Ontario Library Association Super Conference 2021
By Maureen McGrath & Cathy MacKechnie
The OLA Super Virtual Conference 2021 theme, Clever Minds & Human Hearts, lived up to its promise. The four days we shared together fed the heart, mind, body, and soul.
The heart and the mind cannot survive on their own. We need structure – the bones. The Ontario Library Association organized an amazing virtual platform – the structure, or rather skeleton – to support our learning, sharing, and our divisional meetings. Surprisingly, the virtual platform allowed for a wonderful emotional connection, which we all needed. Many presenters recorded their sessions ahead of time and thus were available to answer questions in the chat. This feature provided an unexpected intimacy of having the presenter at your virtual fingertips! Another unexpected gift of a virtual platform is the availability for conference registrants to access content for the next six months. This year we don’t have to miss any sessions!
The offerings included spectacular keynote speakers who filled our brains with evidence-based presentations that left us pondering. Passionate presenters shared their personal connections to libraries and best teaching practices.
Our first keynote speaker, Anna Maria Tremonti, reminded us that as library professionals we are “the keepers of the truth,” but along with that, “we need conversations to understand each other and ourselves”. As school library professionals we cherish our daily conversation with students. This year, our educational system has been turned on its head. Our normal mode of communication has been impacted. As we try to navigate this virtual world with students, we need to step back and listen more, to explore the world with more heart. These hybrid and remote learning environments have uncovered many inequities. Anna Maria reminded us that we need to have the courage to listen to all voices and to learn from the lived experiences of others. Her storytelling left many of us with tears in our eyes and our hearts full.
Dr. Evan Adams, a featured speaker from the Indigenous stream, wove many personal stories into his talk on Families Stories 2-Eyed Seeing. Dr. Adams’ ability to connect to his audience using emotional and personal images and stories was sincere and heartfelt, and left us thinking about the challenges of living in two cultures simultaneously. He mentioned how important it is to give space for both unique perspectives to help us learn and grow.
Our school library spotlight speakers fed both mind and heart. The Ontario School Library Association (OSLA) council brought in Dr. Andrew B. Campell to speak to us on anti-racism and the school library learning commons. His message was clear. As a leader in schools we must challenge ourselves to reflect on personal strengths and weaknesses. He suggests we look at our practice, our space, and our books through an equity lens. We must ask questions of ourselves: What is your relationship with anti-racism work? Do you know the students you serve? Whose voices are not present? As school library professionals we are called to be leaders of inclusion and must have the moral courage to do the work: “the opposite of tokenism is consistency”. Still today, we can all hear Dr. ABC’s voice echoing in our heads, his encouragement and his passion for normalizing and celebrating black excellence – #BlackJoy!
The OSLA Spotlight followed the next day with Dr. Usha James from the Critical Thinking Consortium. Usha’s session was filled with practical tools and strategies for increasing student voice and developing critical thinking skills. We were called to reflect on our practice: Do we accept compliance as learning? The many ideas she shared focused on the powerful learning that can occur when students are engaged. She challenged and compelled us to consider the equity of our teaching practice.
Great minds were at work throughout the conference. Along with our many academic experts, the Super Conference was filled with workshops given by our amazing colleagues, from all sectors of school library professionals. Teacher-librarian Jonelle St. Aubyn and co-facilitator C. Niro discussed ‘Hosting a Human Library’. With over 100 people attending on a Thursday evening, there was plenty of dialogue in the chat and our speakers kept us entertained and inspired us to host our very own human library!
This live chat format had the same energy as a face-to-face workshop. We had to log in on time, and be prepared to learn. No need to worry about getting a seat close to the front this year. We were offered fantastic learning sessions on creating equitable spaces, podcasting, sketchnoting, STEAM and media, crowdsourcing, digital escape rooms, the right to read, the complexity of providing support while pivoting from home to school, provoking learning in digital spaces, and even on how gnomes can make writing and reading come to life!
And let’s not forget the books! Feather Maracle, chair of the OLA Indigenous Advisory Committee, ran a wonderful session on selecting some great Indigenous picks, the Dewey Divas Speed dating and OLA book tastings were tons of fun, and we learned how to do a diversity audit in our libraries. Over 35 Canadian publishers provided an amazing variety of information, swag and live author readings. It was great to hear author voices as they shared and promoted their books. These sessions will help guide us to make more informed and diverse collection development decisions.
OLA Super Conference did not only feed the mind, but also the soul. Social activities were planned for all types of attendees, for both introverts and extroverts. They included an Among Us tournament, Dungeons and Dragons, Schitt’s Creek Table Reading, and a straight up BYOB virtual social! Fluffy Soufflé’s event attracted over 100 people to participate in a 90s Drag Musical Bingo. It had everyone grooving and smiling after a long day of learning.
OLA Super Conference would not have been complete without all our favourite library partners including an extensive Super Expo, plenty of swag from vendors and our very own Library Marketplace online store. How could you walk away from OLA Super Conference without a brand new pair of socks!
complete with a Jamboard for sharing ideas.
This year’s conference was a fabulous mix of opportunities to fill the empty spaces left by the pandemic. Within a wonderful skeletal structure it strengthened our bones to carry us through the more trying aspects of this time, it met the intellectual needs of our minds, and reminded us of the humanity that is essential to our jobs as we run the heart of any school. This year’s Clever Minds & Human Hearts was a triumph to our profession; a weekend well spent.
Maureen McGrath. After many years in the secondary English classroom, and 12 years as a teacher-librarian, Maureen is currently in the role of Coordinator of Curriculum and Staff Development with the Algonquin & Lakeshore Catholic District School Board. She is a lover of books, new ideas and her boys at home. She has been part of the Ontario School Library Association for two terms as Councillor Eastern Region and is honoured to be embarking on her second year as President.
Cathy MacKechie is currently working at Nepean High School as a teacher-librarian in the Ottawa Carleton District School Board. She has over 25 years experience in three different school boards in Quebec and Ontario. Cathy is part of the Executive of the Library Subject Council within the OCDSB. Cathy is also presently sitting on the OSLA Council as the Eastern representative.