Number 36/ Fall 2004 ELAN - Ex Libris Western Ontario, where he taught courses in public librarianship. He promoted the creation of a co-op (work/study) program as part of the Stanley

Special Issue of ELAN 1

Ex Libris Association Annual Get-Together 1

Stanley E. Beacock: 1921 - 2004 2By Jeanette White

Celebrating our Community 3By Norman Horrocks

A Library in Ethiopia 4By Shirley Lewis

Florence G. Partridge, 1906 - 2004 5By Marion D. Cameron

Libraries Continue to Make Headlines 6in Ottawa Media

By Marie F. Zielinska

How I Became a Librarian 7By Carole Joling

Ex Libris, ‘84 8By Howard Overend

ELA’s Early Years, 1990 to 1995 9By Diane Henderson

Our President’s Report 10By Nancy Williamson

As I Saw It 11By Albert Bowron

Out in BC–Land 12By Howard Overend

How Best Can Ex Libris Expand? 13By Harry Campbell

Book Reviews 14By Katharine Martyn, Maria F. Zielinska,and Jean Weihs

Man with Duster had Steady Job on 17Ottawa Books

By Jean Orpwood

Milestones 19Complied by Merlyn Beeckmans

Inside This Issue

Special Issue of ELAN – A Historyof Library and InformationStudies Education In Canada

Number 36/ Fall 2004

ELAELANN Ex Libris Association Newsletter

ELA's Library EducationAnniversary Committee,chaired by Brian Land, has just

published a 40-page special issue ofELAN to celebrate the 100th anniver-sary of library education in Canada.

Articles in the special issue trace thehistory of each of the current libraryand information studies programs inCanada, and describe their present-day activities as well. There’s also anarticle on Canadian library technicianprograms.

We created a new page on the ELA

Web site to hold the chronologiesthat supplement each of the articles.You’ll find the link at

All current members of ELA willreceive a copy of the special issue inthe mail. Additional copies are avail-able for $5, plus $2 for mailing. Sendyour order to:

Ex Libris Associationc/o The Dean’s Office

Faculty of Information StudiesUniversity of Toronto140 St. George StreetToronto, ON M5S 3G6

Ex Libris Association Annual Get-Together

further details on page 3

exlibris.fis.utoronto.ca

North York Central Library5120 Yonge Street, TorontoNorth York Centre subway station

Cost: $25.00 (includes lunch)

PROGRAM

Future Directions for theFaculty of InformationScience

Speaker: Brian Cantwell Smith,Dean, Faculty of InformationStudies, University of Toronto

Monday, November 8, 2004

9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

2

BY JEANETTE WHITE

Stan was a dedicated publiclibrarian, teacher and orga-nizer. He never lost his

attachment to the County LibraryCooperatives, where he started hiscareer. It was his concern aboutlosing the history of these institu-tions. and other public libraries,that inspired his determinationto ensure the preservation oftheir records and those of thepioneers who served in them.

The idea of creating an associa-tion of retired librarians andcalling it the Ex LibrisAssociation was his alone. Stanworked tirelessly at rallying for-mer colleagues and otherretirees, persuading them ofboth the importance and thefeasibility of such an associa-tion. At the same time, he drewup a proposal for a NewHorizons grant, which wasapproved, and the Ex LibrisAssociation got off the groundin 1986.

Stan served as president of ELAfor four years, playing a majorrole in its activities along withthe board of directors. He alsoedited and published the annualnewsletter. Named HonoraryPresident on leaving office in

1990, Stan still maintained his ELAactivities and continued to publishthe newsletter until 1994.

Stan contributed unstintingly to libraryeducation through his teaching atCanadian library schools. He was anadjunct professor at the University ofWestern Ontario, where he taughtcourses in public librarianship. Hepromoted the creation of a co-op(work/study) program as part of the

Stanley E. Beacock: 1921 - 2004

MLIS program at Western. It stillflourishes today and is invaluable tothe education of future librarians.Stan was supervisor of the programfor a time, taking on travel to partici-pating libraries as well as assessmentof students.

We have lost a fine and dedicatedpioneer of the library profession. o

EELLAANN

BY NORMAN HORROCKS

Held jointly with the BritishColumbia Library Association,this year's CLA Conference

attracted some 1,200 registrants to thesunny calm of Victoria from June 16 to19. It was all in great contrast to lastyear's CLA/ALA joint conference inToronto. CLA President MadeleineLefebvre (St. Mary's University, Halifax)wanted her program, Celebrating ourCommunity: Sharing our Values, Sharingour Value, to show the links betweenCanada and the international communityand to demonstrate not only the valueswe share but also the importance oflibraries in the world.

To assist with this task, the manyCanadian speakers and participants werejoined by international speakers, includ-ing IFLA President Kay Raseroka(University of Botswana) and AustralianLibrary Information Association ExecutiveDirector Jennifer Nicholson. From ALAcame speakers President-Elect MichaelGorman, Past President Ann Symons andSenior Associate Executive Director MaryGhikas. ASIST Past President CliffordLynch was also a speaker, and fromBritain's CILIP came its president,Margaret Haines – the first Canadian tohold this office – Past President MargaretWatson and Chief Executive Bob McKee.

The two keynote speakers both spoketo overflow sessions. Michael Gormanopened the proceedings with LibraryValues in a Changing World. His eightvalues were stewardship, service, intel-lectual freedom, equity of access, priva-cy, literacy and learning, rationalism,and democracy. The second keynoterwas UBC library school grad BillRichardson, who regaled his audiencewith scenes from his weekday CBCradio magazine show, Richardson'sRoundup, and his new summer show,Bunny Watson. (Bunny Watson was thelibrarian played by Katherine Hepburnin her 1957 movie Desk Set).

The exhibit areas were well patronised,with the Ex Libris Association booth apopular place to visit and chat with Harry Campbell, Phebe Chartrand,Michael McCahill and Shaopan Tsai.Nearby and holding stately court in hisown Special Libraries Cataloguing boothwas ELA member and Victoria resident"Mac" Elrod. Also popular were thebook-signing sessions in which bothGorman and Richardson participated. Sodid many well-known local authors,some of whom also read from theirworks at the Murder on the Menu lunchsponsored by the B.C. branch of theCrime Writers of Canada.

Incoming President Stephen Abram,vice-president of Sirsi Corporation, waschosen in 2002 by Library Journal asone of the North American profession'smovers and shakers. In his inauguraladdress, he stated, "Canadian libraryworkers and CLA are non-partisan butnot unbiased. Members are biased,among other issues, about the rights ofCanadians to equitable access to infor-mation and learning, adequately fundedand staffed libraries of all types, andbalanced approaches to copyright andinformation policy."

Elected as CLA president-elect wasBarbara Clubb, CEO of Ottawa PublicLibrary. Elaine MacLean, head,Technical Services at St. Francis XavierUniversity in Antigonish, NS, was elect-ed to CLA's Executive Council.

Check the CLA Web site for the keynotespeeches by Michael Gorman and BillRichardson, the texts of resolutions pre-sented at the Annual General Meeting,copies of the conference daily newspa-per, summaries and supporting docu-ments from many of the program ses-sions, and advance details of next year'sconference at the Telus ConventionCentre in Calgary from June 15 to 18,2005. o

Celebrating our Community:Sharing our Values, Sharing ourValue – The CLA/BCLA Conference

Annual General Meeting

To discuss the possibility of chang-ing the time and venue for theAnnual Get-Together

To discuss and approve the long-range plan for Ex Libris

Panel Discussion on theGrowing Crisis in SchoolLibraries

Liz Kerr, Past President, OLA andInformation Literacy and MediaCurator, Kawartha Pine RidgeDistrict School Board

Janet Kaufman, Head, InformationServices and Co-Director, LearningCommons, University of Guelph.

Teri Shaw, Canadian Federation ofUniversity Women

For further details, contact:Peter Mutchler 416-766-6858Marjorie Bender 519-745-5574

Ex Libris AssociationAnnual Get-Together

continued from page 1

BY SHIRLEY LEWIS

If a fortune-teller had looked in a crystalball and told me that I was going towork in a library in Ethiopia, I would

have fallen off my chair in fits of laughter.Yet, here I am in the historic town ofGondar, installing the first automated libraryprogram and capturing the attention ofthose in tertiary education all acrossEthiopia. So you never know what’s instore for you.

I ended up in Ethiopia as a result of readingan article about VSO (Volunteer ServiceOverseas), a small Canadian charity, whilewaiting in a postal line-up at my local vari-ety store. Since I was approaching retire-ment, I thought I was a bit long in the toothfor volunteer work, but VSO has found thatseniors are well received in developingcountries – so I put in an application. But Iconfess that it was quite off-handed, and Ireally didn’t expect much to happen. However, VSO turned out to be a world-wide network with recruiting offices inGreat Britain, Holland, and the Philippinesas well as Canada. And indeed, they werevery interested in having a professionallibrarian. In fact, I was offered a job in TheGambia as well as in Ethiopia.

Although you are paid, the salary is onlyenough to cover accommodation and basicnecessities. So, effectively you are a volun-teer. They pay your way over and, if thesalary is not enough to live on, they top upyour wages to ensure that you don’t livebelow the poverty line. VSO specialises ineducational and professional skill sharing,so the idea is to send you out to an institu-tion and pair you with a counterpart.

Since I have been in Ethiopia, I have hadfour experiences, but only once have I hada successful counterpart. You have to beflexible and make do with what you get.There is certainly plenty to do. Ethiopia is a

desperately poor country, lacking in everyfacility. Schools are horrendously ill-equipped and mind-bogglingly overcrowd-ed (100 students per class is average).Tertiary education receives the very brightestof the bright – but most of these very brightstudents have no concept of what a librarycan offer. Indeed, most students have neverused a library before.

