GLAM Sector Partnership

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Background

Founded in 1957, the British Columbia Museums Association (BCMA) creates a bright future for British Columbia’s museum, gallery, and related heritage communities through networking, advocacy, innovation, and professional development. It delivers programs and services to the benefit of its members and the sector at large, acting as the cultural and heritage information hub for British Columbia while providing a unified voice for the institutions, trustees, professional staff and volunteers.

The British Columbia Library Association (BCLA) leads the library community in advocacy, professional development, and support of intellectual freedom. It ensures that all British Columbians have equitable access to information, ideas and works of the imagination. BCLA builds partnerships and relationships between libraries, governments, and community organizations. Its goal is to advance the values of the Association and to promote a widespread understanding of the benefits of library and information services.

The Archives Association of British Columbia (AABC) was established in 1990. Its mission is to foster the development of the provincial archival community to better preserve and promote access to British Columbia’s documentary heritage. Its goals include providing services to increase the capacity of archives throughout the province to preserve and provide access to B.C.’s documentary heritage; building and maintaining the provincial catalogue, MemoryBC, in support of the national catalogue; and providing the infrastructure to support networking opportunities for members.

Shared Values

As professional associations, BCMA, BCLA and AABC agree to and uphold the following values which are foundational to both our membership and our partnership:

• • Intellectual and ethical integrity
  • Equal rights and dignity of all persons
  • Freedom of speech and freedom of inquiry
  • Respect and recognition of Indigenous peoples and cultures
  • Commitment to using our shared capacity for research and education for the betterment of BC communities.

Protocol Objectives

BCMA, BCLA and AABC will encourage member participation in activities that will enhance learning opportunities and knowledge transfer among professionals and institutions. All Partners will work towards the following objectives:

• Share professional expertise and knowledge to strengthen the capacity of all parties to advance their respective missions
• Explore collaborative research projects to expand learning opportunities among the three Associations
• Explore public outreach opportunities to spark community engagement with knowledge and ideas
• Identify joint funding ventures for projects of mutual interest and benefit in the areas of knowledge curation and public education
• Identify opportunities for new membership categories within our Associations to welcome allied professionals
• Provide member rates at BCMA, BCLA and AABC conferences
• Consider new awards to acknowledge and celebrate exceptional professionals and projects in our fields of expertise

Terms of renewal

This MOU will remain in place for a period of three years, effective January 1, 2017. Annually, each organization that is party to the agreement will convene to discuss shared accomplishments, opportunities for further exploration and mutual professional interests. The outcomes of these discussions will be shared with each respective Board that is party to the MOU. At the end of the three years, each board will meet to consider continuing with the MOU.

Signed this day, March 24, 2017 in Surrey, British Columbia:
David Alexander, President, BCMA
Daphne Wood, President, BCLA
Cindy McLellan, President, AABC

Read the media release from this event here.

Images:

BCMA president David Alexander, addresses the crowd gathered at the GLAM Sector MOU announcement at the City Centre Library in Surrey, BC.  Mr. Alexander was joined by (l-r) BCLA president Daphne Wood, Surrey Library Board Councillor Dave Woods (emcee), AABC president Cindy McLellan, and the Honourable Peter Fassbender, Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development.

BCLA president Daphne Wood, BCMA president David Alexander, and AABC president Cindy McLellan hold the signed MOU document.  They are flanked by the event emcee Councillor Dave Woods, Surrey Library Board (left) and the Honourable Peter Fassbender, Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development.

The three happy presidents!  From left: Cindy McLellan (AABC), Daphne Wood (BCLA), and David Alexander (BCMA) show off the new BC

GLAM Sector MOU.

Learn more about Andrea

She is the Principle Investigator on a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) project to identify Indian Day School and Indian Residential school art collections across Canada. This work began in 2000 with collaborative research with the Osoyoos Indian Band, which resulted in a permanent exhibition of Nk’Mip Day School Art at the Nk’Mip Desert Heritage Centre, and a Virtual Museum of Canada website exhibition. A recent focus for Walsh’s research includes the repatriation of paintings done by children at the Alberni residential school to Survivors and their families and has extended to other communities across Canada. The Alberni IRS repatriation project has been exhibited and featured at regional and national events held by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 2012 and 2013. Walsh was inducted as Honorary Witness to the TRC in 2012.

Major funding for Walsh’s research has been gratefully received from the Canadian Heritage Information Network, the TRC, and SSHRC (2003-2006; 2012-2014). Recently curated exhibitions include To Reunite, To Honour, To Witness (Legacy Art Gallery 2013), and We Are All One (Alberni Valley Museum 2014/15), and Behind the Veil: the art of Rande Cook (Campbell River Art Gallery 2015); Our Lives Through Our Eyes: Nk’Mip Children’s Art (Kelowna Art Gallery and the Okanagan Heritage Museum 2019). There is Truth Here: Creativity and Resilience in Children’s Art from Indian Residential and Day Schools (Legacy Art Galleries 2017; Museum of Vancouver 2019).

Learn more about Scott

His current professional focus includes the rapidly changing role of public libraries in their communities, new library business models, and the natural intersection between libraries, communities and technology. He frequently speaks on these topics at conferences and to special interest groups. Scott holds a B.Ed from the University of Victoria, an MSc in Computer Science from the University of York, England, and the Executive Master of Library and Information Studies from San Jose State University.