On October 22, 2010 in Winnipeg, Dr. Samek delivered the keynote for the Manitoba School Library Association on the exciting conference theme "The School Library: A Centre for Human Rights". Toni, author of Librarianship and Human rights: A twenty-first century guide and Research Fellow at the Centre for Global Citizenship Education and Research, situated school library work and the core library value of intellectual freedom within local and global human rights and social justice movements. In so doing, Toni gave a walk through real-world examples of how and why school libraries support freedom of thought, opinion and expression; freedom of association; peaceful assembly; protection from cruelty; the right to free development of personality; and, the very right to education. In closing, Toni engaged the 100+ members of the audience in a critical look inside its own culture in an exploration of how deskilling of library workers and commercialization of information literacy in the 21 century can undermine the conference theme.
Of special note, the conference included words from Sharif Islam Khandaker ( Head of Archives, Library and Collections, Canadian Museum of Human Rights).
The full program is here: http://www.manitobaschoollibraries.com/documents/SAG2010Programx.pdf
Livestream Video:
http://www.manitobaschoollibraries.com/professionalresources.htm