Learning to Plan on Library Island 
June 6-7, 2019
​University of Toronto iSchool


​Learning to Plan on Library Island

Featuring Internationally Renowned Consultants Peter Morville (US) & Matt Finch (UK)!

Come play, learn and problem solve on Library Island.  Library Island, created by Matt Finch, is an activity which simulates five years in the life of a nation’s library services. Participants become librarians, government officials, academic faculty or students, community members or partners on this island and face the challenges created by conflicting wants, needs, and limited resources. There is an Indigenous community and colonial history to be reckoned with, plus a range of political interests with their own agenda for the library.  Once players have played a round of “Library Island” to get used to the game, it can be adapted to any institution which serves a community, including hospitals, museums, and places of learning.

All our  communities are living on new islands, dealing with new technology, new social structures and behaviours, as well as legacy ones and lots of future uncertainties.  How do you plan or help others plan in such an environment?  This two day event, populated by experienced consultants willing to share their processes, provides several frameworks and many tools to help you do just that.

The first 25 registrants get a print copy of Peter Morville’s most recent book, Planning for Everything: The Design of Paths & Goals and everyone will receive an after event Library Island wrap up in PDF form.

We are extremely  lucky to have scheduled five busy, talented and popular consultants to lead our two day event all about planning:

• Rebecca Jones, Dysart & Jones https://dysartjones.com/rebecca-jones/
• Matt Finch, Mechanical Dolphin https://mechanicaldolphin.com/
• Peter Morville, Semantic Studios https://semanticstudios.com/
• ​Stephen Abram, Federation of Ontario Public libraries and Lighthouse Consulting, Inc. http://www.fopl.ca http://www.stephenslighthouse.com 
• Jane Dysart, Dysart & Jones https://dysartjones.com/jane.dysart/
• Tanis Fink, Director, Seneca Library & Learning Services, College
• Elizabeth Glass - Director, Policy, Planning & Performance Management, Toronto Public Library
• Mark Robertson,  University Librarian, Brock University​ ​


• Comments From Previous Attendees:
• “This symposium had some of the best overall content of any conference I’ve attended, including big ones like OLA, PLA, ALA, etc.”
• “Enjoyed the mix of in person, multimedia, Skype.” “Great mix.” “The variety added to the ability to maintain attention – you got it right.”
• “Choice of speakers was outstanding.” “They all excelled.”
• “All the speakers were inspiring and informative.
• “Good mix of theory & practice, concepts & examples & time to discuss & ask questions; variety was great; good pace.”
• “Do it again!”
• “It was great! Learned a lot & got some ideas for my library.”
• “ Loved the venue; Excellent!”

​University of Toronto, Faculty of Information
140 St George Street, 7th Floor
Toronto, ON M5S 3G6

Conference co-chairs

Jane Dysart
Jane co-founded Dysart & Jones in 1992 and is an internet and social media pioneer. She created and programmed Internet World Canada for many years, and is currently the program director for KMWorld , Digital Strategy Summit, Internet Librarian, Taxonomy Boot Camp and Computers in Libraries. 

Click here for more on Jane.

Stephen Abram
Stephen, MLS, founded Lighthouse Consulting Inc. in 2013 as a marketing strategy and direction planning consultant for libraries and the information industry.  He is a renowned library trend watcher and innovator and author of Stephen’s Lighthouse blog, one of the most popular blogs in librarianship and the information industry.

Click here for more on Stephen.

Matt Finch

Peter Morville