Keynote Address
Opening Library and Archives Canada
Leslie Weir, Library and Archives Canada
Like most of us in the information world, Library & Archives Canada is undergoing a transformation. Whether its enhancing access, supporting new working models for our team, or building out new infrastructure and workflows, we are all working to make reliable information available to our communities. Learn more about LAC's vision for the future, look at some of the trends will have an impact on us all, and examine how the librarian community can support an engaged and informed user community.
Leslie Weir, Library and Archives Canada
Like most of us in the information world, Library & Archives Canada is undergoing a transformation. Whether its enhancing access, supporting new working models for our team, or building out new infrastructure and workflows, we are all working to make reliable information available to our communities. Learn more about LAC's vision for the future, look at some of the trends will have an impact on us all, and examine how the librarian community can support an engaged and informed user community.
Morning Concurrent Sessions
The Changing Landscape of Training Practices in the Time of COVID-19
John Bolan, Bora Laskin Law Library
Sarah Dafoe & Laura Richmond, Torys LLP
Sandra Montanino, Navig8
Moderator: Danielle Chiang, Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP
Ever wondered how your fellow colleagues are handling training in the time of COVID-19? Looking to refresh your own training? This panel brings together various information professionals to share their challenges with training during the pandemic and how they’ve optimized their training in response to these changes. The panelists include: John Bolan from Bora Laskin Law Library, Sarah Dafoe from Torys, Sandra Montanino from Navig8 and Laura Richmond from Torys. We’ll be touching on multi-modal learning, mitigating challenges, using online collaboration tools, what’s stayed the same and much more!
John Bolan, Bora Laskin Law Library
Sarah Dafoe & Laura Richmond, Torys LLP
Sandra Montanino, Navig8
Moderator: Danielle Chiang, Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP
Ever wondered how your fellow colleagues are handling training in the time of COVID-19? Looking to refresh your own training? This panel brings together various information professionals to share their challenges with training during the pandemic and how they’ve optimized their training in response to these changes. The panelists include: John Bolan from Bora Laskin Law Library, Sarah Dafoe from Torys, Sandra Montanino from Navig8 and Laura Richmond from Torys. We’ll be touching on multi-modal learning, mitigating challenges, using online collaboration tools, what’s stayed the same and much more!
Leadership, Learning from Role Models
Joan Rataic-Lang, Toronto Lawyers Association and the Courthouse Library
In the last 2+ years the ability to pivot has been viewed as a strong characteristic of leaders. What other characteristics do good leaders possess? In this interactive workshop you will be assessing leaders to determine their strengths, consider their weaknesses, and decide if you would happily work with them.
There are many ways that humans learn. Children rely heavily on modelling behaviour, which is considered vicarious learning. Why not apply that to adults too? This workshop will help you discover some role models, or at least some of their characteristics, that you want to epitomize. Have fun getting insight into leadership characteristics that work.
Session Handout
Joan Rataic-Lang, Toronto Lawyers Association and the Courthouse Library
In the last 2+ years the ability to pivot has been viewed as a strong characteristic of leaders. What other characteristics do good leaders possess? In this interactive workshop you will be assessing leaders to determine their strengths, consider their weaknesses, and decide if you would happily work with them.
There are many ways that humans learn. Children rely heavily on modelling behaviour, which is considered vicarious learning. Why not apply that to adults too? This workshop will help you discover some role models, or at least some of their characteristics, that you want to epitomize. Have fun getting insight into leadership characteristics that work.
Session Handout
Afternoon Concurrent Sessions
Applying Robotic Process Automation to Legislation Monitoring
Martin Tomlinson, Tara Knott & Leo Wang, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
The Osler library team monitors over 1,000 statutes and 5,600 related regulations across Canada, reporting on changes to the firm’s lawyers and clients. The effort is significant and there are always things that could be done to improve the quality of service. This session will explain how this work was historically performed, how robotic process automation has been applied to legislative tracking, and how the work is done now, including future considerations and lessons learned.
Martin Tomlinson, Tara Knott & Leo Wang, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
The Osler library team monitors over 1,000 statutes and 5,600 related regulations across Canada, reporting on changes to the firm’s lawyers and clients. The effort is significant and there are always things that could be done to improve the quality of service. This session will explain how this work was historically performed, how robotic process automation has been applied to legislative tracking, and how the work is done now, including future considerations and lessons learned.
Toronto Metropolitan University Law Library - Building a New Law Library Branch for a New and Different Kind of Law School
John Papadopoulos & Lisa Levesque, Toronto Metropolitan University Law Library
If you had a chance to start your library over from scratch, how would you approach it? What would you do differently? The brand new Law Library at Toronto Metropolitan University presented exactly this exciting opportunity. In this session, librarians John Papadopoulos and Lisa Levesque will discuss how we approached building new law library spaces, collections, and services, collaborating with colleagues at the main University Library while meeting the needs of the new and innovative Lincoln Alexander School of Law. Both the Toronto Metropolitan law school and the law library were established during the COVID-19 global pandemic, adding to our challenge and creating even more of a need to do things differently.
