6
COMMUNICATION & COUNSEL
Report: Monthly
Report
Prepared by: Barbara
Clubb, City Librarian
Prepared for: Ottawa
Public Library Board
OPL
Mission Statement: Building a strong Ottawa community by supporting literacy
and life-long learning, fostering inspiration and enjoyment and connecting
people to each other and the world. (See Appendix A for Goals and Objectives)
1.
Goal A: Provide
Responsive Services
Business Librarian Jill Hawken:
was invited to do a presentation for the Small Business Association and members
posted these comments on their meeting website:
“I feel like I just met my fairy godmother! The meeting went very
well, got to network with all kinds of new people, and the guest speaker, Jill
Hawken from the Ottawa Public Library, was fantastic! She is incredibly
knowledgeable, well spoken, and did a terrific presentation walking us through
the OPL website screens, and explaining the FREE access to vast amounts of
information that's available to anyone with a library card. It was like finding
Ali Babba's cave!!! ”
“This was one of the
best meetings we have had ever! Who would ever have thought the
"library" could be so innovative? The SBA is looking for innovative
ideas and Jill did a great job simplifying an enormous amount of material
available to small business! ”
Jill
also met with these local entrepreneurs last fall, when they were still in the
process of planning to open their business; she was able to help them pull
together information they needed. Now they’re up and running and were recently
featured in the Ottawa Citizen. (http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Life/Couple+makes+capital+bread+with+Montreal+style/1379867/story.html)
In response to our enhanced virtual
reference service a user of AskON sent us this feedback:
“WOW thanks for all the
information!! I heard about your
program on the radio and must say, I am very impressed and deeply
grateful. This information will
certainly be of use to me. Thank you so kindly!”
Awesome Authors: In response to the
standing room only event on March 24, the following compliments were received:
“I just wanted to say thank you
and well done for a lovely evening on Tuesday, March 24 for the Awesome Authors
Awards Celebration. It was the first time that my son has entered an
event and it was so well organized and the evening was very well presented.
Thank you to you and all the staff involved for the effort and work that it
took to put all of it together and to carry it off so well.
It was much appreciated by all, I
am sure and primarily my sons who saw that it is worthwhile to put pen to
paper, so to speak, and attempt to entertain someone else through their words.
Thank you again”
“Thank
you very much for your help. And thank you to the OPL for organizing such a
contest for young authors. My children always look forward to sending in their
stories!”
Rosemount librarian Jennifer
Johnson:
gave a presentation on library resources at the local family shelter, which
provides secure refuge and a supportive environment to women
and their children. She received the following note of thanks:
"THANK YOU SO MUCH
for coming over to [the shelter] last night. You have
inspired me to continue improving
the homework help resources that are
available for the youth and children who partake in
SWCHC's (Somerset West Community Health Centre) homework clubs, particularly in
a time when technology and education continues to evolve so quickly. Thank you
for increasing the French resources too.
These will be of great value."
North Gloucester Supervising Librarian Evelyn
Housch gave a presentation on OPL’s services to the school council at John Paul
II School, she received a note of thanks:
“Thank you for coming
to John Paul II School Council meeting.
Your presentation about the Ottawa Public Library was very interesting.”
Literacy levels in Canada: Highlights fFrom
the Canadian Council of on Learning report,
Post-Secondary Education in Canada 2008-2009
Highlights:
In a knowledge-based
society, literacy is a critical skill. Yet data from the International Adult
Literacy and Life Skills Survey (IALLS, 2003) indicate that 48%—almost half—of
all Canadians aged 16 and older are below Level 3 on the prose literacy scale.
Level 3 is considered to be the minimum literacy skill level required to cope
adequately with the demands of everyday life and work in an advanced society. 20%
of the university-educated population in Canada had prose literacy skills below
Level 3, the internationally accepted level required to cope in a modern
society.
A 2006 survey by the
Canadian Network on Third Age Learning revealed that more than 60,000 Canadians
over the age of 65 had participated in credit and non-credit courses, seminars,
workshops and learning tours being offered by colleges, universities and other
educational institutions in Canada.
http://www.ccl-cca.ca/CCL/Reports/PostSecondaryEducation/
Non-resident users: The Metcalfe
Village branch recently registered a new non-resident borrower from Napanee,
Ontario. The gentleman has friends who live in Metcalfe and they had shown him
the Overdrive downloads available from OPL. Since he spends a large amount of
time driving for business he decided that membership was a great option for
him. It shows that the benefits of
membership in Ottawa Public Library can reach much farther than the city
limits. (Report from Alison Désilets, Public Service Supervisor, Metcalfe
Branch)
2.
Goal
B: Develop partnerships for accessible and efficient service.
Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool
Youngsters: As part of its outreach to the
community, staff of the Vanier Branch have made special connections with HIPPY
(Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters) and introduced them to
Every Child Ready to Read concepts. Thanks to their successful initiative,
the Vanier Branch hosted the inauguration of the HIPPY Program on Friday,
April 3. Over 70 people participated, including
Minister Madeline Meilleur. HIPPY's
goal is to support parents in their role of ensuring their children are ready
for kindergarten. This program is specifically geared
towards low-income families of the Vanier and Overbrook areas.
