Ontario Library Association Research Articles

Happy Spring Deakin Readers!

Hello!
 As this issue quickly follows our last there are only a few news items to share with you.
 The Forest of Reading / Festival of Trees 2019 which is a national festival, held its largest event in Toronto from May 14 to 16. Students read a variety of Canadian children’s books throughout the year and then vote on their favourite book. Awards are then granted for books in a variety of different categories. The Canadian Children’s Book Centre has a lovely summary article about the festival that includes a lengthy list of all the winners. You can also see all the nominees for the various awards on the Ontario Library Association website.
 The Vancouver Children's Literature Roundtable (VCLR) has announced it’s Information Book Award Shortlist. It includes eight juvenile non-fiction titles. Voting for winners continues into the fall and the winner will be announced in November. 
 The Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s Annual General Meeting will be taking place on Wednesday, June 5, 2019 at 6:00 pm. CCBC members and the general public are welcome to attend: Room 224, Northern District Library / 40 Orchard View Blvd. / Toronto, Ontario M4R 1B9
 On a final note, the Children’s book author Judith Kerr passed away earlier this month. Kerr was known for her book The Tiger that Came to Tea. The New York Times recently published an obituary tribute to Kerr.
 Best wishes for a wonderful summer!
 Hanne

Lots of Exciting Winter News!

Greetings everyone! Well it seems winter weather has finally descended on much of Alberta. Before spring arrives there is still time to curl up under a quilt with some good books. In this issue’s news there are a number of new award winners and finalists you can look up to keep you occupied on snow days. There are also a number of events happening in late winter to early spring that you can put in your calendar to look forward to.2017 TD Canadian Children’s Literature AwardIn November the winner and finalists for the 2017 TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award were announced. Jan Thornhill won the children’s book award with her book The Tragic Tale of the Great Auk. The book is a nonfiction picture book about the causes behind the North Atlantic Ocean bird's extinction in 1844. Ontario Library Association Forest of Reading AwardsFinalists for the OLA Forest of Reading Awards were announced in October of 2017.The competition is currently in process and voting concludes in April 2018.The Vancouver Children’s Literature RoundtableThe Vancouver Children’s Literature Roundtable (VCLR) awarded the 2017 Information Book Award to Jan Thornhill for The Tragic Tale of the Great Auk. Rocky Mountain Book Award NomineesNominees are in for the the Rocky Mountain Book Awards, the Albertan reader’s choice book award for grades 4 to 7. The 2017 Gold Medal Award was awarded to Svetlana Chmakova, author of the graphic novel Awkward. Serendipity 2018The Vancouver Children’s Literature Roundtable (VCLR) is hosting a meeting on March 3, 2018 at UBC Robson Square; the theme is Serendipity: Beasts, birds, and words: The poetics of children’s books. The event features several authors, including Isabelle Arsenault, Robert Heidbreder, Kyo Maclear, Tiffany Stone, and Frédéric Gauthier of Les Éditions de la Pastèque. Please visit the VCLR website for full details. Freedom to Read Week: February 25 to March 3, 2018Freedom to Read Week promotes advocacy against censorship across Canada. Events are being held across Canada, some include children’s and young adult authors whose work has been challenged. On February 28, 2018 from 1:00-2:00pm Jillian Tamaki will be speaking at the Toronto Public Library to discuss her graphic novel This One Summer, which was considered controversial at its publication in 2016 for LGBT characters, drug use, and mature content. A Celebration of Bilingual Books and Latinx CommunitiesOn March 3, 2018 in New York City the Bank Street Center for Children's Literature is hosting a Spring Mini-Conference. The keynote speaker is Duncan Tonatiuh.2018 Children’s & Teen Choice Book AwardsEvery Child a Reader Announces the Finalists for the 11th Annual Children’s & Teen Choice Book Awards. Launched in 2008, these are the only national book awards voted on only by kids and teens. Voting begins March 1 and runs through May 6.Children's Book Week April 30 - May 6, 2018Children’s Book Week will celebrate its 99th anniversary in May 2018. Established in 1919, it is the longest-running national literacy initiative in the US. You can learn more about events and how to host one through Every Child a Reader or the Children’s Book Center website. This year’s poster art can be downloaded here.Wishing you happy and warm reading for the winter!Hanne PearceCommunications Editor

