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Live from the 2017 BC Library Conference

[INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM]


In an effort to advance the enthusiastic conversations and ideas that transpired at this year’s BC Library Conference, BCLA aimed to extend its annual conference offerings outside session (and hotel) walls. For the first time, BCLA enlisted a volunteer to live tweet sessions via the @BCLibraryconf account. The Tweeter covered one panel per session block, liking and re-tweeting other conference goers’ posts along the way. Using the hashtag #BCLC2017, attendees could connect and share information across sessions, while those not in attendance could follow along.

In keeping with the theme of this issue of BCLA Perspectives, here are some tweets from the April 19-21 Conference that touched upon the values of the Association.* There were strong calls to action and assertions of BCLA values over the course of the three-day gathering, beginning with Khelsilem’s opening keynote and ending with Anita Sarkeesian’s tips for helping others contend with online bullying.

BCLC Tweets


Access and Inclusion

-Think about when you offer adult programs. Evening time is time to secure food and shelter for people experiencing homelessness – @lmkrabbenhoft

-Reoccurring theme: more LIS research needed! Linda Garvin on serving socially vulnerable pop & @Tess1144 on inclusion at the lib – @danachorrocks

-Inequality & failure to invest in public services makes our society sicker and poorer. #value – @jzgarnett

Intellectual Freedom

-What are librarians? Defenders of status quo or forces for change? – @edrabinski

-Why should Librarians be on the forefront to fight fascism? Information is power. @MoreOnThisLater

-Why should libraries be in the front lines to fight fascism and how should we do it? asks @jmddrake – @tararobertson

-Cheers to @cyberb3n for bringing up the importance of intellectual freedom and information policy. – @bloodredruby

-Activism and politics is the top skill needed for new librarians @MoreOnThisLater @navillusnosilla

Innovation and Creativity

-Nice one, @callin_bull – teaching us media literacy by showing a questionable graph of your own data – @jrwoollard

-Purpose of U of W’s Calling Bullshit course is not just to spot BS (language/data/stats aimed to persuade), but also to refute it – @lltripp

-Open textbooks — less emphasis on financial savings and more emphasis on pedagogical innovation. – @parallaxinfo

-@shannonozirny my hero!!! Giving a youth services perspective. How we are using tech to teach flexibility/creativity. – @lmkrabbenhoft

Diversity

-Medicine wheel framework used to group work for the TRC national libraries report @CamilleCallison – @dupontsarah

-We ignore multicultural communities at our own peril. It undermines our role as libraries if we don’t respond to change. – @lmkrabbenhoft

Literacy and Lifelong Learning

-Wow! 83,986 kids enrolled in the BC Summer Reading Club in 2016! Thanks to Surrey Public Library for making me a lifelong bookworm – @Hottubbin4labor

-I’m always excited when a keynote leaves me with a desire to learn. – @Emefie

-Great keynote by @Khelsilem tonight setting tone for #BCLC2017 Mind is primed for learning. “How fascinating!” – @jrwoollard

-A great example of learning from failures! Definitely a theme of the conference. #howfascinating @lmkrabbenhoft

-Early literacy as force for social justice. Forward planning. Reminder that literacy is a spectrum. @atrumbled – @Cee3Nellie

Accountability 

-An invitation to consider privilege and power, in all its iterations and intersections. I’m too engrossed to even tweet. – @mashdown

-Challenge yourself to be bullshit neutral; by countering BS found, balancing any self produced BS  – @xTamisC


*Tweets above all used the #BCLC2017 hashtag.


Kristina McGuirk is a dual MAS/MLIS student at the iSchool@UBC. She is the SLAIS student representative on the BCLA Perspectives Editorial Board.