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Aboriginal Library Services

Committee Name Change

The Committee on Aboriginal Library Services (CALS) is now known as the

Saskatchewan Committee on Indigenous Library Services (SCILS).

Effective March 2018 in-person meeting

Background and Rationale

In autumn 2017, CALS requested approval to change the current committee name to reflect contemporary and inclusive shifts in province-wide practice. The committee discussed the recent trend other organizations and entities have taken in including the more inclusive term “Indigenous.”

The “Committee on Aboriginal Library Services” is a title selected eleven years ago, after the committee was established in 2006 to develop province-wide practices to address barriers, and to promote and share sound practices. 

The committee recognized that the CALS brand has been around since 2006. It is important to acknowledge that the work implemented in that time has established the committee’s strong presence among the library community, trustees, stakeholders, and the Indigenous community at large.

The name change request was met with unanimous approval.

 

Saskatchewan Committee on Indigenous Library Services (SCILS)

SCILS is a provincial working group of public library representatives that strive to improve library services for First Nations, Métis and Inuit people in Saskatchewan.

The committee meets via teleconference every second month and once a year in-person.

SCILS has representatives from the 11 public library systems and the Provincial Library and Literacy Office.

MAC Report

How did SCILS come to be?

"Invite each regional library to designate a staff or board member to work with the Aboriginal Consultant, as outlined in section X, subsection A of this report, to implement the Advisory Committee’s proposals"

(MAC Report, p. 26)

What is the MAC Report?

The Minister’s Advisory Committee on Library Services for Aboriginal People was established in 2001 to address two areas of concern regarding public library service for Aboriginal peoples. First, only a small proportion of First Nations' communities in southern Saskatchewan choose to join the public library system, creating barriers to providing library service for residents of non-participating communities. Also, public libraries are not attracting off-reserve First Nations and Métis people in numbers reflecting their proportion of the population.

The MAC Report provided 46 recommendations.

Outreach