December 2016
Volume 14.3
Happy Holidays from the BC ELN Office!

L-R back row: Cristen Polley, Anita Cocchia, Brandon Weigel. L-R front row: Myfanwy Postgate, Korinne Hamakawa, Leigh Anne Palmer, Sunni Nishimura, Megan Robertson. Photo by Shyla Sellar.

In This Issue
BC ELN Office Giving

This year, the BC ELN team celebrated the holiday season by donating to Doctors Without Borders Canada, which provides international emergency medical relief. 
Straight from Code4Lib BC
by Brandon Weigel

On December 1st & 2nd, Brandon Weigel, BC ELN Coordinator, represented BC ELN at Code4Lib BC (C4LBC) 2016 held at UBC's Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. C4LBC is a participant-driven unconference for library developers and non-developers who are engaging in collaborative problem solving through technology.

One of the highlights of C4LBC 2016 were talks about the development of a Provincial Digital Library (PDL). The PDL Steering Committee is focusing on a hub-and-spoke model for metadata aggregation. Dan Sifton, from Vancouver Island University Library and a member of the PDL Admin Team, presented his exploration of platforms that could potentially act as the technological foundation for the PDL. Currently, two open-source aggregation and harvesting platforms are under exploration:

Mark Jordan from Simon Fraser University presented Islandora On This Day, an Islandora module that displays repository objects from today's date - a great way to expose repository content and invite users to discover collections. Arca will implement this module and contribute to its development in the new year.

Check out other interesting C4LBC sessions on the C4LBC Wiki or Twitter at #c4lbc.
BC ELN All Partner Meeting 2016

On November 21st, BC ELN partners travelled from near and far to gather at the Hilton Vancouver Metrotown Hotel for a day of thoughtful dialogue and collaboration.

Jonathan Bengtson, Chair of the BC ELN Steering Committee, welcomed all partners. The morning opened with a round of lightning talks to highlight ongoing initiatives, from BC ELN's eBook Bonanza to ever growing participation in Arca to the creation of an Admin Team to move the Provincial Digital Library (PDL) initiative forward.
L-R: Brandon Weigel (BC ELN), Debbie Schachter (Douglas College), and Jonathan Bengtson (UVic).

Following the lightning talks, Leigh Anne Palmer, BC ELN Manager, presented the final draft of the BC ELN Strategic Plan 2016-2021, bringing partner libraries full circle from last year's All Partner Meeting: Strategic Planning Session. The new strategic plan reflects the work done by stakeholders to envision BC ELN's future and will be released in early 2017.

Attendees then turned their attention to the common suite investigation. In this context, a common suite is defined as a group of two or more electronic resources to which all members in a consortium subscribe. Peter Abrams, Facilitator, guided partners through a session that built on the Common Suite Mandate Survey. During the session, participants identified and discussed common suite benefits, concerns, issues, and ideas to investigate. Partners brainstormed principles to guide the investigation of a common suite and who should oversee the investigation. A full report on the facilitated session will be shared with meeting participants early in the new year.

Tim Atkinson 
(Vancouver Island University).
All partners to ok time to celebrate the upcoming retirement of Tim Atkinson, University Librarian at Vancouver Island University. Kim Isaac, University Librarian at University of the Fraser Valley, reflected on Tim's contributions to the post-secondary library community over the years. In Kim's words,  "Tim is a generous and supportive colleague. He believes in people and has left a legacy of developing and empowering staff wherever he has worked."

To close the meeting, Jonathan thanked all partners for attending and bringing their unique perspectives to the day's discussions. In true BC ELN fashion, participants enjoyed ice-cream bars for a sweet end to a day of fruitful collaboration.
e-HLbc Strategic Planning and 10 Year Anniversary Celebration

Braving heavy snowfall, e-HLbc partners came together on December 5th at the Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel to celebrate e-HLbc's 10th anniversary and plan for the consortium's future.

