CSL Awards to be Presented at TMC8 Dinner

Canadian School Libraries presents awards every other year, at Treasure Mountain Canada symposiums. We are pleased to be presenting the following awards at TMC8, 2025.  

The Angela Thacker Memorial Award

The Angela Thacker Memorial Award has been established in memory of Angela Thacker, teacher-librarian, library coordinator, and school library colleague, mentor, leader and advocate who served the Association for Teacher-Librarianship in Canada (ATLC) and the Canada School Library Association (CSLA) in many capacities. This award honours teacher-librarians who have made contributions to the profession through publications, productions or professional development activities that deal with topics relevant to teacher-librarianship and/or school library learning commons. 

The recipients of the 2025 Angela Thacker Memorial Award are Jenn Brown and Diana Maliszewski. 

Read more about Jenn Brown and Diana Maliszewski.

The Donald Hamilton School Library Advocacy Award

The Donald Hamilton School Library Advocacy Awardwas established in memory of Donald Hamilton, (1938–2023), a leader in the field of school libraries and teacher-librarianship throughout his long career, and a strong advocate for the crucial role of school libraries in student learning. The Donald Hamilton School Library Advocacy Award was established in 2023 in honour of Donald’s outstanding legacy. This is the inaugural presentation of the Donald Hamilton Award.

The recipients of this inaugural Donald Hamilton School Library Advocacy Award are Wendy Burch Jones of the Ontario School Library Association, and the Executive of the British Columbia Teacher-Librarians' Association.

Read more about the BCTLA Executive and Wendy Burch Jones.

 Welcome to the TMCanada Blog – Action Central for TMC8 2025!

TMC8 takes place on January 31 and February 1, 2025 in Toronto, as part of the Ontario Library Association Super Conference.

This TMCanada Blog is where we present the papers submitted for your consideration, and where the true collaboration that makes TMC so unique begins.

We are close to publishing TMC8 papers for you to read ahead of the symposium. Please stay tuned for updates! 

Final Thoughts

 There hasn't been a single Treasure Mountain that I've been to that hasn't ended in disappointment.  But as Dr Suess has famously said, "don't cry that it's over, be happy that it happened."  We've covered so much territory in less than 24 hours.  Our retreat is ending with a Big Think.  A time to collect our thinking and ask ourselves, So What?  and Now What?  Why do the things we've discussed matter, and what are we going to do with this information?  

We're reflecting on our thinking through the lens of the CSL Leading Learning Standards.  How do the big ideas present themselves in the context of the standards?  How might the standards need to be finessed to reflect the current thinking?  What's missing?  Ultimately, how can we as school librarians be yet better?

It is this kind of thinking and the drive to serve our communities better that drives us as teacher librarians and makes me keep coming back to Treasure Mountain Research Retreats.  Thanks to Anita, Carol, Joseph, David, and every single person that I've had the pleasure of talking to.  You have made me a better teacher librarian and a better person.  Until next time!

Request for Reconsideration

 What do you do when someone comes to you asking that a book we removed from the collection? 

This is the question that Sheri Kinney and Dianne Oberg addressed in the after lunch speakers session. Luckily for Sheri, she had expert teacher librarians in the greater community willing to guide her through the process. Her advice to us all was to make sure that your policies are not just in your head, but on paper. It’s very important for other TLs and for the Canadian book community to be able to access other experiences. See their paper for links to the database where you can search banned book cases.