Rockcliffe Park Annual Book Sale:
The Rockcliffe Park Library Committee raised almost $12,000 at their annual
book sale held on April 4 & 5. Collections and programming at the Rockcliffe
Park branch are greatly enhanced as a result of the work of these dedicated
volunteers. The
City Librarian attended, as did MPP Jim Watson.
3.
Goal
C: Develop
our places and spaces
Vernon Branch: From the 2008
report of Vernon resident Kim Bates, member of the Vernon Community Association
and the Osgoode Ward Advisory Council (though the report is not officially on
behalf of these organizations):
Our
little library is looking good! From
what I understand, looking good has been drawing attention and our borrowing
numbers are up as well and we continue to have summer programs for kids. Again we have seen many renovations to our
library-a former one room schoolhouse.
The roof was repaired, the bell tower was renovated, new shelves were
installed, trees were trimmed to open up the view of the library, unfortunately
a few stately old trees were in need of removal as they were dying and becoming
a hazard, and a change table was added to our renovated bathroom. The flagpole was removed as it was also
deemed a hazard but a section has been moved to the OTHS&M for
display. The front walkway and the area
immediately west of the sidewalk are in need of some repair but nothing life
threatening yet.
Our staff is very helpful and the high-speed computer
and interlibrary loans are wonderful.
Everyone seems to agree that the improved library services are one
benefit of amalgamation. We hope that our
library continues to remain open with the current hours of operation as a bare
minimum. It is a wonderful resource for
our community.
Preview
is undergoing a series of changes to increase its effectiveness as a
promotional tool for OPL programs and services. Programs are being listed on a branch-by-branch basis and
information is being streamlined to make it easier to absorb. More changes will be integrated into the
Fall issue.
Canadian Astronaut Steve MacLean visited York
Street Public on May 14 to thank them for their winning participation in this
year’s Every Kid a Card Class Challenge.
Seven classes had 100 percent participation, meaning every child has a
library card. Steve spent an hour with
the students telling them about his visits into space. Board member Vicki Metcalf was also in
attendance.
OPL
was again a silver sponsor this year of the Gala de l’excellence presented by
L’Express étudiant on May 27. These
annual awards recognize excellence in journalism, photography and writing for
French high-school students that contribute to the student newspapers. Hundreds of students were in attendance at
the NAC for the awards ceremony. Al
Roberts, Manager of Community Partnerships and Programming, attended the
pre-event luncheon and Claire Renaud-Frigon, Manager of Cumberland, Blackburn
Hamlet and Orleans branches, attended the ceremonies and presented the OPL
awards. This year’s key-note speaker
was Justin Trudeau.
Ruth E. Dickinson
Branch: Saturday April 4-09
marked the official opening of the new ground floor doors of the branch. Chair
Jan Harder officiated along with the City Librarian and many citizens and
staff. Also part of the celebrations were city Councillor Steve Desroches, MP
Pierre Poilievre and MPP Lisa MacLeod.
4.
Goal D: Build a New Central Library
Facilities
Planning Committee: The Facilities Planning Committee
was scheduled to meet on April 20th. However, a joint
meeting of the Corporate Services and Economic Development committees has been
called for April 20th to hear public delegations regarding the stadium;
this has necessitated the cancellation of the Facilities Planning Committee
meeting. \The meeting is
currently being rescheduled.
New
Central Library: In the media coverage on City Council’s debate on
proposals for new stadium space, a new central library was noted twice. In addition, Citizen columnist Randall Denley
noted in an article (Sunday, April 12-09) entitled “We must go beyond
the basics if we want to be great” that “we need a Lansdowne
Park that is something to be proud of. We need a professional sports team. We need a new public library worthy of our
city. We need a downtown concert hall. We need a first-rate municipal art
gallery.
5.
Goal E: Be an Accountable and Innovative Organization
Collection Access
Services: OPL’s cost to catalogue Russian and Arabic material has been reduced
from $30/title to $4/title, by implementing brief templates for bibliographic
records, eliminating checking and reviewing by supervisors, and keeping the
cost down by having the cataloguing done by cataloguing assistants who are also
native speakers. These staff members also key in Russian and Arabic script for
every new title.
CBC Living in Ottawa: Allison
Hall-Murphy, the teen librarian in Collection Development Services and at
Greenboro Branch, appeared on CBC TV’s afternoon show Living
in Ottawa on March 18th. She was interviewed at the Beaverbrook branch on
recommended titles for teens and also took the opportunity to encourage teens
to join the Teen Advisory Group at their local branch.
School Presentations: Jane Venus
gave two presentations to community professionals. The first was to the
Teacher- Librarian committee of the Ottawa Carleton District School Board where
she highlighted services to teens. For the staff of the OCDSB and OCCSB Parent
and Family Literacy Centres she trained the group on the Every Child Ready to
Read initiative.