Noni Speaks up by H. Hartt-Sussman

Hartt-Sussman, Heather. Noni speaks up. Tundra Books, 2016.Nominated for the Ontario Library Association’s Blue Spruce Award, Noni speaks up is the third book in the Noni series by Toronto-based children’s picture book author, Heather Hartt-Sussman, and acclaimed illustrator Geneviève Côté.When Noni sees Hector being bullied by other kids at school, and is encouraged by her friends to join in, she is unable to speak up; Noni is paralyzed by fear of making enemies if she stands up for her schoolmate. Noni feels bad for not defending Hector, but is uncertain about what to do.During a restless night, she worries about what might happen if she doesn’t take her friends’ side. She considers the things Hector is being bullied about. As Noni reflects on her relationships with her friends, she notices that they sometimes say and do things to her that are hurtful.When Noni goes to school the next day, she sees Hector being bullied again and experiences the same fear and inability to speak. But when her friend laughs at Hector’s misfortune, Noni has had enough and screws up the courage to defend Hector. Speaking out stops her friend laughing, and Noni and a grateful Hector actively ignore the bully’s taunting, demonstrating another strategy for dealing with bullying.Noni speaks up presents a realistic scenario and provides accurate, helpful information for dealing with bullying, in an empathic and reassuring manner. Young readers will relate to the events in the story, and the Noni models positive behaviour that children experiencing a similar issue could put into practice. This book meets the Juvenile Health Fiction Checklist criteria (described in the October 2014 issue of the Deakin Review).Readers who enjoy Noni speaks up can re-connect with Noni in Hartt-Sussman’s other books, Noni is nervous and Noni says no.Recommended: 3 out of 4 starsReviewer: Maria TanMaria is a sessional instructor at the University of Alberta and a former editorial team member of the Deakin Review. She is the co-author, with Sandy Campbell, of the Children’s Health Fiction Checklist, described in the October 2014 Special Issue of the Deakin Review (Vol. 4, No. 2) https://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/deakinreview/article/view/23321.

News and Announcements

News and Announcements

Visible Minority Librarians of Canada at Ontario Library Association Super Conference, 2013

This article is based on the panel presentation offered at the Ontario Library Association Super Conference in January 2013. Six of the ten founding members of Visible Minority Librarians of Canada (ViMLoC) Network were able to attend and offer a panel presentation on the challenges faced by visible minority librarians. Topics varied from finding the right job, education, lack of financial support, upgrading skills, lack of mentorship opportunities, and socialization at work. Although Canada has always been a land of immigrants, the social makeup of immigration has shifted from Eastern Europe to the Middle East, Africa and Asia. There is an influx of immigrants to historically not so popular destinations such as Saskatoon and Winnipeg. Are there more visible minority librarians in Canada as a result? If not, will there be room for them? Based on feedback received at this presentation, ViMLoC will focus on two major projects: gathering statistics on the number of visible minority librarians working for Canadian institutions, and creating a mentorship program.

Awards, Announcements, and News

On the September 19th, 2013 edition of CBC radio’s “Q”, the opening essay by guest host Kevin Sylvester (himself a “kid’s book” writer) focused on why “kiddy litter” gets such short shrift in Canada compared to other countries. He notes that Winnipeg-born, Toronto-trained Jon Klassen won 2 Caldecott medals this year for “This is not my hat” and “Extra yarn.” Kevin asks, “where is our ‘Canada Reads’ for kids?” and suggests we go to cbc.ca/books and click on “kids.” Hear Kevin’s 2-minute essay (http://www.cbc.ca/q/popupaudio.html?clipIds=2407373814)or read it here and find out what kid’s books he writes to boot: (http://kevinarts.blogspot.ca/2013/09/my-q-opening-essay.html)Speaking of children’s book awards, you might have heard of the Silver Birch awards from the Ontario Library Association that have been around for 20 years. But did you know there was a whole “forest of reading” intended to recognize Canadian authors and books, “contribute to the financial stability of the Canadian publish industry, and provide a literacy enhancement tool? Other tree awards include the Blue Spruce, Red Maple, White Pine, Evergreen, Golden Oak, Tamarac, and Peuplier. This would be a great time to find out more because the 2014 nominees are out with an award presentation planned for May 14, 2014. https://www.accessola.org/OLAWEB/Forest_of_Reading/Welcome/OLAWEB/Forest_of_Reading/Welcome.aspx or www.accessola.com/forestAnother group working to increase the culture of reading in Canada is the National Reading Campaign. They have a new website and media package here: http://www.nationalreadingcampaign.ca/. They gather lots of interesting information including their National Reading Plan which starts, “Reading is essential to the quality of our lives and to our ability to take our place as citizens in a democracy.” There is “research” section devoted to studies about the benefits of reading. Among the various “facts” highlighted for the website: “Reading is 68% better at reducing stress than listening to music, 100% more effective than drinking a cup of tea, and 700% better than playing video games”If you also create children’s literature, you might be interested in CANSCAIP’s Packaging Your Imagination Conference on November 16, 2013 in Toronto. From their website the “Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators & Performers (CANSCAIP) presents a day of workshops focused on writing, illustrating & performing for children. Whether you are a beginner, a seasoned professional or somewhere in-between, PYI gives you the opportunity to improve your craft, expand your network of industry professionals, and meet and learn from some of the biggest names in the industry.” http://www.nationalreadingcampaign.ca/events/canscaips-packaging-your-imagination-conference/Finally, the CCBC (Canadian Children’s Book Centre) is another good way to keep up with what’s going on in the ever-expanding (and hard to keep track of) world of Children’s literature especially in Canada. http://www.bookcentre.ca/Here’s to the autumn trees (and squirrels) reminding us to stock up on great books to curl up with when we’re not out enjoying all that winter has to offer.David Sulz, Communications Editor

