Annual Report 2021
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MLA ANNUAL REPORT 2021 / PAGE 1
Table of Contents 3-5 Letter From The President 5 Past President Report 6 Secretary Report, Website Report 7 Financial Report, Library Trustees Division 8-9 Membership Report 9 Advocacy Report 9-10 Communications Report 10-12 Prison Libraries Committee Report 13 Scholarships and Awards 14 MLA Board of Directors
MLA ANNUAL REPORT 2021 / PAGE 2
Letter From The President Submitted by Melanie Sucha, President Through 2021 the Manitoba Library Association continued to navigate through the evolving conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2021, we contacted the Premier’s Office with respect to concerns regarding ongoing closure of Libraries, Museums, and Galleries in the Health Orders at that time, advocating towards the safety procedures and protocols that such institutions have developed, and for the social, cultural, and economic value of public libraries to Manitobans. In September, we attended by invitation a government information session concerning Enforcement of Public Health Orders for Non-Profit Organizations and relayed key points back to our membership from our website. We would like to thank the Public Library Services Branch (PLSB) for their ongoing support of MLA and for the thoughtful conversations with respect to the complexities of how public libraries need to operate in the context of pandemic risks and corresponding health orders. All meetings and Association activities have taken place virtually over the last year. In addition to ensuring safe operations as part of our pandemic response, we have continued to find opportunities in leveraging technology such as videoconferencing and social media platforms to connect our Board, committees, and broader membership, who are located across broad geographic distances. Regular meetings of The Partnership also remained online. We offered the 2021 conference as an online, shared event with the Saskatchewan Library Association. The conference theme of Libraries: Better Together reflected this shared effort, as well as the essential role of libraries in building and promoting diversity, inclusivity, and equity and providing space for cultural and public engagement. The conference was very successful, convening 446 delegates and over 70 speakers on a virtual platform, June 14-16 2021. Those who attended the joint conference had the honour of listening to The Honourable Murray Sinclair give the opening keynote address, titled Truth is Hard. Reconciliation is Harder.
MLA ANNUAL REPORT 2021 / PAGE 3
Mr. Sinclair recommended specific steps all library professionals can take in our respective journeys of reconciliation. After the conference, and given the discoveries of unmarked graves in the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation in B.C. and the Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan, MLA shared Mr. Sinclair’s first recommendation with membership: read the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, or at the very least, the Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. To read the Final Report, please go to the Reports page of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation’s website: https://nctr.ca/records/reports/ The Board and Committees undertook a number of communication efforts this year. The Prison Library Committee presented at the joint conference and at Burlington Literacy Festival, showcasing their work to provide library services and access to materials to incarcerated individuals. In line with the strategic plan, The Communications Committee focused its efforts on growing and refining social media presence. The Board continued to communicate the Public Library Board Trustees Handbook, and connected with newer Trustees and incoming Library Directors on this guidance document, highlighting ways in which MLA can offer support as a trusted community of professionals. Outside of the pandemic-related matters as mentioned, Advocacy efforts included a letter in support of the Librarians, Archivists, Professors, and Instructors represented by the University of Manitoba Faculty Association (UMFA), and a letter of concern to Canadian Federation of Library Associations (CFLA) regarding lack of consultation with members on the matter of the CFLA Intellectual Freedom Statements. MLA has offered support in bringing forward further consultation. As of January 2022, we are continuing discussions with CFLA to determine next steps. Looking forward into the next year, MLA hopes to continue its partnership with PLSB and the Manitoba Sport Culture and Heritage Strategic Policy Branch to help further sector development. Increased provincial government funding, as announced in October, and MLA’s Strategic Plan, help position us well to grow how MLA supports Manitoba library professionals and their institutions and stakeholders in turn.
MLA ANNUAL REPORT 2021 / PAGE 4
On a personal note, I am fast approaching the second anniversary of my arrival in the province of Manitoba! I would very much like to thank my colleagues on the MLA Board and Committees for welcoming me and for teaching me so much about the landscape of librarianship in Manitoba. I owe a great debt especially to Kerry Macdonald for her kindness and mentorship as Past President. Taking part in a professional association is such a great way to make new connections, and to explore different aspects of the profession in meaningful ways – it remains a great privilege to work with this amazing group.
