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Professional Preparation Strategies 2011: Panelists

Friday February 18

Corporate Environments:

Elysia Guzik graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University in 2008 with an Honours B.A. in Anthropology and Religion & Culture. After a summer filled with student work following Convocation, Elysia was ready to take on her next academic challenge at U of T’s Faculty of Information. Two years into the Master of Information Studies (Library and Information Science) program, she found herself making a connection at the annual job fair/ networking event hosted by the faculty’s Professional Development committee. This led to her current role as Research Analyst at Egon Zehnder International, a global executive search firm. A recent MISt graduate herself, Elysia is honoured to serve this year as SLA Toronto’s Programming Director, organizing chapter events for SLA’s members in the GTA and surrounding areas.

Since 2002, Daniel Lee has worked as a Research Librarian for Navigator Ltd., a research-based communications and strategic counsel firm in Toronto. Prior to joining Navigator, Daniel was responsible for managing web-based content at CIPS, Canada’s leading association for information technology professionals. Prior to CIPS, Daniel provided information services to the marketing and communications department of an e-learning company in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Since 2001, Daniel has been actively involved in the Toronto Chapter of SLA, serving as President in 2008.  He is currently serving as Director on the SLA Board of Directors and is leading “Operation Vitality” an effort to convert all of SLA’s Chapter, Division, and Caucus websites to WordPress. Daniel was recently named a winner of the SLA Diversity Leadership Development Program Award and received an SLA Presidential Citation for the Innovative Use of Technology for introducing twitter as a back channel at the SLA Annual Conference – now in its fourth year. He was voted “most organized” in high school and is also known as @yankeeincanada on twitter.

With PwC Canada since 2007, Claire Lysnes leads the firm’s Knowledge Management Operations Team and is accountable for all KM tools, technologies and resources, including Enterprise Search, KM Change Management & Adoption, Collaboration Tools, Controlled Vocabularies & Taxonomy, KM Metrics & Measurement, and the PwC Canada Portal (corporate intranet). A certified Project Management Professional, Claire is also a Human Factors International Certified Usability Analyst (CUA). Representing over 500 local members, Claire was the 2010 President of the Special Libraries Association, Toronto Chapter. Claire’s professional involvement also includes her past role as President of the Faculty of Information Alumni Association at the University of Toronto (2007-2009). She graduated from the Faculty in 2004 with her Master of Information Studies (MISt) degree.

Vendors:

Jennifer Burns is Collection Development Manager, Western Canada for YBP Library Services. Prior to joining YBP in September 2009, Jennifer worked as an Information Specialist at BMO Financial Group’s Institute for Learning, where she provided reference services in support of learning and development at the Bank of Montreal. She holds a Master’s degree in Information Studies from the University of Toronto and an Honours Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Concordia University. She is fluently bilingual in English and French. An active member of SLA since 2004, Jennifer is serving as President of the Toronto Chapter in 2011.

Mariam Hasan has worked in the publishing industry for over 12 years. Her experience is transatlantic and includes publishers and aggregators in Canada, the US and the UK. Notable roles include Vice President, Canada for Emerald Group Publishing; Journals Publisher for Macmillans Publishers; Librarian-Publisher for ProQuest, and Director, Business Development, eLibrary Canada. Mariam focuses on strategic planning, business development and e-product development. She holds an MLIS from McGill University.

Friday March 4

Government Environments:

Helen Katz has been the Manager of the Finance Library at the Ontario Ministry of Finance and the Ontario Ministry of Revenue since 1990.  Prior to joining the Ontario government, Helen worked for 15 years at CIBC.  She spent 12 years in the Information Centre providing research services to bank staff worldwide, followed by 3 years in the Investor Relations section of Corporate Treasury.  She is the Faculty Advisor for the SLA student group at the University of Toronto.  Helen currently chairs the Resource Sharing Committee of the Ontario Government Libraries Council and has twice been Chair of the Council.  She is one of the government representatives to Resource Ontario and she successfully managed government library contribution for the 2011 licencing consortia.  Since 1993, Helen has also been a member of the adjunct faculty of the Faculty of Information, University of Toronto where she teaches Business Information Resources.  Helen was an active member of the iSchool Alumni Association.  She managed the successful Job Shadowing Program from 2005 through 2008.

