Alberta Readers' Choice Award Announces Juror Panel

The Alberta Readers' Choice Award committee is pleased to announce its five jurors: the Honourable Tommy Banks, Senator, musician and longtime broadcaster; well-known Alberta author Fil Fraser; Red Deer Mayor, Morris Flewwelling; independent bookseller, Simone Lee; and bookstore owner and literacy advocate, LaurieGreenwood. The five jurors will select the final five titles from the current top ten list, which were voted on byAlberta librarians. The final list of five will then be subject to a public vote, during March and April, to determine the winner. Each of the jurors has been encouraged to choose a title to champion during the public voting phase. The $10,000 cash award is one of the largest literary awards in Canada and will be announced at the Book Publishers Association of Alberta Awards Gala on May 14, 2010 in Edmonton.

The 10 shortlisted titles as selected by Alberta librarians:

• The Frog Lake Reader by Myrna Kostash, published by NeWest Press
• Crossing the Swell by Tori Holmes, published by Rocky Mountain Books
• In Bed with the Word: Reading, Spirituality, and Cultural Politics by Daniel Coleman,published by University of Alberta Press
• 100 Years of Anne with an "e": The Centennial Study of Anne of Green Gables Edited by Holly Blackford, published by University of Calgary Press
• The Forgotten Explorer: Samuel Prescott Fay's 1914 Expedition to the Northern Rockiesby Samuel Fay, published by Rocky Mountain Books
• The Weekender Effect Hyperdevelopment in Mountain Towns by Robert Sandford, published by Rocky Mountain Books
• Fishing for Bacon by Michael Davie, published by NeWest Press
• Bomb Canada and Other Unkind Remarks in the American Media by Chantal Allan, published by AU Press
• Fifth World Drum by Anna Marie Sewell, published by Frontenac House
• Buying Cigarettes for the Dog by Stuart Ross, published by Freehand Books

The Alberta Readers' Choice Award is presented by the Edmonton Public Library, in partnership with the Book Publishers Association of Alberta.

SLIS 2010 Forum for Information Professionals

The students of the University of Alberta School of Library & Information Studies are pleased to invite Librarians from the Foothills Library Association to the 2010 Forum for Information Professionals (formerly Professional Development Day).

This one-day conference will be held on Friday, February 5, 2010, at the School of Library & Information Studies (SLIS) on the University ofAlberta campus. The theme of the conference is Back to our Roots: For Foundations, For the Future. Rory Litwin will be the keynote speaker.

Registration is free before January 31st, 2010. Please register through the event webpage at http://www.ualberta.ca/~lissa1/fip/. (Late registrations can be made at the event for $20. Receipts provided.)

Foothills Library Association Travel Grant

Each year, the Foothills Library Association offers funding to its members in the form of a Conference Travel Grant of up to $500.00. The purpose of this grant is to assist those FLA members with limited or no access to funding to attend a library conference related to their work. The grant may be applied to cover conference fees or the cost of accommodation and travel to the conference.

Guidelines, additional information and access to the application form can be found here:
http://www.fla.org/grant.php Members must complete the application form prior to January 31 in order to qualify for funding during the current year.