Get Published! Straight Talk from the Editors at <i>Partnership</i>

This paper covers the origin, history and scope of Partnership: The Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research, the editorial process and timeframes, research and scholarship for librarians, the peer review process, the components of a good research article, and practical tips on what editors look for in a manuscript submission with examples from Partnership journal. It is intended for anyone writing a research article but should be particularly helpful to first-time authors. The paper was first given as a presentation at Ontario Library Association Super Conference on January 31, 2013.

Crush.candy.corpse: What really happened in the forty-first hour? by S. McNicoll

McNicoll, Sylvia. crush.candy.corpse: What really happened in the forty-first hour? Toronto: James Lorimer & Co. Ltd, 2012. Print. Sunny is sixteen and is accused of the manslaughter of a woman with Alzheimer’s whom she had met as a volunteer at a senior’s home. Sunny, named so by her own grandmother, has two pink strips in the front of her hair and an attitude that is not appreciated by the supervisor at Paradise Manor. Sunny's attitude extends to her choice of boyfriend and to ignoring her parents’ request that she not see him after they are caught shoplifting. Sunny's immigrant parents work long hours managing a condo. Occasionally, Sunny helps out at the condo office but she would prefer to work at Salon Teo as a hairdresser. Sunny and her family are also dealing with her mother’s ongoing treatment of a cancer. These issues create the path that leads Sunny to her arrest for manslaughter. Sunny is hurt and frightened; she is confused and defiant as she begins her compulsory forty volunteer hours in order to graduate from high school. Sunny is a realistic and believable protagonist experiencing authentic events and responding with genuine reactions. As we review each visit to Paradise Manor in Sunny’s required English journal and through the events of the trial, we witness the changes that many teens experience as they mature. Her relationships with the victim’s grandson, the victim and the other residents at the Manor change as she progresses through her forty hour sentence. Sunny’s frank opinions, spontaneous reactions and often caring participation in Manor bingo, birthday parties and funerals show us the true nature of her being. Sunny develops a crush and becomes close to a fellow volunteer whose grandmother is a resident at Paradise Manor. This relationship hovers around her while she volunteers and helps her come to terms with the loss of her own grandmother and creates the dilemma of choosing between the boy at the manor and the one she is secretly dating. Some readers like myself may hesitate to select a book about an Alzheimer’s ward, but this reasoning will be unfounded, even when the issue of euthanasia intrudes on the experiences of the two young volunteers. The subject is dealt with honestly and with a genuine understanding of the patients, the families and the caregivers. My own experience with the disease rang true in this story. Even young readers without the experience of living with Alzheimer's disease can relate to and understand Sunny's experiences at Paradise Manor. Without burdening the reader with Canadian justice system legal jargon and procedure, we experience the trial as an equal companion to Sunny's narrative and her journal entries. McNicoll is the author of twenty-seven books and five award-winning titles including Bringing up Beauty. crush.candy.corpse is nominated for the Ontario Library Association Red Maple Award 2013. Highly Recommended: 4 out of 4 stars Reviewer: Leslie Holwerda Leslie Holwerda is a teacher-librarian/literacy coach at Lougheed Middle School in Brampton Ontario. She has been a teacher-librarian for ten years and loves reading, selecting and recommending books for readers. She is especially interested in encouraging reluctant readers to pick up and read books no matter the genre, topic or format. The opportunity to motivate readers with e-books and reading apps in the school library is an exciting prospect.

