News from Prince Edward Island

 

 

Staffing
On July 1, Norine Hanus will start her retirement. Norine has been the Library’s Collections Librarian since 1996.  She began as a reference librarian at UPEI (1969-73) and then focused on raising a family, until her return to the profession in 1987 with the Eastern School District. We thank her for her service and wish her and family all the best in the coming years.

Congratulations to Donald Moses, the new Collections and Digital Resources Librarian. Donald is currently completing his term as Coordinator for the Island Lives Digitization Project.

 

On a very sad note, the Library staff members were shocked to learn of the passing of co-worker Gordon Connors on May 18^th. Gordon had worked in the Library’s Circulation Department since 1986 and was well known to the entire campus community. 

 

Library Events
On June 15-16, the Library hosted a Digitization Summit with the assistance and participation of a number of individuals and groups including the Public Library Service, Public Archives and Records Office and the P.E.I. Museum & Heritage Foundation.

 

The second Red Island Repository Institute (RIRI) is scheduled for July 20-24 at the University of Prince Edward Island http://vre.upei.ca/riri/

 

Access 2009 Library Technology Conference will be coming to the Island on October 1-3 , 2009, preceded by Hackfest on September 30. Participants from all over North America will converge on Charlottetown to discuss, exchange, and learn about cutting edge technologies. Visit the conference site http://vre.upei.ca/access2009/ for details.

 

Facility
A new state-of- the art Language Lab opened in the Robertson Library in May, implemented with support from UPEI and ACOA. An associated multimedia development lab (called the Collaboratory) will open in July.

 

Awards
Robertson Library is the recipient of the 2009 CLA/3M Award for Achievement in Technical Services for the project "Open Sourcing the Serials Workflow”.  The library team developed a series of connected spreadsheets to manage new acquisitions. The CUFTS open source program was implemented to manage the Library’s online journals and then modified to include the check-in and holdings of print journals as well. The Library is contributing to CUFTS by creating and managing a list of electronic Canadian government document serials.

 

The Library's VRE: Virtual Research Environment is the winner of the 2009 CAUBO (Canadian Association of University Business Officers) Atlantic Regional Award. The VRE provides research groups with a web environment that facilitates collaboration with links to the repository for the stewardship of research data through the entire research cycle. The design of the VRE makes it adaptable to research groups in all disciplines as well as other groups such as administration and the Library, which uses it for the basis of its digital collections.

 

 

Law Society of P.E.I. Library
Contributed by Pam Borden

 

The big change at the Law Society of P.E.I. Library is the growing number of ILL requests coming in from lawyers and the Island judiciary for law library materials listed on AMICUS, Novanet and Canadian law school libraries’ online catalogues.

 

Through the online catalogues, the free "virtual law library" called CanLII and the CALL (Canadian Association of Law Libraries)'s members' list serv, the accessibility of materials has just skyrocketed in the Canadian law library world. More obscure material (older legislation, out of print or
rare textbooks and specialized journal articles) is shared among the 450+members of CALL where speed of response time is a point of pride among participating law librarians.

The Law Society of P.E.I. Library serves the members of the Law Society of Prince Edward Island and members of the public upon application.

 

 

The Nursing Home Delivery Program is a new initiative aimed at improving our service to the senior population. We will be putting the Public Library Service van to good use as we begin a book delivery service to nursing homes on Prince Edward Island. Several of our branch libraries are already providing a variation of this service on a limited basis; the goal of this program is to build on these efforts and provide a structured and centralized service. The pilot program will run for approximately six months and will focus on homes in Kings County and in Queens County outside of Charlottetown.

 

May is Speech and Hearing

Awareness Month. This year, the PEI Speech and Hearing Association (PEISHA), in collaboration with Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Services of the Government of PEI, created and donated five Sounds and Stories in a Bag to the PEI Public Library Service. The Sounds and Stories in a Bag kits contain books, toys, and activities that promote phonological awareness and provide support to parents and children in the development of early literacy skills.

 

The five Sounds and Stories in a Bag kits will be placed at Confederation Centre Public Library, Summerside Rotary Library, Montague Public Library, O'Leary Public Library and Souris Public Library after they are catalogued.

 

During the Spring Sitting of the Legislative Assembly, Communities, Cultural Affairs and Labour Minister Carolyn Bertram announced an increase in hours of operation at two public libraries. Effective June 1, 2009 Stratford Public Library hours increased from 18 hours to 30 hours a week and Cornwall Public Library increased from 30 to 36 hours a week. Use at these two libraries had doubled in recent years, so the additional hours were welcomed by patrons in these two communities.

 

During Public Service Week in June, several library staff members received long-term service awards. Carolyn Millar (Tyne Valley Public Library) and Rita Sahajpal (Confederation Centre Public Library) were honoured for 20 years of service and Elizabeth Doiron (Confederation Centre Public Library) was recognized for her 35 years of service. 

 

TD Summer Reading Club 

Staff in the Public Library Service had an early start to this year’s TD Summer Reading Club as   Lianne Fortin, Program Manager of the TD Summer Reading Club with Library and Archives Canada held two workshops (one English, one French) for PLS staff early in June. “Agent 009” is the title of this year’s detective-based program, and library staff library staff have developed a wide range of exciting and fun activities based on the theme. The goals of the TD Summer Reading Club are to encourage children to read for pleasure, to help youth maintain and improve their reading skills during the summer, and foster a lifelong joy of reading. Children 12 and under, can register with their local library for the TD Summer Reading Club and will receive a poster, stickers and an activity book as a part of their reading kit.