Yasmin Khan earned her MISt from the Faculty of Information in 2002. She has worked in the area of law libraries for several years. She worked at the Department of Justice, Ontario Regional Office for almost seven years as a Research Librarian, performing legal research. In 2008, she accepted the position of Head Librarian at the City of Toronto, Legal Services Library, and currently works there. Her responsibilities include overseeing research requests and knowledge management. She is working on upgrading to a new Library Portal, which will upgrade and expand library services to the municipal lawyers, encompassing a new library and precedent management system. Her professional interests include knowledge management, corporate use of social media, change management and public administration.

Karen Wierucki has been active in the Toronto library community since 1980, when she received her MLS from U of T. Her professional career began at a non-profit organization, the former Community Information Centre of Metropolitan Toronto (now Findhelp Information Services, running 211Toronto.ca). She then began a long-term relationship with the Ontario Legislative Library, starting with responsibility for their media monitoring service. A short foray into the Ontario government as Consultant, Community Information Centres with the Ministry of Culture and Recreation gave her insight into the Ontario public service, and allowed her to travel the province visiting client organizations. Karen moved back to the Legislative Library as a manager of client services and, since 2000, has been involved in the Library’s transition from  print to electronic information as Coordinator, Digital Resources. A firm believer in the value of associations, Karen has been involved with OLA, SLA, CASLIS – a past President) and the Faculty of Information Alumni Association (past President – twice!) Volunteer work outside of the library world has provided opportunities to hone skills that have proved useful back on the job.

Academic Environments:

Kathryn Klages is an Information Services Librarian at Seneca College. She primarily works on the Information Literacy Team at Seneca Libraries, but also provides reference services and performs collection development duties. She works most closely with students and faculty in the School of Health Sciences and the School of Community Services. Prior to working at Seneca College, Kathryn was the Project Coordinator for Knowledge Ontario’s virtual reference service askON, a part-time librarian at York University, and very briefly dabbled in Records Management in Dubai (though she’s not sure why). Kathryn graduated from the University of Western Ontario with her MLIS in 2006. Kathryn is serving her third year as Treasurer for OCULA and is in her third year of playing Dodgeball.

Michael Meth is the Director of the Li Koon Chun Finance Learning Centre, as well as the Business and Economics Librarian at the University of Toronto Mississauga.  In 2009, Michael came to academic libraries from the business world, and hasn’t looked back since.  At different points in his career, he has worked for the National Bank of Canada, Standard & Poor’s, and Korn Ferry International in a variety of analytical and research roles. In addition to his MISt from the University of Toronto, Michael holds a BBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University.

Berenica Vejvoda is the Data Librarian at Robarts Library at the University of Toronto. She started in this position in September 2010.  Prior to this, Berenica worked as the Data Librarian at the University of California, San Diego campus.  Berenica holds a BA in Psychology and a BSW from the University of British Columbia, an MISt from the University of Toronto, as well she completed five years of doctoral work at the UofT Faculty of Information.  As a Data Librarian Berenica works extensively to help students and faculty find and use numeric data (both statistics and microdata).  She also works to develop data discovery tools and manages data for preservation and re-use.  Berenica also actively collects data as part of her collection development responsibilities.

Friday March 18

Public Libraries:

Darcy Glidden has been a librarian since 1998.  His focus has been training, e-awareness, mentoring and putting out fires.  He is a strong proponent of the leap before you look™ style of librarianship and will tell anyone who will listen that libraries are too risk adverse.  He has been an online resources coordinator, a branch manager, a portal content migration manager and this month, he is the Manager of Reference, Non-fiction, LH&A and LINC at the Hamilton Public Library.  Along the way he has been President of OPLA and a Library Journal Mover and Shaker.

