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For the next three days, I'll be attending the Ontario Library Association's annual Superconference , always referred to simply as "OLA". As the name implies, this is a gigantic conference covering issues related to all three types of libraries - public, academic, and special. You can see a program here. In library school, we were strongly encouraged to attend OLA. Students can volunteer to help run conference sessions in exchange for free attendance. I never did (honestly, I never even considered it), so now I attend my very first OLA, already a professional, and in place of three working days. Fun! Here are the sessions I am hoping to attend: - Creating an Accessible and Inclusive Library - Young Adult Readers' Advisory: Create best practices today - The Community-Led Library Model and How to Get Started - The Tween Scene: A year of programming for ages 10-14 - Booktalking 3.0: Engaging and inspiring readers online - Sub-Urban Beats: Hip-hop programming in the l

I am posting this article mainly so the commenter called "conservatives are lying scum" can repost his or her comments here. (You can currently read them on this old post: harper's support for veterans: wear a poppy. do nothing else. ) Veterans who were in Ottawa to lobby against the closing of their regional offices left a brief, emotional meeting Tuesday with Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino visibly frustrated and saying they were disrespected. The federal government has already closed one office in Prince George, B.C., and plans to close eight more on Jan. 31. In a news conference, a group of veterans said their Tuesday meeting did not go well. Video from the meeting shows Fantino and veterans trading testy exchanges. Ron Clarke, a 36-year veteran of the Forces, said the meeting was "unbelievable, unacceptable and shameful. The way we were treated is just not kosher." He demanded that Fantino resign and said he would campaign "across Canada"

The surveillance state continues to grow; news of its magnitude continues to trickle out . Some people shrug, claiming only criminals and terrorists need be concerned, but in these extreme conditions, that attitude looks increasingly ridiculous - or government-sponsored. The rest of us shudder and shake our heads... but what more? The Canada-US border has become another instrument of the surveillance state. For decades, people have claimed that border agencies had access to all our personal information, including tax and credit status. In the past, that was a myth. Now, what was once paranoid rumour appears to be true. We, the surveilled, are not consulted on these changes. The changes are not open to public debate. Neither we nor our elected representatives have an opportunity to vote for or against them. They are being instituted by fiat. Those magical words - "national security" - make everything possible. Some stories. September 2011 (note date): Canadians with mental ill

Pete Seeger, 1919-2014 Musician, Activist, Environmentalist. Socialist.

I think I'm finally up for buying a tablet. I have a little Lenovo IdeaPad netbook that I bought for school. I thought if it made it through four years of grad school, I'd consider it a good buy. It did, and it was. By non-tablet standards, it's light and portable, and I love the keyboard, which is 90% of full-sized. I never wanted a tablet before. I always saw them as toys. Sleek, good-looking, fun, but non-essential, more for play than work, and lacking the crucial component: the keyboard. Now my netbook is getting cranky, and nearing the end of its (stupidly short) lifespan. Since I originally chose the netbook for its lightness and portability, a tablet seems like the natural progression: lighter and more portable. I'm not hugely into eBooks, but it's nice to have the option. And I am clearly being seduced by the "this is where things are going" feeling. Getting a new netbook feels a bit antiquated. The drawback is the keyboard issue. I  really  don

Flight  is a thought-provoking short novel by one of my favourite youth writers, Sherman Alexie. The main character in Flight , a Native American boy who goes by the derisive nickname Zits, is a troubled soul with a long history of abuse, neglect, and abandonment. He seems to be on the brink of a major transition, either going off the deep end or beginning the long climb back. I don't know how to write about this book without spoiling it. So if you're like me, and you don't like to know  anything  about a book before you begin, and you like a book to reveal itself exactly as the author intended,  skip to the next book right now . Zits finds himself inexplicably inhabiting the bodies and minds of different people in the history of his family and his people. He doesn't choose this, and he has no control of it, but Zits finds himself quite literally walking in the shoes of his fellow man. The boy's journey into other people's lives takes him to some watershed momen

It's no secret that Tim Hudak, who wants to be Ontario's next premier, wants to break every union in the province . So-called right-to-work legislation - the name has been a persistent and successful piece of propaganda, used everywhere without quotes - is at the centre of Hudak's campaign agenda. Will Ontario become a "right-to-work" province? Will Hudak become the new premier and succeed in dismantling Ontario's unions? It's a prospect that frightens me deeply. If every unionized worker in Ontario would join the fight against right-to-work, we'd win. And if every worker who benefits from the presence of union workplaces joined the fight, we'd win for sure, because that would be  all  workers. People who benefit from unions far outnumber the people whose own economic interests cause them to oppose unions. That is, working people far outnumber the ruling class. Yet... that's not what we see. So many union members feel let down - worse than let

15,000 people in Latvia form a human chain to transfer books from their old, falling-apart library to their beautiful new home.

