In keeping with BCLA’s mission to advance libraries throughout British Columbia, the theme of BCLA Perspectives December 2017 issue is rural libraries. This special issue is a platform for people working in or with rural libraries to highlight issues affecting...
BCLA Perspectives
Volume 9 (2017)
Bookin’ it: Bridging the information gap with the TNRD Bookmobile
Bookmobiles have been around North America for quite a long time. Horse drawn libraries appeared in the late 1800s, and the first motorized version arrived in the 1920s. The Thompson-Nicola Regional District (TNRD) Bookmobile service began in 1974, and has (with the...
You know you work in a rural library when…
We asked rural library workers in BC and beyond to tell us what makes the rural library landscape unique. Here's what they had to say! You know you work in a rural library when… ... you know all your patrons by name! Heather Gloster - Youth Services Librarian at...
UBC’s Irving K. Barber Learning Centre goes rural
In 2018, the University of British Columbia will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the completion of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre on the UBC Vancouver campus. A special exhibit is being planned for next September to celebrate this milestone. With its unique...
An update on the Northern BC Digital Collection at UNBC
Northern British Columbia is a vast geographic area that encompasses the northern half of the province: everything north of Quesnel, east to the Alberta border, and west to Haida Gwaii. This area of approximately 500,000 square kilometres has had a marginalized...
Library journal clubs: A new accessible professional development model for library staff
For most library practitioners, keeping up with developments and trends in the field is a key part of day-to-day life. Whether you’re a library student, a seasoned librarian at an academic library, or a library technician serving a rural public community, it is...
Beyond BC: Engaging rural libraries in Alberta to improve access to legal information
'Beyond BC' is an occasional Perspectives feature highlighting work being done by library professionals outside of British Columbia. It’s far too easy to concentrate outreach efforts on big cities and other densely populated areas while ignoring their rural...
The internet outside the city: An interview on rural library connectivity
The good folks at BCLA Perspectives asked me, Scott Leslie, Systems Manager at the BC Libraries Cooperative, if I would be interested in writing something about rural library connectivity, given the Co-op's continued efforts in this space. But it seemed far more...
From Tim-bits to kids lit: The contrasting working conditions of the food service and library industries
The following article was originally written as an assignment for Simon Fraser University History Professor Mark Leier’s course “Canadian Labour and Working-Class History.” Students were asked to write about their best and worst work experiences as a way to better...
All in: Providing public library services in a Northern community
Reflecting upon rural libraries reinforces the similarities between us and our large urban counterparts. The services we take pride in here in Smithers are, at their core, the same ones that libraries in Vancouver, Victoria or Surrey provide every day: matching...