SIGNAL - an e-mail newsletter

July 29, 2004     

Published by the Southern Ontario Library Service

The introductory page for the Southern Ontario Library Service is www.sols.org.  From that page, you can move to any other pages created by staff at the Southern Ontario Library Service, as well as to links to resources and professional information. 

Note - as this is an older newsletter, some links may no longer be valid, or may refer you to a section of the site that has been updated in the interim. Please contact if you want more information on a specific initiative.

In this issue:

1. NEW ADDRESS FOR SOLS TORONTO OFFICE
2. CONSORTIA PURCHASING AGREEMENTS
3. SOLS DELIVERY SERVICE
4. TRUSTEE KITS STILL AVAILABLE
5. UPDATE: Policy Requirements under the Municipal Act, 2001
6. funding opportunity
7. SOLS TRAINING WORKSHOPS
8. EXCEL REGISTRATION – Registration deadline Monday, August 30th
9. SOLS Consulting Services
10. WEB SITE UPDATES
11. SOLS CEO LISTSERV
12. NEW SOLS BOARD MEMBER
13. SOLS IN THE COMMUNITY

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1.  NEW ADDRESS FOR SOLS TORONTO OFFICE

The SOLS Toronto office will be moving from 151 Bloor St. West to 111 Peter St. in Toronto.  As of August 16, 2004, the new address for the Toronto Office will be:
111 Peter Street, Suite 902
Toronto, ON  M5V 2H1
The telephone numbers remain the same (416-961-1669 or 1-800-387-5765), as does the fax number (416-961-5122

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2. CONSORTIA PURCHASING AGREEMENTS

SOLS negotiates charitable/consortia purchasing agreements (CPAs) on behalf of SOLS libraries. CPAs are ‘economies of scale’ pricing for the purchase or lease of a range of goods and services.  This month, another CPA for computers from Dell was announced. The period of this agreement is July 1, 2004 to Oct 1, 2004.  The new price is $1069.00 plus applicable taxes (with some tier pricing for larger volumes).  Monitors are extra.  Shipping is free.              

Further information on Charitable/Consortia Purchasing Agreements can be found at http://www.sols.org/resourcesharing/coolcpa/index.htm .  At that Web page, the various CPAs are organized by product and service, as well as by Vendor.  The contact person for the CPAs is the SOLS Purchaser, Ron Neems. Ron can be reached at 1-416-961-1669 or 1-800-387-5765 ext. 5115 or by e-mail at

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3. SOLS DELIVERY SERVICE

Changes to the SOLS Delivery service will be implemented on September 6, 2004. These changes are outlined on the “Delivery Services” section of the SOLS Web site at http://www.sols.org/resourcesharing/delivery/index.htm .  The changes were also explained in a letter from Barbara Franchetto and in an e-mail to the INFO Administrators list serv. 

As part of these changes, we are renaming all of the routes. They will now be assigned a letter rather than a numeric designation.  To determine your new route designation, use the link called “All libraries sorted alphabetically (September 6, 2004)”. 

Once you determine which “route” will be delivering to your library, you can view the route schedules on the “Delivery Services” section of the SOLS Web site.  There is a link at the top of the page entitled “New Delivery Service Routes, Effective September 6, 2004”   From this link, you can find the schedule for your new route.  Please note that, in many cases, the days and/or time of day that our drivers arrive will also change. 

 Please Note:  Library staff members are not responsible for updating the courier route information in VDX.  This will be completed by SOLS VDX Administration staff at the end of August. 

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4. TRUSTEE KITS STILL AVAILABLE

 This is a reminder that there are still copies of the 2004 Trustee Kit available from the SOLS-Toronto office.  More information about the kit is posted on the SOLS Web site at http://www.sols.org/trustee/trustmain.htm.   There is no charge for this publication, and you can order as many copies of the kit as you need for your trustees and relevant staff.  To order, simply send an e-mail to .  This is a very useful publication that has been widely received in public libraries across Ontario.

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5. UPDATE: Policy Requirements under the Municipal Act, 2001

Under the Municipal Act, 2001, section 270, public library boards must adopt policies with respect to the hiring of employees including, and under section 271, policies with respect to the procurement of goods and services, before January 1, 2005. A summary of the requirements for these two policies, as well as a list of available resources, is posted at http://www.sols.org/links/clearinghouse/legislation/resources/municipalact2001/index.htm

On July 7, 2004, SOLS completed its review of all of the key resources, summarized and extracted relevant sections. There is a new posting in the “Consulting” section of the SOLS Web site (located at http://www.sols.org/links/clearinghouse/legislation/resources/municipalact2001/index.htm)  which will include links to sample policies and other relevant information.