Today I break one of my own rules, and write about a book I didn't enjoy. Not only that, but I trash the author, too. But perhaps author is the wrong word. Maybe I should call him the factory boss. I know something about how difficult it is to write a book, and I feel solidarity with all writers. When it comes to blogging about books, I usually employ the old saw, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it". So when I didn't like I Am Number Four , I wasn't going to write about it. Until I discovered what it really is. I Am Number Four is a youth novel, the first in the "Lorien Legacy" series, written under the obvious pseudonym "Pittacus Lore". The writing is stiff and inauthentic, the pacing plodding, the characterization and suspense nonexistent. I was surprised at the poor quality of the book, and went online to read more about it. A quick search revealed that the book and the series are the product of author James Frey

I'm enjoying my new position so much! Things are going really well so far. I'm preparing for teen book club, researching display ideas, and planning some (I hope) interesting programs. I'll write about those as they happen. So far I'm feeling well, too. I'm still adjusting to full-time work, but I'm not collapsing from it, either. Readers, you were right. Doing work that you love makes a huge difference. So does a more humane work environment. In the library, no one expects everything done yesterday, everyone understands the concept of a learning curve, and most people truly understand teamwork and support each other. And because I belong to a union (and, management would say, because the City of Mississauga is a good employer), I have a full hour dinner or lunch break, good ergonomics, and other supports. This is a tad different than working as support staff in a corporate law firm! Today's "things I heard..." highlights two features of our libra

Today in Let Them Stay Week 2014 is Social Media Thursday! - Change your Facebook picture to the picture above to show support for US war resisters in Canada. You can also find the photo on our website, resisters.ca . - Invite your friends to change their picture, too. - Tweet your support for war resisters, using #LetThemStay. - Follow @WarResisters and retweet our messages throughout the day.

Today we go old school. Take out a pen, or turn on your printer, and send some paper mail to Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Chris Alexander. Tell him to stop deporting US war resisters in Canada, and to enact a provision to let them stay. Tell him why. Find an envelope, and send your letter to: The Honourable Chris Alexander House of Commons Justice Building – 306 284 Wellington Street Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6 If you live in Canada, you don't even need a stamp.

Today is a very important day in Let Them Stay Week 2014. Today we flood some inboxes! If you support US war resisters in Canada, please take a moment to call or email the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Chris Alexander. Ask him to ensure that no more US war resisters are forced out of Canada for their opposition to an illegal and immoral war, and to enact a provision to let them stay in Canada. You can send an email from this Take Action page , or write your own message and email it to: Minister@cic.gc.ca and chris.alexander@parl.gc.ca. Please copy the opposition leaders and critics: lysane.blanchette-lamothe@parl.gc.ca, mccallum.j@parl.gc.ca, mulcair.t@parl.gc.ca, trudeau.j@parl.gc.ca, elizabeth.may@parl.gc.ca. You can also phone Minister Alexander at 613-954-1064.

Don't you love it when everything comes together? It's Let Them Stay Week 2014 , I'm thinking about the US war resisters in Canada, and about war resistance in general. And I'm reading a terrific youth novel, Flight , by Sherman Alexie, both fast-paced and rich with insight and meaning. And I come upon this passage. And if this doesn't qualify as a Revolutionary Thought of the Day, I don't know what does. Without stopping, the white soldier reaches down and picks up Bow Boy. Cradles the child in one arm. And the white soldier keeps running. He's running towards the faraway hills. Toward those faraway trees. Toward cover. Toward safety. Carrying an Indian child, a white soldier is running with Indians. I can't believe it. It can't be true. But it is true. That white soldier, a small saint, is trying to save Bow Boy. I wonder if the other escaping Indians see this. I wonder if it gives them hope. I wonder if this act of love makes it easier for them to