Moe Hosseini-Ara graduated from the University of Western Ontario’s School of Library and Information Science in 1996. He holds an honours BA in Anthropology from York University and is a motorcycle training instructor in his spare time. Moe has worked in libraries for over 25 years and has held positions as a page, circulation clerk, acquisitions clerk, children’s librarian, librarian supervisor and manager. He is currently Director of Service Excellence at Markham Public Library where he has led the organization through numerous innovative and transformational changes. Moe is a regular presenter at library conferences, speaking on RFID, customer service metrics and MPL’s award winning Customer Centred Classification system.

Todd Kyle is a public librarian known for his work on early literacy, school-library cooperation, and children’s literature.  A frequent contributor to library conferences and training, Todd has taught with the Education Institute and at Seneca College, writes regular reviews for Canadian Materials, and has served on a number of children’s literature award juries in both English and French.  A former President of the Canadian Association of Children’s Librarians, he was chosen as the OLA’s 2006 Children’s Librarian of the Year, and is currently a member of the board of directors of the Canadian Children’s Book Centre.  After a number of years on the management team at the Mississauga Library System, Todd has recently become CEO of the Newmarket Public Library, where he is leading the transformation of the library into a centre of the knowledge economy of the community.

Museums, Archives and Galleries:

Elizabeth Semmelhack is the Senior Curator of the Bata Shoe Museum as well as an author and independent scholar who works on the construction of gender in relation to dress.  In particular, her focus is on the history and social meaning of elevating footwear. She has curated numerous exhibitions and is the author of a number of books and essays including On a Pedestal: Renaissance Chopines and Baroque Heels (Bata Shoe Museum, 2009) and Heights of Fashion: A History of the Elevated Shoe (Periscope Press, 2008). Her forthcoming book Shoe (Reaktion Press, 2012) explores footwear and social identity in the 20th century.  In addition to her on going research on chopines and heeled footwear, Semmelhack is currently working on a major Roger Vivier retrospective.

Sylvia Frank is the Director of The Film Reference Library and Special Collections at TIFF Bell Lightbox; she is also Curator for the Canadian Film Gallery which shares space with the Library.  She has worked with TIFF since 1993.  Frank was curator of “Brave Film, Wild Nights” a poster exhibit created to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Toronto International Film Festival®, and developed the popular online version of Canadian Film Encyclopaedia, and under her guidance the Library’s Special Collections continue to grow including such Canadian luminaries as David Cronenberg and Atom Egoyan. Her most recent exhibition is “Mary Pickford and the Invention of the Movie Star” which opened in January 2010.  Prior to joining to The Film Reference Library, Frank was the Special Projects Librarian for Vaughan Public Libraries.  During her seven year tenure in that role, she was responsible for the planning and development of four libraries: Dufferin Clark, Ansley Grove, Maple and Bathurst Clark.  Frank obtained her Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Western Ontario and her first job took her to North Battleford, Saskatchewan where she was responsible for 17 public libraries within a regional library system.  Currently, Frank is serving her third term on the Executive Committee of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF), which works to preserve the world’s film heritage through its various programmes, educational projects.

Friday March 25

Self Employed Information Professionals:

Gillian Clinton, Aero. Eng. Tech., B.A., MISt., is the principal of Clinton Research, a Toronto-based information research firm. As an independent information researcher for almost 20 years with experience in engineering, law, corporate, academic, document and reference librarianship, Ms. Clinton provides high quality information services to academics, authors, government organizations and private corporations alike.  Several of her bibliographies, on Civil Society, Information Management and Environmental Reform, have been published both online and in academic texts.  With a strong reputation for analyzing reports and statistical data, and locating missing documents, Clinton Research has been providing competitive intelligence, background research, literature reviews and editorial services to Canadian and international clients for almost 20 years.  Gillian is actively involved in a number of professional associations and can’t imagine actually having to retire some day.