‘I'm spinning down the streets/of my own runaway dream’: A Conversation with Wendy Phillips

This interview explores Wendy Phillips' writing process for her first published book Fishtailing. Drawing on many of Phillips' own experiences as a teacher-librarian, the novel tells the story of four teenagers, their English teacher, and a guidance counsellor, and the tragedy that unfolds when one of the teenagers plays a game which banks on her colleagues' very real desires. Fishtailing has won the 2010 Governor General's Literary Award for Children's Literature—Text, was named a finalist of the Ontario Library Association's White Pine Young Readers Choice Award, and was shortlisted for the Saskatchewan Book Award for Publishing.

Trends In Academic Content for Mobile Devices [video

This presentation by Sarah Forbes and Dan D'Agostino was given at the Ontario Library Association's Super Conference in Toronto, Ontario, on February 3, 2012. Session Abstract from the Super Conference Program: As ownership of mobile devices continues to proliferate, libraries are finding it difficult to provide academic content that works well in the mobile world. Discover how various e-book and e-journal formats can be made to work with mobile devices of all kinds, and will explore the next generation of digital content designed for mobile devices – new formats that may re-invent how information is used by readers. Partnership would like to thank the authors and the Ontario Library Association for their generous permission to publish an Open Access version of this conference session. This is one of several Super Conference 2012 video presentations available for purchase from Super Conference: the Virtual Experience - http://ola.scholarlab.ca/.

Libraries on the Tipping Point of Open Access

A presentation given at the Ontario Library Association Super Conference in Toronto, Ontario, on February 4, 2011.

Exemplary public library branch managers: their characteristics and effectiveness

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to revisit a study that identifies the characteristics that contribute to perceptions by local politicians, library board members, library leaders and colleagues of what makes a public library branch manager “exemplary”.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is an in‐depth study that draws upon a survey questionnaire and 120 interviews with multiple stakeholders, supervisors, peers and branch managers from two large public library systems in the Greater Vancouver (British Columbia, Canada) area and peer members of the Ontario (Canada) Library Association. Branch managers also completed the Myers‐Briggs Type Indicator assessment instrument for personality type and temperament profiling.FindingsSurvey results collectively described the exemplary branch manager as a flexible individual with best‐practice management know‐how and the emotional intelligence needed to motivate and bring others along. The exemplary branch manager has a strong tendency toward extraverted behaviors.Practical implicationsKnowledge can be leveraged to improve graduate school curriculum, career planning, recruitment, and staff training and development to enhance the effectiveness of public library branch managers as perceived by community and library leaders.Originality/valueThe paper provides perceptual, behavioral and psychometric evidence that incorporates perspectives of community leaders, colleagues and staff needed to identify core competencies for public library branch managers.

This is not a game: testimony and the making and unmaking of the child as a political subject

In Canada in May 2006, Deborah Ellis's book Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli children speak became an object of controversy when the Canadian Jewish Congress protested its availability to junior elementary students in the Toronto school system. The Ontario Library Association (OLA) had nominated the book for its Silver Birch reading program. The books chosen for this program are not mandatory texts on the school curriculum. Rather, the program is designed to encourage children in grades four to six (nine- twelve year olds) to read recreationally. School libraries distribute Silver Birch books and the children who read them can vote at the end of the school year on their favourite fiction and non-fiction works. Under pressure from the Canadian Jewish Congress, the Toronto District School Board restricted access to the book and removed it from school libraries serving children below grade seven. PEN Canada, an association of national and international writers that exists to protect, among other things, freedom of expression, the House of Anansi Press, the Canadian publisher of Three Wishes, and Ellis herself protested the decision made by the Toronto District School Board. In an article from the Canadian Jewish News, Paul Lungen explained that the OLA describes Three Wishes as allowing 'young readers everywhere to see that the children caught in this conflict are just like them, but living far more difficult and dangerous lives. Without taking sides, it presents an unblinking portrait of children victimized by the endless struggle around them.' Critics, however, argue the book presents a uniformly negative image of Israel, provides little context for young readers about a conflict whose details are beyond their understanding, and introduces students to Palestinian youths who aspire to be suicide bombers and kill Israelis.1 In addition, a teacher in the Toronto school system was quoted as saying that 'I didn't feel, and neither did the other teachers, that the children here have the knowledge to understand the difference between opinion and fact'.2 The controversy over Three Wishes raises several important questions relevant to pedagogical issues and social pohcy about the kind of role educational institutions, poUtical lobby groups, community and reUgious organisations, and book sellers should play in the regulation of extra-curricular reading practices for Ontario elementary school children. The oppositions of opinion and fact, the regulation of children who produce testimony and those who read it, and the targeting of children with or without the knowledge to comprehend the meaning of testimony or poUtical conflict beg to be disentangled from one another. Also notable with regards to the controversy was how the poUtics of the debate straddled the 'rights' spectrum, from those in support of the right of free speech to those insisting on the right to participate in Canadian policy making on education as part of the multicultural grid work of 'Canadian society' - the latter clearly achieving its objectives here.3 In order to comprehend these competing human rights' discourses, it is important to reflect on how the controversy mobiUsed children as poUtical subjects within a transnational framework of testimonial discourse. Of particular interest is how these competitive rights' discourses generate notions of childhood, fantasy and the meaning of the Palestinian and IsraeU conflict in the Canadian context. Three Wishes belongs to an increasing number of pubUshed books in the field of testimonial studies charged with endowing the child with the role of bearing witness to traumatic events. In so doing, the child as testifier is empowered to produce historical truth and authentic, reaUstic representations of events. In considering what enables this newly authorised voice, we need to address the contexts in which children testify. In what forms, for example, do children's testimonies appear and how are they circulated? …