Just Kids  is a memoir by the artist and musician Patti Smith, about her life and relationship with the artist Robert Mapplethorpe. The book is a memoir of both Smith's and Mapplethorpe's coming of age as artists, and of the path of their relationships, both with each other and with other people who were formative in their young lives. Just Kids is also a memoir of New York City in the 1970s, especially of certain slices of the art and music scenes. Although Smith met and hung out with many famous musicians, artists, and writers during the time she writes about, Just Kids  doesn't have a gossipy, name-dropping feel. Smith isn't saying, "Look at all the famous people I've known"; she shares interesting interactions she's had with noteworthy people. For example, when Smith takes 55 cents to the Horn & Hardart automat with a craving for a cheese-and-lettuce sandwich, only to find the price has gone up, the person who offers her the missing dime is t

Let Them Stay Week 2014 kicked off yesterday with a flutter on social media. Today we get underway in earnest by writing letters to the editors of local newspapers. Three ideas for letters are here on the War Resisters Support Campaign website . An excellent list of email address, along with some tips for writing effective letters, is here , thanks to the good folks fighting for our public health care system. Your letter might reference one of three events: the 10th anniversary of the first Iraq War resister to arrive in Canada, the recent release from prison of war resister Kimberly Rivera (who served 10 months in prison after the Harper Government forced the Rivera family out of Canada), or the two motions passed in Parliament calling on the government to Let Them Stay. Here are some ideas.  Happy writing!

This month marks the 10th anniversary of the arrival in Canada of Jeremy Hinzman, the first US Iraq War resister to seek asylum here after refusing to participate in an illegal and immoral war. Yet 10 years on, Jeremy and his family, and many other U.S. war resisters, are still living in limbo – not certain if they will be forced to return to the US, where they face harsh punishment for their courageous decision. From January 12 to 19, join Canadians across the country in Let Them Stay Week 2014 , to send a message that U.S. war resisters are welcome in Canada, and that the Canadian government must stop the deportations and enact a provision to let them stay. Here are some of the ways you can participate, to ensure that our message comes through each day of Let Them Stay Week. Sunday, January 12 Tweet or post your support for U.S. war resisters on Facebook! Monday, January 13 Write a letter to the editor of your local paper. For ideas, see sample letters here . Tuesday, January 14 Call

I am so  excited about my new position! As I mentioned , I am now a librarian in the Mississauga Central Library's " Readers' Den " department. It is a full-time position, and lasts until July of this year. Right now it feels like my ideal job; I only wish it were permanent. My main areas of responsibility involve youth services. I'll be planning and delivering youth programming during school holidays, after school, and Saturdays, and I'll facilitate the teen book club that meets monthly. I'll be responsible for the library's youth book displays, and will share responsibilities for purchasing ( and weeding ) youth fiction. For the department generally, I'll be writing a newsletter to connect school librarians with the Central Library, answering (along with two other librarians) "Ask A Librarian" emails, and of course, answering questions - especially readers' advisory - at the service desk. I'll also have a lot of freedom to try n

At year's end, The Tyee reported that a memo - marked "secret" and first reported on OCanada.com  - cast grave doubts on the Harper Government's claim that environmental archives were destroyed only after they had been preserved digitally. In other words, the memo proves what progressive and concerned Canadians have long known and suspected to be true. A federal document marked "secret" obtained by Postmedia News indicates the closure or destruction of more than half a dozen world famous science libraries has little if anything to do with digitizing books as claimed by the Harper government. In fact, the document, a compendium of cuts to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans that can be read in its entirety at the bottom of this story, mentions only the "culling of materials" as the "main activities" involved as the science libraries are reduced from nine to two. Specifically, it details "culling materials in the closed libraries

On January 1, 2013, I was still in library school, and working as a library page. Allan's book proposal was still sitting on a publisher's desk. We were living at G's Court, and had no thought of moving. In 2013, in order of appearance: - Allan got a book contract, - I got a promotion from page to circulation clerk, - I finished my Master's degree, - We went to Spain (plus London and Paris), - I got my first librarian position, part-time, - I broke my foot, - Our basement, Allan's office, was destroyed by a sewage flood, - We moved, - The Red Sox won the World Series! - Allan wrote a book!, and - I got my first librarian position, full-time. In 2014, I'd like to: work as a librarian, live in one place, and have all my friends and family (including the non-human creatures, of course) enjoy good health, all year long. Here's to a quietly productive year to all who want it, and a year of change for all who are after something different. Happy New Year!