Connie Crosby is a consultant specializing in information management, knowledge management, and social media. Before founding Crosby Group Consulting in 2008, Connie was a law librarian, most recently working as library manager for 10 years in the Toronto law firm WeirFoulds. She has served as President of the Toronto Association of Law Libraries and on the Executive Board of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries.  Connie is a founding director and contributor for the prominent co-operative law blog Slaw.ca and also writes for her own blog http://conniecrosby.blogspot.com. Connie is an instructor with the iSchool Institute at the Faculty of Information, University of Toronto, teaching continuing education courses on social networking tools. Her book Effective Blogging for Libraries is part of the Tech Set series from Neal-Schuman Publishers that was released earlier this year. She is also a co-organizer of the local meetup group Knowledge Workers: Methods which has a monthly speaker talking about knowledge management-related subjects. And she is also a lead organizer for PodCamp Toronto, Canada’s largest social media event, held each year at Ryerson University in February. She also speaks frequently to law, library and knowledge management communities on topics such as collaboration, change management, and social media.  Connie has a BA and MA in English Literature from the University of Guelph and an MLS from the University of Toronto. She recently completed the Information Management Certificate at the iSchool Institute.

Ulla de Stricker is a well known figure in the North American communities of information specialists, having been active in associations and as a writer, speaker, and seminar leader.  A respected knowledge management consultant, she is known outside her circle of clients as a tireless supporter of colleagues, offering countless students and career changers a gratis review of their resumes.  Ulla advocates being active in professional associations and walks the talk as an active member of the Toronto Chapter of SLA and of the Association of Independent Information Professionals; she has just been elected for a three year term to SLA’s  Board of Directors.  Ulla elaborates on the benefits of association activity in her latest book (with Jill Hurst-Wahl), The Information and Knowledge Professional’s Career Handbook: Define and Create Your Success (Chandos Woodhead Publishing, UK – distributed in North America by Neal-Schuman, available on Amazon). See www.destricker.com for Ulla’s blog, articles, and recorded seminars.

Maria Phipps founded Phipps & Associates in 1980. The company’s initial offerings included an online brokerage, library cataloguing services, library analysis and computer technology consulting services for libraries. In 1983 Phipps became the Canadian distributor for InMagic’s software and developed a consulting practice providing information solutions using this flexible tool which primarily provided library automation solutions to corporate libraries. Corporate library consulting lead to knowledge and information consulting. Since 2007 Phipps has focused heavily on the archival market and the Canadian independent school archival market providing a variety of consulting services to this group.

Non-Profit Environments:

Loren Fantin is the Project Manager for Our Ontario, a Knowledge Ontario project that focuses on Ontarians discovering and sharing our culture, our history and our stories in the networked world. Our Ontario’s innovative discovery portal, along with other digitization services, is now in the third year of production – Loren has been a strong project evangelist from conception to its current mainstream acceptance and usage. Her prior professional experience has been focused in the archival sector.  Notably, she worked with the Archives Association of Ontario in developing and managing ARCHEION, Ontario’s archival information network, as ARCHEION Coordinator.  Loren is a graduate of the University of Toronto with a Masters in Library and Information Science, and returned to the faculty as an Adjunct Professor, teaching courses in online descriptive tools. She has served on the Technical Committee for Alouette Canada (now Canadiana) and is committed to sustainable digitization initiatives that lead to greater access to our collections by end-users.   Her passion is for the democratic possibilities of discovery – harnessing new technologies in the friendliest, clearest, and most exciting ways.

As Project Manager for Ask Ontario (Knowledge Ontario) Virginia Roy is one of the architects behind Ontario’s increasingly popular provincial virtual reference service – askON. Prior to joining Knowledge Ontario in 2006 Virginia was the Executive Director of the eContent Institute and producer of the Information Highways Conference and magazine. Her one and only true “library” job was at the Royal Bank of Canada in 1989 where she was fortunate to work for Jane Dysart. Between 1991 and 2002 she was Director of Marketing for Faxon Canada. Virginia holds a BA (Hon) in History from UWO, an MLS from the University of Toronto and a Marketing Degree from Ryerson and is interested in social entrepreneurship and how non-profits employ lessons learned from the corporate world to deliver innovation, achieve service excellence and build social capital.

