2020 Annual General Meeting – Agenda, minutes and annual reports
Table of Contents
- Meeting Agenda
- 2019 Meeting Minutes
- Executive and Committee Annual Reports
- President
- Treasurer (including Financial Statement)
- Secretary
- Archivist
- Communications Committee
- Translation Committee
- Annual Report to the OALT/ABO Board of Directors
Meeting Agenda
Tuesday, February 11, 2020 @ 5:30 PM
Biagio’s Italian Kitchen Restaurant
- Call to order
- Attendance
- Adoption of Agenda
- Approval of previous Annual General Meeting minutes (2019)
- Executive and Committee Reports:
- President – Barbara Cope
- Treasurer (Financial Statement) – Linda Landreville
- Secretary – Sharon Doyle
- Archivist – Vincent Elit
- Communications Committee – Linda Landreville
- Translation Committee – José Gélinas
- Election of Executive Officers:
- President
- Vice-President
- Treasurer
- Secretary
- Other Business:
- Website
- Archives
- Annual Report to the OALT/ABO Board of Directors
- Algonquin College – Library and Info Tech Advisory Committee
- OALT/ABO Annual Conference (2020)
- Workshop feedback
- Annual General Meeting feedback on Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa Events
- Next Meeting:
- Adjournment
Issued: February 04, 2020
Meeting Minutes
Tuesday February 26, 2019 @ 5:30 PM
Biagio’s Italian Kitchen Restaurant
1. Call to order
a) The Meeting was called to order at 6:04 pm EST, Barbara welcoming all to the Annual General Meeting of the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa of the Ontario Association of Library Technicians/Association des bibliotechniciens de l’Ontario (OALT/ABO). Quorum was established, with nine members present.
b) Introduction of the Executive and Committee Members (Appointed officers)
Barbara Cope introduced the current Executive and Committee members for 2018:
Chapter President – Barbara Cope
Secretary – Sharon Doyle
Treasurer – Linda Landreville
Archivist – Vincent Elit
Head, Communications Committee – Linda Landreville
Head, Translation Committee – José Gélinas
c) Recording Secretary
Our recording secretary for the meeting was Sharon Doyle.
2. Attendance
In attendance were: Barbara Cope, Sharon Doyle, Vincent Elit, José Gélinas, Gislaine Hamelin, Kathy Heney, Linda Landreville, Sheila McHugh and Carol Moher.
3. Adoption of Agenda
The agenda for the 2019 Annual General Meeting of the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa of OALT/ABO was distributed to all members via email. A copy also had been placed on the Chapter’s website and it was made available for the meeting in limited print quantities.
Adoption of the agenda was moved by Sheila McHugh, seconded by Linda Landreville. Motion carried.
4. Approval of previous Annual General Meeting minutes (2018)
Approval of the adoption of the 2018 Annual General Meeting minutes was made after the following correction: 7 (d) of the minutes should read: “a draw was made for two $30.00 cash prizes”, not: “for two free dinners”. There were no further changes/corrections/additions called for.
Moved by Gislaine Hamelin, seconded by Carol Moher. Motion Carried.
5. Executive and Committee Reports
The Chapter’s by-laws (4 & 8) require that all Executive members and Committee heads prepare reports for the Annual General Meeting, which are presented in both the English and French.
Included also are the President’s report to the Association’s Board of Directors, on the Chapter’s activities during the previous year and the Treasurer’s report on the overall financial well-being of the Chapter, including membership. These reports are all found in the Annual General Meeting package and online on the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa’s website.
a) President – Barbara Cope
Barbara provided a summarized verbal version of her written report to the members present. The written report is available as part of the Annual General Meeting package and online on our Chapter’s Website. Barbara also submitted reports at the OALT/ABO’s Board of Directors meetings. There were no questions concerning this report.
b) Treasurer (Financial Statement) – Linda Landreville
Linda provided a summarized verbal version of her written report to the members present. The written report is available as part of the Annual General Meeting package and online on our Chapter’s Website. There were no questions concerning the Treasurer’s report and financial statement.
c) Secretary – Sharon Doyle
Sharon provided a summarized verbal version of her written report to the members present. The written report is available as part of the Annual General Meeting package and online on our Chapter’s Website. There were no questions concerning this report.