Past President Report Submitted by Kerry Macdonald, Past President Throughout 2021 I was busy preparing to exit the Board after many rewarding years of service to the Association. Some of these initiatives have included completing job descriptions for the various Board positions, finishing off two operating grants, chairing the Scholarships & Awards Committee, cleaning/sorting at the MLA office, and assisting the President with administrativerelated tasks. I also served as Co-Chair of the joint 2021 conference with Michael Shires from the Saskatchewan Library Association. This was our first fully online conference and the planning committee did a wonderful job of pulling off a successful and fun online conference. While I will miss my time as part of the MLA Board and, more importantly, miss working with such a fantastic, dedicated group of individuals, I am looking forward to wrapping up my role as Past President and moving on to other activities in my personal and professional life. I wish to thank our members and my fellow Board members for making my years with MLA so rewarding and fruitful.
MLA ANNUAL REPORT 2021 / PAGE 5
Secretary Report Submitted by Caralie Heinrichs, Secretary In 2021, Breanne Bannerman-Gobeil and I worked together to set the MLA up with Google for Nonprofits, which provides a range of free tools to nonprofit organizations. Our focus was on implementing Google Workspace, which involved migrating emails from our previous platform and transferring MLA’s files. While we are still working on some administrative details, completing this project is a significant step towards MLA’s strategic priority to streamline and optimize administrative functions. This new workspace is already helping the Board communicate and collaborate more efficiently, and provides a secure and reliable platform with which the MLA can grow in the future.
Website Report Submitted by Melanie Sucha, President This year, the website and MLA email server experienced challenges due to an extended unplanned outage with our hosting provider in September. Many thanks to our outgoing Director-at-Large - Website, Breanne Bannerman-Gobeil for her diligent efforts in working with the hosting provider to restore MLA emails and website data in its entirety, and for negotiating a rebate from the hosting provider for the outage. We have since moved hosting providers for the email platform, migrating to Google Workspace as discussed in the Secretary Report. This platform provides much better email management functionality, a more modern interface, and better linkage to our Association document storage. Thanks again to Breanne and Caralie Heinrich’s for their efforts on this important migration.
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Financial Report Submitted by Kelly Murray, Treasurer Manitoba Library Association was able to host a virtual conference in 2021 with Saskatchewan Library Association which was a success in: collaboratively working together to provide professional development to its members; and in providing some funding to the association.
Financial Statements 2021-22 Audited Fiscal Year Totals Revenues
$33,651.00
Expenditures
$12,979.00
Surplus
$20,672.00
Account as of September 1, 2022:
$94,289.82
Library Trustees Division
Submitted by Mark Humphries & Melanie Sucha The Library Trustees Division is chaired by Mark Humphries. Time was spent during the latter part of 2021 on familiarization of the MLA board, the role of Trustee Representative. Covid has slowed plans to create micro trustee informational meetings across the province, but there are hopes to further develop this idea in 2022. In the interim, individual questions submitted from boards have been addressed and one virtual meeting attended. The MLA Public Library Board Trustees Handbook continues to be a valuable resource to share with Boards and Library Directors who reach out individually to seek guidance.
MLA ANNUAL REPORT 2021 / PAGE 7
Membership Report Submitted by Victoria Ho, Membership Director My name is Victoria Ho and I joined the MLA Board in May 2021 as the Membership Director. I was trained by my predecessor, Alan Chorney, on the processes of registering and renewing memberships for MLA. One new tool that I learned while in this role was how to use WildApricot to streamline the membership processing procedures. I’m glad that we have this tool as it made the process much easier. Being the MLA Membership Director has allowed me to learn some new skills, work with our wonderful board members, and meet some of our members in MLA. Our membership this year has changed slightly due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. We’ve continued to have steady membership numbers during the pandemic with only a slight decrease in membership this past year. This trend is predictable as many members are dealing with the effects of the pandemic either financially and/or professionally during this time. This past year we hosted a joint virtual conference with the Saskatchewan Library Association, and were able to attract new members to join our association. We are hopeful that our membership will increase in the future.
