COMMUNICATION AND COUNSEL
Report: Monthly
Report for October
Prepared by: Barbara
Clubb, City Librarian
Prepared for: Ottawa
Public Library Board
OPL Mission
Statement: We nurture the love of reading and the pursuit of knowledge. People
use the resources of the Ottawa Public Library to read, think, learn,
interpret, imagine and connect with each other and the world. (See Appendix A for Goals and Objectives)
1.
Goal A: Be a Community Driven Organization
Alta Vista: Myrna Rosalez, a patron
of the Alta Vista Branch, provided a pizza supper to the staff of the branch in
appreciation of the excellent service she receives and in particular for the
Summer Reading Club.
Summer Reading Club: Jane Venus and Suzanne Delisle received the following
thank-you:
“Thank you so much for making me feel welcome and for
taking the time to tell me about the Summer Reading Program and Children’s
Services at your library. Thanks, as
well, for giving me some samples from your program.
My wife and I had a wonderful time in your fair city –
fortunately she was patient enough to let me explore the children’s room.
I’ve included some of the materials we used for our
Summer Reading Program in 2003 that might be of interest to you for next
summer. Our theme was “Laugh it up at
your library”. That year was the first
time public libraries in Maine were part of the Collaborative Summer Library
Program, which now has grown to include about 35 of the 50 states in U.S. Good luck on next year’s program.”
Homebound Services: OPL serves many senior residences
through Homebound Services. There comes
a time when items in the large print collection are no longer being used and
need to be withdrawn. Sometimes these
used materials can still find some use in nursing homes and such
facilities. Recently, large print
materials that were weeded from collections at 4 branches were donated in such
a fashion. The following is the thank
you note we received from the person who distributed this donation from OPL.
Bernard, just a short follow-up on
those wonderful LARGE PRINT books that you entrusted to me. I sorted through
the collection to provide a good mix to several Nursing Homes; most impressed
with the good condition and variety of books.
As plastic covered hardbacks, they will be enjoyed by the seniors for
many years. Staff at all residences
were most appreciative to have a good
selection of material for senior readers.
You may like to know that the English books were evenly distributed to Medex Extendicare, West End
Villa Extendicare and St. Patrick's Home; French items were given to Centre
d'acceuil Champlain.
2.
Goal B:
Be a dynamic, resourceful organization
Web User Feedback: Several new links were added to the footer of the web
catalogue as a means to alert users to other search-related services
offered. The day the links were added,
we received the following feedback email:
“Your new links on the Catalogue search page are great!
Thanks, from a user who never goes through the front door portal unless she has
to. J”
Library
Lab: A new Library Lab webpage has been
launched. This page will feature new online tools currently in development. The
purpose of the Library Lab is to allow users to try out new tools and add their
opinions during the evaluation period. The Library Lab is currently featured in
the What’s Happening section on the website as well as by feature box on the
Connect webpage. You can also access it directly at www.biblioottawalibrary.ca/lab/index_e.html or www.biblioottawalibrary.ca/lab/index_f.html.
Staff Development:
On Monday Sept 17, 2007 Steve Abram, Vice-President
Innovation for Sirsi-Dynix (also a professional librarian and futurist) spent a
day with the Ottawa Public Library Staff. Sessions included a morning meeting
with new librarians, a lunch meeting with senior staff, a 1.5 hours session
with the Virtual Library Services Team and representatives from the City’s ITS.
He ended the day with a 1.5 hour session for all staff who could attend. The
focus of his sessions were the coming future technologies, how they are and
will affect library service and how library staff can prepare for a very
different world which incudes Facebook, Flickr, Second Life, MySpace etc.
On Monday Sept 24, Dr Ken Haycock, the director of
the San Jose, (California) School of Library and Information Studies and Dr Roy
Bonin, Director of the soon-to–open School of Information Studies at the
University of Ottawa gave a public presentation on their programs.
Approximately 90 individuals attended about have of whom were OPL employees.
3.
Goal C: Be a welcoming community resource through
our physical, virtual and traveling spaces.
