs
Follow Michelle @citybrarian
This week Michelle is lucky enough to be chatting with one of the best people on the Internet (and real life, too) - Jessamyn West. Jessamyn is a library person in Vermont who speaks a lot about how to better serve rural communities. She's bringing to the Library Land Loves table her top five tips on how to be more accessible to your communities. Her tips are quick and easy and likely don't even require help from your IT department!
Follow Michelle Arbuckle @citybrarian
Follow Jessamyn West @jessamyn
Subscribe to Jessamyn's Tiny Letter
Find details on OLITA's Digital Odyssey conference on accessibility here: https://accessola.com/events/digital-odyssey/
More information from today's discussion:
Tommy Edison Experience
Blind vs Legally Blind
Showing Twitter's Alt Text requires two things
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Greasemonkey or Tampermonkey (depending on your browser) add-on
-
the script to Show Twitter Image Alt Text
Live captions on Zoom
Live Captions on Google Meet
YouTube Creator Academy on captioning
Accessibility options for phones
iPhone
Android
Speech to text/dictation on phones
iPhone
Android
Speech to text/dictation for computers
Mac
PC
If your library is hosting author chats or book talks then Carol Ann Tack from Merrick Library NY is here to give you a few tips! Carol Ann hosts authors on her wildly successful podcast "Top Shelf at the Merrick Library" and has some great stories and advice on how she prepares for and approaches conversations with both authors and her book discussion groups.
Follow Carol Ann @topshelfmerrick
Find her YouTube channel here Merrick Library NY
Follow Michelle @citybrarian and please let her know if you'd like to bring something to the Library Land Loves table!
The children of Library Land have spoken and they have told us their favourite games! Join us as they tell us in their own delightful words which games they love and why. Michelle Goodridge from Wilfrid Laurier University is also here to talk about her favourite games of the moment and to give us a few things to think about when it comes to gaming safely.
Follow Michelle @migoodridge
We also discussed the work of Dr. Sara Grimes. You can find her @smgrimes
And find us at @onlibraryasso. Come and tell us what games SHOULD have been on our list this week!
Hosted and produced by Michelle Arbuckle @citybrarian.
Awards season is our most favourite time of the year and this has been a banner year for incredible audiobook performances. Join Michelle and Reagan Kapasi from OLA's Reader's Advisory Committee as they present their choices for the best audiobooks they've read this year.
Categories include:
- Music to My Ears (Best Performance);
- A Perfect Marriage of Storytelling & Performance (fiction);
- Be Careful, You'll LOL;
- Cast Chemistry;
- People Worth eMeeting.
Message us at @onlibassoc to tell us which audiobook you'd nominate this year!
Audiobook clips presented from:
Irby, Samantha. Wow, No Thank You: essays. Narrated by Samantha Irby. Overdrive, 2020. Audiobook.
Miranda, Lin Manuel. Gmorning, gnight!: little pep talks for you and me. Narrated by Lin Manuel Miranda. Overdrive, 2018. Audiobook.
Moran, Caitlin. How To Be A Woman. Narrated by Caitlin Moran. Overdrive, 2011. Audiobook.
Patchett, Ann. The Dutch House: a novel. Narrated by Tom Hanks. Overdrive, 2019. Audiobook.
It's not a stretch to say that library land is full of lifelong learners, and many of us have taken courses, certificates and degrees in order to build our credentials or just out of curiosity and interest. But have you ever considered how going back to school as an adult might help you approach your day job a little differently?
Reece Steinberg, a business librarian from Ryerson University joins us this week to talk about his journey towards an MBA and how it's impacted the way he interacts with students, other faculty and given greater context to his work.
Follow Reece @pinkghosttowns
Contact Michelle at marbuckle at accessola.com or @citybrarian
This week Zack Osborne joins me to talk about lessons he's learned from managing his virtual team over the past year. We chat about modelling good behaviour, being authentic, recognizing burnout and impaired wellness, and most importantly when to CTDM (cancel the damn meeting).
Warning: the poop swear word is used at least twice in this episode.
References:
Follow Zack @zackosborne
Read Zack’s blog post here.
Zack makes mention of this Medical Education podcast.
Contact Michelle at marbuckle at accessola.com or @citybrarian
Rochelle Mazar joins me this week to chat about one of my favourite topics - hiring! If you're looking to improve the questions that you ask your candidates or just want to think differently about your hiring process, then this episode is for you. We go through Rochelle's list of five-ish things to think about when drafting your interview questions. We also chat about some questionable practices and some of the not so productive questions we've encountered in the past.
Tell us, if you were a tree what kind of tree would you be?
Follow Rochelle @rmazar
Contact Michelle at marbuckle at accessola dot com or @citybrarian
This week, Michelle chats with Avery Swartz about how libraries can continue building relationships with their communities, even when they aren’t able to physically visit the library.
