As you know, The Canadian Library Association is undergoing organizational change right now; you can read about it on their CLA Future blog.   One of the most visible and most important changes for the general membership is the introduction of networks.  CLA Networks will be self-governed, self-initiated groups that meet the short-term and long-term goals of its members (see FAQ Q3 for details).

There is currently a group of academic librarians, who are mostly new or recent graduates, that is working on creating a new network.  We are interested in real and effective networking, in crowd-sourced professional development, and in raising the visibility of a new generation of information professionals who want to take part in transformative change in their academic libraries.

But most of all, we want to collaborate with our peers. If you are interested in the future of academic librarianship in Canada (and your place in it), then please visit our wiki and contribute to it.  We are looking for ideas for this network’s aims and goals, and we are looking for like-minded librarians and library students who want to participate.

There is a committee called Re:Generations, within CACUL (the Canadian Association of College and University Libraries, a CLA division) that covered most of this area.  Several Re:Gen members have expressed interest in this network, and we hope to continue and expand on their great work.  Our main concern right now is creating the organizational framework required to keep the ball rolling in the new CLA, so please contribute!

For more information, visit our wiki, or contact me at the e-mail address below.

Thanks,

Michael Steeleworthy (MLIS 2010)

steeleworthy at dal dot ca