[CANMEDLIB] eNews Fall 2020

[CHLA/ABSC]

			eNews Fall 2020
Table of Contents

New CHLA/ABSC Website!REMINDER: Awards and GrantsREMINDER: Call for Board
NominationsPresident's MessageCE UpdateThe Importance of PartnershipsFinancial
Update2021 Membership RenewalCall for eNews contentNext Board MeetingFollow
CHLA/ABSC on social media!Did you know CHLA/ABSC has a Zoom account you can
use?eNews: Now more accessible and shareable!
2021 Membership Renewal

2020 is almost over (surprising, isn't it?) and that means all current members
should have received their renewal notice for the 2021 membership year. If you
don't see it in your email, check your Spam or Junk folder. We look forward to
working with you in 2021!
Call for eNews content

We know you’re out there doing cool stuff in the health library world –
either at your institutions, with your chapters, or blazing a trail on your own.
Share with us! Big or small, let’s tell the membership. Maybe you’ll inspire
your colleagues – or get new ideas. The eNews is sent out three times a year:
fall, winter, and post-conference. If you have something you’d like to share
in the eNews, please contact pr at chla-absc.ca.
Next Board Meeting

February 25 and 26, March 4 and 5 virtually.

Let us know if there are any items that you'd like added to our agenda
via president at chla-absc.ca.

The CHLA/ABSC Board strongly encourages your input, comments & feedback.
Follow CHLA/ABSC on social media!

Twitter : @chlaabsc
Facebook
LinkedIn
Instagram: @chla_absc
Did you know CHLA/ABSC has a Zoom account you can use?

If you belong to a CHLA/ABSC chapter, interest group, working group, or
committee and need video-conferencing for meetings or work related to the
Association, you can use the CHLA/ABSC Zoom account. To get access fill out the
form here (also available on the website under the Communities tab) with the
required information. The CHLA Secretary will confirm the booking and send
details within 1-2 business days.
eNews: Now more accessible and shareable!

Looking for past issues of the eNews? Want to share it with non-members? Worry
no more. We’re excited to say we’ve moved the eNews archive to the public
part of the CHLA/ABSC website. Find the latest issue and the archives
under Publications.
New CHLA/ABSC Website!

CHLA/ABSC’s Board of Directors are excited to announce that as of Monday
September 21, 2020 CHLA/ABSC website has a new look and feel.

Some of the features of this revised website include:

	Image based navigation tiles
	A reorganization of information, collapsing some categories together
	Removal of redundant information and features (decluttering)
	More emphasis on conferences, membership, and CE

The new navigation tiles are a combination of images taken by our Web Manager,
Ron MacPherson and images submitted for the Community Engagement Challenge,
along with one stock image.

The photo used for Education is of the University of Ottawa’s Tabaret Hall and
was taken during the CHLA/ABSC 2019 Conference by Nancy Gadoury. The photo used
for the Conference tile was taken by Valentina Ly at the same conference looking
down over a busy poster session.

We would love to know what you think of our revised website. Please contact Ron
MacPherson, CHLA/ABSC Web Manager if you have any feedback you would like to
share.
REMINDER: Awards and Grants

It's still early but that means there's plenty of time to think about it and
submit your applications! Additional calls will be sent out in the new year, but
we want to remind you that nominations for our CHLA/ABSC annual awards and
grants are open, and you are welcome to submit nominations and applications for
these awards and grants.

For more information on each award and grant CHLA/ABSC gives out, please visit
the Awards and Funding page. Nominations for awards are due February 1st, 2021;
with the exception of the JCHLA/ABSC Student Paper Prize, which is due April 30.
All grant applications are due March 1, 2021.
REMINDER: Call for Board Nominations

Dear Members,

Nominations are invited for three positions:

	Treasurer for the period 2021 to 2023 (2 years);
	Public Relations Director for the period 2021 to 2023 (2 years);
	Vice-President/President Elect for the period 2021 to 2024 (3 years).


