Special Birthday Gift Shared with the Libraries
from Recently at UML… A News Release from the University of Manitoba Libraries, November 1992, News Release No. 4
A novel birthday gift has led to the enhancement of children’s literature studies at the University of Manitoba. When Miss Mabel Jean Fraser celebrated her 90th birthday, her family and friends wanted to mark the occasion by doing something that would recognize her career as teacher and librarian. Together they made a presentation to the University in honour of Miss Fraser, requesting the donation be used to add to the collection of children’s books in the Libraries.
The Children’s Literature Collection is based in the D.S. Woods Education Library and supports courses in children’s literature, language arts and reading at the Faculty of Education. The Collection comprises some volumes ranging from medal winning picture books to fairytale collections to historic boys and girls annuals. The present donation is targeted towards recent Canadian publications featuring such distinguished authors as Robert Munsch, Michael Martychenko and Stephane Poulin.
Miss Fraser, a graduate of the University of Manitoba (B.A., 1924), taught in the high schools of Boissevain, Holland and Selkirk. She eventually moved to the Correspondence Branch of the Manitoba Department of Education, and later to the Provincial Normal School in Tuxedo. She held her position there as librarian and instructor of children’s literature for 19 years. When the Normal School amalgamated with the Faculty of Education, Miss Fraser moved to the Fort Garry Campus for an additional year of service before retirement.
A luncheon was held in her honour on January 31, 1992, in the Education Building. Family, friends, representatives of the Libraries, and members of the Faculty of Education were in attendance and heard Miss Fraser speak on the lifelong values of reading. The new collection of children’s books was on display, each book bearing a plate in dedication to Miss Fraser. Family members announced their hopes that they can keep adding to this collection in the years to come.
Former Winnipeggers ride to library’s rescue
Millennium expansion gets boost from Toronto party
by Bud Robertson
from Winnipeg Free Press, Monday, February 5, 2001
SITTING down over cappuccino one afternoon, three members of the Winnipeg Library Foundation came up with an ingenious idea to raise money for its millennium expansion plan.
Throw a party in Toronto, they said, invite former Winnipeggers and business leaders who have connections with the city, and appeal to their loyalty to help fund the $25-million library project.
And so was born “Gerry’s Party” – an after-hours shmooz-fest hosted Saturday by two ex-Winnipeggers, Gerry Schwartz of Onex Corp., who couldn’t make it to the soiree in the end, and Charlie Coffey, an executive vice-president with the Royal Bank.
Inviting the guests to attend a performance of Larry’s Party, a musical based on a novel by former Winnipeg writer Carol Shields, was a natural fit, said Todd Pennell, executive director of the library foundation, who was one of those brainstorming in the cafeteria that day with city businessmen Joe Bova and Bruce Robinson.
They found sponsors to pay for the tickets and the post-play reception. The only cost to the foundation was Pennell’s airline tickets and expenses.
“We, as a foundation, can’t afford to put on a special night like this,” said Pennell. “It’s very expensive to do.”
And the foundation needs all the money it can get in its efforts to bring Winnipeg’s library system into the 21st century.
Compared to other Canadian cities – many of which have already built new libraries or expanded the ones they have – Winnipeg is trailing woefully behind, said Pennell.
The library, built in 1972, doesn’t have nearly enough materials nor computer workstations for a city of this size.
As an example, the main library in Bridgewater, N.S., a town about 7,300 people, has 125 computers with Internet access. Winnipeg’s main branch has a paltry 20.
“One out of every two people going into the library today cannot find the book that they want or must order it from another branch," said Pennell, and that’s placing a tremendous burden on already stressed library branches.
In 1999, 143,015 pieces of material – books, videos, audio tapes, etc. – were sent to the branches from the main library. In return, the branches sent 279,804 items to the main library.
“The usage is increasing at Centennial and it’s sucking the books out of the branches,” said Pennell.
And that’s not all.
On a per capita basis, Winnipeg’s library ranks 31st in a list of 50 Canadian cities in terms of overall spending, a dismal 46th in terms of hours of operation, 37th in visits per capita and 34th in circulation.
Libraries in Regina and Saskatoon – cities about one-third the size of Winnipeg – also outrank Winnipeg’s library system.
The foundation hopes to add 250,000 books, 100 computer work stations, and an expansion of the children’s collection.
Launched in October 1999, the fund-raising campaign has so far raised $9.6-million -- $5-million from the city and the rest from private donors.