Laura Warner graduated with her MLIS and MPA degrees from Dalhousie University in 2007. Soon after that she relocated to Toronto, where she launched her career in the information profession. Since then, she has held positions as a Reference Librarian with the CBC Reference Library, a Business and Economics Librarian with Wilfrid Laurier University Library and currently holds the position of Music Librarian with the CBC Music Library. Laura has also been actively volunteering with the SLA since 2008 when she took on the role of New Information Professionals Program Coordinator and now holds the position of President-Elect for the Toronto Chapter. Outside the library world, her interests involve reading, cycling, traveling, freelance writing, and (above all) playing with her two-year-old daughter.

David Whelan is a lawyer and librarian who has worked in a variety of legal information environments.  Following law school, David was head of computing for the SMU School of Law Underwood Law Library, in Dallas, Texas.  He was subsequently the director of the American Bar Association’s Legal Technology Resource Center, where he was involved in practice technology and Web information projects.  David left the ABA to join the Cincinnati Law Library Association, a county subscription law library in Ohio.  As library director, David shifted the library’s services to integrate online, remote access legal research for the library’s subscribers.  He joined the Law Society of Upper Canada as Manager, Legal Information in 2007 and is responsible for the Great Library and Corporate Records and Archives.  He has lectured on network technology, information systems, Web design, and legal research as an adjunct professor at the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science, the University of North Texas, and at the University of Northern Kentucky College of Law.

Friday April 1

The Value of Professional Associations:

Jennifer Burns is Collection Development Manager, Western Canada for YBP Library Services. Prior to joining YBP in September 2009, Jennifer worked as an Information Specialist at BMO Financial Group’s Institute for Learning, where she provided reference services in support of learning and development at the Bank of Montreal. She holds a Master’s degree in Information Studies from the University of Toronto and an Honours Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Concordia University. She is fluently bilingual in English and French. An active member of SLA since 2004, Jennifer is serving as President of the Toronto Chapter in 2011.

Ulla de Stricker is a well known figure in the North American communities of information specialists, having been active in associations and as a writer, speaker, and seminar leader.  A respected knowledge management consultant, she is known outside her circle of clients as a tireless supporter of colleagues, offering countless students and career changers a gratis review of their resumes.  Ulla advocates being active in professional associations and walks the talk as an active member of the Toronto Chapter of SLA and of the Association of Independent Information Professionals; she has just been elected for a three year term to SLA’s  Board of Directors.  Ulla elaborates on the benefits of association activity in her latest book (with Jill Hurst-Wahl), The Information and Knowledge Professional’s Career Handbook: Define and Create Your Success (Chandos Woodhead Publishing, UK – distributed in North America by Neal-Schuman, available on Amazon). See www.destricker.com for Ulla’s blog, articles, and recorded seminars.

Amy Dietrich has been a Research Consultant at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP since 2006.  In this role, she is responsible for conducting legal and business intelligence research for the firm’s attorneys across its five Canadian offices and seven international offices.  Amy obtained her MLIS from Dalhousie University’s School of Information Management in 2006 and also holds a B.A. (Hons) from Carleton University in Law and Political Science.  She recently completed a Certificate in Competitive Intelligence and Benchmarking Analysis from Schulich School of Business.  Amy has been active with the Toronto Association of Law Libraries since 2007 when she joined the Executive as Treasurer.  She is currently serving as the Association’s President.

Jonathan Lofft was educated at Trinity College, Toronto and hold a MISt from the iSchool@Toronto. He serves as president of the Toronto Area Archivists’ Group (TAAG) and on the Professional Development Committee of the Archives Association of Ontario. He is currently the archivist of Royal St. George’s College and a graduate theology student at an Anglican seminary at U of T.

