Marigold Newsletter
March 2024 |
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Marigold Conference- Registration Now Open! |
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Join us on Wednesday, May 15 for the Marigold Library System Conference! This annual professional development day is an opportunity for Marigold member library staff and board members to attend professional development sessions, meet Marigold Headquarters staff, and network with fellow library staff and trustees.
Early bird pricing ends on April 10, which is also the deadline for hotel room bookings. |
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| Savannah Sillito - Digital Experience Consultant |
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Hello everyone, my name is Savannah Sillito and I am new to Marigold. I previously worked at the University of Calgary Library, as well as Mount Royal University Library and Calgary Public Library before that. I have a BA in English and Museum Studies from UCalgary, and am about two months away from completing my MLIS from San Jose State University. In a previous career, I was an Early Childhood Educator for about five years, so I'm excited to bring my education and library backgrounds together for this role! Outside of work, I'm a single mom to a very energetic 7-year-old. I love travel, reading, movies, theatre, and good local food.
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Marigold was recently asked to investigate an organization called TipTap Pay to see if it was a viable option for collecting donations, fees, etc. Some of the organizations currently using it are Calgary Public Library, Calgary Zoo, Tim Hortons, and more. This involves having a display or poster with a device in it that links to a cellular network and your bank, collecting the amount of money indicated on the device when the user taps their credit or debit card.
TipTap shared with us that this has been successful when tied to a campaign (ie. book sale, specific fundraiser, donations, membership fees) and when used out in the community. If used in the library, it would be plugged in to the wall, but if used in an environment where it can’t be plugged in, a battery pack can be purchased. Because it connects to cellular networks, there’s no need for an Internet connection.
Set up requires determining your service package, what type of display is required and the denomination(s) on it, any customization of the display, and connection to your bank account. Costs are as follows:
Service package - $230-$5,000 depending on how much consultation, etc. you would like Device - $35/month/device (ie. per denomination on the display – some hold more than one device) - Display kit – see image below
- Customization fee – adding logo, campaign message, etc.; around $20
- Shipping costs
- Battery kit - $15-$30 depending on battery length (one time cost)
- Transaction fees – ongoing, done through either GlobalPayments or Moneris; setup fee and then transaction fees (from payment processor and/or TipTap)
To see more details about this go to tiptappay.com. If you are interested in pursuing this, you can contact Mark Jordan at mark@tiptappay.com.
Submitted by Kristine den Boon Director of Service Delivery Marigold Library System |
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New StoryWalks Available! |
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New StoryWalks are available! This round of stories will be available until June 30th. |
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Spring Kits Available for Booking |
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Below are just two of the crafts that will be a part of the Spring kit this year! They are so easy that any age will be sure to enjoy them!
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Delia Winter Fest and CBC |
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The Delia Library Staff and Board were very excited to participate in CBC’s “Out Your Way” program and began with meeting the CBC crew via Webex and then later to meet with Dave Perlich to discuss and begin planning our event. The Delia Library staff and CBC decided to host a Winter Festival.
On Friday, February 2 the community of Delia, the Delia School, and the surrounding area came together to enjoy a Winter Festival. The Winter Festival was put together by the staff at the Delia Municipal Library and CBC.
The day began with a community conversation including nine |
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local stakeholders and nine CBC visitors. We were able to discuss great aspects of rural life and some challenges we also face including housing, employment, and services. Then Diane Yanko and Chistina Ronualdo went into our Grade 3, 4, 5, 6 classrooms to discuss with students about how news stories are chosen and what makes the news.
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At about 1pm we assembled in the gym and introduced the CBC visitors and kicked off the Winter Fest. The Winter Fest included several stations including the Snowball Games, Snowman Roundup Station, the Winter PlayLand, Cocoa Cove, Snowman Alley, and the CBC Engagement Station. Each station included several activities.
In the Snowman Roundup just outside in the playground of Delia School we had the |
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Snowman Tin Toss, Snowman Obstacle Course, Snowman Slam, and Coloured Ice Sculpture Making. In the Snowball Games just out the back of Delia School in their field we had ice bowling, Snowshoe Relay, Family Broomball, and Ski Relay. In the Winter PlayLand held inside the Delia School gymnasium we had a huge inflatable maze, penguin bowling, bean bag target toss and a prize wheel with prizes.
