New Library exciting at St. Emile’s

By Michael Thibault For the Free Press October 21, 1998

THE KIDS of St. Emile’s School in St. Vital have found a new hangout – the library. The school, a small private Catholic school now nearly 40 years old, has just reopened its library after completely restocking and renovating it.

“The kids love it,” says library technician Judith Enns.

Enns says the school had little choice in updating their library. Aside from many of the books being out-of-date, there were also many that were in very poor condition.

The process of rebuilding the library started about a year ago. At that time a library committee was struck and a library consultant was hired to assess the library and make suggestions.

“One of those suggestions was that the school should hire a library technician,” says Enns, explaining how she got her job.

The library technician started her new position in January, with her first role being to “weed out” the existing library book stock.

“I would say we got rid of around 75 per cent of the books that were here,” she says.

Once that was complete, a book wish list was devised which included suggestions from school administrators, teachers and students.

“We sent a note out to teachers (and others) and asked what they would like to see in the library,” Enns says.

Aside from a wide variety of fiction and educational books, the library also had to purchase new encyclopedias.

“We have spent $5,000 on new books so far,” says Enns, indicating that the book-buying spree was only the first of more to come. “We have to keep spending money and buying books.”

But books aren’t the only things that are new in the library. First and foremost in interesting new items for a lot of kids in the pre-kindergarten to grade 8 school are the new computers.

Enns says the library “is also the technology room. And now we have new computers for kids to work on.”

In fact, the library technician says while giving tours of the library to students recently, the first thing many of them wanted to know was where the new computers were.

Aesthetically, the library also invested in new items such as carpeting and bookshelves, and also received a paint job.

“The kids are amazed when they come in here. Many of them comment on the difference from a year ago,” says Enns.

The money used to renovate the library was raised by the school’s parent association, which held fund-raising events such as raffles and bike-a-thons. According to Enns, $10,000 was raised by the parents for the new-look library.

Enns says working at St. Emile’s has been a dream job. The opportunity to enter a library and help rebuild it from the ground up is an exciting occasion in the library world.

“I look forward to coming to work every day,” she says.

Enns adds one of the things she is most proud of is how she is contributing to the education of the students in the school. It is a feeling that is often reaffirmed by the number of kids who hang around the library these days.

“We want to excite kids about reading,” adds Carolyn Lamoureux, who, along with Sylvia Kozaveich, is a library helper, as well as an instructional aid at the school.

The St. Emile’s School library grand reopening was held recently. The event included local dignitaries, as well as entertainment and refreshments.

Aboriginal Justice Inquiry collection is presented to the E. K. Williams Law Library

from Recently at UML… A News Release from the University of Manitoba Libraries, March 1992, News Release No. 5

On March 11, 1992, a ceremony was held at the E. K. Williams Law Library to officially accept the gift of the library collection from the Manitoba Public Inquiry into the Administration of Justice and Aboriginal People.

The collection of approximately 1,200 items includes government reports, studies, unpublished papers, as well as published material, and covers a wide range of topics to issues of aboriginal justice: prison, myth and legend, land claims, police, aboriginal courts, and self-government. The material was collected mostly from North America, but also includes foreign and comparative material dealing with aboriginal issues in other countries, such as Australia and New Zealand. It also includes the transcripts of the community hearings: the verbatim record of public hearings held in approximately 30 Manitoba communities, and summaries of the 790 presentations made to the Commission, including a subject index. In addition, there are 42 independent studies prepared for the Commission, covering various aspects of the relationship between the justice system and aboriginal peoples of Manitoba.

This gift collection augments the existing resources of the E. K. Williams Law Library and the University of Manitoba Libraries, and marks a major contribution in the development of a strong research collection to support initiatives by the Faculty of Law and the University of Manitoba in Aboriginal Justice and Native Studies.

Special mention must be made of the work of Wanda Chandler, a former staff member in the E. K. Williams Law Library, who was seconded part-time for a year and half to the Inquiry, and did much to integrate the building of the collection with the material held by the E. K. Williams Law Library, as well as acting as the link between the resources of the University of Manitoba and the Inquiry’s researchers.

The ceremony was attended by representatives from the Faculty of Law, the University of Manitoba Libraries, the University of Manitoba, as well as the two commissioners from the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry, Associate Chief Justice A. C. Hamilton and Associate Chief Judge C. M. Sinclair.

St. Boniface General Hospital Library joins UML

from Recently at UML… A News Release from the University of Manitoba Libraries, November 1998, News Release No. 53

After many months of preparation and negotiation, the Carolyn Sifton-Helene Fuld Library at St. Boniface General Hospital (SBGH) was consolidated with the University of Manitoba Libraries. The official transfer took place on August 1, 1998, at which time the SBGH Library became a satellite operation of the Neil John Maclean Health Sciences Library. According to the formal agreement signed in June, the hospital library’s complete baseline budget, the collection, furnishings, and office equipment were transferred to the University in exchange for full academic library services at the St. Boniface sites. SBGH Library staff became employees of the University Libraries as part of the agreement. 

The restructured SGBH Library is staffed by two professional librarians, two library assistants, and a casual shelver. The collection of 400 current periodicals and 7,000 books will be maintained on site, and the library will continue to offer a full range of reference, orientation and bibliographic instruction, literature searching, and document delivery services. “As a special library at Winnipeg’s second largest hospital, our priority is to respond quickly and effectively to the information needs of clinical staff and researchers,” say library assistants, Sonja Paas and Michele Coutts. “And now University faculty and students working on the Taché campus have equal access to academic library services on site.” Within the structure of the University of Manitoba Libraries, the SBGH Library is well positioned to improve service to all its varied clientele. 

“We succeeded in making the change as transparent as possible for library users,” says Hospital Librarian, Mark Rabnett. “We’re happy with the results. Ada Ducas, Head of NJMHS Library, was a great help in making this important transition. Thanks should also go out to all those who worked so hard over the past year.” The Carolyn Sifton-Helene Fuld library remains an active member of the Manitoba Health Libraries Association. As part of the large University community, the library continues to work towards improving access to information in the health sciences. 

For more information, please contact Mark Rabnett, Head, Carolyn Sifton-Helene Fuld Library at 237-2808, or by e-mail at rabnett@sbrc.umanitoba.ca

U of M gives rock ‘n roll jukeboxes a spin into the information age

from the Winnipeg Free Press, Wednesday, March 5, 1997, p. A7

A MARRIAGE of 1950s practicality and 1990s technology is saving the University of Manitoba's faculty of management $45,000 a year.

The A. D. Cohen Management Library is the new home of four jukeboxes. But instead of 45-rpm records, each of them holds 240 CD-ROM disks each.

The disks hold full-image articles from 400 management journals from the United States. Canada, Britain and Australia.

The disks can also access a further 600 journal abstracts.

This state-of-the-art technology is a timesaver for the MBA students conducting research for the 12-month program.

"I tested the system with a search for a recurring column in Forbes and got 34 recent columns in 10 minutes," said Dennis Ferbel, head of the library. "With the old system of bound journals, it would have taken up to two hours."

MBA students can search the four jukeboxes using either key words, journal names, authors, or geographic regions.

"It is even easier than searching the Internet," said Febel, "because it only searches management articles."

Time is a major concern for many of the MBA students, who have taken a year off from their jobs to get their masters' degrees.

The less time spent on library services, the better.

The faculty of management leases the system from Abstract Business Information for $75,000 a year. The library had been paying $120,000 a year for subscriptions to bound copies of journals.

The change to the new CD-ROM technology will save the library $45,000 a year as well as space that is now not taken up with stacks of bound journals.