Dear Colleagues,
Welcome to the summer 2014 edition of The Courier. From all of us on the executive board, I hope you have (or have already started having) a lovely summer.
The SLA 2014 Annual Conference & INFO-EXPO in Vancouver took place just a few weeks ago, and we had over 30 attendees from SLA Toronto. The Vancouver weather was beautiful, but it couldn’t distract us completely from the fantastic sessions offered at conference, with topics covering all areas of the profession. Bernadette and I attended business meetings at conference, to not only stay up-to-date on headquarters news, but also to connect with our counterparts in other chapters and divisions to learn all about what is happening in SLA.
We also had the opportunity to meet the candidates up for positions on the SLA Board, with the election taking place this fall. All members should be sure to vote when the polls open in September, and please do read about each of the candidates on the SLA Board of Directors Elections page. I would be remiss to forget a special mention for one nominee, SLA Toronto’s Kim Silk, who you will see is listed as a candidate for Chapter Cabinet Chair-Elect. Many of you will already know how talented and professional she is, and that she would be a very valuable addition to the board of directors. Don’t forget to vote, to be sure your voice is heard!
Coming up this fall, we will continue to offer first-rate events and professional development sessions. We’ll also start planning in earnest for next year’s 75th anniversary, and begin planning for sessions and others events in 2015. On Wednesday, August 27th 2014, we’ll have our annual summer social, so keep an eye on the SLA Toronto website and listserv for more details. If you have a suggestion for an event or activity later in the fall or for 2015, please contact our Programming Directors, Patricia Aspinwall and Kejo Buchanan.
Finally, for those subscribed to our Toronto listserv, you will have noticed the messages and information that have come out regarding Canada’s Anti-Spam Law or CASL. SLA Toronto is not exempt from this law, which prohibits sending unwanted messages (or spam) electronically. To ensure we are complying with CASL, we have requested consent to keep members and other subscribers on our listserv, and we have also reached out to our current partners to ensure we can continue contacting them about potential events and partnerships. I appreciate everyone’s cooperation with this process. In particular, I want to thank Laura Warner, our current Partner Relations director and past president, who has spearheaded this work and proven herself vital to the board yet again.
If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to contact me or any other board members for assistance. We would welcome your thoughts, event ideas, and contributions, as always.
Have a great summer, and I hope to see you in August at the summer social!
—Erin McDonald
SLA Toronto’s President