Kathy Coorsh, Toronto Chapter, Business & Finance, Information Technology, Knowledge Management and Leadership & Management Divisions

As a librarian who has undergone some significant changes over the past year or two, I thought I should share my experiences. Organizational changes brought my library under a new VP who asked all the “hard” questions about library services & facilities, and came to the conclusion, not completely unjustified, nor unexpected, that it was time for a change. We cut our print collection by 2/3, reduced the library footprint by probably more than that & created “archives” on a separate floor. However, I was assured repeatedly that there was still a role required for reduced library services in the organization and, more importantly, that he valued my skills and experience but felt that I could deploy them in other areas of our operations. So now in addition to providing library services, albeit quite curtailed, as you can imagine, I am also responsible for establishing and maintaining our social media presence and am involved in other areas which I had not been previously.

So, after some 20+ years it is quite a change, but, so far so good. I am enjoying most of the changes & new functions & learning a lot! While I do wish I had the luxury of providing the kind of library services I know would be beneficial & useful, the reality of the situation is that greater organizational needs exist elsewhere. I’m just grateful that my professional skills and all the continuing ed. courses, conferences & readings helped me keep stay ahead of the curve of new trends, innovations and technology that facilitated my move into this new area.

I should also point out that while our print collection was cut significantly we do still have an active and expanding digital collection. The organization is still committed to a reduced library.

Kathy (Katalin) Coorsh has been a practicing professional librarian for over 30 years. She started at Concordia University (Sir George Williams University) in Montreal as Public Services and Orientation Librarian for over 6 years then worked as librarian for non-profit organizations after moving to Toronto in 1980. She has been Chief Librarian with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business since 1984. She received her MLS from McGill University, Montreal and her BA from Sir George Williams University, Montreal.