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Conference
Friday, October 3
09:00 — 17:00
Grand Salon
Saturday, October 4
09:00 — 17:00
Grand Salon
Special events
Friday, October 3
07:30 — 09:00
Breakfast/Registration
Panorama
12:30 — 13:30
Lunch
Panorama
17:00 — 18:30
Reception
Grand Salon Foyer
Saturday, October 4
07:30 — 09:00
Breakfast
Panorama
12:30 — 13:30
Lunch
Panorama
Agenda
Friday, October 3
07:30 — 09:00
Breakfast (provided) — Panorama
Registration
09:00 — 09:15
Territorial Acknowledgement
- Grandma Karen (Nenookaasiwag kwi) MacInnis, Ojibwa from Walpole Island First Nation (Bkejwanong)
09:15 — 09:30
Welcome and Conference Overview
- Robin Whitaker, CAUT President
- Jennifer Dekker, Chair, CAUT Librarians' & Archivists' Committee
09:30 — 10:30
Session One
Keynote and Q&A
- Kelly McElroy (in-person) and Meredith Kahn (virtually), two of the authors of the book Organize You Library! Developing the Collective Power of Library Workers
10:30 — 11:00
Break
11:00 — 12:30
Session Two
Panel I: Corporatization of Libraries
Libraries and archives are heavily impacted by corporate practices in universities. Secretive procurement practices, the exclusion of librarians and archivists from decision-making, administrative bloat, and pressure on archivists to support fundraising goals are examples of pressures affecting the quality of education that librarians and archivists can provide. What does corporatization look like today? How can we build solidarity with colleagues to resist these destructive practices?
- Joey da Costa, Thompson Rivers University
- Brandon Haynes, Toronto Public Libraries, President CUPE 4948
- Anna St.Onge, York University
- Dan Scott, Member, CAUT Librarians' & Archivists' Committee (Moderator)
12:30 — 13:30
Lunch (provided) — Panorama
13:30 — 15:00
Session Three
Panel II: Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence systems purport to perform our labour, including providing reference help, describing records, creating search strategies, suggesting search keywords and databases, and more. Employers are looking to AI to achieve efficiencies, enhance existing services, and save on labour costs. What are the risks to higher education? What ethics and equity concerns need to be considered? How can we make librarian and archivist labour more visible and valuable? How can labour activists best be prepared?
- Cecile Farnum, Toronto Metropolitan University
- Hannah Johnston, York University
- Frédérick Plamondon, Université du Québec à Montréal
- Jennifer Dekker, Chair, CAUT Librarians' & Archivists' Committee (Moderator)
15:00 — 15:30
Break
15:30 — 17:00
Session Four
Panel III: Collegial Governance
This panel will describe collegial governance and why it is essential for every academic workplace. We will hear how librarians and archivists can reclaim or engage in decision-making in our workplaces whether in library councils, on Senate and in other venues. We will also learn about CAUT’s new Collegial Governance library, filled with resources for achieving critical wins on governance.
- Natasha Gerolami, Laurentian University
- Amy Paterson, Member, CAUT Librarians' & Archivists Committee
- Marc Schroeder, CAUT Vice-President
- Dominic Silvio, Member, CAUT Librarians' & Archivists' Committee (Moderator)
17:00 — 18:30
Reception — Grand Salon Foyer
Saturday, October 4
07:30 — 9:00
Breakfast (provided) — Panorama
09:00 — 10:30
Session Five — Part 1
Panel IV: Solidarity — Organizing, Resistance and Power
A panel for discussing the state of labour in Canada's academic libraries and archives, past, present, and future. What are the challenges we face in organizing and building solidarity? Panellists will discuss this question from various perspectives including unions that are only in the organizing stage right through to those who took recent strike action. We will also discuss trends uncovered through the CAUT listening tour of librarians and archivists.
- Robin Desmeules, McGill University
- Orvie Dingwall, Member, CAUT Librarians' & Archivists' Committee
- Sandra Sawchuk, Mount Saint Vincent University
- Derek Silva, King's University College Faculty Association
- Robert Soulliere, Member, CAUT Librarians' & Archivists' Committee (Moderator)
10:30 — 11:00
Break
11:00 — 12:30
Session Six — Part 2
Workshop I: Organizing for Power — the Tools of Resistance
Mini workshop on 'Organizing for Power,' which is a joint initiative of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation and the late Jane McAlevey. The program equips organizers with the skills to build strong, disciplined movements capable of winning measurable victories through well-planned campaigns.
- Susan Spronk, University of Ottawa
- Jennifer Grant, Member, CAUT Librarians' & Archivists' Committee (Moderator)
12:30 — 13:30
Lunch (provided) — Panorama
13:30 — 15:00
Session Seven — Choose ONE only
Workshop II: Collective Bargaining
This workshop builds on the Organizing for Power skills from Workshop I. Once we’ve mapped our workplaces and we understand what is important to colleagues, we start planning strategies to win. One way to achieve success is through collective bargaining. In this workshop we will discuss real-world librarian and archivist examples and do simulation exercises.
- Michael Shaw, Chair, CAUT Collective Bargaining and Organizing Committee
- Erin Alcock, Member, CAUT Librarians' & Archivists' Committee (Moderator)
OR
Workshop III: Collegial Governance
Building on themes discussed during the preceding panel, group exercises will build participants knowledge, skills, and capacity to engage effectively in collegial governance.
- Marc Schroeder, CAUT Vice-President
- Amy Paterson, Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of British Columbia, CAUT Librarians' & Archivists' Committee (Moderator)
15:00 — 15:30
Break
15:30 — 16:45
Session Eight
Panel V: Solidarity 2.0
Organizing entails building solidarity between colleagues, across institutions, across working units, between faculty and librarians and archivists, and across regions. This panel focuses on non-traditional labour solidarity with groups that are outside academic librarian and archivist unions.
- Harold Semenuk, Canadian School Libraries
- Francine Berish, Queen's University
- TBD
- Kate Cushon, University of Regina, Past Chair of the CAUT Librarians' & Archivists Committee (Moderator)
16:45 — 17:00
Session Nine
Closing Remarks
Summarizing and closing remarks from the CAUT President and Chair of the CAUT Librarians' and Archivists' Committee.
- Robin Whitaker, CAUT President
- Jennifer Dekker, Chair, CAUT Librarians' & Archivists' Committee