Although the situation is expected toimprove soon, the Gondar College Library(where I am presently working) has asevere shortage of up-to-date books, andthe high-demand books have to be loanedout by the hour on a reserve list filled inevery morning. The students line up in thehundreds outside the library, and, until Iintroduced numbered cards for service,there was a near riot every day as studentsmobbed the circulation desk for the highlyprized books.

Although there was a card catalogue whenI arrived, it had not been kept up to date,and no one knew how to classify – letalone catalogue. So the more recent bookswere jumbled together by arrival date,rather than shelved by classification number.The Library of Congress classification sched-ules were so out of date that they did notlist space science, and geography scheduleswere back at Rhodesia and the BelgianCongo. This was a catalogue ripe for revo-lutionary change. The dean of the collegevery much supported the concept of aviable library, which meant that I hadadministrative support, although, mal-heureusement, no funding.

If ever I used my advocacy skills to goodeffect, it was in Ethiopia. The poor deangot more memos, cheerful clippings, newsbulletins, and information flyers from methan he got from all the other staff com-bined. But it paid off. I concurrently ran flatout with funding proposals and sent themto everyone I could think of. In the mean-while, I somehow convinced the sales man-ager of ELM to send me their library man-agement program on spec, promising thatsomewhere, somehow I would find fund-ing. This marvellous creature sent me thewhole nine yards on trust. ELM has turnedout to be a superb library automation and

library management program. And the salesmanager did get paid!

Once the program was working, the deanstarted showing it off to visitors, and manywere visibly impressed. One of the visitorstold the dean that this was a world-classsystem, and he glowed at the praise.Gradually the dean and the faculty manage-ment committee started to see how usefulthe library could be. They set up extraannual funding for the library, so we don’thave to run around with a begging bowlevery time we want something. The period-icals room was such a disaster that I decid-ed to take the revolutionary route there, too:I introduced a totally on-line journal servicefrom the Internet instead of maintaining thehard-copy journals.

My co-workers are breathless with excite-ment at the possibilities that they didn’tknow even existed. I have been extremelylucky in the staff that I work with. Threenew librarians were assigned to the library –and each of them turned out to be ener-getic and quick thinking. So I begged thedean to take advantage of these bright lightsand let them go to Addis Ababa, when theUniversity of Addis Ababa gave workshops.This he graciously did and, fuelled by myenthusiasm, they learned the research possi-bilities of the Internet and the potential forsetting up an on-line collection of over7,000 medical journals. Every day their eyesshine as we work together on more possi-bilities.

When it became apparent that we did nothave enough staff to keep the three branch-es open from 8:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., sevendays a week, we asked the students if theywould form a library club to help. We got athundering response, and now I am training40 student volunteers. To my amazement,some of the college's paid workers volun-teered to help in the library on their daysoff – gardeners, cleaning ladies, and the likehave signed up to work in the library.Much as I admire their volunteering spirit, Iknow that some have figured out that this isthe only way they are ever going to get touse a computer, and so turnabout is fair

4

A Library inEthiopia

continued on page 7

BY MARION D. CAMERON

Florence G. Partridge, B.H.Sc.,BLS, died in Guelph onFebruary 21, 2003. Florence had

been a librarian at the University ofGuelph and its predecessors from1932 to 1971. Joining the staff ofMassey Library at the OntarioAgricultural College in 1932, she washead librarian from 1944. In 1962, shebecame head librarian of theFederated Colleges, united as a pre-liminary step in the formation of theUniversity of Guelph.

Upon the establishment of the univer-sity in 1965, Florence was namedAssociate Librarian and was involvedin preparations for the move intoMcLaughlin Library in 1968. In 1970,Florence became chief librarian of theUniversity of Guelph. She retired in1971.

Florence brought to the library hergreat gifts of planning and organiza-tion, and her ability to adjust tochanging circumstances. Accustomedfor years to doing much with little,she and her colleagues learned to becomfortable with the large whitespaces of McLaughlin Library, and theincreasing hordes of students whofilled it.

In her Massey Library years, Florencehad brought art to the students bypurchasing paintings from the bits ofmoney left in the budget each year,and by organising art exhibits in thelibrary. In later years, she establishedthe Florence Partridge Foundation.Interest from its invested funds stillbuys art for the University ofGuelph’s Art Centre.

Florence was always active in libraryorganisations and in the community.

In her retirement, she found a newcareer: volunteering. She worked tire-lessly to help get the Guelph CivicMuseum established. She acted as adocent at the Macdonald Stewart ArtCentre and toiled in the UniversityArchives until her eyesight no longerpermitted it. The historic walkingtours of the city and the local trailclub's guide were both researchedand written by Florence.

A memorial service for FlorencePartridge was held at the Universityof Guelph on March 9, and the fol-lowing is part of the tribute writtenby Dr. Alastair Summerlee, presidentof the university, and printed in theprogram:

“The University of Guelph joins thelocal community in mourning the lossof a wonderful alumnus, leader andfriend.…Florence Partridge had along and impressive career with theUniversity of Guelph.…[She] was avisionary, using her considerableleadership, organizational skills andfinancial support to help build andsustain many local art, culture andheritage organizations….” o

Florence G. Partridge, 1906 - 2004

EELLAANN

MARITIME NEWSBY NORMAN HORROCKS

FIONA BLACK was appointed directorof the School of Library andInformation Studies at DalhousieUniversity for a five-year period begin-ning July 1, 2004. Dr. Black has beenacting director at the School.

Atlantic News

JANICE BOUDREAU is now directorof the library at Université Saint-Anne,Church Point, N.S.

RITA CAMPBELL stepped down asuniversity librarian at St. Francis XavierUniversity last year because of illnessescaused by chemical sensitivities. Inaddition to working part-time at thelibrary, she is digitising a Gaelic manu-script, a notebook containing a hand-written collection of song and poetry,and developing a Web site for the pro-ject.

PAULINE HILDESHEIM, whose deathlast December was noted in the Spring2004 issue of ELAN, will be remem-bered at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotiaby its purchase of two oil paintings,using her bequest and funds providedby the Friends of the AGNS. Thepaintings are the 1885 work by JohnArthur Fraser, The Hermit Range at theSummit of the Selkirks on Line of theC.P.R., and the 1914 Horatio Walkerwork Early Morning.

LYNNE MURPHY is now universitylibrarian at St. Francis XavierUniversity, Antigonish, N.S. She wasformerly librarian at the University ofP.E.I., where SUZANNE JONES is nowacting librarian.

CLAUDE POTVIN, regional librarian atAlbert-Westmoreland-Kent RegionalLibrary, Moncton, N.B., was made anhonorary member of the AtlanticProvinces Library Association at its Mayannual conference.

VIRGINIA STODDARD, deputy direc-tor of the Western Counties RegionalLibrary, Yarmouth, N.S., retired after 34years service at that library.

continued on page 18

BY MARIE F. ZIELINSKA

After the bigprotests by Ottawacitizens in March

that won the Save ourLibraries battle, onewould have expected aquiet summer. However,library matters remainedat the top of local newsbroadcasts. One new firethat erupted from almost-burnt-out ashes was thelocation for the new cen-tral library building.Discussion restarted withthe unveiling of plans forthe redevelopment ofLeBreton Flats (yet again,as longtime Ottawansmay note – Ed.), 65hectares of vacant landjust west of downtown,where the new WarMuseum is being erected.All the previously dis-cussed locations for thelibrary came back intothe picture, and moreargument can be expect-ed in the near future.

On June 29, the OttawaPublic Library (OPL)hosted a public meetingto present the finaldesign for the new SouthCentral District Libraryand the expansion of theneighbouring GreenboroCommunity Centre. Ofgreat concern to theFriends of OPL was thefact that, without consult-ing them, the designershad reduced space allot-ted for the used-booksstore and stacks. Thisspace was restored in the

plans, but at a cost of$30,000 to the Friends.

Meanwhile, OttawaPublic Library Boardmembers, under thechairmanship of RickChiarelli, were workinghard to better acquaintthemselves with allbranches, their problemsand their clientele. AsRick wrote in NepeanThis Week on July 30,“The OPL, my staff and Ihave teamed up with theFriends of the OttawaPublic Library to hostbarbeques at all librarybranches, to tell peoplewhat they can do tospread the word and tooffer residents a conve-nient way to join pro-library, pro-literacygroups like the Friends.Thirty barbeques fromnow, as we enter budgetdeliberations at Council,many more people willknow what to do toensure libraries are rec-ognized as the core ser-vice they are.”

The budget meetingschedule was heavy (25between July 23 and Sept2), but attending themeetings was fruitful.

Library branch staffexpressed their concerns;library users signed apetition of support; theFriends got donationsand new members.Progress may have beenmodest, but the exercisereinforced cooperationbetween the OPL and theFriends.

In other Ottawa news,CLA gave MoniqueDesormeaux, OPLDivision Manager for pol-icy and strategic plan-ning, its Advancement ofIntellectual Freedomaward. She found a wayto filter Internet pro-grams for children whileensuring intellectual free-dom for adults.

The Library and ArchivesCanada Act received

royal assent on April 22.This was the final step inthe formal process,announced in 2002 bythe Canadian HeritageMinister, of bringingtogether the NationalArchives of Canada andthe National Library ofCanada to create a newknowledge institution forCanadians. Nihil novi subsole (nothing new underthe sun)! The Act pre-serves the essential ele-ments of the two institu-tions, adding some newscope and new powers.In June, LAC released adiscussion paper,"Directions for Libraryand Archives Canada",which describes broaddirections for the newlycreated institution andinvites feedback fromclient groups, partners,and other stakeholders.An excellent topic for theEx Libris Associationannual meeting! o

Libraries Continue to Make Headlinesin Ottawa Media

W. KAYE LAMB AWARD GOES TO TORONTO PUBLIC LIBRARY

Ex Libris Association congratulates the Toronto Public Library on its receipt of theW. Kaye Lamb Award for service to seniors, jointly sponsored by ELA and the

Canadian Library Association. The award was presented to TPL at the 2004 CLAconference in Victoria last June.

