Welcome to the 2020 issue of BCLA Perspectives! We are very happy to be back to help facilitate conversation and communication in the library, archival, and information communities.
Like the Miscellany issue of 2019, there’s no one theme for this issue. We wanted to make sure that everyone who wanted to contribute felt like they could do so, and we’re happy that the articles we received reflect a variety of topics.
Some articles directly relate to the COVID-19 pandemic, examining topics such as what it’s like to start a new job right now, how libraries can help combat the anti-Asian sentiment that has been exacerbated by the pandemic, outlining the challenges and opportunities in remote service provision, or how to best provide public service through layers of personal protective equipment. In other articles, it’s clear that our professional pursuits must continue despite the pandemic; challenges like working towards environmental sustainability, promoting information literacy, mitigating information privilege, increasing staff diversity and decolonizing libraries remain important priorities. We’ve also got a couple of professional profiles to share from the BC Academic Libraries Section (BCALS), highlighting members of the academic library community – one submitted earlier this year, and one submitted more recently.
Our editorial team has gone through some changes this year. Please join us in welcoming Stephanie Kripps and Courtney Miller to the team:
Stephanie graduated with an MLS from UBC SLAIS (now the iSchool) in the pre-internet era, and has since then observed, adapted, and contributed to the evolution of librarianship. Before pursuing her MLS, she had earned a teaching certificate and taught learning strategies to students with learning disabilities, and English to refugees and new immigrants. Most recently (2018-2020), she completed SFU’s editing certificate program.
Aside from a brief experiment living in London, Ontario, Stephanie has always lived and worked in BC, mostly in her home town of Vancouver but also Victoria, Bowen Island, and Nelson. She has worked at Vancouver Public Library for many years in a variety of inspiring capacities, and is currently head of VPL’s Terry Salman branch.
Courtney Miller (she/her/hers) is a current student in the Dual MAS/MLIS program at UBC and has worked in Vancouver area libraries for the last ten years. She is drawn to information literacy, questions of information accessibility, and the intersection of library work and journalism. She’s particularly interested in addressing the information needs of and empowering marginalized groups. During her undergrad, she was Editor-in-Chief of SFU’s independent student-run newspaper, The Peak, where she helped students find their voices. Her other interests include befriending dogs at the local dog park, recording audiobooks for the LibriVox project, cooking, and drinking plenty of tea. Courtney currently works at North Vancouver City Library in various roles.
For next year, we plan to return to themed issues and we’ll announce those early in 2021. But no matter the theme that frames a particular issue, we expect that COVID-19 (and responses to it) will be part of our professional conversations for some time to come; we’ll welcome those articles on an ongoing basis. Similarly, we are always actively looking for research content and continue to work to increase Perspectives content from our colleagues outside of the Lower Mainland of BC. For questions, comments, or article pitches, please contact us at [email protected].
Thanks for reading. It’s nice to be back.