The adoption of the three Executive Committee members’ reports was moved by Gislaine Hamelin, seconded by José Gélinas. Motion carried.
d) Archivist – Vincent Elit
Vincent provided a summarized verbal version of his written report to the members present. The written report is available as part of the Annual General Meeting package and online on our Chapter’s Website. There were no questions concerning this report.
e) Head, Communications Committee – Linda Landreville
Linda provided a summarized verbal version of her written report to the members present. The written report is available as part of the Annual General Meeting package and online on our Chapter’s Website. There were no questions concerning this report.
f) Head, Translation Committee – José Gélinas
José provided a summarized verbal version of her written report to the members present. The written report is available as part of the Annual General Meeting package and online on our Chapter’s Website. There were no questions concerning this report.
A motion to adopt the reports of the Committee Heads was made by Sheila McHugh, seconded by Kathy Heney. Motion carried.
6. Election of Executive Officers
On behalf of the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa membership Barbara thanked the members of the 2018 Executive and Committees, who served the Chapter so well in the past year. She also personally thanked the Executive and Committee members for their efforts during the past year.
For the next portion of this meeting, Barbara handed the floor over to Vincent, who had been selected as the Nominations Committee for the evening’s election of the 2019 Appointed Officers of the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa.
a) President
Barbara – As current President, Barbara was asked if she was interested in standing as President again. She agreed. As there were no further nominations from the floor for the office of President, the nominations were closed. Barbara Cope was acclaimed as Chapter President.
b) Vice-President
Vacant – Kathy Heney, Gislaine Hamelin and Carol Moher were nominated by Sharon Doyle, all declined the nomination. No further nominations came from the floor. The Vice-President position remains vacant.
c) Treasurer
Linda – As current Treasurer, Linda was asked if she was interested in standing as Treasurer again. She agreed. As there were no further nominations from the floor for this position, the nominations were closed. Linda Landreville was acclaimed as Chapter Treasurer.
d) Secretary
Sharon – As current Secretary, Sharon was asked if she was interested in standing as Secretary again. She agreed. As there were no further nominations from the floor, the nominations were closed. Sharon Doyle was acclaimed as Chapter Secretary.
Acceptance of the list of 2019 Executive Officers for the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa was moved by Kathy Heney, seconded by Carol Moher. Motion carried.
The 2019 Executive Officers for the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa of the OALT/ABO are:
President: Barbara Cope
Vice-President: Vacant
Treasurer: Linda Landreville
Secretary: Sharon Doyle
7. Other Business
a) Website
Linda reported that she is actively maintaining the Chapter’s website, in conjunction with Vincent. They have been working to incorporate Twitter and Facebook onto the Chapter’s website.
b) Archives (Digital) – Vincent
The Archivist’s activities are covered in Vincent’s report attached to the Annual General Meeting minutes.
c) Annual Report to the Board of Directors of the Association
Barbara provided a summarized verbal version of her written report to the members present, including the Chapter’s events. Barbara also reported on the ongoing updating/changes/additions to the Chapter’s procedures and timelines. The written report is available as part of the Annual General Meeting package and online on our Chapter’s website.
d) Algonquin College – Library and Info Tech Advisory Committee
Vincent reported that he is connected with external stakeholders including employees of college and university libraries, public libraries, and special libraries. Technology focused courses will be offered by these institutions this year. Meetings are to be scheduled three times in the upcoming year.
e) OALT/ABO Annual Conference (2019)
The 2019 conference will be held on May 1-4 at the Best Western Cairn Croft, Niagara Falls. Registration is now open and the Conference program is online on the Association’s website.
f) Workshop feedback
The Google Suite of Apps workshop was excellent. However, due to a delay with password notifications, the Algonquin College waived the usual room fee for a savings of approximately $200.00. Jeka is willing to run a second Google workshop. WordPress (the software platform of our website) was suggested as a possible idea for a workshop session. Linda will post a message on the website asking members for workshop suggestions or areas of interest for future workshops.