The composition of the 2020/21 Board of Directors:


	President: Francesca Frati (Montréal, QC)
	Vice-President/President Elect: Tara Landry (Montréal, QC)
	Past President: Sandy Iverson (Antigonish, NS)

 
Directors


	Treasurer: Susan Murphy (Saskatoon, SK)
	Public Relations Director: Alison Manley (Miramichi, NB)
	Secretary: Sarah Visintini, (Ottawa, ON)
	CE Coordinator: Melissa Helwig (Halifax, NS)

 
Procedures:
Nominees must be individual members of CHLA/ABSC in good standing. All
nominations must be signed by two (2) members of CHLA/ABSC in good standing.

Nominations must be submitted in writing to the Nominations Committee and shall
include the nominee’s written consent to stand for election. The candidate
must also submit a brief biography, as well as a personal statement of aims, for
the Association. Nominations and consent forms are available here:

Candidates nominated for both Vice-President/President Elect and Director may
run for both positions, but if elected to the former, will be automatically
eliminated for the Directorship.

Members of the Board are eligible for re-election provided that no member serves
more than two (2) consecutive terms.
All nominations must be submitted to the Chair of the Nominations Committee no
later than March 8, 2021.

Send nomination to:
Sandy Iverson
Chair, CHLA/ABSC Nominations Committee
past-president at chla-absc.ca    

With a copy to:
Sarah Visintini
Secretary, CHLA/ABSC
secretary at chla-absc.ca
President's Message

Francesca Frati, president 
Dear CHLA members,
It is once again time for me to write to you. This time it is my pleasure to
provide you with highlights from our Fall Board meeting. Normally this meeting
occurs in person over a period of two full days of intense work, and is an
opportunity for Board members from across Canada to see each other in person and
enjoy some important bonding and fun along with rolling up our sleeves for some
serious getting-things-done action. Alas, as with so much, this year things were
different. We still had our meeting and got a lot of important work done, but
the meetings took place on four consecutive Fridays in the form of four-hour
Zoom sessions.
Here are some of the highlights:

Strategic planning: We reviewed the 2018-2021 Strategic plan to identify
objectives that have not yet been met and we set our goals for the coming year.
The various Boards have accomplished a lot over the past few years and there is
still work to be done. If you wish to see the full operational plan, where we
set out our goals for the year, you can see it here. 

2020 Budget: Thanks to the amazing stewardship of previous Boards, and most
especially thanks to the hard work of our Treasurer, Susan Murphy with the
support of our association management company Associations first,  we have been
able to draw on the one year’s operating funds the association had in reserve.
For this reason, will be able to continue operations despite the cancellation of
our main source of yearly revenue, the 2020 conference. We spent time during our
meeting identifying potential new sources of revenue as well as ways we can
reduce our expenses. One big change has been for us to adopt a new approach to
translation. Providing bilingual access to documents and messages is very
important and we are committed to it, but translation is very costly. We will
now translate documents using Deepl or a similar translation software, and edit
the translation for accuracy. For now, the three bilingual Board members have
been doing this work, but we are seeking volunteers in order to make this
approach sustainable! If you are interested, please reach out to any Board
member.

2021 Conference: I am extremely pleased with the work our intrepid conference
planning committee (CPC) has put into planning next year’s conference under
exceptionally challenging and stressful conditions. While we cannot confirm yet
what form the conference will take because of contractual obligations, I can
assure you that it will be an amazing event with the usual high-quality content
and fascinating keynotes. Please stay tuned as more details are shared by the
Board and the CPC over the coming months.

CE Opportunities: Our new CE director, Melissa Helwig, has been working very
hard with the newly formed CE Committee to plan some excellent offerings for the
coming 6 months. The first workshop, New PubMed, the good, the bad, and the
missing, offered on November 20 was a great success! Kudos to the organizers and
instructors. Stay tuned for more learning opportunities…

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: Our newly formed Task Force provided the Board
with some excellent recommendations, which include the addition of the term
“Equity” to the Task Force’s name and mandate. The Board will be
conducting more in-depth strategic planning exercises through the lens of DE & I
at the Winter Board meeting. As well, a call for convenors for a DE & I interest
group will be going out shortly. Please do consider volunteering to facilitate
this important initiative with the aim of helping the Board and our members
become more engaged and educated in matters related to DE & I.

