Sandra Singh - Thursday morning keynote speaker

President Elect of the Canadian Library Association; Chief Librarian of Vancouver Public Library

Sandra joined Vancouver Public Library as its Chief Librarian in December 2010. She joined VPL after serving as the Director of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre at the University of British Columbia. Prior to that, she worked at the Vancouver Public Library, first as the Director of Branches East/South and Outreach Services, followed by Director of Systems and Special Projects!

While at VPL as a Senior Director, Sandra served as the National Director of the HRSDC-funded national demonstration project Working Together, which sought to evolve new ways of working with socially excluded community members, led the VPL website redesign process, initiated and ran the province-wide Beyond Words program, and participated and led other projects.

Prior to VPL, Sandra served as Port Moody Public Library's Manager of Library Services, as a Cybrarian at Vancouver's online learning community Suite101.com, as a reference librarian and cataloguer in Abilene (TX), and as a cataloguer at Calgary Public Library.

In the past, Sandra served on the BCLA Board, was the co-editor of the PNLA Quarterly, and served on the Board of Triage Emergency Services and Care Society. Sandra is currently the Vice-President/President Elect of the Canadian Library Association and a founding Board member of the Centre of Equitable Library.

Abstract: Libraries are operating in an increasingly dynamic context of competition for attention and investment and with evolving community perspectives and sense of value of libraries. Considering the mission, brand, and services of libraries, how do we frame the library in this changing landscape? What are some of the core activities that make us unique within broader physical and virtual community spaces? What lenses could we be using when we consider new initiatives and diverse opportunities to ensure we stay focused on our unique contributions, maximize investments, and reinforce our role in a broader ecosystem dedicated to community prosperity and innovation.

Ben Weinlick - Friday afternoon keynote speaker

People Centered Service Design Thinking

Design Thinking is an approach to disciplined innovation that has become popular over the last decade as a way to help organizations collaborate and problem solve better. In Ben's keynote, he will demystify design thinking, share how he has applied it in social sector think tanks he leads and how you can engage design thinking principles to improve services in your libraries and institutions. 

Founder, Think Jar Collective

Ben is always looking at how he can help diverse disciplines and domains to collide because often it is through that, that powerful insights and relevant innovations can emerge. Having diverse experience with leading strategy to develop innovation culture in organizations, facilitating human centered service design, dabbling in the arts, community building, startups, disability service leadership and a bit of motorcycle building has provided a unique perspective on challenges facing organizations today.

Currently Ben is the Senior Leader of Research and Organizational Learning at SKILLS Society in Canada. In this role, Ben mentors staff and regularly facilitates a think tank lab using design thinking and creative processes he developed with a research group during his graduate studies. He also regularly writes for the New York based Creativity Post, gives keynotes, curates content for Think Jar Collective and consults throughout North America. In 2013 he was awarded both the MacEwan University distinguished alumni award and the Avenue Magazine, Edmonton Top 40 under 40 award.