A draw was held for one $30.00 cash prize. The winner was Gislaine Hamelin.
8. Next meeting
No meeting has been scheduled yet.
9. Adjournment
Barbara called for a motion to adjourn the 2019 Annual General Meeting, of the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa with thanks to all who attended:
The motion was made by Carol Moher, seconded by José Gélinas. Motion carried.
The Annual General Meeting of the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa was adjourned at 7:39 pm EST.
President
I agreed to stay in the position of Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa President at the 2019 Chapter Annual General Meeting, as for the most part, I enjoy volunteering with OALT/ABO.
- I attended and chaired all seven Chapter Executive and Committees meetings, for which I prepared and distributed the Agendas, as well as presented President reports.
- I attended the annual review of the Chapter’s website. In preparation for that, I found out that it’s difficult to stay on top of everchanging links which we supply on the Chapter’s website.
- I continued to use the Chapter’s email account and to load documents on the Association’s Google Drive, to facilitate the sharing of documents with both Chapter and Association Executives and Committees. I also created all the new folders for 2019 on Google Drive.
- I did all the necessary additions to, edits of and deletions from Contacts for our email account.
- I was unable to attend OALT/ABO’s Annual Conference in 2019.
- I contacted Algonquin’s LIT program and then its’ students, so that the Chapter could sponsor Sarah McCulley to this year’s Conference (2019).
- I didn’t attend the Chapter’s summer social.
- I was the main organizer for our 44th annual Student Meet and Greet, for which I was the contact person with Algonquin College. However, I was unable to attend.
- I was the contact person with both Algonquin College and Jeka Dupont for the Google Apps workshops which were held on January 12 and May 25, 2019. I attended both workshops.
- I didn’t attend the Chapter’s Holiday Social.
I would like to thank all of the Executive and Committee members: Linda Landreville, Sharon Doyle, Vincent Elit and José Gélinas, for their ongoing support, teamwork and commitment to the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa. I congratulate our team of dedicated volunteers, who have worked hard to ensure that the Chapter was run smoothly and professionally throughout the last year. Also, thanks to the members of the Board of Directors for their continued support and appreciated guidance.
I encourage any member (new or existing) who would like to be part of the Executive, a Chapter Committee, or be part of the Board of Directors of the Association. It is an extremely rewarding opportunity, which allows you to help out the library community at the same time as you help the Chapter. I have had a chance to work with a great team of committed volunteers. It’s time to have your say. We hope to have you join us.
Having this time, now been Chapter’s Vice-President for 2016 – 2017 and President for 2017 – 2019, I will not be staying on as President. I know that there are others who have volunteered more than I have and I’m sorry if this decision will mean that the Chapter can’t operate legally in 2020, but it’s time for someone else to sit on the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa’s Executive.