DID YOU KNOW?Stanford Googleizes

CONTRIBUTED BY MURRAY SHEPHERD

Reed Business Information reports that StanfordUniversity is to make all its pre-1923 (out of copyright)material available on Google. The project could involvemillions of books – available exclusively via Google.

6

BY CAROLE JOLING

Prelude

Arriving in 1960 as a teenage immi-grant to Canada, no thought of acareer had entered my mind – the

future was wide open but unsure. Evenschool in Canada was a question; I had fin-ished my Dutch high school that spring andwork was a necessity, as any immigrant willremember. And so, once we got to Merritt,B.C., schooling was checked out and Ifound part-time work as a candy-counter girlat the local movie theatre. The job was great,because I would eventually meet everyMerrittonian, make some money, and prac-tice my English. But I was slightly cross-eyed, making for quite a few redirections ofMars bars as well as a realization that jobssuch as teaching might not be for me!

Over the next two years, life in that smallWild-West town was magic. School wentwell, working was a social smorgasboard,the world was simple and wonderful. Icould have easily stayed, as many of myfriends intended to do. But curiosity and anindependent streak inspired me to apply tothe provincial university, UBC. A get-out-of-town-girl move for sure! In 1968 I graduatedwith a BA/Combined Honors in compara-tive literature, thanks to my four languagesand a love of reading. I planned to teachsomewhere (my eye was straightened in1967).

However, on the way to this degree, I got ajob at UBC’s library, in its GovernmentDocuments division. What a decisive timethat turned out to be! I found the workamazingly interesting and satisfying. Thepeople I worked with were smart, my bossinspiring, the students a great clientele, andthe tools (both books and technologies) use-ful and progressive. The door to a differentcareer opened, and I saw what we now callpillars of the profession: lifelong, in situlearning; responsibility for tangible results;stewardship of good information and institu-

tions that provideaccess to it; and aglobal network ofpractitioners. Aftermaking a post-gradua-tion tour of family inEurope, I applied toUBC’s School ofLibrarianship. Myfuture career as alibrarian became fact.

Recap

My 33 years in librarieshave given me fascinat-ing work – remembered with satisfactionand still feeding my active network. My firstjob was inputting cataloguing records at theVancouver Public Library in l969. Rememberdatabases in the 60s? Then I worked as agovernment documents librarian at UBCbetween 1970 and 1972. RememberMicrocard readers? Then a big move toOttawa as reference librarian at the Secretaryof State department –- I sure became a fanof everything Canadian there!

Next came my best job, Field ServicesLibrarian at Agriculture Canada for five years.I roamed all across Canada, keeping "my"30-odd research libraries connected. In l984the Food and Agriculture Organization inRome called, and I spent the next three-and-a-half years as its Chief Librarian –- a verypleasant, if challenging, experience in asuper bureaucracy. Upon return from Rome,I entered my last formal job: at Ottawa'sIDRC (International Development ResearchCentre) as Director, Research InformationManagement Service. This job allowed meto cap my career with informative travel tomany places in the world, including the topof the world, Tibet, in 1998.

Epilogue

I believe that learning lifelong and thenusing all your brainpower to help keen peo-ple – within the modern, global library pro-fession – is a silver bullet. Librarianship, or

How I Became a Librarian

Carole Joling in Tibet, 1998

play. The library needs the help, andthey want to know how to operate acomputer. Anyway, once you get thesnowball rolling, it keeps on growing. Icouldn’t be happier with our progress.Mind you, I have never worked harder,and neither have the library staff. We area bunch of busy bees in a land wherewe may be the only thriving library.

Am I happy? You betcha. My time is upat the end of July – and a good thing,too, because I don’t think I could keepup this furious pace much longer. Andthe staff is pretty well trained. It’s time tolet them fulfill their destiny. But it’s a fineway to end my career. I have mademany friends and am full of admirationfor this country and its people. A finerbunch you wouldn’t find anywhere. Sothat’s my tale of a library in Ethiopia. Asthe Three Billy Goats Gruff might say,“Snip, snap, snout. My tale is told out.” o

A Library in Ethiopiacontinued from page 4

whatever we call it today, is a worldwide,portable profession in the thick of theInformation Age. It has served me well. o

Carole Joling is retired – tending her house orreading in her RV, wherever it parks!

EELLAANN

BY HOWARD OVEREND

My older brother, a retired scienceteacher in Niagara Falls, had it right.“Don’t worry,” he said. “It’s the best

job I ever had.”

He meant retirement. Mine came about, byfederal mandate, on my 65th birthday inFebruary 1984. It seemed too soon. TheYukon Government lost interest in me onthat day, and I wondered how I’d managenot being Territorial Librarian any more. Orany librarian, for that matter.

I spent the lovely northern summer with achainsaw, turning a load of tree trunksdumped in our yard into furnace-lengthpieces for winter fuel. Great work, and I likedit. But in the last week of August, 20 yearsago this summer, I needed more. I was outto Prove Myself, that is, hike the ChilkootPass alone. It would be a stiff challenge, but Ineeded it.

For location, think extreme northwest cornerof Canada’s most westerly province, whereB.C. meets Alaska and the Yukon all withinthe space of a few miles. The famous pass inthe northern end of the Coast Range (usedby the Chilkat people for trade before the set-tlers came) allowed the long lines ofKlondike gold seekers – you’ve seen the oldblack-and-white prints of men plodding upthe snowy mountainside to almost infinity atthe top – to climb from Alaska into Canada(B.C.) in 1898. This was the long, tough, per-ilous journey through the Yukon to Dawson

City and the fabled Klondike gold fields.Robert Service wrote about these gutsy, deter-mined men. So did Pierre Berton. CharlieChaplin made them hilarious in his classicfilm The Gold Rush.

But this was 1984. The 33-mile trail from tide-water at what used to be the bustling port ofDyea, Alaska, to Bennett, B.C. was still there,considerably enhanced by the U.S. ParksService and Parks Canada in their respectivesections. I had done the four-day hiking traila year earlier with family members, so Iknew what to expect. Well, not quite.

It was a shock to read a warning notice inSkagway that hikers had seen bears on thetrail in the week before I started. And I hadn’t

counted on the loneliness (Imissed the family banterand horseplay along theforest trail). The intensequiet got to me, particularlyduring the first night in mytiny tent by the rushingwaters of the Taiya River. Iwas on my own, and knewit. Not much sleep thatnight, for sure. Any bearsout there?

Next day was better. Still inthe forest gloom, I encoun-tered Colleen, a U.S.

National Parks guide on herway from Sheep Camp for two days’ leave inSkagway. At thirty paces, she cried out, “Youmust be Bill’s father!” Later that morningsome trail maintenance men said the samething. Seems Bill, our son whose ParksCanada summer job was to patrol theChilkoot Trail on the Canadian side, hadbeen announcing my presence on the trailvia his walkie-talkie to all within earshot.Over to you, over.

That night I slept at Sheep Camp, about athousand feet higher than Dyea. Met a cou-ple from New York heading south (a switch),because they said it’s easier that way. Mark,the U.S. National Parks ranger fromTennessee, also showed up, a career manabout 28 whose wife lived in Skagway. Hehad heard about me from Bill, too. He said Iwas the only one going over the mountainpass tomorrow and would let Bill know.

Morning was climb time – or perhaps clam-ber time. The forest lay behind me in thelong sloping valley to the coast, and upabove – and I do mean up – were toweringmountains right, left and centre. I took threehours to get to The Scales (elevation 2,500feet), a bowl-like area strewn with car-sizeboulders, where Klondikers stopped to havetheir loads weighed before climbing up, upand up to the summit a thousand feet higherbut only half a mile away. I rested at TheScales for a short while and then started theslow, careful climb.

After some 40 minutes, I looked down onthe rocky valley where I’d been – and aheadto the crags above. I remember thinking,then, of people back in the Yukon TerritorialGovernment building in Whitehorse at theirdesks and realized suddenly how good it feltto be up here on my own in the mountains,half way to heaven and away from it all.How lucky I was! I was ex libris. My brotherwas right.

It took me another half hour to reach the topof the famous Chilkoot Pass – up above theworld so high – where I saw the decayingcanoes someone had lugged up the trail andabandoned in the gold rush years, and theremains of the old North West MountedPolice post near the international boundary,where valiant Mounties checked who wascoming in and what they had with them.Near Crater Lake, a short walk down fromthe summit, I did meet Bill on the trail. Heshepherded me back to his base camp atStone Crib and plied me with hot sweetdrinks (Southern Comfort, for one) andwarm food in his small cabin. That was hisjob – watching for hikers in distress and help-ing them orient themselves before carryingon.

Bill hiked with me as far as Happy Camp,some three or four miles away. It was greatto have him there. When he turned aroundto start back to Stone Crib, I looked back tosee him, but in seconds the wild sweepingscenery of the twisting trail had swallowedhim up. I hiked on alone in the gatheringdusk for about three miles to the Deep Lakecampsite and found it empty. It was nearlydark before I got to bed. This is where hikershave been awakened, some say, by theghostly tread of gold seekers. But I didn’thear a thing.

8

Ex Libris, ‘84

continued on page 10

The author at Crater Lake, Chilkoot Trail, August 1984

BY DIANE HENDERSON

By 1990, the Ex Libris Association waswell-established: publishing a newslettertwice a year, holding an annual meetingwith a program and business meeting,and looking forward to achieving a majorobjective in library history.

Administrative andOrganizational Changes

Following Stan Beacock's resignation asfounding president, Betty Hardie, a mem-ber of the 1989 Board, served as presidentin 1990 and 1991. Janette White, who hadearlier been secretary-treasurer, was presi-dent in 1992 and 1993. Following herwere Al Bowron in 1994 and Les Fowliein 1995.

