2024 - 2025 LAA Priorities
Over the past five years, the LAA has undergone major transitions as we navigated through the COVID-19 pandemic, the discontinuation of major operating grants, and the dissolution of the Alberta Library Conference.
The LAA Board has worked to maintain member services despite resource constraints, but our membership numbers have declined, creating an urgent need for the LAA to demonstrate value to the Alberta library community if we are to remain relevant and financially viable.
The LAA Board is diving into 2024 with the understanding that the future of our association is at stake. We believe in the value and importance of a provincial association that unites library workers from all sectors and the power such an association can have. With this in mind, the 2024 - 2025 LAA Board is undertaking the following key projects:
1. Develop a transformative strategic direction for the LAA based on stakeholder engagement
The LAA has not revisited its mission and objectives for many years. Given the limited capacity of an association operating on volunteer labour, the LAA needs to carefully consider its scope, where it can offer the most value to the library community, and how to communicate that value back to stakeholders and members. The Board has engaged a strategic consulting firm to assist us with engaging library stakeholders province-wide. We will use that feedback to develop a new strategic direction for the LAA. Engagement work is currently underway. We will have a refreshed strategic direction by the summer of 2025. Stay tuned for communications about how to get involved!
2. Partner in Stronger Together 2024
Stronger Together 2024 will be an in-person, cross-disciplinary conference event and a premier learning opportunity in the Alberta library community. The LAA is committed to ensuring Stronger Together offers sessions and speakers that appeal to our diverse membership. We are committed to growing this conference into a central feature of professional development for library workers across the province, allowing us to deliver on our mandate to provide educational opportunities and our goal to ensure those opportunities are dynamic, inexpensive, and centrally located. We are thrilled to be working with The Alberta Library, Yellowhead Regional Library, Northern Lights Library System, Peace Library System and the Alberta Library Trustees Association on this event.
3. Introduce divisions to support sector representation under the banner of LAA.
At the 2024 AGM, the membership voted in favour of allowing divisions to form under the umbrella of the LAA. We know all too well how challenging association work can be given the limited resources. Divisions will ensure that library groups or associations who are struggling to find support and venues for collaboration have a clear path to join the LAA and a solid governance framework so they can achieve their goals within the structure of our association.
For more information about the LAA’s work in 2024 - 2025, please contact Laura Winton, LAA President at president@libraryassociationalberta.com.