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On Jan 12th, the government of Ontario issued new guidelines and restrictions for the province. Having reviewed the new guidelines, LSC already complies with the requirements, and will not be closing.
Since reopening in June, we have positioned ourselves to comply with the most vigorous health and safety requirements of the Region of Waterloo public health and the Ontario Ministry of Health, in order to remain open except in the case of a mandatory lockdown, as in the spring of 2020.
This has included:
As with every announcement of new restrictions, we understand that this will impact the library operations of our clients differently. Please contact Michael Clark if you require a pause to shipping, changes to receiving instructions, or anything other needs you may have during this period.
We are here to help in whatever way we can.
Stay safe and stay healthy. |
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Nearly a year ago, LSC announced that we would begin moving away from traditional subject headings that refer to Indigenous peoples in outdated, colonial ways. After some unexpected delays, we are proud to announce that this service will go live in January 2021.
As a non-Indigenous Canadian company, LSC recognizes Canada’s colonial history, and how existing library standards continue to subjugate Indigenous Peoples by perpetuating names appointed by settlers. Our headings will use their own self-identified names - for example, Cree is a title appointed by colonizers; the people themselves identify as Nehiyawak.
LSC has adapted the list of Indigenous subject headings created by Greater Victoria Public Library. We also acknowledge that the list is a work-in-progress which will continue to grow as we learn more, update or add new headings, and remove outdated and offensive headings. The list is not exhaustive or 100% accurate, but is a trustworthy starting point.
Other organizations have started this process as well. We hope that Library and Archives Canada (LAC) continue their work toward building a national standard, made in consultation with the hundreds of Indigenous nations across Canada. When a national standard is available, LSC will adopt those headings.
Stage One
At the same time, LSC’s cataloguing team will update old records internally with the new headings. This will take time, but will ensure any new purchases of backlist material will contain the new headings. This will happen at no additional cost to your library.
Stage Two
LSC is very proud to be part of this movement, which we feel is made in the spirit of the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. A comprehensive list of the headings is available upon request – please feel free to reach out to Michael Clark with any questions or concerns. |
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Due to scheduled maintenance, our secure ordering services will be unavailable from Friday, November 6th at 9:00 pm until Monday, November 9 at 7:00 am. |
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Please continue reading for important information regarding LSC's reopening.
Changes to shipments All LSC shipments will be labelled to show the date that the box or bin was packed at LSC.
Selection Services
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LSC wants to thank everyone for the kind thoughts and emails we have received during this crisis. We hope that everyone is and remains safe, and extend our best to each and every library across Canada. We’re here to help in whichever ways we can. We’re all in this together.
We are aware that your needs and status are constantly shifting during this time. While LSC’s warehouse is closed to comply with the Ontario Government closure of non-essential work places, we have ensured staff are available to meet your needs remotely.
Please reach out to the following immediate contacts:
Fran Quinn, Customer Service Representative Customer Service and general enquiries
Angela Stuebing, ARP Coordinator ARP and Selection Services requests
Trish Hayes, VP of Marketing Marketing, Cataloguing, general enquiries
Michael Clark, Sales and Marketing Representative Sales and Marketing, general enquiries
Services available during warehouse closure:
Special notes concerning some services:
For the immediate future:
We’ll speak to you soon. |
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The government of Ontario has announced that all non-essential business in Ontario is to cease. While what we do at LSC is important – it is not essential by the government's definition. Therefore, LSC will cease plant operations as of Tuesday, March 24. This closure will be for a minimum of 2 weeks. Orders can still be placed via the website. We will provide updates as they happen.
For more information on the governement closure, please see the following links: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/covid-19-coronavirus-ontario-monday-1.5506445
The ordering catalogue will remain operational during this period. Carts can still be built and orders placed. However, orders will not be processed at LSC until we reopen.
Everyone at LSC looks forward to working with our wonderful clients when we are able to return to work. Stay safe and healthy. |
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LSC is proud to announce our Comic Book Subscription Service!
With so many titles, with on-going and limited series runs, and content appropriateness a factor, it can be hard. LSC prides itself on the value and scope of its Graphic Novel service, it becoming one of our most requested ARPs. We are happy to extend the same diligence and selection to individual Comic Book issues as well.
LSC is offering this service without cataloguing and processing. Should a demand for a cataloguing record emerge, we will happily develop a format that works for the library on request, likely a serial monograph for these titles. LSC will not be providing processing on these items for the time being, as like magazines they are more fragile, and we feel it is best to extend the shelf of the product to simply ship them untouched.
As part of this service, LSC will provide:
For more information, or to start your own Comic Book subscription, please contact our Graphic Novel selector Angela Stuebing, at astuebing@lsc.on.ca. |
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Children’s Display Day Spring 2020 is coming up on March 4th at the Sherwood Community Centre in Milton, and we are very lucky to have special guest, Forest of Reading winning author Elizabeth MacLeod joining us for an author talk and book signing. We had a chance to talk with Elizabeth about her new books ahead of the day.
