Number 49/Spring 2011 ELANELAN Ex Libris Association Newsletter INSIDE THIS ISSUE New Wine in Old Bottles 1 By Tom Eadie New Wine in Old Bottles President’s Report 2 By Tom Eadie By Carrol Lunau A Tour of the Royal Conservatory of The first Music, October 18, 2010 3 presentation at By Edna Hajnal the Ex Libris Ex Libris Sessions at SC 2011 3 Association’s By Lorne Bruce 2010 Annual Zimbabwe Library: A Beacon of Light 4 Conference was a By Sylvia Murray panel discussion: Ex Libris Biography Project 5 Post-Retirement By Nancy Williamson Activities: from Technology Unmasked 5 Consulting to By Stan Orlov Volunteering. How I Became a Librarian 6 Jean Weihs By Dawn Monroe (consultant, Books by Ex Libris Members 6 columnist, and Jean Weihs writer) spoke A Library Career Can Be Exciting 7 on some of the By Al Bowron activities she Shirley Lewis presenting at the Annual Conference Canadian Guidelines on Library and Informa- undertook after retirement. (Jean tion Services for Older Adults—Updates 7 By Jan Jacobson could serve as a poster-child for Shirley Lewis (founder, Children early retirement, having accepted an of Ethiopia Education Fund Canada) Memories of Norman Horrocks 8 By Michael Colborne advantageous offer from Seneca College spoke on the subject of volunteer then leaving her teaching position at services overseas and, warning that Centennial Library Buildings in Ontario 9 By Lorne Bruce age 55!) Jean continued to teach after such an experience can be a shock retirement (visiting professor at UCLA to the system, she stressed the need Book Reviews 10 and Simmons) and observed that there for flexibility and a commitment to Books I Recommend 12 helping others. For some, such volunteer By Jean Weihs is a range of teaching opportunities to be considered by those who are work can be addictive. Shirley went to The Librarian (2004-2008) 12 Reviewed by Shirley Lewis interested—including instructing library Ethiopia for a planned two-year tour volunteers. She spoke of the option of of duty and stayed for five years. She ELAN has an Index! 13 consulting, observing that consulting described her work with the “poorest Have Your Library Recognized 13 is a business, and requires business of the poor” and the challenges of What’s Happening at CLA 13 and technical knowledge, and that it running schools with no texts, and By Alvin Shroeder occasionally requires “reading between libraries with no books. One of The Songs of the Library Staff 13 the lines” to get at the real purpose of Shirley’s accomplishments in Ethiopia Quebec Librarians of the Past 14 the consultation. In discussing writing was already familiar to her audience: By Pierre Guilmette as a second career-option, Jean stressed identifying the need to connect stand- Crime in the Library 15 the importance of writing based on your alone computers to the Internet, she By Jean Weihs interest, knowledge, and personality; her successfully sought funds from Ex Libris Ex Libris at Faculty of Information 15 advice: write what you know. She shared to “make it so.” By Tom Eadie with the audience what she felt were Barbara Greer (Older Women’s News from the Provinces 16 the secrets to her success as a writer: Network [Ontario] Inc.) could not be News from Canadian Library/ deliver the manuscript on time and use present to deliver her talk, so Shirley Information Studies Schools 19 the Chicago Manual of Style, so that little Lewis spoke to the conference from Compiled By Diane Henderson. further editing is necessary. continued on page 2 ELAN 2 Number 49/Spring 2011 …continued from page 1 Barbara’s notes. She reported that OWN Room in the College St. Branch, in training storytellers. She spoke of the is a non-profit volunteer organization through the donation of the Osborne power of personal stories. Both Ken started in 1986 with federal funding. It Collection, to the inception of the John and Mariella treated the audience to is dedicated to the research of women’s Masefield Storytelling Festival (for more examples of their storytelling art. issues (such as the plight of homeless details visit http://www.amtelecom. A video of the conference-speakers’ women) and reports to the Secretary net/~manchest/Lillian_Smith/bg_house. presentations can be found on the ELA of State. OWN does advocacy work on html). website at http://exlibris.pbworks. such issues as health, old age security, Mariella Bertelli, of TPL, confirmed com/w/page/37802912/2010-Exlibris-n CPP payments, elder abuse and neglect, both the revival of storytelling in the AGM-speakers-video. disability support, and the prevention library and the library’s continuing role of Alzheimer’s. Much of this advocacy is designed to combat the inflexibility of Service Canada. Shirley drew the meeting’s attention to the OWN publication Contact and to some of its resources and social activities. HOLD THIS DATE The