Board

Pronouns: he/him
Cariboo Regional District Library

Anton Dounts is the Manager of the Library Services for the Cariboo Regional District, a position which he held for the past three years. Prior to this role, Anton was the Area Librarian at the Williams Lake Library Branch. His earlier professional experience includes work at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Library in Nova Scotia and a variety of different library positions in Montreal, where he completed his studies at the McGill’s School of Information Studies. Over the past decade, Anton has maintained an active engagement with different library organizations within the province, which includes serving as the Chair of the Library Directors Advisory Group of the North Central Library Federation (Trustee), as well as the Sitka Business Function Group of the BC Libraries Cooperative, volunteering in the BCLA’s Mentorship Program, and continuing his active involvement as a member of the Association of BC Public Library Directors.

Pronouns: she/her
Vancouver Public Library

I am a branch circulation supervisor at the Vancouver Public Library, on the unceded lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. My work in public libraries has brought me to engage in areas I care deeply about. Public libraries exist in community, and I’ve contributed to making service more empathetic and accessible as a developer and trainer of our patron-centred service training for staff. Within our organization, we need a commitment to equity for all staff. I facilitated engagement as chair of the staff EDI working group to create our organization’s action plan. And our workplace needs to be safe; I have spent the past 5 years on our OHS committee addressing challenges that public library workers face in our daily work.

Pronouns: she/her
UBC Okanagan Library

I am the Southern Medical Program Librarian at UBC Okanagan, which is situated on the unceded, ancestral, and currently occupied lands of the Syilx Okanagan Nation (Kelowna). As an embedded librarian, I work closely with the medical program as well as Health and Exercise Sciences delivering instructional and research services and support, particularly for knowledge syntheses. I am an active member of the ALA and MLA and the CE & Programming Director at HLABC. I have a BEd and MLIS from UBC with a background in language education (EN, DE) and am currently learning nsyilxcən. I love book clubs and am currently one of the organizers for an anti-racism book club at our library. Please ask me about it!

Pronouns: they/them
Burnaby Public Library

I am a Community Librarian at Burnaby Public Library, on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem) Peoples. At BPL, I work with community members who face barriers to accessing library services. I provide services outside the walls of the library, build relationships with community partners, and identify how we can change our internal library policies and practices to be more equitable and inclusive. I’m also the Chair of the BCLA Multicultural Services Interest Group.

As a library worker, I’m most interested in how we can collectively address the racism and colonialism that undergird our profession, and how we can create new models of working together with our patrons and one another. Outside of work, I hang out with my kid, read a lot of queer/trans books, and try and write when I can.

Pronouns: she/her
BCLA Executive Director

I live and work in Victoria on the traditional territory of the lək̓ʷəŋən Peoples, specifically the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations. I’ve spent over 20 years in public library leadership with a focus on collections, technical services, and accessibility, although I’ve done a wide variety of library work including public services and programming for all ages. I’m passionate about advocating for libraries and library workers, and ensuring all people have equitable access to information, ideas, and works of the imagination. My approach to my work is informed by both my professional experiences and my personal experiences growing up in a blue-collar family as the daughter and granddaughter of immigrants. In my downtime I love spending time with my dog, reading frivolous books, and consuming more news than is probably wise.