A list of things you should check out:
See You on the Internet: Building Your Small Business with Digital Marketing by Avery Swartz
“Good job, Bruce. The guy behind North America’s top public health Twitter account” by Shannon Proudfood, Maclean’s.
Making Oprah, WBEZChicago podcast
The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Business by Eric Ries
The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why it Matters by Priya Parker
Follow Avery @averyswartz
Message Michelle at marbuckle at accessola.com or @citybrarian
Freedom to Read Week is just wrapping up so we've invited Laura Carter, CEO of the Kingston Frontenac Public Library to join us and chat about the ways that her library has responded to challenges in their collection.
Last year Emily and Michelle each took a leave of absence from their jobs to try out new roles in new organizations. Emily came to OLA and Michelle took a spin at Ryerson Library. Join us as we chat about trying out new jobs, learning the unwritten rules in new workplace cultures and the brain elasticity it requires to shift gears and leave the safety of a longtime role.
Thank you to Emily for joining us! You can find her @emilymelissabee
Follow OLA @onlibraryassoc
Have you been feeling the need to sink into your couch and escape to a world where the only vice is a well-brewed cuppa tea? We're here for you. Author Natasha Dean joins us today to bring us her top five cozy British mysteries!
Natasha is also an organizer of I Read Canadian Day - which is today! Learn more about I Read Canadian Day and how you can participate simply by reading a Canadian title for 15 minutes. #IReadCanadianDay
Just kidding! We're all actually trying very hard to make eLearning successful right now and Matt Rohweder joins Michelle to discuss his tips and talk about the issues. Matt was an organizer for the recent eLearning Symposium and is sharing his top five ways to improve your approach to eLearning. Learn more about the collective here.
Are your kids home right now? Are you finding it difficult to get anything done? Yah, us too. So this week, we asked writer Lindsay Zier-Vogel to give us her top five tips on how to get things done while there are little (and not so little) ones underfoot. She has some fantastic tips on how to structure your time, improve your focus and most importantly how to prepare in advance for the inevitable question "where are the snacks!?"
You can follow Lindsay and learn more about her work at @lindsayzv. Thanks for joining us! Stay home, stay safe, stay sane.
Many of us are trying to create engaging content right now - whether it be for library instruction, programming or the upcoming OLA Super Conference! Librarian extraordinaire Brooke Windsor is here to give us her top five tips on how to make your presentations more engaging. BYO go-juice.
Every conversation has the opportunity to be better, especially conversations where one speaker is upset or angry. Susan Cleyle, executive coach and Dean of Libraries at Memorial University is leading us through her top five tips for having difficult conversations.
Susan will be presenting a more in depth session on this topic at the 2021 OLA Virtual Super Conference. Find more information and register at olasuperconference.ca
As we get settled into a new year, let's take a look around us and take Randy's tips on ways to be our best adult and take care of the space around us. Our thanks to Randy Oldham from the University of Guelph/OCUL for this thoughtful list!
Maria Martella, owner of TinLids gives her top recommendations for reading over the holidays. These titles make good gifts for the littles in your life, or good reads for your story times.
Welcome back to our third season! Library Land Loves is joined with this year's OLA President Andrea Cecchetto who talks about the meaning behind this year's OLA Super Conference theme 'Clever Minds & Human Hearts', while giving us her top 5 ways of dealing with stress during the pandemic.
Library Land Loves hosts our first-ever French-language episode!
Le 25 septembre est la journée des franco-ontariens – une journée où les francophones et francophiles de l’Ontario peuvent fièrement célébrer leur identité, leur culture, leur histoire et leurs batailles. Ariane Bercier, membre du conseil de l’ABO-Franco et bibliothécaire à la bibliothèque publique d’Ottawa, partage ses recommandations pour la célébration de la journée des franco-ontariens dans vos bibliothèques.
Not that there's anything wrong with interviewing dogs, but this week we are back with a real, live, person! Joining Emily today is Tara Wong, Chief Executive Officer of Oakville Public Library.
Emily and Tara discuss the importance of using your network, asking for help, and how to adjust to the added pressures and responsibilities that come with leadership. And how even when you've made it to the top, you may still have to fight for your parking space.
One of the first ever Library Land Podcasts sees the light of day. Join two former members of the OLA team as they discuss their favourite dog's moments at the office.
Originally recorded in, by Michael Rogowski (https://twitter.com/mrogows) and Mary Rose O'Connor (https://ca.linkedin.com/in/maryroselib). Big thank you to them!
We sit down with Paula Cardozo and Emma Scott, two University of Lethbridge librarians who are interested in salary negotiations in academic libraries.
Emily, Paula, and Emma discuss the importance of slowing down, being prepared, watching your self-talk, and knowing your worth when heading into a negotiation.
UofL Librarian Job Offer Negotiation Resources: https://libguides.uleth.ca/c.php?g=707287
It's Michelle's farewell episode, and while we are sorry to see her go (at least for now), we happily welcome Emily Burns to the OLA team.
