Nancy MacKenzie VP Advocacy and Development

Nancy MacKenzie, Manager of Community Engagement and Programming at RPL is new to Saskatchewan. Since arriving she has learned that as promised the summer is much nicer than the winter, the people in SK really do seem friendlier than many other Canadian cities and that Regina is a beautiful little city - and totally under recognized as such - especially by the people of Regina!

Nancy has spent many years working in Calgary in all types of libraries and relishes working collaboratively to create innovative programs and services that improve the lives of individuals and communities. She looks forward to working with the SLA executive the Saskatchewan library community.

Sean Brooks: Treasurer
Sean has 20 years of special library experience in a variety of roles from stamping reel-to-reel tapes in an airless, windowless room to director with far too many windows and budget lines. He's new to Saskatchewan and public libraries but enjoying his time immensely. He is a non-fiction reader with a focus on the industrialization of warfare 1840-1950 and has turned that passion into R&D contributions to map and computer strategy simulations. He believes in Lazarus Long and his aphorisms. Most critically the one ending "... specialization is for insects."

Alison Jantz: Member at Large

Alison became the Library Director of the Saskatoon Theological Union in July of 2014.  This union includes St. Andrew's College, The Lutheran Theological Seminary, Horizon College & Seminary, and the College of Emmanuel & St. Chad.  In December 2014 She graduated with an MLIS from San Jose State University. A keen interest for her is imagining the library as the social/cultural centre of a community, that not only welcomes innovation and diversity, but is a place of learning and enrichment for all who walk through the doors.  I have a Masters of Divinity, so my current position makes use of my various avenues of education.  I'm excited to contribute to this board and imagine new things together!

James Hope Howard: Member at Large
James Hope Howard is the Library Consultant for the Pahkisimon Nuyeʔáh Library System and holds an MLIS from the University of Western Ontario, as well as a
Double  Honours BA in History and Political Studies from the University of Manitoba.

He is also a freelance writer, a chiptune artist, a former community-radio host, and a man that ran a cat blog for five years.



Thank You to Volunteers:

Members make SLA a more vital organization and representative of the libraries of the province by volunteering time, effort, ideas, and feedback. For 2014-15 SLA had an outstanding board that pitched in and got a lot of work completed and an army of volunteers serving on committees and helping at conference.   As well the membership survey, feedback on the CLA issue, and conference evaluation all received good feedback to help the board make decisions and plans on the behalf of the membership.  And one last accolade to all the members that attended the Great Minds, Great Ideas Session in the late afternoon of conference Friday to look to the future and share ideas.

 A round of applause for Board Members who have completed their terms including:
*    Gillian Nowlan, Vice President of Advocacy and Development has been involved with the Saskatchewan Library Association since she moved to this province in 2011. She started by serving as a member at large on the SLA board and then moved to VP of Advocacy and Development.  Gillian has worked as a co-chair of the 2012 Conference and the Nominations Committee for 2012.  Most notably Gillian was involved with the new website and managing social media.   In her role as VP, Gillian was responsible for the Programming committee (supporting the work of Program Coordinator, Anne Pennylegion), the Publications committee (redesign of newsletter, beginning the redesign of the website, and updating social media), the Advocacy committee (responding to library issues and creating procedures and position statement guidelines), and the Personnel committee (reworking the Personnel manual and evaluation of processes of staff, and developing  the harassment  and staff travel policies) besides Board meetings and regular Executive meetings in between. Gillian comments, "My time on the board introduced me to librarians across the province and various initiatives and services offered by the SLA.  I would like to note that I have valued my time on the board and would like to continue to participate and volunteer on various SLA committees throughout the year."
*    Deborah McConkey is grateful and honoured to have been able to serve on the Board and Executive of the Saskatchewan Library Association for the last three years now:   the first year as VP of Advocacy and Development and the last two as Treasurer. One of the first things she did on the Board was design some puzzles for advertising the TD summer reading campaign in the various Saskatchewan newspapers.   For 3 years shehas been on the Executive committee, Personnel committee, Advocacy committee, and Programming Committees (specifically Saskatchewan Library Week), and has thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to work with such wonderful people and being an active part of the broader library scene in Saskatchewan.  In the role of Treasurer, she chaired the Finance committee and consulted regularly with the Executive Director regarding finances.  Deborah says, "Thank you for the opportunity to serve the Saskatchewan Library Community these last three years in these capacities.  I look forward to keeping active in the association and I would recommend each of you consider serving on the Board to keep SLA a member-driven organization in the future."
*    Kimberley Hintz has been on the board as a Member at Large from 2013-2015. In my first year she sat on the Publications committee and worked with Anne to start the new newsletter. In her second year she was on the Programming committee and worked with Anne for Freedom to Read Week and with Judy on the CEC/EI programs as part of the Partnership. She also helped revamp our Continuing Education grants. She also worked with the conference committee for the last two years developing social aspects of the conference by designing games and ice breakers and building the conference app this year.  Kimberley notes,"Involvement with the board has been a great experience for me.  I've met library workers from different sectors and areas of the province and we've worked together to build and promote valuable services and programs for our members."  
*    Tony Murphy  was elected to the SLA Board as a Member-at-Large in July of 2014, as a mid-term replacement. Over the 10 months of his  term with SLA, he participated in board meetings, attended and contributed to the SLA Board Retreat, which featured a diversity planning workshop. While his time on the SLA Board was relatively short, he  was able to contribute positively and brought his varied work and educational experience into the discussions and planning. Tony says, "My experience with SLA has been extremely valuable, starting with the fundamental plus of the networking opportunity SLA brings to its board members as they work with colleagues from across library types and from communities around the province. Planning sessions and opportunities such as working with SaskCulture on diversity planning and implementation provided valuable experience to bring back to my own organization. On a more entertaining (and entertained) note, arranging the Saskatchewan Libraries Happy Hour in PA was not only a lot of fun, but was also a good lesson in 'social convening.'"

Committee members that served for the 2014-15 year were appreciated as they worked hard to move the work of the association along.  Please see an attached list of names here

Committee Call  - If you forgot to send in your application we still have a few committee positions available - please check them out and send in an application.