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6. funding opportunities

a) share the stories : Funding Program for Book Collections and Reading Circles
Courtesy of Coca-Cola Ltd.
Facilitated by ABC CANADA Literacy Foundation

Coca-Cola Ltd. is committed to fostering the love of reading in Canadian children through share the stories. Launched in communities across Canada in 2001, this corporate philanthropy project aims to provide $1 million in funding to libraries and literacy organizations for family reading initiatives.

Once again in 2004, funding is available to school libraries, public libraries and not-for-profit literacy organizations to assist in the development/maintenance of a reading circle or to create/supplement a children's book collection. Successful applicants for reading circle funding will receive $2,500, and successful applicants for book collection funding will receive $1,500. ABC CANADA Literacy Foundation is responsible for the management of this project, including the distribution of funding, on behalf of Coca-Cola.  A news release about the project is posted at http://www.abc-canada.org/sts/index.asp

b) The Ontario Library Association, Ontario’s CAP Youth Initiative Contractor, has been notified by Industry Canada that the 2003-2004 youth program for Ontario may proceed.  If your centre received funding in 2002/2003 and 2003/2004 for sustainability, and you have applied for continued funding for 2004/2005, then you are eligible for the 2004/2005 Youth Initiative.  The application form for the 2004/05 CAP Youth Initiative is now available at http://capstats.ocl.net.  There is also a link to the CAP Youth Initiative site from the main SOLS Web site at www.sols.org. CAP Administrators interested in hiring youth workers for their sites should complete the enclosed application and the additional pieces identified in the application and submit them to the Ontario Library Association, no later than August 11, 2004.  Applications will be received after this point and approved on a funding available basis. The CAP Youth Initiative Coordinator - Ontario is Erin Goodman, who can be reached at the Ontario Library Association at 1-416-363-3388 x28.

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7. SOLS TRAINING WORKSHOPS

Fall workshop details have been posted on the SOLS Web site, located at http://www.sols.org/librarydev/training/clinicsworkshops/index.htm. Registration for workshops will begin on Monday, August 9, 2004.

At the end of July, a paper copy of the workshop descriptions and registration forms will be distributed to all SOLS CEO’s and branch librarians, for circulation to staff members over the summer and into the fall.

We are offering a children’s workshop, and workshops dealing with the reference interview, homework help, multicultural service, working with volunteers, and purchasing for public libraries, to name a few. It’s going to be a worthwhile and varied assortment of topics, so please check the SOLS Web site as soon as you can. 

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8. EXCEL REGISTRATION – Registration deadline Monday, August 30th

EXCEL is a unique training program in managing a small public library or a community branch library that has been supported by the Ontario Library Service for more than 14 years. Over 480 people have completed the program.  This program could be of interest to you because it is specifically designed for public library staff or volunteers who have little or no formal library training. You can either take the entire program of 10 courses, or complete individual courses that might interest you. Once registered, you would receive course material and work with a tutor via telephone or e-mail on the material.  The cost per course is $145 plus GST.  EXCEL is offered in both English and French.

This fall, the following courses will be offered in English:

• Introduction to Public Libraries
• Basic Library Management
• Supervision
• Information Services
• Basic Collection Development (revised)
• Acquisition and serials (revised)
• Circulation
• Non-book Materials
• Professional Development

The following courses will be offered in French:

• Introduction aux bibliothèques
• Services d'information
• Techniques de communication
• Ressources d'information électroniques

The registration deadline for the fall semester is Monday, August 30, 2004. The course material will be shipped to students beginning Thursday, September 2nd, with the semester commencing Monday, September 20th.  More information about the program, and a registration form, is posted at http://www.sols.org/librarydev/training/excel/index.htm

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9. SOLS Consulting Services

In fall 2003, staff from the Southern Ontario Library Service surveyed the public libraries in Southern Ontario regarding services to seniors.  There were 83 responses submitted, a return rate of 43%.  The purpose of the study was to identify the current practices in providing public library service to Seniors in order to better understand the challenges, the issues, and the best practices.  The report investigates the extent to which libraries have identified seniors as a target market for services, and the ways in which they allocate resources and deliver services.  The report is posted on the “Consulting Services” section of the SOLS Web site at http://www.sols.org/consulting/index.html.   At that site, there is a link in the left hand navigation bar to the full report (in .pdf format).

