In this limited series, Dr. Shoshana Magnet shares some of the picturebooks that she believes are powerful agents of social transformation and positive change. This month, as the country slowly begins to open and we see changes all around us, she reviews two books that are about the challenge of transitions, including how simultaneously scary and wonderful they can be. 

Collection management is an important component of library work in part because the materials on our shelves reflect our deepest cultural beliefs and experiences. I am learning from my colleague, Dr. Monica Eileen Patterson, withdrawing some of Dr. Seuss’ books from publication is the right thing to do because children should not be exposed to racist imagery and stereotypes. And yet, there may be times when we might still need access to some of these texts in order to understand how racism operates in our communities.

The pandemic has challenged the way libraries connect and engage with their local communities. Here are some of the exciting findings shared by presenters as part of the OPLA Community-Led Think Tank’s Community Conversation and what they might mean for the future of community librarianship.

Tiffany Miller is the Indigenous Library Liaison at Confederation College in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Over the past year, members of the University of Toronto Music Library team have taken on significant projects to change how the Library operates and the resources they provide. This month, Tegan Niziol will outline the Library’s initiatives to engage in an active effort to increase equity, diversity and inclusion in the support we provide for music studies.

We will be featuring a “Word (Or Phrase) Of The Month” each issue, courtesy of Library Lexique. This is a tool to feature useful and thematic words or phrases which may arise in day-to-day library work. This month’s is “subject heading.”

In this entry of his monthly puzzle column, 793.73, Douglas challenges readers with a dastardly and delightful shelving-themed logic puzzle. See if you can determine the correct appearance of the shelving unit he describes.

Open Shelf is proud to announce that our upcoming July issue will have a special theme: The Open Shelf Unconference Issue! Inspired by these participant-led and organized conferences, we want to encourage innovative and engaging discussion and dynamic topics which are dictated by contributors’ interests.

The Ontario Library Association is seeking an interim editor-in-chief for Open Shelf. This position is responsible for stewarding the vision of the magazine, coordinating the efforts of the editorial team and overseeing the smooth operation and timely publication of the magazine.