Strengthening Capacity Committee
The Strengthening Capacity Committee develops CARL’s priorities and activities to effectively promote CARL’s role and efforts in these areas and to ensure that CARL members can support staff development and growth.
Working Groups
Communities of Practice
As changes in research, teaching, and learning continue to accelerate, Canada’s universities require a wider variety of expertise from their research libraries. CARL fosters development of expertise and capacity for new and emerging roles. CARL actively works to strengthen capacity in Canadian research libraries by:
- Supporting leadership and workforce development across the broad spectrum of competencies required for success in contemporary research libraries.
- Encouraging research into areas of strategic focus to CARL.
- Advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion in research libraries.
- Enabling research libraries’ work toward reconciliation, Indigenization, and decolonization, framed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action.
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion
CARL has prioritized advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in research libraries as an important area for capacity building within its member institutions, by hiring its first Visiting Program Officer for EDI and forming an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Working Group (EDIWG) in the summer of 2019, as well as forming the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Community of Practice in Fall 2024. Other initiatives include CARL’s Diversity and Inclusion Study in partnership with the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion (CCDI).
Workshops and Training
Looking for professional development opportunities? Enhance your skills and advance your career with CARL’s workshops and training programs for research librarians.
Research Grants
The Research in Librarianship Grant was designed to support librarians’ active engagement in research activities. It is intended to support projects involving structured, evidence-based research, which propose answers to real-world issues. Deadline for applications is August 15th each year.
Human Resources Management
To support the continual evolution of libraries’ roles in education, research, and resource development, CARL engages with its members to develop programs and expertise to address these needs. Current initiatives and resources for strengthening research libraries’ human resource management include:
- Competencies for Librarians in Canadian Research Libraries
- Research Libraries Position Description Bank
- Equivalencies to the ALA Accredited LIS Degree
- Canadian Library Human Resources Study