This attention to science makes sense, as a former editor at OWL magazine. But with more than 60 books under her belt, she is a writer who can find passion and interest in any subject sent her way, as diverse as the subjects of her two new books, biographies of Willie O’Ree and Terry Fox.
With your background in biology, it is interesting that many of the scientists you have profiled have been physicists, chemists, and engineers. How do you choose which historical figures you write about?
"I love science so I want to interest kids in it and show them that it’s part of our lives every day. I also hope to help kids see that scientists aren’t necessarily geniuses, but they’re people who look at the world carefully and really see it. That’s something we can all do.
"There are so many great people to write about that I’m always sending names to my publisher. When I give presentations in schools and libraries, I ask kids, teachers and librarians for ideas. When I listen to podcasts or read blogs and newspapers, I’ve always got this series on my mind. My editor, Erin O’Connor, is also great at coming up with suggestions (and she’s a fabulous editor!).
"Choosing the subjects is hard because there are so many wonderful options. Diversity is really important in the series since we want kids to see themselves reflected in the books. We’re trying to include Canadians from many different backgrounds, men and women and from all across the country."
I’d like to ask you about your process a bit. How long do you spend researching your subject before you start writing? Are you researching multiple subjects at once, writing about one while researching another; or do you pick one, get it done, and move on to someone new?
"The amount of time I spend researching depends on when the first manuscript is due and what other projects I’m working on at the same time. It can take me anywhere from two weeks to two months. I write each of the books in the series one at a time, but sometimes I’m working on books for other publishers too. As well, depending on the schedule, I may be writing one of the biographies in this series, while reviewing final pages for an earlier book."
Which of the figures you’ve written about has been your favourite? Which has surprised you the most?
"I think each of the people in the series has surprised me. Did you know that Chris Hadfield is afraid of heights? Or that Elsie MacGill took drawing lessons from Emily Carr, Canada’s most famous female artist. Willie O’Ree not only faced discrimination because he’s black, but also lost the vision in his right eye when a puck hit it. I love discovering incredible stories like this!"
It was just announced that the Canadian Mint chose your newest subject, Willie O’Ree, as the figure to grace the 2020 Black History Month coin. What drew you to Willie?
"When I researched Willie’s story, I discovered that as a young teenager, he’d met baseball great Jackie Robinson and told him that he, Willie, was going to be the first black NHL player. Isn’t that amazing? The stories about the discrimination that Willie faced are so disheartening, but it’s important that kids hear them and understand what Willie had to overcome."
Terry Fox may well be one of the most famous Canadians, ever. With the 40th anniversary of the Marathon of Hope this year, is there anything about Terry that still surprised you while researching him?
"My editor and I and the whole Scholastic team have also been surprised at how emotional Terry’s story still makes us. We keep complaining that someone must be cutting onions nearby when we watch videos of him running or the interview he gave when he had to stop his Marathon of Hope! Such a brave man and he united and inspired all Canadians.
"I was also surprised that at one point Terry said that he was more upset at losing his hair during the chemo treatments than he was at losing his leg. As well, before the treatments, his hair was straight, not at all curly as it grew back after his treatments."
Is there someone you’ve wanted to write about but haven’t had the chance to?
"There are so many great Canadians to write about! There are a few that are almost definite for upcoming books and I can’t talk about them yet, but I’d also love to write about Joseph-Armand Bombardier, who invented the snowmobile; singer and activist Buffy Sainte-Marie; Jeanne Sauvé, Canada’s first female governor general; wheelchair athlete Rick Hansen (who was inspired by Terry Fox) … the list goes on and on! And we’re always open to suggestions — let me know if you have any good ideas!"
If you want to hear Elizabeth talk more about her books, her process, and her new subjects, Willie O’Ree and Terry Fox (and maybe suggest a future subject), she’ll be speaking and signing books at LSC’s Spring Children’s Display Day on March 4th, at the Sherwood Community Centre in Milton. RSVPs can be sent to Jamie Quinn at jquinn@lsc.on.ca.
We’ll see you there! |
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LSC is proud to offer libraries a more budget friendly, Canadian option for libraries supplies.
Even for libraries which receive processing from their vendors, there are supplies which are valuable to keep on hand. And for libraries doing their own processing, supplies are a required component to their day-to-day operations. However, the price of supplies can be detrimental to an annual budget. Aware of this hardship, LSC conducted an analysis on what libraries would be paying for supplies from the conventional vendors, and what LSC paid for the supplies it sourced. Having one of the largest processing departments in Canada, LSC purchases a large volume of supplies. Large enough to be able to offer libraries extended discounts.
