Information Without Borders is an student-run information management conference hosted each February at Dalhousie University. Both students and information professionals are encouraged to attend to learn, network, and connect with others in the IM community. Each year the conference is organized around a selected theme. This year’s theme was Information at Home, which the conference organizers describe as a topic that ‘focuses on the information needs of individuals in Nova Scotia and investigates the ever-changing information landscape.’

Speakers & Sessions

• ReconciliACTION, presented by Grassroots Grandmother, Water Protector, and social worker Dorene Bernard
• Information barriers in archaeology, presented by Sarah Beanlands
• Food Literacy programming at Halifax Public Libraries, presented by Emily Glover
• Open source library software, presented by David Wilcox
• Local publishing practices, presented by Andrew Steeves
• Diversifying the Halifax municipal archives, presented by Susan McClure
• Archiving LGBT+ History, a panel discussion with Meredith Batt, Dr. Jacqueline Gahagan, and Lydia Hunsberger, moderated by Rebecca Rose

This theme was particularly engaging for me as a relative newcomer to Halifax. One of the challenges of moving to a new place is learning about your environment from scratch. It can be exhilarating to experience new surroundings and begin to acclimate, but it also reveals the many implicit assumptions that we each have about how things work. No matter where you live, the information landscape is complex and multi-faceted, and I found this year’s IWB theme to enhance and enrich my understanding of the Haligonian and Nova Scotian environment.