Shelagh Paterson began her current role as Executive Director, OLA, in 2008. Along with a staff and volunteer team, she is responsible for providing professional development, networking, and other program opportunities for more than 5,000 members who work in or with the library sector. OLA signature events include the annual Super Conference and the Forest of Reading® Festival of Trees.  Shelagh began her library career at the CNIB Library, after graduating with a Master of Library and Information Science at the University of Western Ontario in 1997. In her role as Director, Advocacy Sales and Marketing, she was responsible for national programs and advocacy efforts to support accessible library services for people with print disabilities.  Through her professional work, Shelagh has been involved in projects with CIDA, Microsoft Canada, Canada Council for the Arts, Library and Archives Canada, IFLA, the Canadian Library Association, and is currently on the board of Knowledge Ontario.

Carol Radford-Grant has been the Manager, Records and Archives Department of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) since 2006.  Carol obtained her BA in Honours English and Philosophy from The University of Western Ontario and MISt in Archives from the University of Toronto.  Prior to joining the CPSO, Carol worked in a variety of records and archives positions for the Archives of Ontario, the Ontario College of Teachers, Algonquin College, the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa Archives, and the National Archives of Canada.  She has volunteered for the Archives Association of Ontario in a variety of roles and currently serving on the Board of Directors as President.

Robyn Stockand refers to librarianship as a vocational calling which gives you an idea of how she feels about this profession.  Her role as Coordinator of the National Bank Financial Corporate Library in Toronto provides her with opportunities to pursue her passion for research while also sharing her knowledge with colleagues in the library and in the organization as a whole.  She has been an active member of Canadian Library Association since her first semester of library school, and has never looked back. Over the years she has taken on a number of roles within the CLA, and is currently completing her extended term as CASLIS President and member of the CLA Executive Council.  She is also a member of the CLA Future Committee which has undertaken the development of a restructuring plan for the Association.

Friday April 8

Leadership Panel – Part 1:

Stephen Abram, MLS, is Past-President 2008 of SLA and the past-President of the Ontario and the Canadian Library Associations. He is the Vice President for Strategic Partnerships and Markets for Cengage Learning (Gale).  He was Vice President Innovation for SirsiDynix and Chief Strategist for the SirsiDynix Institute. He was Publisher Electronic Information at Thomson after managing several libraries. Stephen was listed by Library Journal as one of the top 50 people influencing the future of libraries. He has received numerous honours and speaks regularly internationally. His columns and articles appear in Information Outlook and Multimedia and Internet @ Schools, OneSource, Feliciter, Access, as well writing for Library Journal. He is the author of ALA Editions’ bestselling Out Front with Stephen Abram. His blog, Stephen’s Lighthouse, is a popular blog in the library sector.

Sam Coghlan – CEO, Stratford Public Library

Wendy Newman has an extensive background in library leadership and public policy advocacy in Canada. A graduate of Queen’s University (B.A.) and the University of Toronto (B.L.S., M.L.S.), she has served in university, education, public, and special libraries and as a library educator and consultant. She is a former President of the Canadian Library Association and the Canadian Association of Public Libraries, and was a three-time Mentor at the Northern Exposure to Leadership Institute. She was CEO of the Brantford Public Library and is currently Senior Fellow at the Faculty of Information, University of Toronto, teaching in the Master of Information degree program and connecting  the iSchool community with information professionals, associations, and employers.  Her consulting work on strategic issues in libraries includes studies and reports for Library and Archives Canada, the Provincial and Territorial Library Directors Council, the Ontario Ministry of Culture, and the Symposium: Libraries 2020.  She is also a frequent speaker, writer, advocate, and consultant on library issues.  Wendy Newman is a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Commemorative Medal for community service, the University of Toronto’s Alumni Jubilee Award, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Ontario Public Library Association, the CLA/Ken Haycock Award for Promoting Librarianship, the Canadian Library Association’s Outstanding Service to Librarianship award, and the OLA President’s award for exceptional Achievement.

