Laurel McLeod

Happy last day of Pride Month! Big shout out to the TPL team for the massive group that marched in Sunday’s Toronto Pride Parade – it was amazing to hear all of the love from the library people in the crowd! Congrats to all who marched, and I hope that your sunscreen held up. 

Earlier last week, I had the opportunity to co-present an IFLA webinar for the Science and Technology section with Lita Barrie, current chair of CFLA.

We are barreling towards the end of June too quickly! Last week was busy with travel and conference events. I spent Monday and Tuesday at the Library as Place conference hosted in Kingston, and what an incredible two days it was. A huge thank you to the planning team for creating such a thoughtful conference. It was especially wonderful to meet so many attendees who had travelled from outside Ontario to share the exciting library projects they’re working on.

Last week I had the opportunity to attend the Trillium Book Award ceremony, one of Ontario’s most significant celebrations of literary excellence. It’s always inspiring to spend time among authors, publishers, booksellers, and readers, and to be reminded of the incredible literary talent that exists across this province. Libraries play such an important role in connecting readers with these works, and it was a pleasure to celebrate alongside so many people who care deeply about books and storytelling.

This past week marks the official halfway point for this year’s OLA Board, which meets monthly and last week approved motions on fund development recommendations and pre-budget instructions. We also just finished the last of our five Town Halls for members, which were an experiment and a great way for us to stay connected to members across library land. If you missed yours, the video is posted in the Sector Forum. 

Last week I had the privilege of attending the First Nations Public Libraries Spring Gathering, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. 

The Spring Gathering is an annual invitation-only gathering sponsored by the Ontario Library Service and programmed by on-reserve public library staff. This year was hosted by Rama Public Library, with leadership from Danielle Big Canoe Snake, and I’m so grateful to have been invited to be part of it.  

I was on vacation last week, which meant a little less screen time, a lot less email, and exactly zero success at fully unplugging. But while I was away from my desk, there was still plenty happening around the OLA office. 

Across the association, our councils gathered for their May meetings, continuing important conversations and planning for the months ahead.

First things first: apologies for missing last week’s update! It was one of those weeks where the entire OLA team was away from their desks and fully immersed in the beautiful, joyful whirlwind that is the Forest of Reading Festival. And honestly – what a reason to miss a blog post.  

Over two incredible days, nearly 5,000 young readers gathered to celebrate books, authors, stories, and the pure magic of reading.

Remember last week when I was complaining about an energy drought? Well, May has arrived with one of those “wow, libraries are doing incredible things everywhere” energy boosts. 

I had the chance to take part in the IFLA Managing Library Associations midterm meeting, and truly, the scope of work happening across the globe is something else.