We are writing to share with you information about a new, national non-profit membership organization that is being created to promote, advance and support the profession of academic librarianship and to further the professional interests of academic librarians in Canada: the Canadian Association of Professional Academic Librarians (CAPAL). After the November 18, 2011 Symposium, “Academic Librarianship: A Crisis or Opportunity” held at the University of Toronto, there was a clear directive from those attending that there was a need for a strong, vocal and pro-active association to support the
interests of academic librarians in Canada.
While we share many values and goals with librarian colleagues working in other sectors we believe that there is a need for an association focused specifically on the unique concerns of academic librarianship. To this end, we define professional academic librarians as those colleagues who work at, or aspire to work at, accredited post-secondary institutions with a master’s degree from a program accredited by the American Library Association (or from a program in a country with a formal accreditation process as identified by ALA’s Human Resource Development and Recruitment Office), who may or may not have additional advanced degrees.
Since the fall symposium, a small working group has started to lay the foundation for such an association. Three documents, a Mission Statement, a Terms of Reference and Academic Librarianship: A Statement of Principles have been prepared in anticipation of the creation of this organization. A website has been created and a membership page has been set up in Eventbrite. Interested members can join the association and at that time indicate their willingness to join committees that reflect the
interests of our community. In the hope of fostering a strong new generation of professionals, we have also made provisions for the establishment of a student committee which will act as an active liaison between the organization and future academic librarians-in-training.
In the first year we will need to build and strengthen our infrastructure, working with our committees to identify and set priorities, and to begin to lay the groundwork for future plans. The first membership
meeting is being planned for the end of January in Toronto. We hope you will join us!
Website address: http://capalibrarians.org/
Eventbrite address: http://capalibrarians.eventbrite.ca/#
Email for CAPAL: capalibrarians@gmail.com
Members of the Organizing Committee.