The year 2014 promises to be an active year for ViMLoC.  First of all, we should introduce ourselves as the new co-moderators for ViMLoC (January 2014 – December 2015).

Norda Majekodunmi is reference and instruction librarian at York University and is one of the founding members of ViMLoC.  Norda is a subject specialist in the disciplines of social work, human rights and equity studies, and linguistics and applied linguistics.

Kam Teo is branch manager of the Weyburn Public Library in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, and is also a founding member of ViMLoC.  Kam is a contributing member of Saskatchewan’s Multilingual Committee that meets to discuss the linguistic needs of public library customers.

We are excited about promoting two major ViMLoC initiatives in 2014!

First, ViMLoC is promoting its Mentoring Program for visible minority librarians and library students. ViMLoC is currently looking for librarians to mentor newly minted visible minority librarians and students.  Norda is the facilitator for this exciting initiative so please contact her for more information or if you wish to be a mentor or a mentee at vimloc@gmail.com.

Second, ViMLoC  is gathering statistics on the number of visible minority librarians working in or for Canadian Libraries.  The results of the survey will assist ViMLoC in identifying the needs of visible minority librarians and will serve as data for future projects and initiatives.  Maha Kumaran and Heather Cai are the leads for the survey.  Please fill out the survey at  http://fluidsurveys.usask.ca/s/visibleminoritylibrariansstatistics/ by January 31, 2014.

For more information on ViMLoC activities and initiatives check out the website at https://vimloc.wordpress.com.

Finally, original co-moderators, Maha Kumaran and Heather Cai, served ViMLoC (2011-2013) with passion, hard work, and with a strong sense of mission.  We would like to thank Maha and Heather for their efforts and their continuing work with ViMLoC.

Sincerely,

Norda Majekodunmi and Kam Teo
Co-Moderators, ViMLoC, (2014-2015)