Respectfully submitted,
Barbara Cope
President
Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa
Financial Statement (December 31, 2019)
Chequing Account
| Year to date Jan. 1, 2019 to Dec. 31, 2019 |
|
|---|---|
| Opening Bank Balance – January 01, 2019 | 2,504.52 |
| Income: | |
| Membership Remittance | 240.00 |
| Proceeds from Google Apps Workshop #1 | 33.00 |
| Donations to the JDSSF | 100.00 |
| Proceeds from Google Apps Workshop #2 | 30.00 |
| Total | 403.00 |
| Expenses: | |
| Bank fees | 30.00 |
| Annual General Meeting (1 Cash Prize for $25.00) | 25.00 |
| (Chq#232) Reimbursement to Vincent Elit for Free Student Membership from Meet and Greet | 20.00 |
| (Chq#233)Reimbursement to Treasurer for the purchase of Gift Card Honorarium for Jeka Dupont, Google Apps Workshop (#1) | 25.00 |
| (Chq#234) Reimbursement to Sarah McCulley for her Transportation Costs to the Conference | 145.17 |
| (Chq#235) Reimbursement to the Association for Sarah McCulley’s Conference Registration | 105.00 |
| (Chq#236) Reimbursement to Sharon Doyle for Sarah McCulley’s Conference Accommodation | 188.07 |
| (Chq#237) Reimbursement to Linda Landreville for the Plant in Memory of Pat Graham | 102.00 |
| (Chq#238) Reimbursement to Barbara Cope for Honorarium to Jeka Dupont: Google Apps Workshop (#2) | 25.00 |
| (Chq#239) Room Charge at Algonquin College for Google Apps Workshop (#2) | 226.00 |
| (Chq#240) Gift Card for Algonquin College’s “Connections” Bookstore–for 2019 Student Meet and Greet | 25.00 |
| Total | 916.24 |
| Final Details: | |
| Closing Balance – December 31, 2019 | 1,991.28 |
| Bank Balance – December 31, 2019 | 1,991.28 |
Budgeted Amounts (Managed within Balance)
Jean Desislets Student Sponsorship Fund
(Renamed : Pat Graham Student Sponsorship Fund on June 8, 2019)
| Year to date Jan. 1, 2019 to Dec. 31, 2019 |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Budget – January 1, 2019 | 450.00 | ||
| Income: | |||
| Public Donations in 2019 | 100.00 | ||
| May 25, 2019 – Chapter Executive voted to dedicate 50% of profit from Google Apps-2 Workshop to the Fund | 15.00 | ||
| Total | 115.00 | ||
| Expenses: | |||
| Total Cost of sending Student (Sarah McCulley) to OALT/ABO Conference | 438.24 | ||
| Total | 115.00 | ||
| Balance – December 31, 2019 – $126.76 | 126.76 | ||
Petty Cash
| Year to date Jan. 1, 2019 to Dec. 31, 2019 |
|
|---|---|
| Opening Balance – January 1, 2019 | 47.30 |
| Petty Cash Balance | 47.30 |
Treasurer: Activity Report
Throughout this Chapter’s fiscal year (2019), we were busy. The Treasurer’s activities included:
- Depositing Membership Remittance cheque from OALT/ABO to our Chapter’s Account
- Preparing Treasurer’s Reports for all Executive and Committees Meetings
- Preparing Financial Quarterly Reports
- Preparing the 2019 Annual Financial Statement for the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa Annual General Meeting
- I helped to establish the Pat Graham Student Sponsorship Fund:
- For many years, the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa assisted students from the Library and Information Technician Program through our Jean Desislets Student Sponsorship Fund, established in 1990 to recognize the contribution of a cherished member who passed away in July of that year. On April 28, 2019, however, we suffered the loss of our most experienced member, Pat Graham. Pat was a part of the inaugural Conference of OALT/ABO in 1973 and served the Association and the Chapter in a professional manner for over 40 years. In 2013, she received a Lifetime Membership in OALT/ABO. Therefore, in honour and in memory of her dedication, the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa voted in June to rename our Student Sponsorship Fund in Pat’s name to reflect her hard work on behalf of our students.
- Helping with activities as required:
- Arranging for Gift Cards and Door Prizes;
- Ensuring reimbursements were given promptly to Executive members for out-of-pocket expenses;
- Coordinating budgeted payments from Petty Cash and the new Pat Graham Student Sponsorship Fund.
Respectfully submitted,
Linda Landreville
Treasurer
Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa
Secretary
I would like to say thank you to the 2019 Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa Executive and Committee members (Barbara Cope, Linda Landreville, Vincent Elit and José Gélinas), for another great year. I feel very fortunate to work with such a dedicated group of people.
