OCULA President’s message

I am writing this message just hours after Hurricane Sandy made her way inland from the east coast.  Although we didn’t get hit with those high winds, I’m sure you will agree many of us feel like we have been through our own storm for the past few weeks, one called midterm.

This term is when that crazy vortex of time seems to appear and we find ourselves asking, “is it really the end of October already??!!”

Well, feel comforted that soon the holidays will be here and we will have a little recovery time, just in time to plan for January start-up and the OLA Super Conference!

Don’t forget to mark your schedules to attend all the OCULA events we have lined up on the Thursday of Super Conference:

• 10:40 a.m.  OCULA Spotlight Speaker: Alison Head from Project Information Literacy

• 3:45 p.m.   Lightning Strikes: Students in the Spotlight! 10-minute student lightning talks where the audience votes for the best presentation. The student who comes out on top will receive the 2013 OCULA Student Award, an honorarium, and a complimentary one-year OLA membership

• 5:15 p.m.   OCULA AGM and awards reception

This mini InsideOCULA marks the last print issue of our newsletter.  Our new dynamic web version will be released close to Super Conference so watch your inbox for more information.

Inside this issue you will find:

• a report back from the ever indulgent OCULA spring conference that takes place in Jordan, Ontario every April. Trust me when I say this conference feels more like a vacation than work. This year we looked at the future of academic libraries and had an amazing time learning about value propositions and advocacy.

• a wrap-up of the very successful OCULA Fall Conference that took place at Western University and focused on mentoring. We learned how important mentoring is at every career stage and how it can be rewarding both as a mentor and a mentee.

• OCULA’s sessions during Super Conference will be highlighted to give you a quick guide to academic library sessions. Thanks to our OCULA super conference planners Cyndi Smith, Georgian College, and Monica Rettig, Brock University, for all their hard work putting together such an amazing program.

This year Seneca College has received the OCULA New Librarian Residency Award and Lydia Tsai is the successful candidate for the user experience/eLearning librarian position. We can’t wait to hear about all the amazing things Lydia will be working on at Seneca.

Changes are coming for OCULA council at the end of 2012 with councillor Cory Laverty, Queen’s University, secretary Jenn Horwath, Mohawk College, past-president Janice Mutz, Lakehead University and editor-in-chief Brian Cameron, Ryerson University, finishing up their terms. We thank them for all their hard work on OCULA initiatives and will miss them very much on council.

My term as president is also coming to an end and I would like to thank everyone on OCULA council and at the OLA office for all their support this past year. Being OCULA president has been challenging and rewarding in ways I never expected. I look forward to serving as past-president for the next year.

Good luck with the rest of the term/semester and I hope to see you at Super Conference!  Take care.

Jennifer Peters, Seneca College. Jennifer can be reached at jennifer.peters[at]senecacollege.ca.