Happy New Year SLA members! As we head into a new term, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on Winter Term 1 of 2021 and thank the people who made it possible.
Our New Executive Team Members
We held an election for two open executive team positions in October and were pleased to welcome Ying Chen as an Event Coordinator and Nick Murphy as our First Year Representative. Ying and Nick are creative, hardworking, and kind and have been wonderful additions to the executive team. We are all grateful to have them!
Our Tours
Much like most things in the last two years, our SLA tours looked slightly different than usual. The executive team decided as a group to put safety at the forefront and conduct online tours during this term. While we may not have been able to see the spaces we visited physically, our tour hosts were gracious and accommodating, providing interesting talks and answering many questions. An unexpected silver lining of remote tours was that many SLA members could more easily fit our tours in amongst their busy schedules.
Our first tour was hosted by Estelle and Marina Princz, who is the librarian at the Van Dusen Botanical Garden Library. Luckily for us attendees, Estelle was able to visit the library in person and show us around the physical space through Zoom. Marina talked to us about the contents of the library’s collection, how the library operates, and the challenges that come with being a solo librarian in a nontraditional space. It was interesting to hear her informed perspective on working independently in a small library. Thanks for having us, Marina!
You can learn more about the Van Dusen Botanical library here.
Our second tour was hosted by Ying and Nick Ubels, a librarian at the UBC Learning Exchange. Nick was kind enough to have prepared an interesting and in-depth presentation that explained the history, mission, activities, and future goals of the Learning Exchange. Our tour with Nick was both insightful and informative and showed how he and the other members of the UBC Learning Exchange work to empower and make space for community members in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side. We appreciate Nick for taking the time to talk to us and teach us about his work.
Check out the following links to learn more about the Learning Exchange and Nick’s role as a librarian in this space.
Statements of Gratitude
Before we go, some thanks are due:
- Thanks to our gracious tour hosts Marina and Nick for creating engaging and interesting virtual tours for us.
- Thanks to our executive team of Alannah, Kisun, Estelle, Ying, Courtney, Nick, and Rachael for all of their hard work this year.
- Thanks to all of you SLA members! We couldn’t do this without you!
Where would you like us to visit in 2022? If you have any ideas, feel free to bring them up at a future meeting or email us at sla.slais.mail@gmail.com.
SLA@UBC 