APLA 2019

Gander Flybrary
The airport has partnered with Newfoundland and Labrador Public Libraries to unveil a small "Flybrary" — a give-a-book, take-a-book trolley inside the airport's departures area.

Subject Coordinator: a new role to support team-based research services
Carleton University’s MacOdrum Library underwent a Public Services Review in 2016-18 to ensure quality, timely and focused public services to the users. The Review found the current liaison service model, which included collection development, reference/research help, and library instruction duties, was not sustainable as staff were unable to perform duties consistently throughout the academic year. A reorganization of some public service departments was recommended resulting in an amalgamation of two departments (Reference and MADGIC) into a single department (RSS) with a new service model and organizational structure. The new organizational structure would emphasis a team-oriented approach, allowing for a more flexible and adaptable liaison. 
Three Subject Coordinator (SC) are responsible for coordination of activities of the Subject Team, which includes facilitating knowledge sharing and collaborative group work as well as setting Team objectives and establishing procedures. Good flow of internal and external communication is key in this role. Duties related to human resources management for the Subject Team are not part of their responsibilities. The SC also collaborates with Collection librarians (also new roles in RSS) and Functional librarians to ensure that the teaching, learning and research needs of Carleton faculty and students are understood and met. Last of all, the SC plays an integral part of the planning and implementation of strategies to enhance departmental services.
This presentation will discuss the opportunities and challenges the three SCs have encountered since the implementation of the new structure, including how they assess the successes and areas for improvement.





Quietly Ahead of the Curve – An Exultation/Exhortation of Atlantic Libraries
The library systems in Atlantic Canada – public and academic – have quietly been at the forefront of some trends now considered current in libraries in the rest of Canada. From patron offerings, to administration, to the very structure of the library system, things have been happening in the eastern provinces long before they reach the rest of Canada.
Knowing about these, especially in the context of current trends in the fields, helped me during my recent degree at the University of Toronto, and led to my surprise at the lack of information about them outside of the Atlantic Region. This lightning talk will serve in part as an exultation of some of the things Atlantic Libraries have had on the go; in part as a catalyst to promote and publish about our forefront work in librarianship; and in part as a means of prompting further discussion about the many new and interesting ways libraries and librarians in the region are meeting the internal and external challenges presented within the profession, and to get the word out.

Red Alert: Surviving technical change
Change is usually for the better and we often spend countless hours preparing for change. What if you’re not expecting change? Even with planning, things can go wrong. What do we do when the perfect storm hits? How do we make the best of a bad situation? This session will review lessons learned from a major technical failure and share steps we can all take to be better prepared for times when technical change is thrust upon us.

It Came from the Second Floor: Rethinking our Approach to Teen Volunteers
Working in teen services affords the unique privilege of meeting youth from every possible background: Different income levels and world views, those from newcomer, indigenous or LGBTQ+ communities, teens handling issues of mental health, addiction, trauma, and many other experiences. But as the depth of service we provide expands, our libraries struggle to reorganize in a way that meets the demand of our communities. We essentially become victims of our own success: As teens start pouring in the door, it’s increasingly challenging to foster an environment where all teens feel welcome, represented, and have a voice in the library.
In the four years since it opened, our Central branch saw a surge in popularity, and this was a perfect opportunity to re-think the future of volunteering from the ground up. Instead of staff struggling to keep up with what makes a good teen space in the library, teen volunteers were given agency to shape it themselves. The program exploded, with Central getting up to 70 applicants at a time. A particular favorite became our youth-led podcast, It Came from the Second Floor. The podcast has hosted teen voices on everything from immigrating to Canada to indigenous issues to interviewing a bestselling author and everything in between. It is created, produced, recorded and edited at the library entirely by youth volunteers.
This presentation will focus on the conception and development of the podcast, and how any library can use its volunteer program to give teens ownership of their library.