This year as Secretary, I was responsible for:
- Minute taking for most of Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa’s Executive and Committees meetings
- Attending most of the Chapter’s Executive meetings
- Participating in one of the Association’s Board of Directors meetings
- Helping to plan the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa’s Summer’s and Holiday Social Events
- Attending the Chapter’s Student Meet & Greet Event
- Preparing a report of my activities for the 2019 Annual General Meeting
Respectfully submitted,
Sharon Doyle
Secretary
Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa
Archivist
I would like to thank all of the 2019 Executive and Committee members, including Barbara Cope, Linda Landreville, Sharon Doyle and José Gélinas for their hard work, individually and as a team, and for their ongoing dedication and commitment to the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa. I further wish to say “thank you” to the members of the Association’s Board of Directors for their continued support and appropriate guidance.
At our first Executive and Committees’ meeting of 2019, I was re-appointed as the Chapter Archivist. The responsibilities for this role include:
- Maintaining and archiving all meeting documents and documents produced by the Chapter.
- Maintaining and archiving historical documents relating to both the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa and the Association
- Developing and implementing our digital strategy for Archives.
Throughout the 2019 term as Chapter Archivist, I attended the majority of the Executive Meetings of the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa.
In April, the Executive and Committee members met under the umbrella of our Communications Committee, with the agenda to discuss the continued development and strategy of the Chapter’s website and communications strategy.
During the summer months, I continued the review of the Chapter’s Archives, attempting to create a comprehensive list of all materials currently held by the Chapter. Digitization of our printed documents is ongoing, with documents being now saved in our new Archives repository on the Google Drive, managed by the Association.
I helped prepare and attended the 2019 OALT/ABO Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa’s Student Meet & Greet Event for Algonquin College’s LIT program’s students. I also provided assistance in the organization of the 2019 Chapter’s Holiday Social, which occurred on December 10, 2019 and I attended the event.
I am willing to stay on as the Chapter’s Archivist for 2020. I encourage any member (new or existing) who would like to be part of the Executive, part of a Committee, or part of the Board of Directors of the Association to get involved. It is an extremely rewarding opportunity, which allows you to help out the Library Community at the same time as you help the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa. I have had a great chance to work with an amazing team of committed volunteers, where all our interests were pursued, our skills developed and our expectations exceeded. I encourage you to consider the possibilities and follow in the footsteps of this great team by joining their ranks.
Respectfully submitted,
Vincent Elit
Archivist
Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa
Communications Committee
At our first meeting of the new Executive on March 19th, 2019, I agreed to continue in my role as a member of the Communications Committee.
My activities for this year included:
- Attending Executive and Committees meetings.
- Attending workshops and helping as needed.
- Delivering a short report for each Executive meeting.
- Attending most of the OALT/ABO Board of Directors Conference Call meetings and speaking on behalf of the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa, if required.
- Helping with sending emails to our members and helping with our Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa website when needed – posting submissions to its content.
- According to the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa Constitution (Article 1 (c)) : “When possible, all information from the Chapter shall be available in English and in French.” With this in mind, I drafted a proposal to create an even better partnership between the Translation Committee and the Communications Committee. Administratively, nothing changes. Our Translator retains the head role for the quality French Communications we have come to rely on. However, over the next year, we will collectively improve procedures for disseminating all Communications in English and French to members of the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa.
Respectfully submitted,
Linda Landreville
Head, Communications Committee
Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa
Translation Committee
As Head, Translation Committee (and still sole member of it after 9 years: 2010-2019) my principal functions include:
- Attending Executive and Committees meetings (elective, but I find it important to be aware of the goings-on for future reference, to know what transpired from Executive and Committees Meetings when I have to translate for the Annual General Meeting, etc.).
- Preparing a short report (usually verbal) of my activities to present at monthly Executive and Committees meetings.
- Translating specific documents required of me throughout the year by the President and/or the Executive.
- Supervision of ALL translations done by other members of the Executive and Committees (and/or other persons outside of the Executive and Committees) of events, notices and other notifications or bilingual texts, written in the name of the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa, sent to Chapter members or to the Association, or to other organizations on behalf of the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa or the Association, or posted on the Chapter’s website throughout the year.