One of the harsher costs involved in supplies is shipping, especially when cross-border duties and currency conversion are factored in. With LSC's service, shipping for supplies follows current rates with existing clients. More than that, items will be shipped in the same boxes or tubs as your books and AV material. And, because we know that supplies are often paid from a different budget, separate invoices for supplies will be issued.
LSC's supplies service is a two tier system. Tier one are the supplies that can be ordered directly off of our website via Slist #43174, or from our printed catalogue. These listed items are kept in inventory at LSC. Items can be added to carts and ordered directly. When ordered, they will be taken from inventory and put in your next scheduled shipment.
The second tier is for unlisted items. As LSC deals with a variety of vendors for supplies, there is a wide range of items that could potentially be available to libraries through us. Anything available through Demco Library Supplies is available through LSC. However, unlisted items are not kept in inventory. If you wish to receive a quote for unlisted supplies, please contact Supplies@lsc.on.ca. Please provide a link or example of unlisted material, if available. No purchase is necessary to receive a quote for unlisted items. However, orders for unlisted items must meet a minimum $200 total value. Quoted items are ordered once a month from suppliers, and will be shipped upon delivery to LSC.
Bulk purchasing and pricing is available. For more information or to receive a quote, please contact Supplies@lsc.on.ca. |
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LSC is excited to announce the launch of its newest search engine update: BISAC subject searching.
A lot has changed in the world of searching since we went live with our first online catalogue. Google and Amazon have changed expectations for how people search, and what kinds of results they get when they search. While much can be said about how both of those corporate giants push results to users, and searching on their platforms isn’t as effective as people think it is, the fact remains: you type a thing, and get results regardless. While LSC has long offered the most powerful ordering tool available to public libraries, built in-house by our programmers, the search feature has remained surgical rather than general. That changes today.
Using BISAC subject headings, our catalogue is now far more open to generalized searching, and far more forgiving to the kind of searching that people are used to in the modern day. Using nondescript terms like “cars” or “travel Canada” will now return a broad range of items, allowing users to browse available materials on subjects rather than locate specific items. You don’t need to know the exact BISAC heading - TRUE CRIME / Abductions, Kidnappings & Missing Persons, for example. “Abductions” or “True Crime” will return results.
It will, in fact, return too many results. You will get the “maximum number of results found” error. Which is why we strongly advocate making use of the many Limiters, including Format, Material Type, and Publication Date make this search all the more effective. With the BISAC search you can narrow your search to just paperbacks published in the next two months about “Cooking”, which will return a bountiful, relevant, current list that you are able to browse and order from at your convenience.
To increase the effectiveness of this search even further, users can now combine in any order words from the Title, Author, Series, Dewy and BISAC in the Keyword search for more structured results. “Oliver cooking” in hardcover from the past thirty days returns, for example, a single result – Ultimate Veg, by Jamie Oliver. A Keyword search of “Canada Train travel” – the sort of search you might run if a patron is looking for books on train travel in Canada and you just want to see what we have – with no limiters returns 5 results, pulling from both the title and BISAC.
This BISAC search ability greatly increases the power of catalogue, allowing users like you more flexibility in locating items for your library. And for the majority of items in our catalogue, this search is incredibly effective. However, nothing is perfect, and we admit that. Programming allows us to make use of only what is available. BISAC subject headings are provided to LSC as part of the OYNX feeds from publishers that we use to populate our catalogue, meaning these items are now BISAC searchable from the moment they are in our catalogue; no additional input from us is required. This is not the case for AV and Small Press materials, for which we do not receive ONYX information and are manually entered by staff in-house. Should publishers of these materials ever provide us with information we can import into our system, it would immediately be searchable. However, given these industries, this is unlikely to occur. As such, DVDs cannot be found using the BISAC search. Keyword, Title, and the Slists remain the effective way to located AV materials.
The desire to have a more generalized search in our catalogue was something we heard from library staff across the country. And when we hear a request like that, we listen. We take every bit of feedback we receive, and we turn it into action. Some actions take longer than others. Implementing this function was not a fast process, and refinements will continue to be made, as refinements are constantly being made to everything we offer. We appreciate and encourage libraries to let us know how they use all of our services, so we can continue to make improvements which benefit everyone.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Michael Clark. |
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Michael Clark 19 March 8, 2021 |
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Rachel Seigel 21 March 1, 2021 |
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Stef Waring 13 February 22, 2021 |
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LSC Library Services Centre 34 February 15, 2021 |
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Nicole Defreitas 1 January 11, 2021 |
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Karrie Vinters 6 November 3, 2020 |
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Sara Pooley 5 October 19, 2020 |
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Selection Services 2 September 14, 2020 |
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Jamie Quinn 2 July 27, 2020 |