Project manager and librarian. Interested in creating audio projects, writing opportunities and consulting. Let’s work together to build something great.
Project manager and librarian. Interested in creating audio projects, writing opportunities and consulting. Let’s work together to build something great.
“Selected highlights and recent works
Questions? Contact me”
I wrote a book review on Billy-Ray Belcourt’s third book titled ‘A History of My Brief Body’. This book is part memoir, part public scholarship that connects many Indigenous thinkers and philosophers. This work is intimate and powerful; and I hope my review of it makes you want to read it. Book review can be found here: https://rabble.ca/books/reviews/2020/09/history-my-brief-body-queer-love-and-life-prairies
The ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries) has featured me as a Resident of the Month by its Residency Interest Group. The transcript of this interview can be read here: https://acrl.ala.org/residency/resident-of-the-month-sheila-laroque/
A startup devoted to creating truly inclusive workplaces within the the Library and Information Science (LIS) field. Part of their strategy is to highlight some of the voices of people who have traditionally been under-represented in LIS. My story, called “I didn’t want to listen to a white lady speak about reconciliation” can be found on Inclusifyy here: https://www.inclusifyy.com/post/i-didn-t-want-to-listen-to-a-white-lady-speak-about-reconciliation Amanda Fernandez can be contacted for consulting work and speaking engagements related to diversity and inclusion training.
All the latest and greatest techniques can make apps better with each new version. But if people don’t understand what the purpose of these apps or how they can be used. This is why it’s important to write so people can clearly understand the potential the app has. Here is a link to my blogpost on tips for using the Libby by OverDrive app for eBooks and eAudiobooks: https://www.epl.ca/blogs/post/5-pro-tips-to-know-when-using-libby/.
As well, changes have recently been made to the RBDigital app for reading the latest issues of the most popular magazines. These changes are designed to allow greater flexibility with the fonts; which also increases the accessibility options for all. Read the blog post here: https://www.epl.ca/blogs/post/rbdigital-new-way-to-read-magazines/.
Part of my current role as the Digital Discovery Librarian includes different strategies of making the content in our collections more discoverable for our users. Here is a link to my published lists: https://epl.bibliocommons.com/lists/show/1381450427
The fields of librarianship and publishing can be seen as being inherently linked; but also at odds with each other. Where do the voices of other people fit in, such as Indigenous people and women? On this podcast of course! I am thrilled to be working on this project with Kayla Lar-Son and Tanya Ball; called Masinahikan Iskewêwak which translates to Book Women in Cree. Website here: www.bookwomenpodcast.ca, and you can follow us on twitter here: @book_women. All three seasons available wherever you get your podcasts.
This was one of the major projects that I worked on when I was an Academic Librarian Resident at the University of Alberta Libraries. This position came out of recommendations from the Decolonizing Description Working Group. One of their recommendations was to hire someone to implement further recommendations; and to be able to begin the work about what it would take to create a decolonized approach to libraries.
The intention of the Making Meaning Symposium was to bring students, community members, librarians and other academics to begin discussions on how cataloguing practices and subject classification can be done from a more respectful manner. The legacy site for the symposium can be accessed here: https://sites.google.com/ualberta.ca/makingmeaningsymposium/home
I was happy when Gwen Bird, the Dean of Libraries at Simon Fraser University (SFU) approached me at the Directors’ meeting of COPPUL (Council of Prairie and Pacific University Libraries) to suggest that the conversations that were started at the Making Meaning Symposium continue at SFU. The Sorting Libraries Out: Decolonizing Classification and Indigenizing Description conference was held in Vancouver in March 2019. More info about that conference can be found here: https://ocs.lib.sfu.ca/index.php/dcid/dcid2019
Libraries are not known for being diverse; and it’s very exciting to me to see such continued conversations are happening as we try to tackle a very large problem: How do we create Library Systems that are more inclusive to more than Western voices?
Part of the way that scholarly conversations can continue is through the writing and publishing that goes into discipline journals. As planning was underway for the Making Meaning Symposium; the opportunity to contribute to a special journal issue for the Evidence Based Library and Information Practice (EBLIP) came to my attention. This was an opportunity that I was happy to take. The Decolonizing Description project is a unique opportunity; and it would be beneficial for as many libraries as possible to embrace this type of work. Read the article here: https://doi.org/10.18438/eblip29440
While the final report of the Decolonizing Description Working Group can be read here: http://bit.ly/2wvArQh, it was important for our team to be able to be able to explain more about why this work is important. Read the article here: https://doi.org/10.33137/ijidi.v2i3.32190
I first heard of Librarians Without Borders (LWB) before I moved to Toronto. In learning about the work that they do to eradicate ‘information poverty’; I knew that I really wanted to be involved. The heart of what we do as librarians is provide access to information, and there is an increase in the gap between those who can access it and those who can’t. I was the Co-chair of the LWB student chapter at the University of Toronto; and I was able to go to Guatemala as part of the 2015 Service Trip. Planning what our Library Day activities would look like for over 200 students with librarians from across North America was a unique challenge; but mostly it was a lot of fun! It’s interesting to look back at the blog, to see old pictures of me and think about how much I’ve grown. Here’s the blog: http://lwb-online.org/category/projects/asturias/page/3/