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Happy Holidays from the BC ELN Office!
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| L-R back row: Myfanwy Postgate, Korinne Hamakawa, Megan Robertson, Cristen Polley, L-R front row: Sunni Nishimura, Jennifer Bancroft, Leah Hopton, Anita Cocchia. Photo by Shyla Seller. |
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BC ELN Office Giving
This year, the BC ELN team celebrated the holiday season by donating to the Immigrant Services Society of BC (ISSofBC) Refugee Sponsorship Fund, which supports refugees coming to Canada. Learn more about the
Refugee Sponsorship Fund and
ISSofBC.
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Partner Profile: Columbia College Library
by Cristen Polley
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Sheri Ostapovich (left) and Krystyna Nowak (right).
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On a frosty Friday morning, I rode the SkyTrain to
Columbia College Library
to meet librarians Sheri Ostapovich and Krystyna Nowak. Founded in 1936, Columbia College moved into a new 5-storey building in April 2013 on Terminal Avenue near Vancouver's downtown core. On a clear day, you can look out from the tall windows and see nearby SkyTrain and railway tracks, across to Science World, and in the far distance, the mountains. Columbia College, a private institution, is one of BC ELN's six Associate Members.
"Both of us wear many hats."
The library has a staff of six: three circulation assistants, one library technician, and two librarians. Sheri and Krystyna, both recent graduates from the iSchool at UBC, are new to Columbia College. Sheri started in June on a one-year contract as leave replacement for the Head Librarian, and Krystyna started in September as a permanent Librarian. Sheri and Krystyna balance diverse responsibilities including collection development, weeding, instruction, reference, assessment, and marketing. As Sheri put it, "both of us wear many hats."
Columbia College offers a choice of programs to international students. In the University Transfer Program, students complete the equivalent of first and second year university studies at the college before transferring to second or third year at a university. The two-year Associate Degree acts either as a complete qualification or as the basis for admission to third year at university. The short time that students spend at the college motivates library staff to connect with students early on.
The library has been hopping this fall. In November, Krystyna and Sheri taught 27 instruction sessions, primarily to students in English academic writing courses but also to students in business, sociology, and communications. Instruction gave the librarians a chance to get to know the students, assess their information literacy, and develop new classes in response to their needs. For example, since many students had never looked for print books in a library before attending the college, the librarians created a session on how to search for books and find them on the shelf.
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| Krystyna and Sheri in the Columbia College Library. |
Sheri and Krystyna are working collaboratively on a number of projects to make both the physical and virtual library more accessible and engaging. When Krystyna surveyed students to get a better understanding of what they wanted from the physical library, the most common request was for more quiet space. To meet this need, the librarians implemented a silent study area by replacing tables with individual study carrels and putting up signs to remind students to be quiet. They are also developing a popular reading collection and a cozy nook in the library to encourage reading for pleasure.
"We want to find ways to give back to BC ELN."
To improve searching of the library's print and electronic books, Sheri and Krystyna are migrating the catalogue from a legacy system to The Library Corporation's Library.Solution, which will launch in the New Year. Through BC ELN, the library recently gained access to Canadian Points of View Reference Centre. Krystyna says this database has been "perfect for students" because it contains concise essays that present an overview and multiple viewpoints on a topic. Instructors have also been pleasantly surprised by the database. In the near future, Sheri and Krystyna are hoping Columbia College will join AskAway. In Sheri's words, "we want to find ways to give back to BC ELN."
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Provincial Digital Library Update
On November 4th, about 35 members from the library community met at the Vancouver Public Library's Central Branch to envision possibilities for a Provincial Digital Library (PDL). Emerging out of the BC government's Core Review, the proposed PDL
will expand public access to academic research and openly licensed library resources across academic, school, and public libraries.
At the meeting, representatives from public, K-12, and post-secondary libraries as well as from museums and archives engaged in a lively discussion about the possibilities and challenges of building a PDL. BC ELN sat on the PDL Meeting Planning Committee and contributed funding to the meeting. A report from the meeting will be released shortly. Opportunities for broader participation and a follow-up meeting, possibly at the British Columbia Library Association Conference in 2016, are upcoming. Stay tuned!
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Strategic Planning for 2016-21
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| L-R: Ross Tyner (Okanagan College), Shahida Rashid (College of the Rockies), Jennifer Bancroft (BC ELN), and Rheannon Harriman (Ministry of Advanced Education). |
On December 4th, the lofty BCIT Aerospace Technology Campus was the setting for ideas to take flight at the BC ELN All Partner Meeting: Strategic Planning Session. Ross Tyner, BC ELN Steering Committee Chair, opened the meeting before Alison Brewin, facilitator, led the group into a full day of strategic planning exercises based on the theme of cooking.
First up were BC ELN's newly crafted vision and mission statements, drafted by the BC ELN Steering Committee at an October 30th meeting. The partners took some time to consider the revised statements and suggest changes.
Following Sunni's presentation, the group identified upcoming trends, needs, and threats in the post-secondary library environment. Trends included digital initiatives and scholarly communication. Community needs included flexible learning spaces outside of the classroom and open access. Threats, reframed as opportunities, included decreasing library budgets and user expectations for easy access.
Refreshed from a coffee break, attendees dove into a 2020 Vision Exercise, where each table wrote a restaurant review for BC ELN in 2020. The reviews covered the dishes offered, the quality of the service, the ambiance, accessibility, and some testimonials.
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| L-R: Venessa Wallsten (Quest University Canada) and Melody Burton (UBC) write a restaurant review for BC ELN in 2020. |
After lunch, attendees switched to new tables and got to work brainstorming themes and goals for the strategic plan. Themes that emerged were sustainability, support services, technological infrastructure, and accessibility. Alison introduced the idea of SMART Goals - Significant, Measurable, Attainable or Action-Oriented, Rewarding or Relevant, and Time-bound - as a way to come up with realistic five year goals for each theme.
"I am a part of all that I have met"
Before the mid-afternoon break, the group celebrated BCIT Director of Library Services David Pepper's upcoming retirement. Quoting from Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem Ulysses, "I am a part of all that I have met," David expressed his appreciation for the friendship of BC ELN partners over the years. Purple and yellow cupcakes were a welcome sugar boost before the final stretch.
For the last exercise of the day, attendees brainstormed measures of success for each of the previously identified goals.
To wrap-up, Alison summarized outcomes of the day's exercises and acknowledged how all partners had worked together to create a strong foundation for the BC ELN Strategic Plan 2016-21!
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Holiday Staff Picks List
As the days grow colder and darker, there's nothing quite like curling up with a book or a movie. From a 1957 classic starring Katharine Hepburn as a witty librarian coming to terms with computerization to a recent science fiction best-seller about an astronaut abandoned on Mars, BC ELN office staff have hand-picked books (and one movie!) that we look forward to diving into over the holidays. We hope you enjoy our holiday treat to you!
Myfanwy:
The Martian
by Andy Weir
Korinne: The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
Megan: Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton
Cristen: M Train by Patti Smith
Sunni: Every Day by David Levithan
Jennifer: An Untamed State by Roxane Gay
Leah:
Open City by Teju Cole
Anita:
Desk Set
directed by Walter Lang
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W.A.C. Bennett Library, Room 7600
Simon Fraser University
8888 University Drive
Burnaby, V5A 1S6
phone: 778.782.7003
fax: 778.782.3023
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