Canadian Library Association to meet in Ottawa

Right before, and somewhat overlapping the Ontario Genealogical Society conference in Kingston, the Canadian Library Association has its annual conference. It's at Ottawa's new Convention Centre. There's activity of genealogical interest this year.

Already mentioned is the new CLA Local History & Genealogy Services Network which will have its first meeting on the morning of Friday 1 June.

Scheduled the previous day for an opening morning session keynote speech, billed as Finding Our Place on the Digital Shelf, is Daniel Caron.

Historically, knowledge repositories have played a significant role in the successive waves of social transformation that have occurred as a result of literacy extending into all layers of society. In the twenty-first century, however, traditional formats and supports are no longer the pre-eminent mediums for the transmission of knowledge. In fact, the value added to these repositories has shifted as they rapidly become hubs within social networks with physical and virtual nodes centred on the democratic creation, curation and distribution of information resources. Will this, indeed, become the new look of knowledge repositories?

In the afternoon, 1-2pm "CLA is pleased to offer a conversational session with Mr. Caron where he will take your questions from the opening session and continue the exploration of Library and Archives Canada and their vision."

Also on the program, in several places, is Stephen Abram of Stephen's Lighthouse, an always informative library blog I follow.

Check out the program at  http://www.cla.ca/conference/2012/. If you think you have problems deciding which session to go to at a genealogy conference -- pity the librarian at this event!

Registration is costly, the early bird rate for CLA members is $525. However, there is a retiree rate of $200 for non-members. I'm tempted.