About WILU - The history of WILU

In May 1972, five Canadian participants at a conference on library instruction in Ypsilanti, Michigan met and discussed ways to share their experiences with other Canadian librarians.

Within a few months, the following members formed a steering committee:

• Boris Chumakov (York University)
• Richard Dewey (Sir George Williams University, now Concordia University)
• Lucie Greene (University of Western Ontario)
• Patricia Grieg (University of Western Ontario)
• Sheila Laidlaw (University of Toronto)

Based on enthusiastic comments received from participants at an August workshop, a basic set of guidelines was established:

• The target audience should be staff and librarians from both universities and colleges in Ontario and Quebec
• The committee should be representative of several different institutions
• The workshop should be independent of library organizations to facilitate "grass roots" participation at the cheapest possible cost
• The workshop should emphasize experiences and learning
• "Outside" speakers should be kept at a minimum and input sought from faculty members and students for whom library instruction is designed
• The registration fees are to be set as low as possible with campus accommodation when possible

To this day, institutions hosting WILU aspire to meet most of these criteria.