MLA Membership (past five years) 2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
Individual Member
88
74
86
67
65
Institutional Membership
15
17
22
21
18
Public Library Board Membership
27
17
20
20
11
Total:
130
108
128
108
94
MLA ANNUAL REPORT 2021 / PAGE 8
Divisional Breakdown (past three years) 2020
2021
2022
Technicians Division
24
201823
2020 19
Trustees Division
22
15
13
Advocacy Report Submitted by Richard Bee, Advocacy Director Advocacy efforts by MLA focused on three key issues in 2021: the on-going COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on public libraries in Manitoba; addressing concerns of the MLA Board and our members to the CFLA executive regarding the lack of consultation by the CFLA Board regarding its contentious statements on intellectual freedom; and providing a letter of support to the University of Manitoba Faculty Association during the University of Manitoba labour strike late in 2021.
Communications Report Submitted by Shawn Simpson, Communications Director Communications Director, Shawn Simpson, and Communications Committee member, Megumi Ishibashi, have worked together during 2021 to maintain consistent communication via MLA's social media channels. This includes Twitter, Facebook, and the monthly MLA newsletter. There was significant turnover in the Communications Committee and the primary goal was to be consistent in MLA's communications while the communications team acclimatized to their new roles. On Twitter, MLA's followers saw an increase of approx. 10% over the previous year. Tweets saw increase of approx. 83%, and engagements an increase of approx. 11%
MLA ANNUAL REPORT 2021 / PAGE 9
On Facebook, Posts saw a decrease of approx. 4%, whereas Fans increased by approx. 3%. Page engagement decreased by approx. 69%. The cause of this decrease is primarily due to spikes in 2020 engagement stemming from COVID-19 related openings/closings, as well as the the distribution of, and subsequent results of, the Manitoba Public Library COVID Response Survey. Lastly, 12 newsletters were sent out over the course of the past year. The newsletter has an open rate of 74%, showing little movement from last year's rate.
Prison Libraries Committee Report Submitted by Kirsten Wurmann, PLC Chair The Manitoba Library Association – Prison Libraries Committee (MLA-PLC) is a volunteer group that works with our community members impacted by incarceration. Formed in 2012, the MLAPLC believes that while access to reading and information inside correctional institutions is a rare connection to the outside world, it is also a basic right. We support community members inside the following correctional centres: Winnipeg Remand Centre Headingley Correctional Centre (HCC) for Men in Headingley, MB Women’s Correctional Centre (WCC) in Headingley, MB Manitoba Youth Centre, Winnipeg, MB Agassiz Youth Centre, Portage La Prairie, MB (NEW) Milner Ridge Correctional Centre, Beausejour, MB
Programs & Services Book Collection and Delivery - Kathleen has started to again collect, sort, and deliver to the
Winnipeg Remand Centre, Women’s Correctional Centre, and Headingley Correctional Centre, our newest location, Milner Ridge. The librarian from Stony Mountain Penitentiary has also collected books from our donation shelves for their library. We hope to expand this service to deliver specific requests to specific inmates in 2022.
MLA ANNUAL REPORT 2021 / PAGE 10
Book Donations - A new email address has been created for folks wanting to donate books
(mla.plcdonate@gmail.com) Millennium Library is still the drop-off but we hope to be able to expand to other branches in future as drop-off locations. We’ve received donations from publishers/bookstores including a large donation from McNally Robinson Booksellers, U of M Press, Goldrock Press, and Briarpatch magazine. And the Amazon wishlist (https://www.amazon.ca/gp/registry/wishlist/2O0LVZOMQSLRJ) has been updated. Email Reference Service - Ashley has coordinated this new service to HCC, MYC, and AYC. A
small group of volunteers answer questions as they come in from the institutions’ teachers. We hope to expand it to more prisons in the coming months.
