News & Updates

We are pleased to welcome Anne Smith to the FOPL Board of Directors. Anne is the new Small Medium Caucus Trustee and joins us from the Innisfil IdeaLAB and Public Library board. Anne Smith is a retired Financial Services Industry executive (was based in Toronto). She moved to Innisfil 10 years ago and quite quickly…

We are pleased to welcome David Harvie to our board of directors. David is our representative for our new Former Library Leaders Caucus. David Harvie has spent 28 years in the public library sector, which focused on digital literacy, library automation, IT, policy development and library administration. He was the first web editor of the…

The Guardian reports that an English study of libraries show that they generate at least £3.4 billion in yearly value. Researchers hope their report will change the way local and national governments invest in community services. Click here to read on.

The website Statecraft analyzed 1626 books that have been reported to PEN America and the American Library Association as banned. Author Arman Madani sought to find out exactly what these banned books have in common. The results point to a concerning shift in the US that Canadian Libraries should look out for. Read the full…

The 2022 Ontario Public Library Statistics are now available on the Ministry website at the following link: https://data.ontario.ca/dataset/ontario-public-library-statistics

Since its inception in 2016, Bridge has evolved from a pilot project focused on developing an effective data collection and reporting tool, to a sustainable suite of data services and solutions – now called Library Impact Ontario. The data findings in this report are focused on results from the Bridge Data Solution Platform, gathered by…

This is a reminder that the CFLA-FCAB Intellectual Freedom Challenges Survey continues to be available (here) for the recording of incidents in our libraries that challenge intellectual freedom.  The results for 2022 have been added to the CFLA-FCAB website (here) with reports from previous years.  The Intellectual Freedom Committee working group encourages reporting of incidents…

If you missed the conference, a recording is available on YouTube.

A thought-provoking article by The Walrus.... "Librarians once worried about shushing patrons. Now they have to deal with mental health episodes, the homelessness crisis, and random violence." Read the full article here.

FOPL and OLA met with Amanda Pape, liaison officer for the Ministry of Indigenous Affairs, to communicate our provincial budget ask for Public Libraries on Reserve. We were able to connect about the issues affecting these libraries and the immediate measures needed to stabilize them. Dr. Sabrina Redwing Saunders, CEO of Blue Mountains Public Library,…

The Canadian Municipal Network on Crime Prevention Community of Practice Session on Safety in Public Libraries was held on May 31st, 2023. CULC's Safety and Security Working Group gave a fantastic panel presentation on this issue. Public libraries across Canada are facing an unprecedented increase in the frequency and intensity of security and safety incidents in…

Ajax Public Library CEO Sarah Vaisler speaks with Ismaila Alfa on CBC's "Fresh Air" to talk about upcoming drag queen storytimes. CEOs in Durham Region released a letter to counter recent pushback to the events being held and went on to speak about how the core of these programs is to promote acceptance, diversity and…