Over time, the Board found that aspectsof its organizational structure and proce-dures needed updating. In early 1993, itset up a committee to create job descrip-tions for Board members and Boardprocesses. At that time, the executive con-sisted of a past president, president andsecretary-treasurer. At the November 1993Annual General Meeting, the new positionof vice-president/president-elect wasapproved. This executive member assistedthe president and provided an orderlytransition for the executive. A membershipfee increase was approved as well, raisingthe regular fee to $15 a year and sustain-ing membership to $25. At the 1995 AGM,members voted to split the position ofsecretary-treasurer in two and to increasethe size of the Board to nine members.

The ELA Logo

Early 1994 saw the introduction of the dis-tinctive logo that has become so much apart of Ex Libris. It came from a woodcutthat had been created much earlier forBruce Pierce, former editor of Ryerson

Press. He gave ELA permission to use theRyerson Press design, which was original-ly based on a Thoreau MacDonald draw-ing of a pine tree, a thoroughly Canadianimage.

ELA's logo was designed by a friend of1994 president Al Bowron. It firstappeared on the cover of the autumn1994 issue of Ex Libris News and alsoinside, in an advertisement featuring Alwearing a t-shirt emblazoned with thenew logo. The price of each t-shirt was$18, out of which $6.50 went to theElizabeth Homer Morton Fund.

Membership and Publicity

By fall 1990, membership stood at about120, including 10 life members (a newcategory introduced in 1989). Concernedthat ELA was not growing as quickly ashoped, a membership committee was established in 1992 to look at ways ofexpanding ELA outside Ontario. Thiscommittee, chaired by Gerry Prodrick,looked into, among other options, poten-tial joint memberships with larger libraryassociations. Its members attended ameeting of the Provincial and TerritorialLibrary Associations Council in fall 1992, atwhich special fees for retired librariansand special joint fees were discussed.

The Committee also approached CLA andOLA regarding joint memberships. At thetime, CLA had 168 retired members (ofwhom 24 were already ELA members)and OLA had 64 retired members –together, a considerable number of poten-tial new members. At the January 1993meeting, Board members authorized theELA president to negotiate joint member-ship packages with CLA, OLA and otherlibrary organizations.

Negotiations, however, proved unfruitful.OLA’s membership committee had pro-posed joint membership dues for retirees

of $20, with OLA retaining $10, plus spe-cial conference rates and some office sup-port. In the end, the Board concluded thatjoint membership with OLA went againstELA’s national expansion objective, anddid not approve it. Discussions with CLAwere also inconclusive. CLA suggestedthat ELA become an interest group of thenational organization, but this did not suitthe ELA Board's goals. However, retireesbenefitted when committee chair GerryProdrick's motion, that CLA’s proposednew retiree membership fee be reducedfrom $70 a year to $50, passed at the 1993CLA annual conference.

On another front, ELA increased its visibil-ity through publicity. Ex Libris Newsreported that, “In an effort to attract mem-bers from across Canada, the Board hasinstructed the President to attend the CLAConference in Winnipeg, June 10-14, 1992to establish Ex Libris presence at CLA andto contact potential members from allprovinces.” The next year, ELA again hada display table at CLA’s conference, inHamilton. The president spoke to theLibrary History Interest Group. ELA mem-bers presented a workshop on incomeplanning for retirement. Intended to attractconference attendees close to retirement,it was unfortunately not well attended.

ELA members also publicized the organi-sation at OLA activities. Members staffed abooth at OLA’s Ideashop in 1993. Thewinter 1995 OLA conference was thelargest library conference ever held inCanada. Board members agreed that ELAshould have a presence at all future OLAconferences – to display literature aboutELA, talk to attendees, and sell t-shirts.

By 1995, membership had risen to almost150, but was still mainly Ontario based.

Annual General Meetings

For several years, ELA hosted its annualgeneral meeting in association with theannual fall conference of the OLA. In1994 OLA changed its conference time to

ELA’s Early Years,1990 to 1995

continued on page 18

EELLAANN

Our President’s ReportBY NANCY WILLIAMSON

Summer is a time for relaxing but, aswe move into fall, Ex Libris has muchwork to do. First some things that

have happened since early May and then alook at the future.

In the early summer Harry Campbell, ourwandering ambassador, made our presencefelt at two conferences. On May 21, by invi-tation, Harry and Wendy Scott participatedin a meeting of French-speaking retiredlibrarians held in conjunction with the 35thCongrès annuel de la Corporation des bib-liothècaires professionels. This was animportant and fruitful contact, and we arelooking forward to continued communica-tion and cooperation with this group. SeeHarry's article, How Best Can Ex LibrisExpand?, in this issue for more details. Harryalso reported on the conference at ourSeptember Board meeting.

Peter Rogers and Harry Campbell attendedthe Canadian Library AssociationConference in Victoria in June. Harry andPeter were present at the W. Kaye LambAward ceremony and they had the oppor-tunity to talk with many of our membersand colleagues during the conference.

One of the Board's major concerns isimproved relations with retired librariansacross the country. Communication couldbe much improved through stronger tieswith the provincial library associations andplanning Ex Libris events in conjunctionwith CLA conferences. Moreover, moderntechnology now makes it possible to haveBoard members from outside southernOntario. ELA now has its own telephonenumber, 416-760-4722. I urge you to consultour Website, exlibris.fis.utoronto.ca, as well.The Board will actively pursue further possi-bilities for improved communication overthe next year.

One of our major projects over the pastyear and a half has been preparing a historyof library education in Canada to celebrateits 100th anniversary. This was a mammothundertaking, involving many hours of work.ELA members will have received a copy ofthe resulting publication shortly in the mail.For more details, see the article Special Issueof ELAN, in this issue.

As Ex Libris moves on to its fall activities, theBoard's major activity will be implementingthe long-range plan for the period 2005 to2010. The plan was prepared using recom-mendations resulting from a Board work-shop on March 31 and the results of a ques-tionnaire distributed by Harry Campbell. Atits May 3rd meeting, the Board approvedthe long-range plan. The plan identified sixobjectives, with specific activities attached.The executive will present the plan's detailsat the Annual General Meeting onNovember 8 and ask members to approveit. The plan in its final form will be pub-lished on the Ex Libris Web site and inELAN.

As always, the major social event of theyear will be the Annual Get-Together. For itslocation and time, and details of the pro-gram, see the announcement on page 1 ofthis issue. We have begun to involve moreretired teacher-librarians in ELA and are giv-ing our support to the Canadian Coalition ofSchool Libraries (CCSL). On the AGM agen-da is the future timing and venue of theAnnual Get-Together. For a number ofyears, this event was held in conjunctionwith the Ontario Library AssociationConference. This allowed ELA members toattend both events easily. Several years ago,the OLA Superconference (as it is nowcalled) moved to late January/earlyFebruary, while Ex Libris continued with itsfall date. There are some advantages to

meeting at the same time as the OLA, butthere are also some concerns about cost,weather and so on. At its May 3rd meeting,the Board discussed moving the Get-Together to the time of theSuperconference. However, it seems onlyfair to ask those who regularly attend theGet-Together what their preference is.

Another fall event is now in the planningstage. This will be a get-together, to be heldin Ottawa in conjunction with the launchingof Volume 1 of The History of the Book inCanada, to take place on October 14.

I think we can look forward to a busy sea-son of activities. o

10

Next morning I made it a few miles far-ther to Parks Canada’s trail base at LakeLindeman, in its beautiful setting withmountains, forest and lake under thesun. Just stayed long enough to havelunch, hoist that cumbersome packonto my shoulders and head out a fur-ther eight long miles to Lake Bennett,journey’s end. It wasn’t the end of myhike, because I still had to reach thehighway where the car was. But it wasand is the end of the Chilkoot Trail.

An old weather-beaten, steepled churchat Bennett stands facing the lake, likean empty pulpit where the congrega-tion has long since gone. The thou-sands of hopeful miners who oncelived on the shore in tents and shackshave disappeared into the North, asthough they’d never been. When theywere here, they built themselves boatsfrom planks they’d whipsawed fromraw logs and set out by water to travelmore than 400 miles downstream totheir goal, the Klondike. No more trailwork for them. Or for me, for that mat-ter.

And no more library work either. I leftit behind on the Chilkoot Trail. o

Ex Libris, ‘84continued from page 8

EELLAANN

BY ALBERT BOWRON

Even now, at gatherings of thesmall-talk experts, sooner orlater I am asked, “Now how did

YOU make your living?” When Ireply, “I was a library consultant forthe last 23 years of my career”, con-versation stops. “You mean you couldtell me how much my family biblewas worth?”, someone says to breakthe silence. “No”, I reply. “I plannedlibraries, gave advice on the develop-ment of library systems, reassessedmethods, recommended changes andnew techniques. Sometimes I did costand feasibility studies of library oper-ations. Also, I could prepare a build-ing program as a start to a newlibrary project.” “Wow! And you gotpaid for that? You must have starvedto death.”

Before I decided to earn my living asa full-time freelance planner forlibraries, I could slow a conversationby replying “librarian” to a questionabout occupation. Now I can stop itdead with the reply “library consul-tant”. It’s rather like saying, “I was ateenage werewolf for the FBI andfound God”.

Actually, what my racket needed, andstill needs, is a new title. “Consultant”has acquired a shifty, expensive con-notation. The impression is abroadthat, for a big fee, a two-year delayand a superficial analysis, you can betold the obvious – shrouded in jargonbetween the covers of a glossy reportlaced with maps, graphs and tables.Large firms of management consul-tants have been responsible for thatimage. In Canada, royal commissions,although generally impartial andsuper-conscientious, acquired a repu-tation for high cost and verbal diar-rhea.

I can’t say that, in the past, I sufferedmuch from the bad rap consultantsget; however, on occasion, a localpolitician would make a crack about“the expert from Toronto we are pay-ing to tell us what to do”. I usuallycountered by mumbling that my feewas low (which it was), because Iworked alone without a fancy office,and “Anyway, I'm from Hamilton.”

