Welcome
Welcome to my website. I am a professional librarian living in Canada, with interests in web accessibiity, music and dog training. This website brings the various facets of my life together, for no real purpose other than my own interest.
Professional interests
Librarian
I graduated as a Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) and have worked in special libraries (financial sector, arts sector), academic, government and public libraries, and archives. My company, MacLeod Information Services, specialises in web development and content creation, records and information management, technical and other writing, and translation (French). It also provides training when requested to do so.
In addition to reference and library programming, I have experience in collections management, outreach, training, project management and digitisation in public library settings. I sometimes maintain a Reader's Advisory (RA) blog that focuses on books that are accessible to people living with visual impairments in Canada.
I have held a number of volunteer positions in the wider library community, and published several articles and reviews in library publications. I have also spoken at a few library conferences on topics such as Consumer Health information (OLA and Ontario Library Services North), and Disaster Preparedness for libraries (OLA, 2018).
Technical writing and translation
For more than two decades, I have worked as a technical writer and translator (to and from French), specialising in computers, medical, library and retail translation. I was sometimes an employee, but I more often free-lanced and collaborated under my company name, MacLeod Information Services.
Website creation and maintenance
I have created and maintained websites for community groups, musicians, artists and non-profit associations. Many of these sites included content for newsletters, directories, calendars, blogs, wikis and other social media feeds.
I currently set up and maintain several websites, including several accessible websites for various chapters of the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB), a community of blind and low-vision individuals who have come together to well-being and social inclusion since 1944. Feel free to "support our vision" on any of these sites: CCB Toronto Visionaries chapter, CCB Road Runners chapter, a running group (currently in development), CCB Afloat chapter, a blind sailing group (coming in 2019).
The other sites I am involved with are mainly those of artists, musicians of various types, and local history organisations.
Other interests
I have been playing traditional music for a long time. For much of the past decade, my partner and I have been organising and hosting regular French-Canadian music session at the Tranzac Club, called TOQueTrad. We also periodically organise workshops and dances. A group of regulars also formed a dance band, Mango Chaud Point (main gauche au coin), with whom I have been fortunate to play for the last couple of years.
Since the mid-1990s, I have volunteered at a number of folk festivals and events, doing stage management and working as a sound technician in Ontario and Quebec. These days, I do sound every month for Another Bloody Folk Club, a traditional English folk music club in Toronto.
Dog training
I have been training a service dog with the invaluable assistance of the Service Dog Training Institute, this ongoing project has brought great joy to my family and has helped make my daily life easier.
Tech stuff
I am very interested in using computers to make my life simpler and to reduce the boring, repetitive work we all have in our jobs. For example, I've recently become interested in static website generators, which I learned by porting my Reader's Advisory to one a few months ago.
- GitHub
- My techy blog: mostly an aide mémoire