Our Library Tomorrow: Imagine the Future

Robert Kroeger, Software Engineer, Google Canada

Since starting at Google in 2007, Robert Kroeger has worked bringing the Chrome web browser to tablets and GMail for iPhone. Prior to joining Google, Robert helped design supercomputers at Sun Microsystems. He holds a BSc. in computer science from the University of Ottawa and a MMath and PhD in computer science from the University of Waterloo.

Dan Mathieson has been the Mayor of Stratford since 2003 and has served on Council since 1995 as a Councillor and Deputy Mayor.  He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Guelph and a Masters of Public Administration Degree from the University of Western Ontario.

Dan is on the Advisory Board of the University of Waterloo-Stratford Campus and is a founding Director of the Stratford Institute.  He has been involved with the development of the University of Waterloo campus in Stratford since its inception, beginning with a conversation with then uWaterloo President, David Johnston, in 2008. Since that time, Dan has been a champion and strong supporter of the Waterloo Stratford Campus project.

Dan is currently Chair of the Ontario Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) and South West Economic Alliance (SWEA).  As well, he is Co-Chair of the Perth County Drug Task Force and the Physician Recruitment Committee.   He is a member of the Board of Directors of Festival Hydro, the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Kings University College at the University of Western Ontario and a national Director of the Fathers of Confederation Buildings Trust and the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown, PEI.

[source - City of Stratford]

Wendy Newman, University of Toronto

Wendy Newman joined the Faculty in 2004 and was appointed Senior Fellow in 2006. As a Lecturer, her primary roles are teaching and mentoring students in the library and information science stream and serving as a liaison between the Faculty and the professional and employer communities. With an extensive background in public, university, and educational librarianship as well as public policy advocacy, she has taught Advocacy and Library Issues for several years, additionally offering the course online jointly to other Canadian library and information faculties. Currently she also teaches a Special Topics course - Issues in Children’s and Young Adults’ Services -  at the Faculty.

Wendy Newman is former President of the Canadian Library Association and the Canadian Association of Public Libraries. She was awarded the Ontario Public Library Association Lifetime Achievement Award in January 2009, and in 2004 received both the CLA’s Outstanding Service to Librarianship Award and the Faculty of Information Alumni Jubilee Award. She also holds a Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal (2003) for community service.

[source]

Sandra Singh, Chief Librarian of Vancouver Public Library and a Champion of Community-Led Librarianship

Sandra became Vancouver's Chief Librarian in December 2010. She returned to Vancouver Public Library after serving as the Director of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre at the University of British Columbia. Prior to that appointment, Sandra held two senior management positions 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, Sandra served as the National Director of the federal government-funded national demonstration project Working Together, which sought to develop new ways of working with people who experience social exclusion or marginalization.  Sandra also led the Library's website redesign process, initiated and ran the province-wide Beyond Words program as well as participated in and leading other projects.

Prior to coming 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, Texas, and as a cataloguer at Calgary Public Library. Sandra is currently a member of the international Editorial Committee for the Dewey Decimal Classification and on the Parent Advisory Committee for her son’s elementary school.

Sandra served on the BC Library Association Board, was co-editor of the Pacific Northwest Library Association Quarterly, and was a member of Vancouver's Triage Emergency Services and Care Society Board. Sandra is currently a member of the British Columbia Library Association and the Canadian Library Association.

[source]

Nora Young, host of the CBC Radio show, Spark

Nora Young pursues her fascination with technology, culture, and armchair sociology, in radio, in print, on television, and online. She is the host and the creator of Spark, a show about technology and culture, which airs nationally on CBC Radio One, and lives online at cbc.ca/spark. As a journalist and speaker, Nora is interested in how new technology shapes the way we understand ourselves, each other, and the world arund us.

Her book about the culture and future of self-monitoring: the way we are becoming a culture of people who track our performance and personal statistics, will be published by McClelland and Stewart this spring. Nora is a hobby podcaster and blogger, and when away from the computer, she loves teaching yoga, cycling, and being in nature. She lives in Toronto.

[source]
Image by Gilberto Prioste

Kevin Sylvester (moderator), radio broadcaster and award-winning children's author/illustrator

Kevin Sylvester is an award winning illustrator, writer and broadcaster.

He has been a broadcaster on CBC Radio for years and years and has covered eight Olympic Games. He’s a regular fill-in on The Sunday Edition and Here and Now. He also produced documentaries on topics ranging from racism in hockey to the history of church bells in Canada.

His series The Neil Flambé Capers is already a bestseller and critical success. Neil Flambé and the Marco Polo Murders was released in spring 2010. Students across Ontario picked the book as the Silver Birch winner for fiction in 2011! Book #2 Neil Flambé and the Aztec Abduction was released in fall 2010. Book #3 Neil Flambé and the Crusader Curse is due in Spring 2012.

Super-chef Gordon Ramsay calls the series “Good Fun”.

Kevin’s first picture book Splinters was published in fall 2010 by Tundra. It’s about a young girl who only wants to play hockey, but the mean coach and her daughters won’t let her. Can her fairy goaltender come to the rescue?

Game Day is a look behind the scenes at sporting events. Kevin interviewed twenty fascinating people – from Zamboni drivers to anthem singers. It was published by Annick in fall 2010. Kevin is currently working on a similar book about the entertainment business, entitled Showtime.

He is also the author of Sports Hall of Weird and Gold Medal for Weird for kids and Shadrin Has Scored for Russia for bigger kids.  Gold Medal for Weird won the 2009 Silver Birch for Non-Fiction. Sports Hall was the runner-up in 2007.

He now splits his time between his attic studio in Toronto and the radio studios. He was named a Massey Journalism Scholar in 2007 and used the time to study theology at the University of Toronto.