Web
Safety at Ottawa Public library: At OPL we take our role of
protecting children in the context of the Internet very seriously. We have, since before amalgamation, worked
with the Media Awareness Network to help in the development of tools for
librarians wishing to teach about web safety. We continue to license the Media
Awareness teaching products so that we can offer workshops to parents and
children as requested.
In our
library branches all Internet stations located in children’s areas are
automatically defaulted to a filtered setting, using the ProxEye filtering
solution from Bajai. In addition, any child logging on to any other computer in
the library automatically triggers a filtered setting; this is linked to juvenile
membership cards.
On
October 3, OPL launched a new website that is specially designed for children.
There are two sides to this site: One for pre-school children that features
interactive games and activities designed to promote the learning of pre- reading
skills, and the other side of the site is aimed at children over six who are
reading. This site is designed as an
interactive book club where children can write reviews, comment about their
favourite books, design games and quizzes based on their latest reading and
interact with other junior readers.
Staff
have incorporated several safety mechanisms into the design of this site:
·
Only juvenile cardholders and library staff can register
for a book page and post comments to the site.
·
Every posting to the site will first be viewed and approved
by a library staff moderator.
·
Each child registering for the site must first complete an
oral safety module --- Bopl telling kids about how to be safe on this and other
Internet sites.
The new
website can be visited http://kids.biblioottawalibrary.ca or http://enfants.biblioottawalibrary.ca.
Adult Learners at Main: Philip Jurgens (librarian, Adult
and Readers’ Advisory Service) led a large group of adult learners, mainly
newcomers, on a tour of the Main Library in September. He noticed that the
learners had copies of an activity from Getting to Know the Library
with them. Knowing the content of the manual, he was able to anticipate certain
questions. At the end of the tour, one participant was studying her activity
handout intently, particularly the last question: "How do you feel about
the library right now?” Realizing which question was puzzling the learner,
Philip asked the question. In response, he received a huge smile and a
"Very good."
English as a Second Language: A colleague from the literacy
field passed along the following exchange. While in a taxi, she realized the
driver was not Canadian-born. Asking about his background, she learned that he
had come to Canada nine years ago from Lebanon. She commented on the quality of
his English and asked where he had studied ESL. He replied that he did not take
ESL classes but used the public library to learn English. He went on to explain
that the library had lots of material for learning English, books and tapes,
etc. He was also able to borrow books in Arabic.
Membership
at North Grenville Public Library: OPL pays an annual fee each
year (for 2007 it was $2000) to the North Grenville Public Library, which
enables 80 residents of Rideau Ward to use the Burritt’s Rapids Branch of the
North Grenville Public Library, as non-resident library cardholders.
High Commissioner for Pakistan: On September 13th the Ottawa
Public Library had a visit from the High Commissioner for Pakistan, H.E. Musa
Javed Chohan who made a contribution of 19 high quality books in English about
Pakistan past and present. The presentation was made to Barbara Clubb and Diana
Pepall, Manager of Collection Development. We spent a lovely hour discussing
the gift, the role of the public library and the multilingual collection in
particular as well as our growing service to newcomers. The High Commissioner
is also a poet and the gift included a copy of his most recent poetry. He also
expressed interest in the possibility of additional donations in Urdu and
Punjabi. Unfortunately, since it is Ramadan they could not partake of any
refreshments.
New Bookmobile Stop at Farley Mowat
School: Some
children have been very excited about the new Bookmobile Stop at Farley Mowat
School. Staff attended a Meet the
Teacher Night at the School to promote this new stop. One parent told staff that her son was so thrilled by the Bookmobile
that he informed his mother that they would be going to the Bookmobile every
Monday night to get books. Later a well
dressed gentleman approached staff at their table and asked to apply for a
membership for his son. He told staff that his son had been talking about
getting a card all week and reminded his father the night before to make sure
he got a card for him. The son was so anxious to get a membership that he
called his Dad at work twice that day to make sure he left work on time to
attend that night and get a card. Staff
watched the boy going into the Bookmobile the following Monday and he was
absolutely thrilled.
4.
Goal D: Be recognized as an integral part of the
community and a valued partner in Ottawa’s future.