Standards: The Standards Task Force has completed integration of evidence from
16 rapid scoping searches, and feedback from expert reviewers and member
consultation. Huge thanks go out to all who have made the initiative possible
including members like you who provided thoughtful feedback. The CHLA/ABSC
Standards for Library and Information Services in Canadian Health & Social
Services Institutions 2020 have been submitted to JCHLA/JABSC for publication in
the April issue and the accepted manuscript will be placed on the CHLA/ABSC
website shortly. The Standards Standing Committee has begun work to review and
update the HSICT Library Value Toolkit and in particular the Levels of Service
benchmark document and will take over long-term stewardship of the Standards
shortly.

Advocacy: The Board has been in conversation with our Chapter executives as we
begin work to develop guidelines that outline the respective roles of CHLA/ABSC
and the CHLA/ABSC chapters in advocating for our members.

I would like to recognize the Board of Directors and all the wonderful volunteer
members of our committees, tasks force, interest groups, and Chapter executives
for your continued hard work in this exceptionally challenging year. If you
haven’t read it, or even if you have, please see my previous message. It
remains as true today as it was when I wrote it back in October. 

I also want to recognize those of you who have renewed your memberships this
year; some of you have done so even though the conference was cancelled and even
though you may not have had the support of your institution to do so. As
members, you and I are what enables the association to weather any storm. You
have heard this before, but I will say it again, our association is only as
strong as its members, so thank you all, for being incredibly strong and
stalwart members and for continuing to support the association through tough
times. We may be smaller in numbers than our partner to the South, but we are
not smaller in vision or talent! Speaking of how amazing you all are, please
don’t forget to nominate a colleague who is especially deserving for one of
our special awards. The deadline is February 1st 2021.

Finally, I would like to wish you all some sparks and sparkles of warmth and
love this holiday season even though there is much sadness in this world and
many of us cannot be with our friends and families. Courage to all. May you be
well, and stay safe in minds, hearts, and spirits.
CE Update

Melissa Helwig, Director, CEWe hosted our first webinar and have big plans for
2021. Keep an eye on your email in early January for a number of upcoming
webinars and a new course. Thank you also for your patience as we try some new
things with continuing education as it is a learning process, and it will take a
little time to tweak and streamline things.
 
The Importance of Partnerships

Juanita Richardson, Partner Relations Officer
	Should I check off “Yes” to receive vendor updates when I register for the
conference or when I renew my membership?
	Should I attend industry partner lightning talks?
	Should I participate in sponsored education sessions where vendor partners are
at the table?

Yes, yes, and yes! 

Our industry partners are an important part of CHLA/ABSC.  They not only
develop and distribute the knowledge products and information services that
enable us as librarians to deliver results to our users – our industry
partners also support our association.  Through their generous sponsorships, we
are able to offer high level programing, services, and content to our members at
low, low prices. The revenue that we receive from our industry partners accounts
for apx 70% of the total revenue our association realizes. Without that support,
we would have to consider increasing our membership dues and/or increase
conference and CE program rates.  So, the next time an industry partner asks if
you have time to meet, please say yes. 
Financial Update

Susan Murphy, TreasurerAlthough the Covid-19 pandemic has wreaked financial
havoc across the country, our Association’s finances have been able to weather
the impact so far. This is primarily due to having achieved our goal of having
at least one year’s operating expenses in reserve. Although we were forced to
cancel our annual conference, which is our major revenue generator, we were able
to cash in a couple of investments to avoid a deficit budget at year end.
Revenue from the PubMed webinar and any other CE activities between now and
year-end will also contribute towards offsetting this year’s expenses.
Additionally, Board in-person meeting expenses were significantly reduced for
2020 as our pre- and post-conference meetings and fall meeting were held
virtually. The Board continues to practice due diligence in identifying
additional ways to reduce operating expenses and generate additional revenue,
the importance of which is particularly heightened in these unusual times. We
thank all of our renewing and new members for their ongoing support of
CHLA/ABSC.
 eNews - eNews Fall 2020

			

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