- Writing (and translating) my Annual Report of activities to present at the Annual General Meeting of the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa.
- Translating the entire Annual General Meeting English package into French, including the previous year’s Annual General Meeting Minutes, ALL Annual Reports of the members of the Executive and Committees (including normal positions, interim or other special cases), therefore, Reports of the President, Vice-President, Treasurer (including the Annual Financial Statement), Secretary and the Annual Reports of the Archivist, Head, Communications Committee and the Head, Translation Committee, as well as the Annual Report of the Activities of the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa to the Board of Directors of the Association. ***
*** All documents listed above constitute the ENTIRE ENGLISH PACKAGE, TRANSLATED into the ENTIRE FRENCH PACKAGE (with revision of the ENTIRE English package and modifications made where deemed necessary, for clarity, or better equivalence between English and French versions of the Annual General Meeting package). These two packages (approximately 40 pages of text) are sent to members of the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa before the Annual General Meeting and are provided in limited printed copies at the Annual General Meeting, to participating members.
In 2019, I attended most, if not all eight Executive and Committees meetings, including the 2018 Annual General Meeting held on February 26, 2019, at Biagio’s and the special meeting to revise our Chapter’s Website and Communications’ strategy in April. I also participated in the Google Apps workshops with Jeka Dupont, in January and in May 2019, and attended the Winter’s holiday in December. However, I did not attend the OALT/ABO’s annual Conference in May, nor the Summer Social, nor the Algonquin College’s LIT program’s Students Meet and Greet event in the fall.
On top of reviewing the English package of the Annual General Meeting and translating it into French, I also translated Sarah McCulley’s article on her experience at last year’s Conference, and among other small texts required by the President throughout the year, I translated homages to the memory of two of our best and revered members in our recent history (Mac Nason and Pat Graham), who both passed away in the last year; they will both be sorely missed!!! …
I congratulate the members of the Executive and Committees of the Chapter, on their intensive work all year long, starting with our President, Barbara Cope, who ran the “Show” with a “Master’s Hand” throughout the year again, at all levels of the organization, tackling all challenges that came her way, she managed the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa like a veteran and still very energetic CEO. Linda, also an amazing woman, did again double duty this year, leading her dual roles of Communications Committee Head and Treasurer, handling both her usual role as Head of the Communications Committee, (as our resident technical expert on electronic problem solving with the maintenance and updating of our website, etc. …) and the duties of Treasurer, efficiently providing numerous timely financial monthly and quarterly reports throughout the year, as if it was second nature to her. She also acted as my go-between person, linking me to the President (because I had no Internet link at home): she met with me to give me texts to translate and to receive translated texts when I had finished my translations of them. I enjoyed a great deal my collaboration with her.
She worked jointly with Vincent on the Chapter’s website, while he continued to digitalize the Chapter’s printed Archives and to load them onto a new Archival site on the Google Drive, managed by the Association. Our newest member of the Executive (since last year), Sharon Doyle, proved again to be a competent and devoted Secretary this year, also reviewing the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa’s Procedures Manual, Timeline and duties of members of the Executive and Committees with a newcomer’s impartiality. And, she’s still a delight in and out of meetings. I thank the team for its excellent work once more, as well as its great team spirit and pleasant companionship!!!
