Yankee in Canada.com

The talented folks over at Angry Alien Productions have posted another classic.

Casablanca in 30 seconds, re-enacted by bunnies. 

While wandering around Queen West today, my friend Paul and I stumbled on Type Books.  I could have sworn I never saw the place before and a gentle inquiry revealed it’s been open only 3 weeks or so.  If you are in the hood, and you are looking for a new collection of good reads to peruse, it’s worth checking out. 

Type Books
883 Queen Street West
Toronto, Ontario
Web: http://www.typebooks.ca

Alot is being written about Google Trends today.  It’s a very interesting tool, especially for quick comparisons of search popularity.  Further refining the results by city, region, language and date adds another useful element.  I thought I’d give it a whirl with some commonly adversarial duos:

• Bill Gates v. Steve Jobs
• Paul Martin v. Stephen Harper
• George Bush v. John Kerry
• Jennifer Aniston v. Angelina Jolie

The best part of this tool is the linking to the news story that caused a spike on a certain date.  It’s historical, of course, but if you were trying to compile a news timeline, for example, Google Trends would come in very handy.

Unfortunately, there isn’t enough search volume to show Betty Cooper v. Veronica Lodge. Oh well.

SLA’s Annual Conference is in Baltimore this year from June 11-14, 2006.  This will be my second SLA conference having had the hometown advantage here in Toronto last year. In Baltimore, I’ll be presenting the findings of the Technology Review Advisory Group at a joint meeting of the Chapter and Division Cabinets.  I’ll also be blogging the conference as best I can with my temperamental laptop.

Background on the Technology Review Advisory Group
In the fall of 2005, SLA Toronto brought a recommendation to the SLA Board of Directors asking for an investigation into the technology needs of units. The Board of Directors deferred the matter to the Cabinets. The Technology Review Advisory Group, with members representing both chapters and divisions, was created to investigate.

Technorati tag: sla2006

  100_0976 
  Originally uploaded by YankeeInCanada.

I snapped this photo during a walk today in High Park.  If you live in Toronto and you have never been to High Park, it’s definitely worth an afternoon.  There’s a small zoo, hiking trails, an off leash area for pups, tennis courts and more.

I stumbled across Karen’s Power Tools the other day while looking for a program to give me a text-file list of files and folders on my computer.  You would think that would be easy, right?  Wrong.  At least not using Windows.  Karen’s Directory Printer does the job beautifully.  I haven’t had the chance to use any of the other tools yet, but if they’re anything like Directory Printer, they’re just plain great.

Coming Out in 2014: A Vision for the Library Profession

Librarians are letting the world know about who they are as professionals. We are coming out. Out of the library building, our from behind the desk, out of our silos, and out of retirement.

Coming Out of the Library

Librarians are part of daily life. Every member of the community has their own personal librarian, someone they regularly consult, wherever and however they need, for assistance with their information needs. By stepping out of our buildings, and taking our skills and expertise to our communities, we have made ourselves an integral part of our cities, schools, and organizations.

Librarians are building communities by bringing people and information together. We are designing information literacy curriculum. We are taking ownership of the information technology tools we use. We are working with architects to develop collaborative learning spaces and consulting with local politicians to ensure that constituents’ information needs are being met.

We are constantly engaged in refining the services that we provide, ensuring that our services match information needs, user lifestyles, and user preferences for how they access information.

Coming Out From Behind the Desk

You won’t find librarians sitting behind their desks. We’re in virtual classrooms, teaching information literacy. We’re sitting at the bedsides of hospital patients, helping them make informed treatment decisions. We’re bringing families to the library for multilingual story times and contributing to the cultural life of our communities. Information literacy is the “new math,” a core subject in the curriculum at all levels, and is recognized as a necessary skill for daily life.

Coming Out of Our Silos

We are working across units within our libraries and collaborating on collections and services with librarians in other settings. Diversity and teamwork are key, and through cross-functional and interdisciplinary teams we have begun to recognize our complementary roles and strengths. Together we are working to solve the complex problems we face as information professionals. We rely on a growing body of quality research, and librarians in all settings are empowered to carry out research and share it via open source online publishing tools.

Coming Out of Retirement

Recently retired librarians have formed a movement. These librarians emeriti continue to contribute to the profession by lobbying on behalf of librarians and libraries. By exploiting their political connections and experience, they are influencing public policy on libraries and access to information. Some have even sought political office.

Whether out in our communities or inside the walls of our libraries, we continue to be committed to the success of others on their own terms.

Drafted at the 7th Northern Exposure to Leadership Institute, January 22-27, 2004 by the Visioning Committee:

• Deborah Hutchison (Vancouver Public Library)
• Daniel Lee (Navigator Ltd., Toronto)
• Gwendolyn MacNairn (Dalhousie University)
• Joanne Oud (Wilfred Laurier University)