Canadian Federation of Library Associations Update (Summer 2023)

July 25, 2023

The Canadian Federation of Library Associations (CFLA) has provided an overview of its activities.

CFLA-FCAB Summer 2023 Update

Dear Members:

Thank you for your continued support of the work of CFLA-FCAB. The Federation is proud to work on behalf of our 25 member associations as we continue to advocate with the federal government, produce guidance for the library sector and engage with our members and partners at all levels.

Board and Committees News

Summer might be a slow time for us, but CFLA-FCAB still has a lot on the go. We are still recruiting for our Northern Representative, so if there is a member of the Yukon, North West Territories, Nunavut or any other northern provincial library association who is interested in joining our board, please let us know at info@cfla-fcab.ca.

Strategic Plan Task Force: last year a task force was established to review and assess some of the key accomplishments of CFLA-FCAB’s first Strategic Plan (2019-2022). We now have our new plan for the period 2023-2027, which will be translated and circulated soon. The major components of the task force’s mandate will be to scan the CFLA-FCAB environment for issues and trends, survey member associations and produce a draft strategic plan to be tabled at the CFLA-FCAB’s 2023 AGM.

We are also excited to offer Media Relations Training to our members. A communication will be coming out in late July for anyone who would like to take advantage of this free training which will give you the tools to navigate interviews with the media on library issues. If you are interested in joining in, or looking for more information, please contact us at info@cfla-fcab.ca

Committee Updates

Cataloguing and Metadata Standards Committee: The Cataloguing and Metadata Standards Committee Ethics Review Working Group (CCERWG) conducted two presentations (one in English and one in French) on July 19th. The CCERWG is a working group that reports to the CMSC.

Copyright Committee: the Copyright Committee has prepared a number of statement and position papers that can be read now on our Position Papers and Guidelines section of our website, or found here in both English and French:

AI and Authorship, (English / French)
Text and Data Mining, (English / French)
Secondary Publishing and Open Access (English / French)

Intellectual Freedoms Committee: The IFC has been busy synthesizing the data being supplied by the library community via their challenges survey (which you can read about and fill out here). They have identified the most challenged books of 2022 in a quick report you can read here. We hope you continue to use this challenge survey as it provides invaluable data to the library community.

Indigenous Matters Committee: The Indigenous Matters committee has been reaching out to those organizations who endorse the CFLA-FCAB Truth and Reconciliation Report to see what progress and actions they have made based on the report’s recommendation.

Climate Action Committee: A new chair has been elected and we are busy working on a projected workplan for the future. If you are interested in joining the Climate Action Committee, please contact info@cfla-fcab.ca for more information.

Engaging with Members

Canadian Caucus at IFLA: CFLA-CFAB is excited to host the Canadian Caucus at this year’s IFLA WLIC in Rotterdam. If you are planning to attend, we hope to see you on Sunday, August 20th from 6PM to 8PM local time, in Rotterdam B. Expect great networking, drinks, and charcuterie with your fellow colleagues.

National Forum 2023: The CFLA-FCAB had a very successful National Forum in partnership with MLA’s Annual Conference. Our keynote speaker Lucy Desantos Green led an extremely engaging discussion on the library’s ever changing place to best serve our community.

Advocacy regarding book removal request: With work from the Intellectual Freedom Committee, CFLA-FCAB sent a message to the Canadian Federation of Municipalities regarding organized groups are making false allegations of child pornography in public libraries and demanding municipal councils defund them if they don’t remove the titles. The goal was to not only help this national body to inform its members but also to let them know of CFLA-FCAB’s work on this matter. We have included the message we sent as we know some of our members may have relationships with the provincial bodies who are involved with councils and may wish to advocate on that scope using our letter as a guide. Please see the attached PDF for the English national scope message.

Communications:

Several external organizations whose objectives align with our own have reached out to us for communications. We’ve linked their information below for your convenience and perusal:

The Ex Libris’ W. Kaye Lamb Award
The Ex Libris Association (ELA) is excited to announce applications for the W. Kaye Lamb award will soon open. CFLA-FCAB has been very supportive of this award celebrating programs and services that help support the aging population. We encourage you to submit your application when the call for submissions opens later this summer. You can read the full Call for Submissions release here.

(Via Canadian Federation of Library Associations)