OPL Strategic Plan: The City Librarian and Chair spent several days
reviewing the draft strategic directions and priorities with elected municipal
officials including Mayor Larry O’Brien and Councillors Alex Cullen, Diane
Deans, Rob Jellet, Rainer Bloess, Eli El-Chantiry, Clive Doucet, Gord Hunter,
Christine Leadman. Several councilors were not available for a meeting but
spoke directly with the Chair.
Canadian
Library Association: Held its annual open house in conjunction with
council meetings on Sept 14. Councillor Harder attended the trustee executive
meeting in her capacity as Vice-Chair of the CLTA. Councillors Wilkinson and
Clavel attended the open house as did the City Librarian and other staff
members.
Long
Service Awards: On September 28, six OPL employees were honoured at
an awards ceremony celebrating long service by Community and Protective
Services employees. They were:
Louise Ferrand 25
years
Fanny Wong-Lee 25
years
Michelle Chivers 30 years
Linda Daly 30 years
Lorraine Lewis 30 years
Judy O’Connell 30 years
Vital Signs: Vital Signs is an annual report card on the health of
Ottawa, prepared by the Community Foundation of Ottawa. 11 key areas are used
to evaluate the strength (or weakness) of a city. On page 12 of the 2007
report, OPL is noted for the increase in library visits, under the Learning
indice.
Urban Libraries Council: The City Librarian has been asked to chair the jury
for the adjudication of the ULC Urban Player Award. The award is sponsored by
Sirsi-Dynix and all ULC member libraries are eligible to apply. Established in
2002, the ULC Urban Player Award recognizes individuals in positions of library
leadership who have provided substantive community leadership during the past
two years. Established in memory of Betty Jane Narver, Chair of ULC’s Executive
Board at the time of her sudden death in 2001, this award underscores the vital
role library leaders often take as “players” in the broad agendas of their
cities and counties. The Urban Player Award includes a $1,000 honorarium. The
Ottawa Public Library is a member of the Urban Libraries Council, which is
headquartered in Chicago.
Carleton Serves: On September 15th, students and staff
from Carleton University volunteered at the Main Library as part of a community
focussed initiative called Carleton Serves. Volunteers worked with
employee Suzanne Delisle for the day and were tasked to dust, clean and rearrange
the English Teen paperback collection.
The participants enjoyed the day and the team leader hope to repeat the
experience at the Main Library next year with a new group of 1st
year students. Thank you to Jennifer
Quinn, Kendra Hicks, Laura Mutu and Adetope Adettayo.
5.
Foundation
Recent Foundation energies mostly have been spent on
the Literary Series which kicks off Thursday, October 11 featuring an Evening
with Margaret Dickenson in the Chamber at Ben Franklin Place.
A great deal of effort has gone into attracting
corporate sponsorship for the events which also include An Evening with Jane
Urquhart on November 23 and an Evening with Charlotte Gray on February 29,
2008. Presenting sponsors TD Canada Trust and the Ottawa Citizen are confirmed,
as are major sponsors Canada Post, Charlesfort, and the gordongroup. Bridgehead, Cave Spring Wines, Glebe Meat
Market, Merivale Fish Market and the Silver Rose Florist are also supporting
the Margaret Dickenson event. At time of writing, approximately 60-70 people
are expected to attend and enjoy Ms. Dickenson’s presentation on holiday
entertaining while sampling wine and tastes.
Donations continue to come in as a result of the June
branch-specific mailings and the recent newsletter. Three times as many donations
have been received to date compared to 2006.
The Foundation has recently distributed a new brochure
titled Honour With Books. The
brochure encourages library users to celebrate special birthdays and
anniversaries by making a donation to the Library Foundation.
Foundation Chair David Daubney has been attending new
Central Library board committee meetings to lend Foundation support to this
important planning process.
6. Friends
Friends
of the Library have just released a new children’s book titled Pot-pourri.