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10. WEB SITE UPDATES

The SOLS Web site is continually being updated to include reports and links of interest to library staff.  This month, the Web Editor has a number of links to the “Professional information” section of the Web site, including:

a)       Under the heading “Administration of libraries”, there are a series of links to “Reports of Interest: on research and findings in the field of library science” (at  http://www.sols.org/Profinfo/Reports.htm).  In that sub-section, a link has been added to an interesting paper entitled “Community Assessment: an essential part of the reference librarian's toolkit”.  This paper by Steve Hillier, Jane Schillie and Jim Self, will be presented at the IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Buenos Aires in August 2004. This paper describes the reasons for doing community assessment, the various methods and techniques librarians can employ to assess and analyze their communities, and the importance of incorporating community assessment data into the development, evaluation, and marketing of library and reference services.  The direct link to this paper is http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla70/papers/029e-Hiller_Schillie_Self.pdf

b)   On June 18, 2004, the Media Awareness Network (MNet) has launched a new section of its award-­winning Web site, the latest initiative in its five­ year partnership with the Canadian library sector. Web Awareness for Librarians provides a comprehensive range of Internet literacy resources to support librarians in helping young people become safe, wise and responsible Internet users. The new section can be found at www.media-awareness.ca/english/special_initiatives/web_awareness/wa_librarians/index.cfm.  There is a link to the new section on the SOLS Web site at http://www.sols.org/Virtuals/SOLSwebawareness/index.htm.   There is also a link in the left navigation bar on the main page to “Web Awareness in Ontario Public Libraries”.

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11. SOLS CEO LISTSERV

SOLS maintains a list of all the e-mail addresses for SOLS CEOs.  It is this list that is used to distribute Signal.  Several times through the month, you may also receive other messages from SOLS staff members.  In July 2004, the following message was sent:

·         on July 7th, Laurey Gillies sent a copy of the French translation of the notice sent in June regarding the Federation of Ontario Public Libraries Spring Report.

If you did not receive this message, and would like further information, please contact the SOLS HelpDesk at 1-800-387-5765, ext. 4, or by e-mail to

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12. New SOLS Board Member

SOLS is governed by a board of twenty, with five individuals nominated directly by the Minister of Culture, and fifteen members elected from Trustee Councils. From time to time, we have profiled individual members of the SOLS Board.  In this issue, we have collected a bit of background information on one of three new representatives to the SOLS Board, Alan McEwen. 

Alan McEwen is one of the leading payroll consultants in Canada, having spent over 15 years working in all facets of the industry.  As a payroll practitioner, he has implemented and managed outsourced payroll operations for both large and small employers.  He has consulting experience with many organizations, public and private, on HR/payroll process reengineering and strategic systems decisions.  As a noted public speaker, Alan has provided payroll training in a variety of formats, from short sessions at conferences and trade shows, to one-day training sessions and college-based professional certification courses.  Alan has also written extensively for all of the major publications read by payroll professionals in Canada.

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12. SOLS in the community

Head, Clara & Maria Twp Public Library held a grand opening called “Expand Your Horizons” on May 15, 2004 from 1 to 4 p.m.  The library is celebrating a recent expansion which resulted in a bright, new space in the Township office, with a separate entrance that allows the library to be open in the evenings and on Saturdays.  Over fifty people from this tiny community attended the opening, including the Reeve, Bill Croshaw, the MP, Cheryl Gallant, the MPP, John Yakabuski and SOLS Consultant, Terry Sarazen.  For the opening, people in the community set up displays of local crafts, hobbies and games, such as woodworking, paper tole, digital graphics, radio controlled models, jewelry, gardening, bridge and chess.  To illustrate its connection to the community, the library provided displays of books, magazines and websites on these topics.  With the addition of a hot dog lunch, a good time was had by all and the library board was delighted by the community support that was shown!

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All issues of SIGNAL, including the French version of SIGNAL, can be viewed online at http://www.sols.org/librarydev/publications/Signal/index.htm .  However, if anyone would like to receive the e-mail version of this newsletter, please send a message to .  You can reach the editor of SIGNAL at:  or by telephone at 1-866-380-9767.