The label “consultant” has sufferedalso from overexposure. The Bay hasfashion consultants; some libraries useconsultants to weed books in ruralbranches. British Columbia has hadfield consultants. Every audio-visualsupply house and new-car lot hasconsultants instead of salespeople.The Avon Lady wasn’t the modernversion of the Fuller’s Earth hucksterbut a beauty consultant.

What word, then, should we use tolabel the role of a library consultantwho does no more than a crack

librarian could do, but who can givea problem full effort and concentra-tion in time and distance? The opin-ions offered can then be used tointroduce innovation and initiatechange, or they can be waved infront of a the fiscal noses of politi-cians. What phrase describes suchwork?: “development planner”,“library advisor”, “information special-ist”, “professional scapegoat”? I wasall these things and more. It seemsthat “library consultant” will have todo.

But don't get me wrong; I loved thework. You can regulate your own life.I could spend an hour over the paperin the morning. In place of a libraryboard, I had a deadline and anaccountant. A year after punching myway out of the administrative bag ofold memos, agendas and librarypaste, I found myself in another bag– bigger, more colourful and all mine.

Postscript

I phoned the chairman of the libraryboard and naively asked, “How largeis the estate that was left to thelibrary?” The chairman said flatly,“Oh, I don’t think you need to knowthat, Mr. Bowron”. “But, Mr.Chairman, you asked me to advisethe board how the money should bespent. I really should have some ideahow much there is.” The chairmanwas adamant. It was apparently noneof my business, the amount ofmoney. Neither the town clerk, themayor nor the chief librarian told mehow much was in the safety depositbox in the local bank, so I advised anew building, a large multi-media col-lection, a computer terminal, morestaff, a museum, an art gallery and aliquor cabinet in the staff room – theworks. I submitted my report, my feewas paid, and I never heard a wordfrom that board again. o

As I Saw It: Ah, Wilderness – The Library Consultant

Al Bowron as “Innovation Initiator,” Galt PublicLibrary, 1954.

BY HOWARD OVEREND, SALMON ARM

Give a Little Whistle!

Coincidental with the story “ExLibris ’84” (on page 8 in thisissue) is that the only signs of

life I noticed on the climb over therocks leading to the Chilkoot Passcame from very agile, cute, furryrodents called marmots. They keptdarting in and out of their hideawayholes and whistling shrilly to eachother to warn of the approach of amonster intent on reaching the top.All this is apropos of talking aboutthe public library in the resort munic-ipality of Whistler, whose odd nameis said to have come from the abun-dance of marmots on nearby slopes.Give a little whistle!

And what is a resort municipality? InBC-Land where “vast mountainranges and glaciers, abundant snow-fall and accessibility to key marketshave combined to give [the province]a strong ski industry”, the govern-ment enacted the Resort Municipalityof Whistler Act in 1975. This act cre-ated a special kind of municipalitywith enhanced powers to manageand deliver services to its residents.Amended in 1996, the Act's generalprovisions apply to other potential skiresort areas throughout the province,facilitating their development.

Whistler, about 70 miles north ofVancouver on the Sea to Sky high-way, was the first such resort munici-pality in Canada and, as if it weren’talready a North American favouritewith skiers and snowboarders, willhost alpine and Nordic events at the2010 Olympic and Paralympic wintergames a scant six years from now.

So much for the tremendous sportshype. The public library doesn’t real-ly need it, though. It’s got its ownstar. Joan Richoz, born in Winnipeg,grew up in Vancouver. A UBC grad(MA ’72), Joan was a key figure in alocal ginger group formed to get alibrary started in Whistler. When itwas incorporated as a public libraryassociation in 1985, she wound up asa trustee but traded this post for thatof chief librarian.

Since then, the public library hasgone from peak to peak. “My great-est challenge was starting the collec-tion for the library. It was a dauntingand frightening task, but one that Iwill never forget”, Joan says. Froman initial collection of 2,500 books, ithas grown to more than 39,000 –with some 135,000 loans in 2003.Circulation in her aptly describedlibrary (“a cornerstone of the com-munity and a real meeting place ”)grows by an average of 15% eachyear, she reports. All this in a crowd-ed space of 2,800 square feet.

The Whistler Municipal PublicLibrary, as it became in ’99 when itwas taken over by the municipality,has a busy staff of 10 people, includ-ing its most recent addition, AnwenBoyd, a BA (U. of Calgary) andMaster of Library and InformationStudies (MLIS) grad from the U. ofEdmonton with Alberta library expe-rience. Anwen serves as Children’sand Youth Services Librarian atWhistler.

The library board plans a new14,000-square-foot library building, tobe started next April, with a capital

budget of a cool $7 million. The pro-ject is in the hands of a steeringcommittee of Board members, staff,community volunteers, municipalcouncillors, and municipal staffunder chair Keith Bennett, GeneralManager of Parks and Recreation inthe town.

The current library board, chaired byRegistered Nurse Anne Fenwicksince 1995, comprises a dozenlibrary-oriented members of the com-munity. Since ’97 the library hasreceived excellent interlibrary loanservice from InterLINK, a group of17 Lower Mainland co-operatinglibraries. It also receives operatingfunds from the province, corporatesponsors, donors and foundations, aswell as proceeds of spirited fundrais-ing events in the community.

Whistler, though, as its Web site pro-claims, “is more than two award win-ning ski mountains and a gorgeousvillage full of shops. It’s a bustlingtown of over 10,000 residentsimproving an established community,focusing on recreational pursuits,artistic endeavours, business devel-opment and environmental sustain-ability.” Ya—hoo!

That’s Whistler. Up and coming.Well-run, well-funded, well-promotedand well – that’s why it’s a success.

In This Corner, A New LibraryChamp!

Speaking of donors, hear this! BenDayson – not even a library boardmember – has given his (and hiswife Ester’s) 500-volume collection ofJudaica books to the RichmondPublic Library, along with a generous$50,000 cheque for the library’sendowment fund.

And for so doing, he was recentlyawarded the Keith Sacre LibraryChampion Award, given annually by

Out in BC-Land

continued on page 13

12

EELLAANN

How Best Can Ex LibrisExpand?

BY HARRY CAMPBELL

In May and June of this year I hadthe opportunity to attend a meet-ing during the annual gathering of

the Corporation des bibliothécairesprofessionnels du Québec (CPBQ)and also the joint Canadian LibraryAssociation/British Columbia LibraryAssociation conference in Victoria.Mixing with retired librarians at thesemeetings in Quebec and BritishColumbia, I was struck with the rolethe lack of adequate finances plays inCanadian library association activities.

The Ex Libris Association has been ina modestly favourable financial posi-tion for most of the nearly 20 yearsof our history. But we have not gath-ered many members from Quebec orfrom Western Canada. What is theremedy for this situation if we wishto have a strong Canadian presence?

As we know, the bulk of our mem-bership comes from Ontario, and thishas led to the feeling outside theprovince that Ex Libris is dominatedby Ontario library interests. Duringthe past three years in Quebec, aninformal group of retired French-speaking librarians have been meet-ing once or twice a year at the con-ferences of ASTED or CPBQ. There isa core of about 60 retired French-speaking librarians in Québec, and 20or so of them have been gatheringunder the leadership of GastonBernier, the retired director of theBibliothèque de l'Assembléenationale du Québec. They have dis-cussed the idea of forming an associ-ation of retired French-speakinglibrarians in Quebec.

In May these retired librarians invitedme to Montreal to speak about thework of Ex Libris. Another Ex Librismember, Wendy Scott, was also pre-sent. It turns out that the Quebecgroup is thinking about activities thatwould parallel some of those of ExLibris. Wendy and I suggested thatthis would strengthen the activitiesand interests of both English- andFrench-speaking retired librarians.

The situation in Western Canada issimilar. In all the western provinces,but particularly in British Columbia,there are substantial numbers ofretired librarians and informationworkers. Now that we have a Website in operation, there is the possibil-ity of including events and activitiesin Western Canada. We have begunthis in ELAN, with regular BritishColumbia and Atlantic Canadacolumns as well as a contributionfrom Ottawa.

In 2005 the Canadian LibraryAssociation will meet in Calgary. Thismight provide the focus for a largerEx Libris gathering of memberswhere our long-range plan can bediscussed. But basic to all expansionactivities is the need to improve ourfinancial base. I raise this question inthe hope that some of our memberscan come up with remedies. Weknow that the number of retiredlibrarians will increase substantiallyall across Canada in the next fewyears. Is there any way to plan for alarger membership or to be a part ofa national federation of retiredlibrarians? o

the BC Library Association for out-standing support of public libraryservices in BC-Land.

A library champ indeed, and aworthy one. A forerunner, Kwok-Chu Lee, also of Richmond, hasgiven more than 1,700 Chinese-lan-guage books, valued at about$17,000, to the library this year. Healso persuaded some of his friendsto donate a total of $10,000, too.Lee, who has been described as“Richmond Public Library’s mostprolific, generous and prestigiousdonor”, won the Sacre Award in2001. Good for Dayson and Lee!

Under a Bushel?

What is there about personal pub-licity that makes library directorsshy away? Why aren’t they outthere front and centre?

In a random survey of 25 publiclibrary Web sites in BC-Land, onlyseven of them (or 28%) list thenames of their directors, while 16(64%) show the names of libraryboard members – some with pic-tures. And eight (32%), believe it ornot, show neither.

Why is this?

Do chief librarians fear invasion ofprivacy, or exposure to the public?Are library heads opting forbureaucratic anonymity on theirWeb sites? Doesn’t the public havea right to know who the captain is?Boards are important, of course,but the CEO is the one who workswith them and the staff and thepublic to make the library go. Thename of that person should befront and centre in its message tothe public.

Always (100%). o

Out in BC-Landcontinued from page 12

A BOY ALL SPIRIT. THOREAU MACDONALD IN THE 1920S EDITED BY JOHN SABEAN Penumbra Press, 2002.