FINANCIALS Thanks to the $500.00 annual support from the Manitoba Library Association, to our regular donors, and this year to the Manitoba Council of Reading Clinicians. As of December 31, 2021, the Prison Libraries Committee total funds are: $ 3,851.68 Book Purchase – we are actively purchasing much-needed books to fill gaps in our collections.
Books will be purchased in early 2022.
VOLUNTEERS Long-time PLC Volunteer Coordinator Terri moved to Saskatchewan and Emma is taking over her position (mla.plcvolunteer@gmail.com). We currently have 60 names in our volunteer database, in various states of active/ not active. While we're not actively recruiting at the moment we always welcome interest. PLC Book Club - As part of our Action Statement in Support of Black Lives Matter, we have
continued to run an internal book club for PLC members led by Emma. So far we have read and discussed a range of non-fiction and poetry/memoir including: Angela Davises’ Are Prisons Obsolete?, Desmond Cole’s The Skin We’re In, Mercedes Eng’s Prison Industrial Complex Explodes, Robyn Maynard’s Policing Black Lives, and Mariame Kaba’s We Do This Till We Free Us.
MLA ANNUAL REPORT 2021 / PAGE 11
PRESENTATIONS AND COLLABORATIONS MLA SLA conference panel presentation: In June Kathleen, Kirsten, and Ashley participated in
a panel presentation sharing about the PLC’s work. Mercedes Eng author reading/talk Event: Author Mercedes Eng read from her book Prison
Industrial Complex Explodes. Serenity arranged this event as a collaboration between the PLC, Prairie Asian Organizers! (PAO!), and the U of M Institute for the Humanities. SMAAC and Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) Virtual Annual Meeting: Serenity presented on a panel at the Native American and Indigenous Studies
Association (NAISA) Virtual Annual Meeting in June 2021 representing the PLC. About Prison Libraries: How to Read a Prison presentation, Burlington Public Library and Art Gallery of Burlington: In November Kirsten and Ashley presented at the Burlington Public
Library’s first literary festival, in partnership with the Art Gallery of Burlington and their exhibition How to Read a Vessel. The presentation talked about prison libraries in Canada in general and made ties to the exhibition’s themes (https://youtu.be/Y-fBdSvQ6WI). SMAAC (Saskatchewan Manitoba Alberta Abolition Coalition)
Serenity is our PLC representative on SMAAC SLA: the Saskatchewan Library Association - Prison Libraries subcommittee
Members of the new SLA sub-committee met up (virtually) with PLC members to talk about what we do, what we've learned, talk about ideas, and answer questions. We look forward to a great partnership and collaboration. THANK YOU TO OUR SUPPORTERS AND TO ALL OF OUR AMAZING VOLUNTEERS!
MLA ANNUAL REPORT 2021 / PAGE 12
Scholarships and Awards Submitted by Shawn Simpson, Communication Director Each year the Manitoba Library Association provides scholarships to deserving students. The Scholarship funds are managed by The Winnipeg Foundation with two Awards being given out to one or more recipients. This year, the Association had $19,000 available for the John Edwin Bissett Scholarship and $4,000 for the Jean Thorunn Law Scholarship. In addition, the Association’s Library Technician Division supports the annual Red River College graduation award.
Scholarships John Edwin Bissett Scholarship
Hanna Oudenaar
Jean Thorunn Law Scholarship
Sarah Lee
Taylor Watkins Amber Lamboo Red River College Library & Information Technology Student Award
Megan Wehrle
Awards The Manitoba Library Association Awards were not distributed in 2021
Congratulations to all recipients! Thank you to this year’s selection Committee, Kerry Macdonald, Danielle Hubbard, and Ebony Novakowski, for their willingness to serve in this capacity. We appreciate all of your hard work!
MLA ANNUAL REPORT 2021 / PAGE 13
MLA 2021 Board of Directors
Melanie Sucha, President
Kelly Murray, Treasurer
Kerry MacDonald, Past President
Shawn Simpson, Communications
Richard Bee, Advocacy
Caralie Heinrichs, Secretary
Victoria Ho, Membership
Mark Humphries, Trustees Rep
MLA ANNUAL REPORT 2021 / PAGE 14
MLA ANNUAL REPORT 2021