As We Evolve

I would like to take this opportunity to recognize and thank a number of people who have contributed so much to both the development of the Partnership network, as well as the journal, over the last two and half years. During the last year, three of the founding members of the Partnership have retired or stepped down. Larry Moore, Executive Director of Ontario Library Association has retired after a long and inspiring reign at OLA and will be greatly missed. Judith Silverthorne of the Saskatchewan Library Association stepped down in late 2007 and most recently Mike Burris, Executive Director of the British Columbia Library Association has accepted a new position with the Public Libraries in BC. On our editorial board, three of our founding editors, Heather Morrison (BCLA), Lorie Kloda (ABQLA) and Heather Berringer (APLA/OLA) will be finishing up their terms on the editorial board with the completion of this issue. I send out my heartfelt appreciation and admiration to all these wonderful, hardworking people for their contributions to the Canadian library community. It is their professionalism and enthusiasm, along with many others including Trudy Amirault, Chair of the Education Institute Committee that has fostered the development of this journal initiative as well as that of the Education Institute and the Career Centre.

It Takes a Library to Raise a Community

Ontario Library Service-North is publishing a series of community development tools for public libraries, beginning with the Crime Prevention and Personal Safety for Your Library and Community tool kit that was e-published on the OLS-North website in 2004. This article introduces library boards and staff to community building principles and practices, and the language of community developers. The role of the library in community and capacity building is discussed, as was introduced at the Ontario Library Association Super Conference 2007 session and as described in the tool kit, It Takes a Library to Raise a Community: A Community Development Activities Tool Kit for Public Libraries. The tool kit is about to be released to libraries.

Continuing to Build the Future: Academic Libraries and their Challenges

This article is based on presentations by Carla J. Stoffle at the Ontario Library Association, January 31, 2002, and the Rare Book and Manuscripts Section Pre-Conference, American Library Association Conference, June 12, 2002.

Security: Secondary School Resource Centres. By Ken Haycock and others. Toronto, Ontario: Ontario Library Association, 1975

Security: Secondary School Resource Centres. By Ken Haycock and others. Toronto, Ontario: Ontario Library Association, 1975

Canadian Libraries and Problems of Staff Recruitment: Further Comments

Controversy on this subject has now ranged over our past six numbers, and still the discussion continues, but with rather less urbanity on the part of some colleagues than might have been expected. In this further Symposium the contributors are Mr. B. A. Ower, Librarian, Dominion Bureau of Statistics, Ottawa; Miss Freda F. Waldon, Librarian, Hamilton Public Library, Ontario; Mr. Eric Moon, Editor, Library Journal and lately Secretary and Director of the Newfoundland Public Library Services; Miss Dorothy McNaughton, Secretary to the Institute of Professional Librarians, Ontario Library Association; A Canadian Librarian; Mr. W. B. Paton, Honorary Secretary of the Library Association. From the nature of the comments and the theories presented, British, Canadian and American librarians who propose to be at the Montreal Conference will be enabled to follow every angle of the discussions.