Home 5 Conference 5 BCLA Library Conference – Future, Past & Present 5 2021 BCLA Conference

2021 BCLA Conference

Dates

May 3 – 7, 2021

Venue

Virtual

Location

Virtual

Theme

This year’s Conference focuses on reflection, rejuvenation and recommitment to the work and values that define libraries. We are using a quote from Antonio Machado’s book Boarder of a Dream: Selected Poems, to inspire our thinking and provide a tone for the 2021 Conference. Traveler, there is no path. The path is made by walking.

COVID 19 interrupted some of our thinking and actions, but now is the time to connect the issues and values of past years with our thinking and planning for the future. The conference is an opportunity to examine the themes that have been at the heart of library evolution over the past years.

When asked to identify key themes for the 2021 conference members of the BC library community identified the following as their top choices:

Libraries and Anti-Racism
Mental Wellness and Library Staff
Indigenization in Libraries
Library Values (Intellectual Freedom, EDI, and Privacy)
Libraries, Inside and Out (Climate Crisis, Public Space)
Libraries and Children’s Services: Visiting and Revisiting BC Summer Reading Club

We have woven these themes throughout 5 days of incredible speakers and sessions in order to connect these themes to our current and future work.