By CSL Journal Editorial Team
NOTE: No AI was used in the planning, creation, or revision of this document.
If you’ve ever prepared for a big event, you’ll know that it takes months of work beforehand to make it happen. For the volunteers behind Canadian School Libraries, we are eagerly anticipating Treasure Mountain Canada 9, the national school library think tank and research symposium to be held February 26 and 27, 2027 in Edmonton, Alberta. The IFLA School Library Division, Children and Young Adult Division and Literacy and Reading Division will jointly hold their midyear meeting the next day, February 28, in Edmonton and we hope that many IFLA attendees will include TMC in their plans.
The CSL Journal editors were particularly fortunate to receive so many wonderful submissions for this issue. Even though few of these were written specifically for Treasure Mountain Canada in mind, they all include some aspect of thoughtful reflection on major issues facing school librarianship today. All of them inspire us to “think big”.
Three articles focus on Generative Artificial Intelligence: Deidre Harrington’s thoughts on “Generation AI: Ethics Through Adolescent Eyes”, Christina McKendrick’s contemplations on how to effectively use the CSL Digital Media Literacy Toolkit as a way to address AI issues, as well as “Speculating on the Future of School Libraries Using AI” by Jennifer Aston and Sandra Snooks. All of these contributions would make great pre-reading material to mentally rehearse for the theme of TMC9: “Humanity [A]ll [I]n” or Human-Centeredness in School Library Learning Commons.
The learning obtained from participating in conferences needs to be shared, so the seeds of ideas planted there can germinate and grow. Both Joseph Jeffrey and Michelle Arbuckle share their thoughts on attending the IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations) conference in Busan, South Korea, and Diana Maliszewski comments on her experiences in Ottawa with the IBBY (International Board of Books for Young People) World Congress.
Books are more than just words and/or pictures on a page or screen, and several contributions to Volume 10 Number 3 of Canadian School Libraries Journal describe the impact of children’s literature on society. Patricia Sarles shares her impressions of a powerful book display in “DrawnTogether: How a Picture Book Exhibit at the Bergen-Belsen Memorial Can Inspire Hope and Empathy in Libraries”. Spencer Miller does double duty on this issue, writing his regular column, Top Grade Book Reviews, as well as “A Closer Look at 2SLGBTQIA+ Content in Alberta’s Banned Books”. If you want to get an even closer look at some of these books, come to Treasure Mountain Canada 9, where “Reading With Pride”, an IBBY exhibit of 2SLGBTQIA+ books, will be on display. Canadian Senator Kristopher Wells, whose personal collection of 300 picture books helped jumpstart this IBBY exhibition, will be one of the keynote speakers at Treasure Mountain Canada 9.
At Treasure Mountain Canada 9, the latest winners of the Donald Hamilton Advocacy Award and the Canadian School Library Professional Award (formerly Angela Thacker Memorial Award) will be celebrated. Donald Hamilton’s family, in addition to creating this award, has established a grant that people working in school libraries can apply for to help them with advocacy efforts. Elaine Young, the recipient of one of these grants, describes her project in her writeup for this issue of the journal.
This issue also includes some of our regularly featured columns from the Association for Media Literacy, the Ontario School Library Association, the Association of Canadian Publishers, and school board professional libraries and library professional development institutes. Our second installment of CSL Conversations: Leading Learning Live features all three of us editors contemplating some memorable past TMC contributions. It’s not too late to consider offering a TMC submission. Send a notice of intent to tmc@canadianschoollibraries.ca letting us know you plan to share.
If your big thoughts extend beyond Treasure Mountain Canada 9 to the next issue of Canadian School Libraries Journal, note that the deadline for our next issue will be in March 2027 with an estimated publication date of April 2027.
Yours in reading,
Diana, Jen & Mel