Canadian Federation of Library Associations Update (November 2018)
December 13, 2018
Katherine McColgan, Executive Director of the Canadian Federation of Library Associations (CFLA), has provided an overview of activities since August 2018.
Advocacy
Meetings with Members of Parliament and Government Officials
Accessibility and Alternate Formats
Alexandra Yarrow (Department Manager, Alternative Services, Ottawa Public Library) and K. McColgan met with Nicholas Kang, Policy Advisor to Minister Qualtrough to discuss our interests in working with the government to implement recommendations from the working group and to discuss financial support from government. It was a very productive information sharing opportunity for which we were invited to follow up on a series of questions and recommendation. We are looking forward to continued conversations with Mr. Kang and Minister Qualtrough on this portfolio.
Copyright Act Review
INDU began Phase III of consultations in mid October. This process involves consultations with lawyers and legal scholars.
INDU committee members were refreshed this fall and we are working with Impact Public Affairs to set up meetings with new and continuing committee members this fall. Consultations are expected to conclude in mid-December and a preliminary report is anticipated for Spring 2019.
Other Advocacy Developments
United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)
Although CFLA-FCAB did not issue a statement at the time it was announced the USMCA agreement was signed by Canada, the Copyright Committee has struck a working group to develop a statement on the impacts to libraries that will result by increasing copyright protection from life+50 to life+70.
FairPlay Canada Coalition
In March 2018, CFLA-FCAB issued a statement against FairPlay Canada’s submission to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to disable on-line access to piracy sites noting concern over lack of judicial review, potential affects on net neutrality, fair dealing, freedom of expression and the right to privacy.
On October 3, 2018, the CRTC rejected the FairPlay Canada’s Proposal. CFLA-FCAB is keeping a watching brief on any possible next steps on this file.
Activities
National Union Catalogue and Voilà
In support of discussions this past year regarding the move of the National Union Catalogue to the OCLC platform Voilà, CFLA-FCAB, in partnership with Library and Archives Canada is launching a survey to gather information to help inform necessary parties to work toward solutions.
Please follow the link below to complete the survey.
https://form.simplesurvey.com/f/s.aspx?s=1121b61b-0fc4-4ae7-81ac-21580b3083b4&lang=EN.
We would appreciate your comments by Friday December 14, 2018.
Committee Updates
Cataloguing and Metadata Standards
The committee welcomed new members representing MLA, SLA, BCLA at its August 2018 meeting.
Canada is now a member of the North American RDA Committee and the RDA Restructure and Redesign (3Rs) project is underway. It is hoped it will be stabilized by spring 2019. CLFA-FCAB along with ALA and CILIP are co-copyright owners of the RDA Toolkit.
The committee has struck a BIBFRAME task force. The work of the task force will be to assess Canada’s readiness to adopt this new framework.
And finally, the committee is exploring ways to support the Canadian Linked Data Initiative to help move the work of the group forward.
Copyright
A statement on Crown Copyright has been developed by the committee and approved by the Board of Directors on September 24, 2018. The statement is available on the website.
The committee has struck new working groups to work on statements and guidelines relating to E-books, implementing the Marrakesh Treaty in Canada, USMCA as previously mentioned and reviewing our statement on TPMs in light of USMCA.
Indigenous Matters
The Indigenous Matters Committee, in conjunction with the Cataloguing and Metadata Standards committee and Library and Archives Canada are working to develop indigenous language subject headings. The group is currently working on community names and will expand from there.
The IMC is also developing a number of consultation tools, in conjunction with CCUNESCO in the lead up to 2019, which is the Year of Indigenous Languages as declared by UNESCO. More information on this work will follow.
Intellectual Freedom
The committee has struck two working groups; one to review and revise the Intellectual Freedom Statement that was adopted from CLA in 2017; the second to create an Intellectual Freedom toolkit. The committee is looking for 1 – 2 people to volunteer for either of these working groups.
The committee itself also has two vacancies that it is seeking to fill. The terms of reference are available on the CFLA-FCAB website.
If your association is interested in nominating representatives to fill any of these vacancies, please contact Katherine McColgan at kmccolgan@cfla-fcab.ca.
Annual Challenges Survey
CFLA-FCAB agreed to adopt ALA’s practice for collecting information regarding challenges to libraries and will now keep the survey tool open in perpetuity so that institutions may report challenges at the time that they occur. We are hopeful this will encourage more libraries to contribute to this reporting. The survey is available at https://form.simplesurvey.com/f/s.aspx?s=9bc157ea-ad8f-4b72-94b7-77687abbe3a1&lang=EN.
Strategic Planning Working Group
The Strategic Planning Working Group opened CFLA-FCAB’s strategic planning survey on September 28, 2018. Since this is our first strategic planning process, we are encouraging as broad participation as possible. If you have not had the opportunity to complete the survey, please visit https://form.simplesurvey.com/f/s.aspx?s=ffeac382-2c9d-4eac-a6dd-99f96460201b&lang=EN. The deadline is Friday November 30, 2018.
Administration & Outreach
New on the website
CFLA-FCAB Strategic Planning Survey
CFLA-FCAB announces Canadian Library Workers Day
Meetings with Members
K. McColgan met with K. Badgley, President of OLA on October 4th to discuss issues of common interest to OLA and CFLA-FCAB, CFLA-FCAB’s strategic planning process amongst other business.
In the Community
On September 14, 2018 K. McColgan attended the Fourth Sustainable Industry Association Roundtable in Ottawa that brings together associations from various backgrounds to discuss what their associations are doing in support of sustainable development in Canada. We heard from Leah Canning, Senior Policy Advisor and Paul Sandage, Senior Policy Analyst from Environment and Climate Change Canada where they discussed preliminary findings in their research on Canada and circular economy. CFLA-FCAB sent a follow up message describing the role that libraries play in this area.
On September 27,2018 K. McColgan attended the Canadian Internet Registry Authority (CIRA) Annual General Meeting, as a voting member. It was an opportunity to hear about the activities of CIRA over the past year and the work they are doing for equal and equitable Internet connectivity for all Canadians. It was particularly interesting to hear about their beta testing of Internet Exchange Points (IXP) in rural communities and the result of their beta testing for IXP in Iqaluit and am seeking more information on the implementation and sustainability.
On October 2, 2018 K. McColgan took part in a telephone briefing from LAC-BAC on the upcoming International Conference for Archives (ICA) taking place in Youndé, Camroon in December 2018.
On October 3, 2018 K. McColgan participated in the LAC-BAC Stakeholders Forum teleconference which provided participants with an update on the status of the National Heritage Digitization Strategy.
From October 24 to October 26, 2018 K. McColgan attend the Canadian Society of Association Executives National Conference in Ottawa. This conference brings together association executives from across the country to hear presentations, network, and share information on matters relating to the governance, management and operations of non-profit organizations in Canada. It is an excellent opportunity to connect with senior association management to discuss association matters.
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