PNLA Quarterly, Vol. 63 No.3 Spring 1999
BRITISH COLUMBIA
Sybil Harrison
British Columbia Representative
People
Executive Director Patricia Sutherland resigned her position with BCLA. She and her family moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia.Michael Burriss is the new BCLA executive director. Burriss has an extensive background in public libraries and is a director-at- large for the Canadian Library Association.
British Columbia Library Association (BCLA)
BCLA executive established a number of priorities for the year. These priorities have provided a focus for the association.Regional Outreach: In a province as large as BC it is difficult to bring the work of the association to all its corners. Many libraries are in small, isolated communities. In order to support the development of library workers in the regions of BC the BCLA has established the 250+ program. 250 is the area code for the communities outside the lower mainland. Libraries in these areas can apply for a $250 grant to help fund a continuing education workshop. There are 2 application deadlines a year, with a total of 10 grants. The program is funded from profits of other continuing education programs. Recent grants included:
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* Chetwynd Public Library - "Story telling with Margaret Read Macdonald"
* Grand Forks and District Public Library - "Strategic planning"
* North Coast Regional Library Committee - "Planning for change: creating a vision"
* Northwest Community College Library - "A dialog between school and college"
* Tumbler Ridge Public Library - "Strategic planning"
* West Kootenay Library Association "Legal resources and reference services" or an Internet topic.
Membership Development: Over 700 people are members of BCLA. BCLA is committed to making membership attractive to all librarians and library workers. Members of BCLA enjoy discounts at a number of bookstores, have access to an active listserve, discounted rates at conference and workshops. Last fall the executive hosted a reception for students at the UBC Library School and encouraged those new to the profession to join the association.
Classroom Use: BCLA now rents office space from the People's Law School in downtown Vancouver. The association has access to a classroom. A number of programs have been held in the space and the association hopes to have a continuing series of library-related events in this convenient downtown location.
Communications: With the move to downtown Vancouver the association undertook a review of its corporate image. A new logo has been designed that incorporates the familiar BCLA sun. Soon all publications will bear the new look.
Continuing Education
BCLA has offered the Teaching Skills for Librarians class three times this winter. This workshop has proven to be one of the most popular workshops ever. Over 150 people in Victoria and Vancouver have attended. Imagination in Action: the 1999 Library Conference will be held April 15 to 17 at the Delta Pacific Resort in Richmond. The focus of the conference is on opportunities the future presents. Over 400 delegates and 50 trade representatives will attend. The conference is co-sponsored by the BC Library Trustee Association. The full conference program and registration information can be found at: http://www.interchg.ubc.ca/bcla/News
In November BCLA participated in Greater Victoria Public Library public apology to John Marshall. John Marshall was fired from the library in 1954 on the suspicion he was a communist. The event was extremely emotional-the audience was filled with people who had stood by John Marshall 40 years ago. John Marshall was a member of BCLA and the association presented him with a plaque at the event. See American Libraries February edition for the complete story. 1200 people turned out to hear Wade Davis, popular author of the Serpent and the Rainbow and The Clouded Leopard. The event was an extremely successful fundraising opportunity for the association.In 1998 BCLA was awarded a Communities Connect grant from the provincial government.
The association has contracted to have its province wide directory of libraries accessible on the web.
BCLA members continue to work on two of BCLA most successful youth-related projects - the province wide summer reading club and the BC Book Prize Sheila Egoff award for children's literature.
Three new BCLA interest groups formed this winter - information technology, special needs and acquisitions and collection development. The formation of these groups testifies to the high-level of activity taking place within the association.
The association is active in lobbying the provincial and local government for continued/enhanced support of the public libraries. Lobby efforts are done in partnership with the BC Library Trustees Association and the Association of BC Library Directors. A brief Positioning BC Public Libraries for the 21st Century was submitted to the Minster of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Jenny Kwan. The complete text can be found at http://www.interchg.ubc.ca/bcla/new.html.
Both the public and academic library communities have embarked on consortium leasing of electronic resources. The Electronic Library Network, on behalf the provinces college and institute libraries, have contracted with Ebsco for the Ebscohost full-text database . Public libraries in Greater Vancouver (Interlink) have also entered into a contract with the Ebsco. BCLA is currently working with Electric Library Canada to help BC libraries gain access to this electronic resource.