Join us for a passing of the torch... and also a chat about onboarding and the best ways to go about it. How do you bring someone new into an organization? What's it like to be the new person? We have both perspectives represented here, and we hope you'll join the conversation too.
Library Land Loves Kelsey Merkley and the fantastic work that she's done with UnCommon Women, a group she founded to celebrate the work done by women for the open movement. Not only is Kelsey my favourite open expert, she's also my go-to resource for all things bourbon. Come join us for a tasting, won't you?
Join our discussion with Maria Martella from Tinlids as she takes us through her favourite reads of the season.
This episode was published on November 27, 2018.
Hosted by Michelle Arbuckle, Director of Education & Member Engagement at OLA.
Produced by Esteban Dorado-Troughton, Member Relations Coordinator at OLA.
Michelle sits down with Sarah Meilleur, Director, Service Delivery at the Calgary Public Library to discuss the amazing features in their new Central Library. The library is situated in downtown Calgary and opened it's doors today, November 1, 2018!
Sarah worked with her colleagues to develop an amazing building that features public art, spaces for quiet and spaces for play, spaces for prayer and yes, even spaces for books. Take a look at the OLA Facebook page for photos taken during our tour.
Join us as we sit down with Rebecca Raven, CEO of Brampton Library to talk about all things change. We discuss how to make change more palatable in your organization, ways to make change more effective and how to get more buy-in for change.
Wendy Newman (aka The Meryl Streep of Libraryland) is the lady you want to talk to when it comes to political action and making your library count during election season. Spoiler alert: it's ALWAYS election season. Learn the top five ways that Wendy recommends for getting engaged in the political process, making your library important to key decision makers and the best ways to make library supporters out of your community.
Welcome to Season Two of Library Land Loves!
September is here, which means it's back to school season. Diana Maliszewski, teacher librarian extraordinaire gives us five tips on energizing your school library and keeping that energy through the whole school year.
You can find Diana online at @MsMollyTL!
We sit down with Gillian Byrne, Manager of Toronto Reference Library at Toronto Public Library and Twitter resident for 11 years.
Gillian and Michelle chat about The Top 5 Ways to Use Twitter - what's good, what's bad, and what's a garbage fire. They do not talk about female wrestlers or cats (much).
Libraries traditionally are known as a silent space, but should they be? Anyone working in a public library or close to a group study area know that libraries can be quite noisy. Should we encourage the sounds with our own music, or should we revert to our 'Shhh' techniques? Michelle chats with Steven Kraus from OLS-North on the role of music in a library setting.
With summer comes summer reading! And with summer reading comes conversations about those books. We've all had conversations like this before: Someone boasts about how great a book is and after we read it, we just can't see it. Or we can't understand the hype of a book. Well, in this episode, the staff at the Ontario Library Association talk about those books, and then recommend a book that they would read instead.
We're so used to being disappointed with a movie adaptation of a book. It never lives up to the world we create in our head. But there are those rare moments when we're surprised and the movie is better! We sat down with Kristen Caschera of the OPLA RA Committee to discuss her top 5 movies that show us that the movie can be better than the book.
It's summer! Which means hot weather, cold drinks, and patios. But it also means those quirky and odd summer jobs. We surveyed the office here at The Ontario Library Association and asked staff what their most memorable summer job was. Names and locations have been omitted when needed ;)
Michelle sits down with Maureen Barry during her last week as CEO of the Burlington Public Library. Maureen reflects on the Top 5 most memorable moments of her career and also touches on advice for future CEOs.
From Harry Potter to Doctor Who, you can use your job as an excuse to show your inner geek. Liz from the Barrie Public Library shows us five different programs she implements that allows her to geek out hard.
Take a walk through the Toronto International Film Festival Library and resources with Michelle Lovegrove Thompson, Senior Manager at the TIFF Library and Archives. She talks about her top five resources and materials within the collection.
Ever dream of escaping your life and trying your hand at a literary one? We exercise that thought by discussing the top 5 men found in literature we'd leave our current relationship for.
Join award winning author Vikki VanSickle as she discusses the top 5 Young Adult books that adults should read.
Have you been following #jackslibrarytour? We sit down with Jack and Lanrick Bennett Jr. (@myonlinelifenow) to discuss Jack's top five favourite libraries! Jack his Father have been actively visiting libraries in the GTA and beyond, and they've been documenting all of their trips on social media. We had a great conversation about what makes a good library, and how they set out on this fantastic adventure.
Librarians discuss their most memorable moments with readers. This podcast was recorded on location at the 2018 RA in a Day conference in Mississauga.
Marnie Seal, Librarian at Cambrian College, reflects on her top five items they didn't teach you in Library School.
Desmond Wong talks about his top five Indigenous Resources that will help library workers with Indigenous populations.
Teacher Librarian Julie Demers talks to us about her top 5 Read Alongs for librarians and Teachers.
Welcome to the first episode of Library Land Loves. We start things off with the OLA Vice President (for 2018) Richard Reid who is counting down his Top 5 Super Conference Moments.