Anita Cocchia, from the e-HLbc Administrative Centre, kicked off the meeting by welcoming all participants. Cathy Rayment and Lea Starr, two of e-HLbc's founding mothers, honoured e-HLbc's humble beginnings.  Antje Helmuth, Vice-Chair of the e-HLbc Management Committee, laid the foundation for the day's discussion. Antje spoke about the evolution of the organization; the growth of core resources, boutique licences, and affiliate membership over the years; and e-HLbc's mission and goals. In Antje's words, "Ultimately, equity is e-HLbc's main goal."

After reflecting on the past 10 years, e-HLbc members looked to the future and launched into a strategic planning session led by Nicki Kahnamoui, Facilitator. Through a series of activities and discussions, e-HLbc partners considered new trends in the health and library information sectors that affect e-HLbc, envisioned e-HLbc in 2026, and generated goals to meet e-HLbc's priorities. A report from the strategic planning session will be distributed to e-HLbc members in the new year.
Cheers to 10 years of 
e-HLbc.

At the day's end, participants celebrated 10 years of e-HLbc
with cake from Thierry Patisserie and sparkling cranberry punch. Todd Mundle, e-HLbc Management Committee Chair, spoke to the compromise required when two distinct sectors - health and post-secondary - come together to work towards common goals. In Todd's words, "Despite the differences in our sectors and individual organizations, e-HLbc continues to thrive because we recognize that we are stronger together - as libraries, as organizations, and as individual citizens of BC who benefit from doctors, nurses, researchers, and students with access to quality health information."

Everyone raised their glasses to toast another 10 great years of partnership and collaboration!
  Staff News
Staff Profile: Vaughn Postgate, OLOL Support Librarian

Are you interested in setting up privacy compliant patron-initiated interlibrary loans (PI-ILL) requesting through OutLook OnLine (OLOL) at your library? How about Live Shelf Status? If so, Myfanwy (Vaughn) Postgate, OLOL Support Librarian, has you covered.

Vaughn brings her expertise in systems librarianship combined with a passion for reference services to her various roles at BC ELN. Vaughn started working at BC ELN as an AskAway service provider in 2010. In 2011, she began providing systems support for e-HLbc. In September 2015, Vaughn took up her current role at the OLOL Administrative Centre providing support to OLOL libraries across the province.

When asked what she enjoys most about working for BC ELN, Vaughn says, "It's always interesting helping a wide variety of member sites. The problems I solve are often familiar but the context is always different. I also really enjoy communicating with library staff from across the province."

In a recent OLOL customer satisfaction survey, library staff shared feedback on the support Vaughn provides through the OLOL Admin Centre:

"We are constantly impressed and amazed with the attentiveness, efficiency, and speed with which Vaughn provides support. We've experienced numerous bugs and questions regarding the new interface and Vaughn has always replied almost immediately with either answers, or a promise to find out an answer."
Christina Teixeira, Surrey Public Library

"I could only be more satisfied with my OLOL Admin Support Centre experience if they had a unicorn come visit me with gluten free donuts and coffee."
-Richard Birkeness, Langara College Library
Cozy Winter Recipes

Favourite holiday recipes from the BC ELN office. Enjoy!

Sugar Cookies from Brandon

The Best Rolled Sugar Cookies is Brandon's favourite sugar cookie recipe. He cuts the sugar by about 30%. Dough can be kept in the fridge for a while.

Brandy Milk Punch from Leigh Anne
  • 2 oz brandy (or bourbon)
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 1 teaspoon powdered sugar
  • 3 ice cubes
  • cracked ice
  • freshly grated nutmeg
In a cocktail shaker, combine the brandy, milk, and sugar with 3 ice cubes and shake until frothy, about one minute. Strain into a glass with cracked ice. Sprinkle with nutmeg.
View from BC ELN offices. Photo by Anita Cocchia.
British Columbia Electronic Library Network |  office@eln.bc.ca |
W.A.C. Bennett Library, Room 7600
Simon Fraser University
8888 University Drive
Burnaby, V5A 1S6
phone: 778.782.7003
fax: 778.782.3023
website: bceln.ca
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