New Librarians Symposium

2016 Leadership Panelists

Gillian has been the Associate Chief Librarian at Ryerson University since January 2014, where – among other things – she oversees the Library’s strategic planning. Prior to that she was the director of a regional library consortium and held a variety of positions at Memorial University, including management positions in circulation, document delivery, acquisitions and e-resources, as well as head of the library web team and a reference and instruction librarian. This inability to commit has led to a healthy obsession with library technologies, which she likes to talk and tweet about. Gillian also speaks a lot – sometimes meaningfully – about organizational culture and communication, leadership, and strategic planning. She loves radical change, her cats, and professional wrestling from the 80s.

A comparatively recent recruit to academic librarianship, Myron has been Archives and Rare Books Librarian at McMaster University, which is situated on traditional Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee territory, since October 2014. In this capacity he performs a wide variety of tasks — archival description, rare book acquisitions, instruction, outreach, and project management for software implementation are among them. Prior to selling out, he worked for many years on the reference desks of various public libraries and did one memorable stint in the not-for-profit sector as a museum archivist. He is perhaps best known for his incessant barrage of cryptic and frequently profane tweets and is occasionally remembered for the years he spent publicly attempting to thwart the Tories’ ultimately successful attempts to eviscerate Library and Archives Canada.

David is a Learning and Curriculum Support Librarian and information studies scholar at University of Guelph in the traditional territory of Attawandaron/Neutral People (Guelph). His research and writing is primarily concerned with using critical race and anti-colonial perspectives as a basis for exploring the intersections of librarianship (and LIS more broadly) with structures of racialized power. He also really enjoys organizing critical librarianship events with other folks. He served as the program chair for CAPAL15 and is currently working as a member of the organizing collective for the forthcoming Critical Librarianship Workshop (happening in Toronto this December!).

Allana is an archivist, librarian, and writer. She works as an archival consultant, as well as at a public library, and fills the rest of her waking hours with writing and speaking about LIS technology and policy. She scours Canadian job boards for the student and new professional section of ARLIS/NA, and edits the professional development section of Partnership, an open access journal. She tweets half-formed thoughts at @allanaaaaaaa, and blogs mostly-formed thoughts at blog.allanaaa.com.

Melanie started at the Toronto Public Library as a Page in 2001, and has worked there in different capacities since then. In 2010, she graduated from the iSchool at UofT with a Master of Information Studies and continued her professional work at various branches across the city. Melanie has been involved in a variety of committee work with TPL, including the Multicultural Services Committee, the Community Outreach and Engagement Committee, and the Role of the Librarian Working Group. She’s done everything from story time, to teen services to supervising a district branch. Melanie has a keen interest in improving library services to Toronto’s Aboriginal communities. Her work in this area has included outreach to, and partnerships with, a variety of Aboriginal organizations in the city, including the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto, Native Women’s Resource Centre, Council Fire and Anduhyaun women’s shelter. Melanie also served as a co-planner in the Aboriginal Stream for the OLA Super Conference Planning Committee in 2014 and 2015. She hopes to make library services to Toronto’s Aboriginal communities a key priority in TPL’s next strategic plan. Melanie is a first-time mom, and lives in the Dufferin Grove neighbourhood with her husband, baby daughter and two cats.