second presentation of the day, Storytelling: Its History in Libraries and the Effects of New Media, took place Mark Monday, Oct. 24 2011 on your after lunch. Ken Setterington, recently retired from Toronto Public Library, calendar for the Ex Libris Annual Conference gave a brief history of storytelling in and General Meeting TPL, beginning with the appointment of Lillian H. Smith to run the Children’s President’s Report By Carrol Lunau How time flies; it further streamlined with the executive’s posted on the ELA website. We owe doesn’t seem possible decision to establish a separate a debt of gratitude to all the members that it is time to write committee responsible for planning the of this committee for their efforts in another column for annual conference. Starting in 2012, revising our Bylaws. the Spring ELAN, responsibility for the conference will be I would also like to thank the especially since it is a bitterly cold the purview of the vice-president. These members of the Board and all the February day in Ottawa as I write this. changes will allow the public relations volunteers who work so tirelessly on At the February Executive Meeting, committee to focus primarily on public various committees. Without your we devoted a great deal of discussion relations. dedication, the Association would not to the long-range plan and the In reviewing the long-range plan, the exist. responsibilities of various committees. board added a new goal, which states, In closing, I would like to The committee structure was “To provide services to the membership acknowledge the loss of Norman rationalized, but the most significant of the Ex Libris Association, ELA will: Horrocks. Norman was an invaluable changes were to the structure of the a) provide a clearinghouse for member of the Board, and his good public relations and recruitment consultants, humour, hard work and attention to all committee, which has been split into b) arrange tours of libraries, archives thingsn parliamentary will be missed by three committees. and other related establishments.” all. Responsibility for recruitment and This goal reflects the Board’s expanded member services was moved from focus on membership services. At the public relations committee to a the April meeting, these goals will be When You Move separate recruitment and membership further refined and target dates and Please remember to send your committee, ably chaired by Sylvia responsibility for action will be assigned. new address to: Murray. This new committee has At the November AGM, the Ad been busy revising our membership Hoc Committee on the Constitution Ex Libris Association brochure to reflect new member services, and Bylaws again brought forward Faculty of Information such as providing a clearinghouse the amendment that was defeated in University of Toronto for information on volunteering and 2009. The amendment, which had 140 St. George St., mentoring opportunities. The public been refined, was successfully passed. Toronto, ON M5S 3G6 relations and recruitment committee was A revised version of the Bylaws will be ELAN Number 49/Spring 2011 3 A Tour of the Royal Conservatory of Music, October 18, 2010 By Edna Hajnal For its morning tour of the Royal classical recordings to the Conservatory. or on weekends, is at various locations in Conservatory, 15 Ex Libris members The library relies on such donations, as Toronto. met in the lobby of the TELUS its budget is small. Its collection of 1,200 The Conservatory’s faculty is part- Center for Performance and Learning, pieces of music for clarinet, the largest time and made up of professional which comprises the new Koerner of this kind in Canada, was another musicians—both local and international Hall and new library, the renovated gift. A separate room has a collection of artists. The day after Yo-Yo Ma’s recent Mazzoleni Hall, and the Leslie and classical music scores for each orchestral concert performance in Toronto, he gave Anna Dan Galleria. Karson Jones, the instrument. Conservatory faculty, a master class for Conservatory students library services manager, welcomed especially those who compose music, and later performed for Toronto middle- the group and took us into Rupert recommend many of the purchases. The school students in Koerner Hall. Edwards Library. Brian Quinn, the library is open Monday through Friday, Brian Quinn led the tour through the development officer, joined the group 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. three concert halls. Michael and Sonia there. The architectural firm, Kuwabara The main users of the library are the Koerner donated Koerner Hall, which Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects 130 students at the Glenn Gould Studio, opened on September 25, 2009—Glenn (KPMB), designed and planned the new who come from all over the world, often Gould’s birthday.