Gordon Vala-Webb is National Director of Knowledge Management for PwC Canada. He has over ten years experience as a knowledge management and enterprise social-media strategist and implementer in both the private and public sectors. As a thought leader he is frequently asked to speak at conferences and other events in both North America and Europe. Teams he has led have been recognized through awards such as the NN/g Top Ten Government Intranets and the IIR Best Portal, Content and Collaboration Excellence Award. He has twenty years of experience leading change at every level from Board to manager. Gordon has a Masters in Management Science (Technology) from the Faculty of Engineering, University of Waterloo and is certified as a Human Capital Strategist (HCI). His LinkedIn profile can be viewed at http://ca.linkedin.com/in/gordonvalawebb.

Vicki Whitmell has been aware of the importance of leadership abilities and skills since taking her first leadership role in a school group in the 1970s. She has always looked for leaders to emulate and many of her career moves as a librarian have been made seeking leadership role models. This has taken her to academia, law firms, a professional association and a government position. Currently Vicki is Executive Director of the Information and Technology Services Division at the Legislative Assembly of Ontario where she has the responsibility for the Legislative Library, the Legislative Research Service, the IT department and the Information Management and Information Records Office. She is also the organizer of the Library Leaders Institute, a program that highlights the importance of personal development and growth as a way to strengthen and understand our own roles as leaders.

Friday April 15

Leadership Panel – Part 2:

Prior to founding Dysart & Jones in 1992, Jane Dysart spent seventeen years as Manager, Information Resources, Royal Bank of Canada. Since then she has created and developed programs (content and speakers) for over 50 major conference events in Canada, the US and the UK.  She is currently the program director for Internet Librarian 2010, webcom Toronto 2010, KMWorld 2010, and Computers in Libraries 2011.  With her business partner, Rebecca Jones, and associates, Jane has created and participated in hundreds of one or two day learning and leadership events for many different associations, universities, companies, libraries, and other organizations.  Jane is a Past-President of the Special Libraries Association and recipient of that organization’s John Cotton Dana Award. She is a graduate of the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Library and Information Science (now the iSchool), has served on their advisory council, taught many workshops and courses, and is the recipient of their Alumni Jubilee Award. She is currently a member of the San Jose State University School of Library and Information Science Advisory Council and the Information Officer of IFLA’s Knowledge Management Standing Committee.

Rebecca Jones is managing partner with Dysart & Jones Associates, a consulting firm specializing in strategic planning, organizational development and change processes for libraries and information-intensive organizations. She is the former director of The Professional Learning Centre at University of Toronto’s Faculty of Information Studies, and is now Chair of the Advisory Board as well as an instructor. Rebecca has an extensive background as a facilitator for a broad range of organizations in academic, public and corporate sectors helping them with organizational design, roles and responsibilities, decision-making, problem-solving, conflict management, planning and teamwork. She is recognized for her ability to design consultative, participatory sessions that result in workable solutions in a short time frame.  Graduating with her MLS from University of Toronto, Rebecca first worked at the Royal Bank of Canada for Jane Dysart; Jane is an SLA Fellow and Past-President of SLA.  Rebecca then moved to Imperial Oil Ltd. where she held managerial positions in information resources, human resources and technology training.  At Imperial Rebecca was fortunate to help introduce the first self-managing teams and be trained in facilitation.  Little did she realize that this would lead her to work again with Jane Dysart, this time as a business partner.  Always interested in the potential and value of information professionals, Rebecca has written and spoken on the profession’s competencies; she was again so fortunate to work with an incredible team on SLA’s 21st Century Competencies in Action for which she received SLA’s Leadership Award. She has served on the SLA Nominating Committee, as LMD Secretary and is currently an Alignment Ambassador for Toronto Chapter. She delights in her family, her many SLA friends, mentoring librarians at various stages of their careers, and in volunteering for many professional and community initiatives.

Mary Ann Mavrinac – Chief Librarian, University of Toronto at Mississauga

 

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