Greater Edmonton Library Association

Contact GELA

gelaweb @ gela.ca

P.O. Box 11929
Edmonton, Alberta
T5J 3L1

Outreach

GELA Supports LAA

GELA supports the following initiative from LAA regarding copyright:

Dear LAA Members,

In support of our customers and colleagues, please consider writing to your MP about the important Copyright matters making their way through Parliament.

Find your MP (in Microsoft Excel)
Write a letter to your MP

Women's Prison and Reintegration

The Women’s Prison sub-committee was created after a GELA talk on February 1, 2007 by Rev. Coleen Lynch from the Women's Reintegration Chaplaincy and Siofean, a reintegrating woman who bravely shared her story about prison life, leaving prison and returning to the community.

Since that talk, our committee has organized several tours of the prison for GELA members, held a very successful bookdrive in partnership with students at SLIS, weeded and organized the prison library collection, and met with the inmate librarian and other women at the prison to determine their needs.

Our main priorities for the prison library at this time include:

Database improvement (Inmagic experts welcome!) and mentoring to the inmate librarian
Collection policy development
Literacy project(s)
Partnership with FLIF student group at the University of Alberta

Our committee stems from a desire to become involved in Community Development Librarianship. This approach looks at libraries and/or librarians providing access to information to all community members, even those socially excluded and marginalized.

If you would like more information about this committee, would like to find our how you or your library could become involved or would like to volunteer your time, please contact: Kirsten Wurmann at kwurmann @ ualberta.ca. You can also visit their blog.

Greater Edmonton Library Association (GELA) Community Bookshelf

The Greater Edmonton Library Association (GELA) Community Bookshelf subcommittee is working with inner city agencies to provide free reading materials for Edmontonians who are homeless or at-risk of becoming homeless. Books are distributed regularly to the Bissell Centre, Boyle Street Community Services, The Learning Centre Literacy Association, and Operation Friendship. Other agencies also receive material on an as-needed basis. The subcommittee also provides free reading materials for events like Homeless Connect.

The reading materials distributed to agencies come from a variety of sources including local libraries, book drives, and personal donations. Special thanks goes to the University of Alberta’s Future Librarians for Intellectual Freedom (FLIF), Edmonton Public Library, Leduc Public Library and the Greater Edmonton Library Association’s Women’s Prison & Reintegration subcommittee.

If you are interested in donating or would like further information about the subcommittee, please contact Amelia Martin by e-mail (gela.bookshelf @ gmail.com). Please see below for a list of items that are most in need and items we are unable to accept.

Items most in need:

Aboriginal materials (books, magazines)
Materials on the topics of: self-help, addiction recovery, healthy relationships, careers/employment, and nutrition (preferably published within the last five years)
Science fiction, mystery and western paperbacks
Graphic novels and comics

Items we also accept:

General fiction paperbacks and hardcover books (excluding romance)
General non-fiction paperbacks (preferably published within the last five years)
Teen fiction and non-fiction
Children’s picture books
Popular magazines

Items we regret we are unable to accept:

Romance novels (paperback or hardcover)
Textbooks (excluding adult literacy materials)
Encyclopedias
Any items in very poor condition (ie. water damaged, missing pages, severely damaged)

For more information and regular updates, please visit http://gelabookshelf.wordpress.com.

Election Advocacy

GELA is pleased to support the LAA and CLA in their advocacy efforts for the 2008 federal election.

Visit LAA to access their 2008 advocacy guidelines.
Visit CLA to access their elections kit.

Book Drive

The 2008 GELA Book Drive is finished! Thank you to everyone who donated and assisted our fundraising efforts! Find out more information on how you can support the Edmonton Institution for Women and the Bissell Centre.