Tag: ISLM

Library Hall of Fame

October is Canadian Library Month and International School Library Month. As we celebrate CLM and ISLM each year, we highlight notable librarians who have made significant contributions to libraries and librarianship. We also celebrate librarians who have raised the profile of libraries and librarianship with their fame in other fields. Here are the 2025 inductees into our Library Hall of Fame:

Shiela Egoff

(source)

Sheila Egoff (1918-2005) was one of Canada’s most outstanding librarians. Egoff worked in both public and academic libraries. Egoff was also a writer, a historian, a professor, a literary critic. Among her many accomplishments, Sheila Egoff was Canada’s first tenured Professor of Children’s Literature (at the University of British Columbia.) Egoff was named to the Order of Canada. The Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize for excellence in children’s and young adult literature, has been awarded in her name since 1987.

Find out more:

Audre Lorde

(source)

Audre Lorde (1934-1992) spent many of her early years as a teacher librarian in New York Public Schools, before garnering greater fame, and many honours, as a poet, academic, novelist, activist, philosopher, feminist, and more. Much of her work spoke to fight for the freedom and equality of the oppressed and marginalized, including the intersections of race, gender and sexual orientation.

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S.R. Ranganathan

(source)

S.R. Ranganathan (1892-1972) is known as the “Father of Library Science”in India. Best known for “The Five Laws of Library Science,” Ranganathan also developed the Colon Classification system. His work not only revolutionized the practices of libraries and librarians in India, but grew in influence throughout the world.

Find out more:

Previous Library Hall of Fame Inductees:

Brian Deer
Ed Greenwood
Zoia Horn
Gene Joseph
Nancy Pearl
Ken Roberts
Leslie Weir
Jessamyn West
Zenodotus


“The Librarians”

A new documentary explores how public school librarians are standing up for our rights in the fight against book bans and the rise of fascism.

Source: PBS News

Librarians emerge as first responders in the fight for democracy and our First Amendment Rights. As they well know, controlling the flow of ideas means control over communities.

“In Texas, the Krause List targets 850 books focused on race and LGBTQia+ stories – triggering sweeping book bans across the U.S. at an unprecedented rate. As tensions escalate, librarians connect the dots from heated school and library board meetings nationwide to lay bare the underpinnings of extremism fueling the censorship efforts. Despite facing harassment, threats, and laws aimed at criminalizing their work – the librarians’ rallying cry for freedom to read is a chilling cautionary tale. ” (thelibrariansfilm.com)

Find out more about the documentary film “The Librarians”

The fight against book bans by public school librarians shown in new documentary. Check out this story from PBS News.

October 5-11 is Banned Books Week
October is Canadian Library Month
October is International School Library Month

International School Library Month

School Libraries are worth celebrating every single day of the year, but every October we dedicate the month for a chance to learn more about the joy and value of the School Library.

Sometimes known as the Learning Commons, the School Library is an integral component of public education and the welfare of children throughout the world. This October we invite you to visit us, in person, or online, to learn more.

Library Hall of Fame

October is Canadian Library Month and International School Library Month. As we celebrate CLM and ISLM each year, we highlight notable librarians who have made significant contributions to libraries and librarianship. We also celebrate librarians who have raised the profile of libraries and librarianship with their fame in other fields. Here are the 2024 inductees into our Library Hall of Fame:

Ed Greenwood

Ed Greenwood (source)

Ed Greenwood is a library clerk from rural Ontario. He is more famous for his prolific creativity in the world of role playing games and fantasy literature. He is the creator of the Forgotten Realms game world, which he first developed as a young child and integrated with Dungeons and Dragons. He would go on to develop intricate role playing game worlds, and write myriad novels, novellas, short stories and articles for fantasy and gaming magazines. He has won numerous awards and honours, including induction into the Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction Hall of Fame.

Leslie Weir

Leslie Weir (source)

Since 2019 Leslie Weir has served as Librarian and Archivist of Canada. She is the first woman to hold this post. Weir has served in many important roles in Canada’s academic libraries, including President of the Canadian Association of Research Libraries, and University Librarian at the University of Ottawa. She has been honoured with numerous awards during a distinguished career.

Ken Roberts

Ken Roberts (source)

Ken Roberts is a Canadian librarian. He had distinguished career in many positions, including President of Canadian Library Association, and Chief Librarian in the Hamilton Public Library. He is also a well known as an award winning writer of books for children and young adults, including Past Tense, a Governor General’s Award nominee. Roberts has won numerous honours during his career. One supporter offered this high praise of Roberts, “What stands out for me with Ken is that, in spite of all his accomplishments, he is a librarian first and foremost, and a humble man.” (source)

Find out more:

Ed Greenwood

Leslie Weir

Ken Roberts

Previous Library Hall of Fame Inductees:

Brian Deer
Zoia Horn
Nancy Pearl
Gene Joseph
Jessamyn West
Zenodotus

Library Hall of Fame

October is Canadian Library Month and International School Library Month. Today we are highlighting a few noteworthy librarians who are the first inductees into our “Library Hall of Fame.”

Zoia Horn

source: Peter Brantley from El Cerrito, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Zoia Horn (1918-2014) was a librarian who went to jail rather than abandon her professional integrity and steadfast commitment to intellectual freedom. Horn was pressured by authorities to testify against anti-war activists charged with conspiracy during the Vietnam War. Horn refused, and was jailed for three weeks for contempt, the first time that has happened to a librarian in the United States. The California Library Association presents an annual Zoia Horn Intellectual Freedom Award in honour of her legacy.

Brian Deer

source: The Eastern Door

Brian Deer (1945–2019), a Mohawk from the First Nations Territory of Kahnawake in Quebec, was one of the first Indigenous librarians in Canada. Deer developed an original library classification system that expresses Indigenous knowledge structures. The Brian Deer Classification System has been adapted for use in libraries across Canada, including the indigenous library at UBC,  the Xwi7xwa Library.

Nancy Pearl

source: Seattle City Council from Seattle, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Probably the most famous living librarian in the world. Nancy Pearl rose to fame in Seattle while working for the Seattle Public Library. Her fame grew rapidly with the success of her books. Today is she is well known around the continent, and even the world, for her presence on public radio, podcasts, public appearances and more. She has won numerous awards, including Library Journal‘s Librarian of the Year Award in 2011. Her crowning achievement, however, may be the phenomenal success of the Nancy Pearl Librarian Action Figure.

Find Out More

Zoia Horn:

Brian Deer:

Nancy Pearl:

Check back here in upcoming posts for more additions to the “Library Hall of Fame.”

Library Themed Links

In keeping with the continuing celebration of all things library during International School Library Month and Canadian Library Month, here are some links to some interesting library themed content. Enjoy!

source: Neville Johnson / Mental Floss

October is International School Library Month
and Canadian Library Month.

Why read for pleasure?

Why read for pleasure?

Reason #1: Pleasure

source: iamse7en

There are countless reasons why people read.  And there are countless ways that reading for pleasure can bring you pleasure.

People read to be entertained.

People read to escape.

People read to be pulled into a story.

People read to laugh.

People read to cry.

People read to be scared.

People read to be amazed.

People read to experience other times.

People read to experience other places.

People read to share in the experiences of other people.

People read to learn something.

People read to relax.

People read to get motivated.

People read to be inspired.

People read to be thrilled.

People read to understand.

People read to be challenged.

People read to be reassured.

People read to see something new.

People read to see something familiar.

People read for so many reasons.

People read and they don’t know why, they just like it.

Visit your school library to find a book to read for pleasure–  that is the #1 reason we are here!

October is International School Library Month
and Canadian Library Month.