In Snowman Alley in the inside corridor of the school we had several winter craft stations where participants could make a snow lantern, ice drops, or snowflake suncatchers. Also we had a big wood Bulldog puzzle which is the school’s mascot |
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for participants to sign. This puzzle will be modge podged and put into a frame to hang at the school. Part of this station included The Alberta Library’s Happiness Project in a room just off the corridor which was projected images that participants could interact and move around. Lots of wonderful feedback on
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this station.
The Cocoa Cove was further along the school corridor by the school canteen where participants created edible snowmen for their hot chocolate, had a warm and toasty cup of cocoa, and played the Candy Dice Game.
At the far end of the school was the CBC Engagement Station where participants could take selfies in front of the CBC backdrop, try their hand at interviewing someone, see how a big camera works and do some filming under the direction of Jo Horwood. They |
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also could meet with several other CBC experts to discuss making videos and how to edit them. This station proved to be a real hit! For many this may have been their first time seeing tools and experts involved in journalism.
During the Fest the library hosted a pie and coffee for local community members to come in and visit with our CBC visitors. The Delia student leadership team LEADS helped man the stations along with several community volunteers.
The Fest ended about 4 pm and then the Delia |
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Historical Museum held tours at the Museum. This was followed by the Winter Feast held at the Delia Community Hall. The Feast was a beef on a bun supper sponsored by the Village of Delia, Friends of the Delia Library, and CBC and catered by Day Lenfesty. We had about 124 participants at the supper. After supper, participants were able to play snowman BINGO and win prizes.
Several participants of the day remarked how enjoyable the day was and how much they value their small community and relationships they have.
Submitted by Leah Hunter Library Manager
Delia Municipal Library |
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Indigenous Librarian Brian Deer |
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I know that librarians don’t think of themselves as perpetuators of colonialism, and we have shifted our perspective of Indigenous culture dramatically since the 1970’s but we are still using classification systems that reflect a very Eurocentric way of thinking and categorizing. Jessie Bach’s excellent article talks about the ongoing work to address this issue.
Very few people however were talking about this in the 1970’s. One exception being one of the first Indigenous librarians in Canada, Brian Deer of the Kahnawake Nation. He had a Bachelor of Science and an education degree when he began working for the National Indian Brotherhood (now the Assembly of First Nations), in 1970. He went back and earned his master’s in library science in 1974 with this exact issue in mind I suspect, because between 1974 and 1976 he created the Brian Deer Classification System.
It is human nature to want to label or organize information. It is also a practical necessity for libraries. Traditional classification systems like Dewey Decimal reflect a specific point of view. A way of thinking. The question I find myself asking is does the system then begin to organize the way we think about things? Brian Deer thought it did.
He created his system to reflect an Indigenous approach to knowledge. It puts emphasis on place and on relationships. It recognizes the languages of the many nations rather than using the English names bestowed on them. It helps reframe the way Indigenous content is understood by everyone.
I think that this concept reflects UNDRIP Article 13 1. Indigenous peoples have the right to revitalize, use, develop and transmit to future generations their histories, languages, oral traditions, philosophies, writing systems and literatures, and to designate and retain their own names for communities, places and persons.
If this subject intrigues you as much as it does me I suggest “A Crash Course on the Brian Deer Classification System” for further reading. The handout includes a great list of resources including articles and information from libraries that use the Brian Deer Classification system.
Submitted by Rose Reid Indigenous Outreach Specialist Marigold Library System |
Leap |
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Did you know- Auto-renewal |
Did you know that you can turn on auto-renewal for your items? This prevents overdue fines on items that are renewable rather than relying on the patron remembering to do it themselves. There are a few libraries within TRAC (and five in Marigold!) who have already turned this on.
How does it work? When turned on, if there are no holds on the item Polaris will automatically renew the item to a maximum of two times. Please note that this is based on the owning library’s ITEMS, not patrons. So since this is enabled for Airdrie, for instance, any Airdrie owned items without holds will be automatically renewed regardless of where they are checked out. But if an Airdrie patron has an item checked out from a library that does not have this enabled, the patron will have to manually renew that item.
The more libraries who have this turned on, the better the customer service will be for all patrons! If you have more questions about this, please contact your consultant. If you are ready to enable it, please submit an IT ticket asking to turn on Item Auto-Renewal.
Submitted by Kristine den Boon Director of Service Delivery Marigold Library System |
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Text Notification - Important Information |
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There are ongoing, intermittent issues with the delivery of text notifications. This is a general problem affecting all service providers, and text notifications may not be properly delivered to any patrons using that service.
