Welcome to the first issue of Perspectives in 2021: The Remote Work Technology Issue!
While the end of the pandemic is starting to be visible on the horizon (fingers crossed!), many of us are still working from home, with all of the challenges that come with that. For those of us working on site, we are adapting to changing situations. All of us are doing our best to connect with others in creative and distanced ways.
These articles showcase the communication strategies for connecting with staff and patrons and all the lessons learned and learning curves that were thrown at the authors over the last year. However, despite these challenges, the interesting programs, services, and projects that have been undertaken during the pandemic so far are incredible and demonstrate what can be done with teamwork and resolve. Other highlights in this issue include recommendations for how libraries can be more welcoming and open to gender non-conforming individuals and how rural libraries navigate professional development.
This leads us to our newest column: Rural and Remote Librarian Profiles by Megan Clark. These interviews will feature librarians from smaller communities in the province. This month, find out about Laura Kaminker’s role in Port Hardy. We also have our regular column from BCALS; this month, featuring Ean Henniger.
Finally, we have some changes to our editorial board. We’d like to thank outgoing editor Tammie Mercado for her work with Perspectives since summer 2018, and to give a warm welcome to incoming editor Anna Pedersen.
Anna (she/her/hers) is a current student in the MLIS program at UBC where she is exploring her interests in academic libraries, library instruction and information literacy, and archives for librarians. Prior to joining the library world, Anna worked in writing and editing, both in the US (where she is from) and abroad. She has served on the editorial boards for numerous publications, both scholarly and literary, and in 2017 she co-founded a literary magazine, Headway Quarterly, which aims to explore the writing process. She has taught writing at a university in Abu Dhabi and also worked in the trade publishing industry in New York. Currently, she writes for a local newspaper on issues related to immigration, migrant labor, and housing insecurity, and she also works in the Electronic-Resources department of the Reed College Library in Portland, OR.
Stay tuned for information about our next issue, and in the meantime, stay safe!
Sincerely,
The Editors