Resignation: Joan
Cavanagh, Manager, Reference and Information Services is leaving the Ottawa
Public Library to assume the position of Associate University Librarian
(Access), University of Ottawa. Joan has worked for the Ottawa Public Library
since amalgamation and for the Nepean, London and Toronto Metro
Reference libraries before that. Joan’s last day with OPL is April 24th.
We are proud of
Ms.
Cavanagh and wish her all the best.
6.
Friends of the Ottawa Public Library Association
·
FOPLA’s seven local
committees have pledged $80K to OPL branches from their 2009 local committee
budgets. This funding is in addition to the FOPLA executive general budget
allocation to the system as a whole.
·
This year FOPLA is
celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Friends Bookshop at the Main
Library. Remarkably two volunteers who were involved at the opening are still
volunteering at the bookstore today. Thanks to John Douwes and Eileen MacNintch for your
continuous contribution to your library and congratulations to all the Main
Library bookstore volunteers.
·
Congratulations to
all staff and volunteers at the Cumberland Bookworm Bookstore celebrating its
10th anniversary this year.
·
The Board of
Directors has approved new board member job descriptions and a
new working model is going into operation. These changes will allow the board
to replace a full-time working president with an active working board. Two new
positions have been created to support the president: vice-president for operations and
vice-president for public relations. The nominating committee has a number of
applicants for vacant board positions and recruiting continues.
·
FOPLA holds a number
of books sales in April to support its work. The first of these sales was the
Signets Vanier Bookmarks booksale on April 4/5. On the same weekend the
Rockcliffe Community Association also held a booksale
in support of the Rockcliffe Branch. Thanks to both groups for their hard work
organizing and running these two successful events. Finally FOPLA’s largest citywide
booksale,
the Mammoth Used Booksale, organized by the Nepean committee, will take place at
the Nepean Sportsplex on April 18/19.
·
This year for the
first time, FOPLA volunteers from the Carp Corner (Carp branch bookstore) will
host a book sale at the annual Diefenbooker race event at the Carp fairgrounds,
May 2.
7. Other:
Many staff attended the funeral for retired Rosemount Branch Head and celebrated children’s
librarian Joan Weller who passed away at her home in
Merrickville.
8.
Upcoming
Events of Interest
·
Next
OPL Board meeting, Rockcliffe Park Branch 6:00 p.m. May
11-09
·
Next OPL Board meeting, Col. By Room, City Hall 6 p.m. Sept. 8/08
·
Canadian Library
Association Conference (Montreal) May
29-June 1-09
·
OPL Foundation Literary
Evening Nov.
17-09
__________________________________
Barbara Clubb
City Librarian and CEO
With
contributions from: Joan Cavanagh,
Elaine Condos, Deborah Dearham, Monique Désormeaux, Inta Douglas, Line
Gravelle, Diana Pepall, Richard Stark, Tony Westenbroek, Nelly Beylouni-Zamat,
Claire Renaud-Frigon, Jane Venus, Marica Aronson, Donna Clark, Philip Robert
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:
Building a strong Ottawa
community by supporting literacy and life-long learning, fostering inspiration
and enjoyment and connecting people to each other and the world.
Goal A Provide
Responsive Services
A1 Focus on our future leaders:
engage and support key groups who will influence Ottawa’s future success:
youth, newcomers and entrepreneurs and small business
A2 Catch up: build our print
and electronic collections to address the gap between growing demand and
current supply
A3 Be virtual: enhance
technology-based access and services
A4 Good reads and the right
information: support life-long learning, literacy and reading for all
A5 Stay ‘open’ for our
citizens: provide more and better hours of service
Goal B Develop
partnerships for accessible and efficient service
B1 Add value: leverage public
investment by working with other city departments and partners on key
initiatives
B2 Be a window to the City:
extend public access to City information and services through the Library’s 33
branches, mobile services and website
Goal C Develop
our places and spaces
C1 Care for what we have:
implement upgrades and improvements in existing branches
C2 Build community – fill the
‘holes’: develop new branches to
support growth and address service gaps
C3 Reduce the barriers:
enhance accessibility to our services through physical and technology upgrades
C4 Go green: Demonstrate environmental leadership in all
future facility development
Goal D Build a New Central Library
D1 Transform our future and
preserve our past: Develop a new
Central Library as a civic and cultural focal point, which supports the City’s
goals of being inclusive, creative, innovative, proud and liveable
Goal E Be an Accountable and
Innovative Organization
E1 Develop our people: ensure
effective staff and volunteer development, including the Board, the Friends and
the Foundation
E2 Use technology wisely: Utilize the power of technology to extend
our services, make connections with our citizens, and realize ongoing
efficiencies
E3 Measure what matters:
implement a new approach to performance measurement that informs our continuous
improvement and more accurately reflects the value-added roles the Library is
playing
E4 Tell
our story: build increased awareness of
what the Library has to offer and report on progress to the public and
taxpayers