John Papadopoulos & Lisa Levesque, Toronto Metropolitan University Law Library
If you had a chance to start your library over from scratch, how would you approach it? What would you do differently? The brand new Law Library at Toronto Metropolitan University presented exactly this exciting opportunity. In this session, librarians John Papadopoulos and Lisa Levesque will discuss how we approached building new law library spaces, collections, and services, collaborating with colleagues at the main University Library while meeting the needs of the new and innovative Lincoln Alexander School of Law. Both the Toronto Metropolitan law school and the law library were established during the COVID-19 global pandemic, adding to our challenge and creating even more of a need to do things differently.
Lightning Talks
Applying UX Methodology to the TALL Website Re-design Project
Cecilia Rose, Stikeman Elliott LLP
In 2020, the TALL IT Committee began work on a website revision project for the TALL Website. The purpose of the project was to evaluate the site and recommend changes based on a design approach using User Experience (UX) methodology. A site update was desired to make a good impression on potential new members, as well as fix some ongoing issues with the Directory and Membership Management components. As Chair of the IT Committee and lead on the Re-design Project, Cecilia will cover the steps taken to achieve a recommendation based on UX Principles.
Cecilia Rose, Stikeman Elliott LLP
In 2020, the TALL IT Committee began work on a website revision project for the TALL Website. The purpose of the project was to evaluate the site and recommend changes based on a design approach using User Experience (UX) methodology. A site update was desired to make a good impression on potential new members, as well as fix some ongoing issues with the Directory and Membership Management components. As Chair of the IT Committee and lead on the Re-design Project, Cecilia will cover the steps taken to achieve a recommendation based on UX Principles.
Redesigning e-Laws
Minyan Wang, Ontario Digital Services, Ontario Government
The Ontario government is working to make e-Laws, the platform for Ontario’s laws and regulations, more functional and user-friendly. To help ensure that e-Laws meets the needs of Ontarians, we have been speaking with key user groups to gather feedback and test our designs. In our lightning talk, we will share an overview of our approach and progress.
Minyan Wang, Ontario Digital Services, Ontario Government
The Ontario government is working to make e-Laws, the platform for Ontario’s laws and regulations, more functional and user-friendly. To help ensure that e-Laws meets the needs of Ontarians, we have been speaking with key user groups to gather feedback and test our designs. In our lightning talk, we will share an overview of our approach and progress.
Taxonomies: Looking beyond legal research uses
Michael McAlpine, Fasken
How many taxonomies does your firm have and how are they managed? As librarians, we are very familiar with the importance of controlled vocabularies and their role in organizing and retrieving information in a legal research context but what about the terms and concepts used to manage the business and administration of a law firm?
This lightning talk will look at the internal and externally managed taxonomies that are used in a law firm outside of legal research. It will also give an overview of some tools used for taxonomy management and factors to consider when selecting a product.
Michael McAlpine, Fasken
How many taxonomies does your firm have and how are they managed? As librarians, we are very familiar with the importance of controlled vocabularies and their role in organizing and retrieving information in a legal research context but what about the terms and concepts used to manage the business and administration of a law firm?
This lightning talk will look at the internal and externally managed taxonomies that are used in a law firm outside of legal research. It will also give an overview of some tools used for taxonomy management and factors to consider when selecting a product.
Closing Session
Marketing Successes and Shelved Strategies: Promoting Our Services in Times of Change
Meg Carruth, Brenna Farquharson, Jessica Sheppard, Kate Terech & Le Dieu Tran, Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Since March 2020, the Legislative Library has continued to serve Ontario’s Parliament in both an in-person and virtual capacity. The Library’s Client Outreach Team was faced with a challenge of marketing our services to clients in new ways. This session will explore how we pivoted our promotional strategies, including reimagining existing marketing, developing new channels to communicate with clients, and lessons learned from missteps. Hear how our experiences informed and changed outreach strategies, from marketing to training, moving forward and as we look toward serving a new Parliament.
Meg Carruth, Brenna Farquharson, Jessica Sheppard, Kate Terech & Le Dieu Tran, Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Since March 2020, the Legislative Library has continued to serve Ontario’s Parliament in both an in-person and virtual capacity. The Library’s Client Outreach Team was faced with a challenge of marketing our services to clients in new ways. This session will explore how we pivoted our promotional strategies, including reimagining existing marketing, developing new channels to communicate with clients, and lessons learned from missteps. Hear how our experiences informed and changed outreach strategies, from marketing to training, moving forward and as we look toward serving a new Parliament.