REVIEWED BY KATHARINE MARTYN

Reticent and unassuming through-out his life, Thoreau MacDonald(1901-1989) has been largely

overlooked in the shadow cast by hismore famous father, J.E.H. MacDonald.When Emily Carr visited J.E.H.'s studioin 1927, however, she was greatlyimpressed by Thoreau, who showedher around in his father's absence. Shelater recalled him as "a boy all spirit,almost too fine to stay down on thisearth – The boy is clever and will dogreat things one day." Thoreau did goon to become an important Canadianbook designer, illustrator and artist. Thisbeautifully produced book is an excel-lent introduction to his early work.Editor John Sabean has meticulouslytranscribed and annotated Thoreau'sdiary entries for the years 1923 to 1929,as well as the complete sequence of let-ters that he wrote to Doris Heustis Mills(later Speirs) at the same time.

Both Thoreau's diary entries, whichoften contain anguished reflections onhis own shortcomings, and his candidand heartfelt letters to Doris reveal theartist at a crucial stage in his life. Here isa young man in his 20s, struggling tofind himself – uncertain of the path his

life should take, just at the start of hisartistic career and very much under theinfluence of his illustrious father (withwhom he shared a studio). Here also isthe practicing artist. Both the journalsand the letters abound in detaileddescriptions of natural phenomena andcarefully observed vignettes of rural andcity life, interspersed with quick pen orpencil sketches. One of the mostappealing aspects of this book is thelarge number of reproductions ofThoreau's original drawings, linocutsand woodcuts accompanying the text.

In 1923 when the journals begin,Thoreau was 22 and, despite his diffi-dence, had already experienced somesuccess as an artist. In the previous year,he had produced a small booklet ofwoodcuts and, after several of hislinocuts had been published inCanadian Forum, he had been appoint-ed the Forum's art editor, a post heretained until 1932. During these earlyyears, Thoreau was also working oncommissions with his father and con-tributing lettering, cover and jacketdesigns, and illustrations to a variety ofpublications.

By 1929, when the diary entries end,Thoreau had won considerable recogni-tion as an artist and as an book illustra-tor and designer. He had designed orillustrated over 24 books published by avariety of Canadian publishers, and hisartwork had been exhibited at theCanadian National Exhibition, the ArtGalley of Toronto, and in Canadian artexhibitions in England and in Paris. In1927, one of his paintings was pur-chased by the National Gallery ofCanada.

Although Thoreau rarely wrote directlyabout his work as an artist, the earlyjournal entries make it clear that he hadalready found the subject matter thatwas to engage him most fully through-out his long career: the natural world in

all its manifestations and everyday rurallife in the villages and farms of southernOntario. Many entries record the veryprecise observations he made during hisdaily morning walk from the family'sNorth Toronto home on Duggan Ave.down to the Studio Building on SevernSt. (just north of Bloor St.) and on hisreturn walk home in the evening. Hetook note of the clouds and the qualityof light, paid special attention tofavourite trees as he walked through thegrounds of Upper Canada College andcarefully recorded the variety of birdshe saw at the Rosedale Reservoir.

Thoreau could also be an eloquentwriter; there are lyrical passages recall-ing his childhood in Toronto when thefamily lived close to High Park and hisadolescent years after they moved northof the city to Thornhill. To read hisdescriptions is to discover the long-van-ished Toronto of the 1920s and earlier –when "Armour Heights" meant undevel-oped fields where one went to see thesunset, and Thornhill was an outlyingfarm village.

Deeply influenced by his namesake,Henry David Thoreau, ThoreauMacDonald was very much aware ofhow urban development was alreadychanging both the country and the cityand how it would destroy much of thenatural world that he so loved. A jour-nal entry from August 1924 reads,"Sunday. Walked by the Reservoir. Greycirrus rising in the West against thewind. The water grey too. A little sand-piper at the edge. The city says: 'Giveup all you like best & I will give yousewers & light & gas.' "

A few days later he wrote, "Thisevening I see the two great maples below St. Clair lying in a wreck on theground, cut down for some wretchedbuilding." In another entry he anxiouslyasked himself, "Are those red pinesdying? Their roots have been cut for agarage." Many of the journal entrieshave an elegiac tone and reveal ayearning for a simpler life, close tonature. It seems clear that, even at thisearly point in his career, Thoreau want-ed to devote himself to recording the

Book Reviews

continued on page 15

14

details of a vanishing way of life and a natural world under threat.

The second half of this book, and per-haps the more interesting from a psycho-logical point of view, consists of the let-ters Thoreau wrote to Doris Mills duringthe years 1923 to 1931. The MacDonaldfamily had first met Doris and her hus-band, Gordon, through the Church ofthe Christian Scientist, where bothThoreau's mother, Joan MacDonald, andthe Mills were members. Doris waskeenly interested in Canadian art and in1919 set up an art rental plan with someof her friends. She rented several canvas-es of J.E.H. MacDonald's and then, in1922 when she began to try her hand asan artist herself, J.E.H. MacDonaldcleared out a storage space in his studioon Severn Street for her to use. Thereshe regularly met the young Thoreau,seven years her junior, who had begunto work in the studio assisting his father.

Thoreau's first letters to Doris were for-mally addressed to "Mrs. Mills", but theirfriendship gradually became much closerover the next three years. By 1926,Thoreau was addressing her as "DearSister" and pouring out his heart to her innumerous letters signed "your faithfulbrother". He obviously looked up toDoris and adored her, and she seems tohave encouraged him and given him theemotional support he needed throughthe next six years. She appears to havebeen his only confidante. "I like to write,as I rarely speak to anyone when youaren't here", he wrote in the summer of1928 when Doris was vacationing withher husband in Maine. Again in 1929, hewrote plaintively, "I miss greatly havingyou to speak to. For there's no one elseI can talk freely with."

Thoreau appears to have battled withdepression through these years, even ashis career became more successful andhis work attracted increasing recognition.In his journal, he often referred to hissadness and insomnia, his "small privategloom", and his efforts to overcome it. Apoignant passage begins, "What to do

when you're sad & chest aches – Try toremember that it will not last always &try to act so that you may not beashamed after." His letters frequentlyapologized for his low spirits. "T.M. feelssad, but then he always does, so it does-n't matter. It seems natural to him," hewrote to Doris in July 1928. That sum-mer, his letters increased in frequencyand intensity, becoming almost daily mis-sives to Doris, who was vacationing withGordon in Maine.

During the following year, Thoreaubecame much involved in designing avariety of items for the Mills' new house,Pinebrook, which was being built onRiverview Drive. Doris was determinedto showcase as much Canadian art aspossible in the new house and enlistedThoreau to design many of the details.The letters of the summer of 1929 areamong the most interesting of the series.They show Thoreau in a new light as adesigner, confidently discussing the furni-ture he is making and sketching hisdesigns for lighting fixtures, windowgrilles, candelabras, a nameplate andother items. This section is furtherenriched by editor John Sabean, whoincludes a number of contemporaryphotographs showing the house andsome of the items Thoreau designed.Happily, the house still stands onRiverview Drive, its exterior appearingunchanged from Thoreau's drawing of itfor the Mills' 1930 Christmas card.

In the letters of the following summer,Thoreau frequently mentionned two newacquaintances who would become ofgreat importance to him. These were theRussian sisters Alexandra and YuliaBiriukova, who had arrived in Toronto inthe fall of 1929 and had been befriendedby the MacDonald family. Alexandra hadtrained as an architect, and Yulia was anaccomplished portrait painter. In 1930,with J.E.H. MacDonald's encouragement,Yulia took a studio in the Severn St.Studio Building. She retained it until 1949and became one of Thoreau's closestassociates, their friendship lasting overthe next 40 years. Yulia eventuallymoved to Thoreau's home in Thornhillafter she retired from teaching in the1960s.

Perhaps it was the friendship with Yuliathat altered Thoreau's relationship withDoris. In his introduction, editor JohnSabean suggests that Doris herself hadtaken the initiative in ending Thoreau'sdependency on her by moving out ofthe Studio Building in 1930 or 1931.Whatever the reason, the last letter Dorisreceived from Thoreau was in October1931 – a short note apologising for notbeing able to meet her that day. In it hewrote, "I appreciate what you have donefor me & often think of it but I haven'tanything to give in return for it. Perhapsthings will change & get easier again.Anyway I remain your faithful brother,Thoreau." It would be 30 years beforeThoreau wrote to Doris again.

In his introduction, the editor JohnSabean describes how he came uponthese diaries and letters in 1986 whilehelping clear out a storage area in thehome of his friends Doris and MurraySpeirs. Sabean believes that Thoreau hadgiven Doris his diaries, as well as threeportfolios of his artwork around 1930.Despite the abrupt end of their friend-ship, she was careful to preserve all ofThoreau's artwork through the manychanges that occurred in her own lifeover the next decade. By 1939, Dorisand Gordon were divorced and she hadmarried ornithologist Murray Speirs. Inthe years that followed, Thoreau's lettersand journals were eventually forgotten ina disused storage room. After Doris'sdeath, the documents were donated byMurray Speirs to the Thomas Fisher RareBook Library at the University ofToronto, where this reviewer had thepleasure of describing and inventoryingthem.

This book has obviously been a labourof love for the editor. Sabean has donean admirable job of researching andannotating the documents. His excellentintroduction establishes their context andimportance and contains much valuablebiographical material. He has also chosenthe illustrations with great care for theirappropriateness, matching them to thetext whenever possible. Two of the let-ters have been reproduced in facsimile; Iwish that there had been more. Many ofthe original letters are entrancing, the

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handwritten text interspersed with play-ful little sketches. Doris must have lovedreceiving these little works of art. Smallwonder that she kept them.