TRAC is currently working on resolving this issue, and will provide further information about a solution as soon as possible.
If patrons report experiencing problems with text notifications, please have them switch to email notifications until we have another solution to offer.
Below is an image that can be posted to your social media accounts to inform patrons of this issue.
If you have any questions or concerns, please submit a ticket to support@marigold.ab.ca |
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From the Literary Community |
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Summer Reading Prize Discount |
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SmileMakers has partnered with the Canada Library Systems as a key supplier for Library Summer Reading Programs for many years! If you would like to order prizes from SmileMakers you can use the code SMILE2024 which will give you:
This code expires on April 30th. |
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TD Summer Reading Club StoryWalk |
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The TD Summer Reading Club (TD SRC) is back! StoryWalk® is free and available to libraries across Canada that submitted their statistics and evaluation for the 2023 program to Maru/Blue (only applicable to returning libraries) and that have registered for the 2024 TD Summer Reading Club. The book that has been selected is The Darkest Dark by Chris Hadfield and Kate Fillion.
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- The StoryWalk® book is available in English, French and bilingual formats.
- StoryWalk® kits can be used by participating libraries for the summer of 2024, from June 10 to Labour Day.
- While they will try to accommodate everyone only 800 kits are available across Canada.
- A Letter of Agreement is required, in which libraries agree to the licensing terms and conditions.
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Canadian Digital Library Collection |
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Have you heard about the Canadian Digital Library Collection? It's a pilot program designed to empower librarians to discover Canadian books from independent publishers across the nation. Books are organized by specific topics from independent publishers including Alberta, LGBTQ2S, Indigenous and more! Check it out here to discover these titles!
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CULC Safety and Security Toolkit Released |
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Following a year of collaboration, consultation, and writing, I'm thrilled to inform you that the Canadian Urban Libraries Council Safety and Security Toolkit has been officially released. This comprehensive resource offers practical strategies for public libraries to manage, reduce, and respond to safety and security incidents more effectively.
As you are aware, across Canada, socio-economic forces are amplifying the frequency and intensity of security incidents in public spaces, including libraries. This toolkit is designed to provide support in managing issues incorporating valuable insights and lessons learned from fellow CULC/CBUC members.
I encourage you to access the toolkit on librarysafety.ca.
Pilar Martinez CEO, Edmonton Public Library |
| Minister’s Awards for Municipal and Public Library Excellence 2024 |
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As you may have seen, Minister McIver sent a letter to all municipalities and library boards announcing the launch of the 2024 “Minister’s Awards for Municipal and Public Library Excellence”. For more information about the Minister’s Awards, including the program guidelines, award categories, and submission process, please visit the awards program webpage.
Submissions are being accepted now with a deadline to submit of April 15, 2024. |
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PLSB Board Basics Workshops |
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There are three spring Board Basics Workshop dates:
- Sherwood Park: Saturday, April 20, 2024 at the Strathcona County Community Centre meeting room #2. Register online for Sherwood Park by Wednesday, April 17, 2024.
- Grande Prairie: Saturday, June 1, 2024 at the Grande Prairie Public Library. Register online for Grande Prairie by Wednesday, May 29, 2024.
- Airdrie: Saturday, June 15, 2024 at the Airdrie Public Library. Register online for Airdrie by Wednesday, June 12, 2024.
The workshop will run from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
This free workshop is open to all library board members and library managers and is designed to help participants support effective public library service in their communities. Participants will learn about:
the Libraries Act and Libraries Regulation;
the structure of public library service in Alberta, including the Alberta Public Library Network;
library board roles and responsibilities;
governance tools, including Plan of Service, policies and budget;
library board member roles and responsibilities; library board funding and finances; and
relationships with other library stakeholders, and board-staff relationships.
Participants will receive a handbook and copies of the Libraries Act and Libraries Regulation. Meals (including lunch the day of the workshop), travel, and any required accommodation will be the participant’s responsibility.
If you have any questions please contact the Public Library Services Branch at 780-427-4871 or libraries@gov.ab.ca. |
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Do you enjoy watching Oscar nominated movies? Then check out the books some of them are based on!
Click on the book cover for a full synopsis and to place a hold today. |
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What's happening in your library? We'd love to hear from you!
News or updates about your library Programs or events you'd like to share Pictures of your library or events at your library Email your Consultant with any newsletter submissions you'd like to share with the Marigold Community. |
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