It is a bilingual anthology of poems and short stories written by youth between
the ages of 9 and 17 years old that were winners in the annual Awesome Authors
Youth Writing Contest at the Ottawa Public Library. The book was compiled, laid
out, edited in English and prepared for publication by Catherine Shepherd of
Common Redpoll Books and the publisher is the Friends of the Library. The book
is a celebration of the talented young authors, a promotion for the next
Awesome Authors Youth Writing Contest that has just kicked off, and a
fundraiser for the Ottawa Public Library.
The Book
Launch for Pot-pourri with Library Chair Jan Harder, 30 of the young
authors and about 80 guests took place on Monday October 1, at the Main Branch
Library with the press including CJOH, The Star and Weekly Journal, The Kanata
Kourier, The Now EMC and others.
Articles on the book were written by The Citizen in September 2, one is
coming out in Le Droit shortly, and Capital Parent on October 7, in The Now
EMC, The Weekly Journal, and the Kanata Kourier.
A press
release inviting volunteers for the Hazeldean Branch Bookstore has brought in
17 responses and a meeting is planned to set up the Friends group and new
Kanata Bookstore…. Friends will also lobby to have a new stand-alone bookshop
built in the new Kanata District Library.
Friends
developed an advocacy strategy for the Provincial Election in which the Ottawa
ridings were divided up among board members and email letters were sent to
candidates in each riding asking for support of the Ottawa Public Library by
raising provincial funding and supporting funding for a new central library.
Board members were assigned to all candidates meetings to ask a question and
present the position of the Library needs from the province.
The
President, Lori Nash, made a presentation to the Corporate Services and
Economic Development Committee about the budget directions and asked that
consideration be given to increasing the Capital Budget from $1.5 million to
$3.0 million, and to consider carefully the impact of reductions in the budget
on a well loved and needed library service in Ottawa.
Friends of the Library are preparing their budgets for 2008 and library branches with bookstores are being asked to prepare their wish lists for items and services they wish to receive through the Local Committee or their particular bookstore group. Several branches have money left over from 2007 to spend including the Main Branch Library, which has a sum of nearly $30,000 for gifts and services.
7. Upcoming Events of Interest
·
An Evening with
Margaret Dickenson, Ben Franklin Place 7:15
p.m., Oct. 11/07
·
Kids Lit Gala, The
Chamber, Ben Franklin Place 7
p.m., Oct. 16/07
·
OPL Foundation
Boardroom, 4th floor boardroom 12
p.m. Oct. 17/07
·
Beaverbrook and
Centennial branches celebrate 40 years All
day, Oct. 20/07
·
Governance Committee,
4th floor boardroom 12
p.m. Oct. 26/07
·
Next OPL Board
meeting, Beaverbrook Branch 6:00
p.m. Nov. 19/07
__________________________________
Barbara Clubb
City Librarian and CEO
With contributions
from: Alan Roberts, Lori Nash, Tony
Westenbroek, Elaine Condos, Jane Venus, Craig Ginther, Ann Archer
Appendix A
The Ottawa Public
Library Strategic Work Program is based on the Library’s, mission, goals and
objectives approved by the Board of Trustees. These are:
Mission: We nurture the love of reading and the pursuit of
knowledge. People use the resources of the Ottawa Public Library to read,
think, learn, interpret, imagine and connect with each other and the world.
Goal A Be a community-driven organization
A1 Promote life-long learning, literacy and
reading for all
A2 Focus
service to be more convenient and responsive
Goal B Be a Dynamic Resourceful
Organization
B1 Continue
service harmonization processes
B2 Improve
and streamline OPL’s business models and processes
B3 Maximize
technology to improve service effectiveness
B4 Develop
and empower employees
B5 Ensure
and maintain effective labour-management relations
Goal C Be
a welcoming community resource through our physical, virtual and travelling
spaces
C1 Implement
Libraries for Ottawa: Facilities
Strategy
C2 Maintain
and develop accessible and welcoming public environments
Goal D Be
recognized as an integral part of the community and a valued partner in Ottawa’s
future
D1 Evaluate
and communicate OPL’s values in the City and Community
D2 Support
the Board’s strategic directions
D3 Participate
fully in the City Council’s 2008-2010 priority setting process
D4 Strengthen
strategic relationships