Although the editor has provided exten-sive footnotes for almost every referencein the letters, identifying all the flora andfauna described as well as the placesand individuals mentioned, he has notgiven much information about the phys-ical state of the original documents. Thisseems a pity in such a well-researchedwork. When I had the opportunity toexamine the journals now in the FisherLibrary, I discovered that there are manystubs of torn-out pages and that someof the existing pages are a puzzlingpatchwork of cut-up pieces. In one ofThoreau's letters to Doris, he asked herto forgive "the break" in the letter as"there was something that sounded sortof selfish there so I cut it off".Presumably Thoreau edited his diariesthe same way before giving them toDoris. It is interesting, also, that some ofhis most intense letters are in pencil in aseparate notebook and appear never tohave been sent to Doris; although theymust have been given to her later withthe journals.

Finally, one wonders what Thoreauwould have thought about the publica-tion of these intimate diaries and letters.Reclusive and reserved in his later years,he would probably deplore the publica-tion of these youthful musings and self-revelations. Yet this story of a giftedyoung artist's struggle for emotional sta-bility and confidence is a moving one,and these documents give a readervaluable insights into both his life andwork. Thoreau's artistic achievementwas considerable. We should be gratefulto both Doris Speirs, who preservedthese journals and letters, and to JohnSabean who has given us all a chanceto appreciate them.

LIBRARY. AN UNQUIET HISTORY BY MATTHEW BATTLESNorton, 2003, 245 pages.

REVIEWED BY MARIA F. ZIELINSKA

Looking at a slim volume with the word“Library” as the title, one cannot helpbut wonder what is the book about. Aparticular library or libraries in general?Administration, technical services or ser-vices to the public? The subtitle is a littlemore explicit, but even the full titleposes more questions as to the contentof the book than it really should.

If your curiosity leads you to readChapter 1, the author's intent becomesquite clear. As Battles states himself, hewants to “explore the library's inter-twined relations of fancy and authentici-ty, of folly and epiphany, of theParnassan and the universal”. He writes,further, “I am looking for the librarywhere it lives. Of course, a completehistory of the library – a documentaryaccount of libraries wherever they haveexisted, in whatever form they take –would run to many volumes. What I amlooking for are the points of transforma-tion, those moments where readers,authors and librarians question themeaning of the library itself.”

In other words, the author tries to pre-sent the role of libraries in the perpetualfight for political power and the inter-play between knowledge and culture.This novelistic approach synthesiseshow libraries through the ages have notonly inspired and preserved, but alsodestroyed, accumulated treasures ofknowledge.

Battles explores the history and role oflibraries from Mesopotamian clay-tabletcollections, through the libraries ofEgypt to those of the Roman Empire,the Middle Ages and on to moderntimes. He covers a wide geography,encountering libraries in ancient Chinaand Islamic countries. Not only does heexamine collections for the elite, butsocialist reading rooms and rural homelibraries as well.

The author analyses the usually modestbeginnings of libraries, their growth and

their demise during wars, conquests,fires, earthquakes, and intentionaldestruction because of the ideas theirbooks contain. Particularly tragic is hisdescription of the destruction of booksin Nazi Germany and present-dayBosnia. While presenting historicalchanges in approaches to buildinglibrary collections, Battles accentuatestwo competing notions of the library’smission: temple of examples of excel-lent writing and repository of knowl-edge.

The book is written in rich, elegant lan-guage and reads, despite its topic, like afascinating novel. Once you start read-ing this book, you will be tempted toput everything aside and continue untilthe last page, which brings you back tothe stacks of the Widener Library wherethis marvelous and most revealing jour-ney begins.

Matthew Battles is a rare book librarianat Harvard University, coordinating edi-tor of the Harvard Library Bulletin anda gifted writer. He can take a bird’s-eyeview of a very complex picture, summa-rize it, simplify it and present it in aform easily absorbed by the reader.Library. An Unquiet History is highlyrecommended for every librarian,archivist, lover of books, historian andsociologist – a book for all trades.

It would be wonderful to know moreabout the author, but unfortunately thebook gives no personal informationabout him, or about his career. All weare told is that he is presently workingon two more books, one a history ofthe Widener Library and the other onthe history of writing.

IN THE STACKS. SHORT STORIESABOUT LIBRARIES AND LIBRARIANS EDITED BY MICHAEL CART Overlook Press, 2002, 270 pages.

REVIEWED BY JEAN WEIHS

As a young librarian, I used to feelsome apprehension when I hadto go to the below-ground, fre-

quently deserted University of TorontoLibrary stacks.

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continued on page 17

Many authors must have had similar feel-ings in libraries, because many library-related murder mysteries have been pub-lished. "QL636.C9", by Anthony Boucher,represents this genre in this collection ofshort stories. The clue to the murder willbe obvious to most librarians, but thecharacters in the story spend some timefiguring out the meaning of the title'sstrange combination of letters and num-bers. M.R. James, who is regarded as themother of the modern ghost story, set"The Tractate Middoth" in "a certainfamous [British] library".

"Ed Has His Mind Improved",by Walter Brooks, is ahumourous tale about how Mr.Ed, the Talking Horse, raisedmoney for the local library.There is social commentary in"Gloss on a Decision of theCouncil of Nicaea", by JoannGreenberg, about a librarianwho finds the courage to resistdiscrimination in the southernUnited States and in JohnCheever's "The Trouble ofMarcie Flint", in which thetown council refuses to allow apublic library on the grounds that it willattract undesirables to their town. Myfavourite story in this collection, "AGeneral in the Library" charmingly toldby Italo Calvino, is a fable about an oldlibrarian who saves his books by enticingsoldiers to read.

Michael Cart, who was a librarian for 25years before he left the profession tobecome an author, has included in thiscollection the work of some renownedwriters, such as Alice Munro, RayBradbury, Saki and Ursula LaGuin,taken from publications spanning the20th century from 1906 to 2000. Goodreading for a rainy or snowy day.

The subtitle of this work is slightly mis-leading. Most of the 19 stories in thiscollection are not about librarians intheir role as librarians, nor does themain action of many of the stories takeplace in libraries. Not all the protago-nists are professional librarians. A library

staff member is a central character in allthe stories except "The Public Library"by Isaac Babel, which takes a snapshotlook at the patrons in a public library,and the final work, "The Library ofBabel" by Jorge Luis Borges, which is aphilosophical essay on the library asmore than a repository of books.

Librarians have always been dogged bya negative stereotype, and this stereo-type is found in some of these tales. Inothers, library staff are depicted in afavourable light. In a few of the stories,there appears to be little connectionbetween the protagonist as a librarianand the story's theme or action. Theprotagonist could have also been, forexample, a teacher or social worker.

I wanted to ask eachauthor why he or shehad made the person alibrarian. Was there someundefined characteristicof librarians in theauthor's mind that madethe story more meaning-ful, or did the author justdecide that this time theprotagonist would be alibrarian, because a dif-ferent profession wouldadd variety to his or herfiction? Unfortunately, the

pages did not answer my query. If anyELAN readers have an opinion aboutthis, please e-mail me [email protected].

LANGUAGE VISIBLE. UNRAVELINGTHE MYSTERY OF THE ALPHABETFROM A TO Z BY DAVID SACKSKnopf, 2003, 395 pages, index.

CONTRIBUTED BY JEAN WEIHS

Librarians might be interested infinding out more about the originof the alphabet that is the basis of

books they spent their lives with.

Canadian author David Sacks devotes achapter to each letter of the alphabet,telling the letter’s history, complexities,and meaning in different cultures andlanguage. o

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Book Reviewscontinued from page 16 Man with Duster

had Steady Job onOttawa Books

CONTRIBUTED BY JEAN ORP-WOOD

Recently I was helping a youngauthor with a little research forbackground material. I was readinga microfilmed version of the Truro,N.S., News and fell upon the follow-ing Canadian Press article, datedJune 30, 1936.

Ottawa - Down in the book vaultsthat honeycomb the foundation ofthe Parliamentary Library lives agnome-like little man who spendshis whole life dusting books. Forseveral months in the year heappears above ground with ladder,pail and three cloths and slowly cir-cles the great round library wherebookshelves line the walls to theheight of 40 feet. One by one helifts and dusts each of the 400,000volumes, washes off the shelf andmoves along. He has been doingthis for 20 years or so. AmedéChoquette is 73 years old. From theshiny crown of his almost-baldhead to the toes of his hand-sewnFrench-Canadian boots he is as neatas a new hymn book. He takespride in this virtue. "See," he willsay, smoothing down the bluedenim jacket he wears over hiswhite shirt and overalls, "I amclean, me. When I go from heredey don' know if I'm a Senator."His great love is work, his greathate dirt. Fourteen months to dustthe library when he is alone, buthis son, one of eight children, helpshim and they do it twice a year. o

From a Canadian Press article June30, 1936.

January, which was not suitable for ELAmembers. ELA made plans to hold its1994 and subsequent annual meetings(later renamed Annual Get-Togethers)independently, in early November. TheAGMs offered a prime opportunity formembers to socialize and programs withinteresting speakers, who came fromwithin the membership and beyond.

For example, between 1990 and 1995,program topics included public librarydevelopment in Ontario; the history ofthe Osborne Collection of children’sbooks; a talk by Farley Mowat on hisfather Angus; three decades of changesin libraries and library processes; a talkon writing the history of St. CatharinesPublic Library; and William LyonMackenzie as publisher. With 1994 camea new feature, the sale of t-shirts.

Ex Libris News

From its first issue, ELN was the primarymeans of communication with membersacross the country. One issue a yearalways included the text, or a summaryof, talks given at the AGM. There weremany articles on aspects of library histo-ry and on major figures in library history(such as Angus Mowat, Freda Waldon,and Fred Landon). ELN articles rangedfrom the personal – recollections,accounts of members’ retirement activi-ties, memorials and milestones, to histor-ical and current events – research,reports on Board meetings and IFLAmeetings in Moscow and Cuba, and theclosing of the Canada House library.