I hope again to take part in the Executive and Committees of the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa, in 2020. I’m also looking forward to exploring further Linda’s proposition to “create an even better partnership between the Translation Committee and the Communications Committee” in the coming year: I think the idea has great potential that has to be examined at length, including all of it’s ramifications, but I’m anticipating the challenge with hope that this “project” will eventually indeed “improve procedures for disseminating all Communications in English and French to members of the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa” as well as communicating with the world of libraries, library technicians and information specialists (professionals and students alike)…
I also hope that other members will be drawn by the idea of contributing to the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa’s Executive and Committees, or the Association’s Board of Directors. It’s an enriching experience where you can discover hidden talents or develop known skills in an unexpected way. It’s while serving in the midst of the Executive and Committees since 2002, first as Secretary for five years, Vice-President and President for one year each, and later, mainly as Translator for nine years, where I’ve rediscovered mainly the richness, challenge and intricacies of my mother tongue (French), I enhanced my knowledge of English, while I developed my proof-reading, writing, translation and editing skills among others. But, that’s only my experience …
Yours can be totally different, depending on what role you decide to take on: the skills you develop can include, among others, the fields of electronics, management, personal management, leadership, mentoring, teaching, or public speaking, just to name a few … and who knows what else? It’s only up to you to take a chance …
Hoping this will be indeed a Good and Happy New Year for all!!!
Respectfully submitted,
José Gélinas
Head, Translation Committee
Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa
Annual Report to the Board of Directors
2019 Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa Executive and Committees
- President: Barbara Cope
- Treasurer: Linda Landreville
- Secretary: Sharon Doyle
- Archivist: Vincent Elit
- Head, Communications Committee: Linda Landreville
- Head, Translations Committee: José Gélinas
The Annual General Meeting was held Tuesday February 26, 2019 at Biagio’s Italian Kitchen restaurant, where the Annual Reports were presented by each member of the Executive and Committees, and elections were held to elect the new members of the Executive for 2019.
The Executive team met seven times over the course of the year.
Activities of the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa:
2019 was a year of good team work providing events to both Algonquin College’s LIT students and the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa’s members.
Linda, took part in nine of the eleven OALT/ABO Board of Directors meeting, representing the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa. Sharon attended one of the other two Board meetings.
The Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa was happy to be able to sponsor Sarah McCulley to this year’s (2019) Annual Conference. We asked Sarah to write an article about her experience, which was posted on the Chapter’s site .
Linda and Vincent did a great job of continuing to promote the Chapter using our website, including posting upcoming events. As well, Vincent also posted on social media e.g. Facebook.
Sharon, Linda & Vincent organized and advertised both the Chapter’s Summer and Holiday Socials.
On October 9th, the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa hosted the staff and students of the Algonquin College Library and Information Technician Program at our 44th annual Student Meet and Greet event. Approximately 32 students, Helena Merriam, the program’s Coordinator, Professor Erika Fyfe attended, as well as Vincent, Jeka and Sharon attended the event. The students were able to network with our members and learn about the Association. The 2019 OALT/ABO Outstanding Student Award recipient, Abby Marteja, was not able to attend. This year, both the Association and the Chapter awarded a free membership to two of the students in attendance. There was also a draw for a $25.00 gift card for Connections, Algonquin College’s bookstore.
The Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa’s Executive and Committee Heads really appreciated OALT/ABO’s Board of Directors paying for the expenses of the Student Meet and Greet.
The OALT/ABO lost one of its founding members, with the passing of Pat Graham in April 2019. In her honour, the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa has renamed the Jean Desislets Student Sponsorship Fund, to the Pat Graham Student Sponsorship Fund, and has notified her family about the Chapter honouring Pat’s memory in this way. This Fund is what the Chapter uses to pay for the Association’s Conference expenses when we sponsor a student to OALT/ABO’s annual Conference. Donations to the Fund are always welcome.
Sharon has continued to update our Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa’s Timeline, Procedures Manual and the lists of Duties of our Executive and Committees members. As someone relatively new to the Chapter, she noted that these documents lack detailed instructions.
This year, Linda drafted a proposal to create an even better partnership between the Translation Committee and the Communications Committee. Administratively, nothing changes. Our Translator retains the head role for the quality French Communications we have come to rely on. However, over the next year, we will collectively improve procedures for disseminating all Communications (in English and French) to the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa members.
We offered two workshops on Google Apps in 2019, both presented by our own Jeka Dupont.
Overall, it was a good year for the Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa.
Respectfully submitted,
Barbara Cope
President
Ottawa Chapter/Section d’Ottawa