In common with many other associationnewsletters, ELN was always in need ofcopy. An imaginative appeal appearedin the fall 1992 issue: “For your diary –20 November 92: write a biographicalsketch of a librarian from the past;research and write an article on some

historical aspect of a Canadian library orlibrary association; write an article thatwould be of interest to your colleaguesin the Ex Libris Association; and send toEditor by February 28, 1993.”

For the first 15 issues, Stan Beacock waspublisher and, for many issues, editor aswell. However, in early 1994, he askedto be relieved of these roles. After theBoard searched for several months,Wendy Scott agreed to edit and prepareELN for publication, with the assistanceof an editorial committee. She beganwith the autumn 1994 issue. Productionand format were updated; the high-stan-dard content continued.

The Morton Project

A major project to honour ElizabethHomer Morton, the first executive secre-tary of the Canadian Library Association,was proposed at ELA's annual meetingin 1987. The Morton Project was ourlargest undertaking up to that time and,for that matter, up to the present. CLAcooperated by publicising the fundrais-ing drive and collecting donations. Earlyon, we decided that the project wouldtake the form of a book dealing with thehistory of CLA during Morton’s term ofoffice.

The spring 1992 issue of ELN announceda grant of $15,000 from the ElizabethHomer Morton Fund, “for the compila-tion and publication of a history of theCanadian Library Association from itshistorical beginnings” and invited pro-posals. The search began for aresearcher-author. A committee set up tointerview potential authors selectedElizabeth Hulse, who was well qualifiedboth as librarian and historian. To assisther, a questionnaire about the earlyyears of CLA was drawn up and sent toa number of people. ELN reported onthe book’s progress, “Aimed to be a live-ly and popular treatment emphasizingMorton’s contribution, the book isplanned to be available for CLA’s annualconference in 1996, its 50th anniversary.

Elizabeth Hulse has completed herresearch, and the information and anec-dotes garnered from individuals whoremember Morton or the early days ofthe Association are being edited.”

The Board moved quickly to choose apublisher. They selected the Universityof Toronto Press, which had provided acompetitive quotation and would bothdesign and print a volume of about 150pages, with a soft cover. Substantialadditional funds were needed to publishand market the book, so the Ways andMeans Committee was established forthis task. They succeeded, and TheMorton Years: The Canadian LibraryAssociation, 1946-1971 was published atthe end of 1995.

This article, based on issues of Ex LibrisNews and minutes of the ELA Boardbetween 1990 and 1995, is the last of aseries of three accounts of ELA’s earlydays. The two earlier articles appeared inELAN Issues 33 and 34, spring and fall2003. o

ELA’s Early Years, 1990 to 1995

continued from page 9

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NEWFOUNDLAND ANDLABRADOR NEWSBY SUZANNE SEXTY

MARGUERITE JONES retired fromthe Memorial University ofNewfoundland libraries after 34 yearsof service, mainly in the QueenElizabeth II Library.

The public libraries of Newfoundlandreceived a new name, theNewfoundland and Labrador PublicLibraries. The provincial governingbody is still known as the ProvincialInformation and Library ResourcesBoard. o

Atlantic Newscontinued from page 5

Brian Doyle received the LA Book of the Year forChildren Award for Boy O'Boy, published byGroundwood Press.

Frances K. Groen, Trenholme Director of Libraries,McGill University, received the 2004 Canadian Associationof Research Libraries award for distinguished service toresearch librarianship.

Groupe de travail sur le traitement de la documenta-tion du Sous-Comite des bibliothèques [WorkingGroup on Cataloguing] received the CLA/OCLC CanadaAward for Resource Sharing Achievement.

Polly Horvath received the CLA Young Adult CanadianBook of the Year Award for The Canning Season, pub-lished by Groundwood Books.

Liz Kerr, president of OSLA (1996), president of OLA(2003) and currently co-chair, Ontario Coalition forSchool Libraries, was named Teacher of the Year 2004 bythe Elementary Teachers of Ontario.

Metadata Service received the CLA/3M Canada Awardfor Achievement in Technical Services.

Wendy Newman won the 2004 CLA/BowkerOutstanding Service to Librarianship Award.

Doug Poff, associate director, Library TechnologyResources and Services, University of Alberta Libraries,received the Miles Blackwell Award for OutstandingAcademic Librarianship.

Windsor Public Library received the CLA/InformationToday Award for Innovative Technology in recognition ofits project Geographic Information Systems in Health.

Samuel Rothstein, founding director and professoremeritus, School of Library, Archives and InformationStudies, University of British Columbia, was awarded anhonorary degree by that university on May 28, 2004.

Bill Slavin received the CLA/Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator's Award for illustrating author LindaBailey's Stanley's Party, published by Kids Can Press.

Stephane Jorisch received the same award for illustrat-ing author Chieri Uegaki's Suki's Kimono, also publishedby Kids Can Press.

Edith Janet Adamson died on August 16, 2004 inVictoria at the age of 91. She was a librarian with thefederal government in Ottawa.

Dr. John Hall Archer of Regina died on April 5, 2004.He was director of libraries at McGill University, presi-dent of CLA in 1967 and founding president of theUniversity of Regina.

Frances Bonney died on February 13, 2004 inVancouver. She was head librarian of the Science Councilof Canada for many years.

Joan Sylvia Fawcett died on May 11, 2004 in Tantallon,N.S. She received a BLS degree from the University ofToronto and worked as a reference librarian in Oakville,Ont.

Patricia Warburton Hart died on February 20, 2004 inSmoky Lake, AB at the age of 93. She worked as a librar-ian and geneologist in Saint John, North York, Ont.,Richmond Hill, Ont., and Ottawa.

Margaret Elaine Johnston died on July 30, 2004 inToronto. She was coordinator of Boys and Girls Servicesat the Toronto Public Library before her retirement.

Richard Loeffler died on April 17, 2004. He was on theMember Communications Committee of the CLA from2002 to 2004.

Wilma Eleanor Swain died on May 16, 2004 in Toronto,at the age of 90. She was a teacher-librarian.

Mary Ruth Thompson died on May 28, 2004 inHamilton. She held a BLS and an MLS from theUniversity of Toronto. She was a young adults librarianand the later head of Westdale branch library inHamilton.

Esther LeClerc Turpin died on June 23, 2004 inBurnaby, BC, at the age of 98. She was a teacher-librari-an in Ontario for over 30 years.

Linda Cook, director, Edmonton Public Library, receivedthe CAPL/Brodart Outstanding Public Library ServiceAward.

Milestones Compiled by Merlyn Beeckmans

Obituaries

Awards

Milestones, continued

ELANELANNumber 36 / Fall 2004ISSN 1709-1179

Published twice a year by:Ex Libris Associationc/o The Dean’s OfficeFaculty of Information StudiesUniversity of Toronto140 St. George StreetToronto, ON M5S 3G6Phone: (416) 760-4722http://exlibris.fis.utoronto.caEditor: Margaret OldfieldProofreader: Jean WeihsProduction: Ontario LibraryAssociation

Newsletter Committee:Merlyn Beeckmans, SherrillCheda, Diane Henderson,Jean Weihs

Send contributions andsuggestions to:Sherrill Cheda32 Rosedale Heights DrToronto, ON M4T 1C3Tel: 416-482-5242Fax: 416-482-6704E-mail: [email protected] for next issue: March 21, 2005

ELAN reserves the right toedit contributions. We useCanadian Press style.

Ian Wilson was named acting librarian and archivist ofCanada.

One other book honoured by CLA for effective illustra-tion was The Subway Mouse by Barbara Reil, pub-lished by North Winds Press.

Basil Stuart-Stubbs, icon of the publishing world inBritish Columbia and beyond, received the 2004 GrayCampbell Distinguished Service Award for outstandingcontributions to the B.C. literary community.

Barb Carr of St. Lawrence College retired at the end ofJune, 2004 after working there for 30 years.

Yulerette Gordon, applied health sciences librarian,University of Waterloo, retired on April 30, 2004.

Richard Malinski, chief librarian at RyersonUniversity, Toronto, retired on March 31, 2004.

Gwendolyn Ebbett, MLS (Dalhousie University) wasreappointed to a six-year term as university librarian atthe University of Windsor.

Sonia Lewis was appointed chief executive officer ofthe Kitchener Public Library, effective August 17, 2004.

Douglas Lochhead, Ex Libris member, was appointedby the town of Sackville, N.B. as its lifetime poet laure-ate. His book of poems about Sackville and environs issoon to be published.

Irene Martin (née Bennell), BLS (University ofToronto, 1970) and an Episcopal priest, has published abook, Sea Fire. Tales of Jesus and Fishing.

Catherine Steeves is joining the University of GuelphLibrary as associate chief librarian, InformationTechnology Services.

Laura Soto-Barra, MLS (University of Toronto, 1991) isassistant managing editor and librarian at the PostStandard in Middleton, Wisconsin.

Vicki Whitmell, MLS (University of Toronto, 1984) wasappointed executive director of the Ontario LegislativeLibrary at Queen's Park.

News

Retirements

CORRECTIONTwo ELAN readers pointed out to us that, in the photoaccompanying Al Bowron's column in the Spring 2004issue, the lady with whom Al is hamming it up at a picnicin 1966 is not Ruby Wallace (who died in 1965) butMarion Gilroy. At the time of the photo, Marion was onthe faculty of the UBC School of Librarianship, following adistinguished career in regional librarianship in her nativeNova Scotia and in Saskatchewan. Thanks alert ELANreaders!

BACK ISSUES OF EX LIBRIS NEWSThe Board of the Ex Libris Association has autho-rized the sale of back issues, Ex Libris News. Singleissues are available at a cost of $2.00 per copy; acomplete set of back issues from Number 1 to 28is available for $24.00.

Write Ex Libris Association, c/o Dean’s Office,

Faculty of Information Studies, University of Toronto,Toronto, ON M5S 3G6

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