As soon as they have the whole $25 million in the bank, said Pennell, they’ll start the ball rolling, hopefully as early as this year.
For Pennell, it can’t come soon enough.
“The library is the single most important source of life-long learning because it is the only one that you can be two-years-old or you can be 92-years-old and you go into it and use it.”
Kelekis? Jeanne’s? Must be a ‘Peg party
Expatriates in Toronto gather to help library
From Winnipeg Free Press, Monday, February 25, 2001 A1
TORONTO – The food table is loaded up with quail eggs and caviar, but the guests are lunging for the little Kelekis hotdogs and slices of Jeanne’s cakes.
“It’s like heaven!” gushes Toronto advertising honcho Ron Telpner as h e bites into one of Mary Kelekis’s famous Winnipeg wieners.
It’s the sweet taste of cherished memories for Telpner, former head of McKim Advertising, and about 100 other expatriate Winnipeggers brought together over the weekend in Hogtown to help raise money for the $25-million Winnipeg Millennium Library expansion.
‘Expensive hotdog’
“This could be the most expensive hotdog I’ve ever had,” Telpner says with a laugh as a server carrying a tray of Winnipeg goldeye navigates her way through the crowded reception area of the Bluma Appel Theatre at the St. Lawrence Centre in the heart of the city.
“It’s the first time I’ve had this little hotdog,” muses Roy Perlman, a Toronto retailer who does a lot of business in Winnipeg. “It’s wonderful,” he declares.
If the hotdogs weren’t enough to get the nostalgia bubbling to the surface, the guests were invited before the party to Saturday’s final showing of Larry’s Party, the musical adaptation of Carol Shields’ novel about a Winnipegger struggling to find himself.
By invitations only; donations encouraged
Library boosters were in out in full force over the weekend in Toronto, trying to shake up some cash commitments for Winnipeg’s plans to upgrade Centennial Library.
THE POSSE:
Glen Murray – Winnipeg’s mayor since 1998. Murray was first elected to council in 1989.
Charlie Coffey – The Royal Bank’s executive vice-president of government and community affairs, formerly worked in Winnipeg as senior vice-president and general manager for this region. Coffey has long been a champion of aboriginal economic development issues.
Senator Mira Spivak – A former chairwoman of the Winnipeg School Division board of trustees. Spivak was appointed to the Senate in 1986. Her husband Sidney was leader of the provincial Tories in the 1970s.
Senator Lois Wilson – Wilson, who was born in Winnipeg and attended Kelvin High School, was appointed to the Senate in 1998. She became the first woman moderator of the United Church of Canada in 1980.
Ed Schreyer – Premier of Manitoba from 1969 to 1977, Schreyer was appointed to the position of Governor General by Pierre Trudeau in 1979.
Arni Thorsteinson – President of the Winnipeg-based development company, Shelter Corp., Thorsteinson received his Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Manitoba.
Others included Winnipeg businessman and community activist Joe Bova, Western Glove Work’s Bob Silver, local arts patron Kathleen Richardson and Dee and Harold Buchweld.
THE TARGETS:
Tom Axworthy – Principal secretary to former prime minister Pierre Trudeau from 1981 to 1984.
Ian Delaney – Chairman of Toronto-based mining company Sherritt International Corp. The company is noted for its investments in Cuban oil production, nickel mining, power generation, cell phones, tourism and agriculture.
Sarah Everett – President and CEO of the Bowring gift store chain. Winnipeg-based Domo Gasoline Corp., is owned by the Everett family. At one time, Sarah served as its president.
Douglas Gibson – President and publisher of book publishing giant McClelland & Stewart Inc. since 1988.
Lorina Sacilotto – Executive vice-president of retail marketing with Harlequin Enterprises. The world’s largest publisher of romance novels began in Winnipeg in 1949.
Other targets included:
Jim Allen – Thomas, Allen & Son Ltd.
Penny Burk – Burk and Associates
Alex Burstein – CEO Group
Harold Fenn – H.B. Fenn and Co.
Matthew Fraser – Rebecca Gottlieb
Bob Laine – Chum Group
Jeff Lowenstein – Kenneth Cole Fashions
Claude Primo – HarperCollins Canada
Arthur Gale – S & B Books
Donald MacDonald – Goodman Private Wealth Management
Jack Stoddard – General Publishing
Ron Telpner – Brainstorm Group
Julia Mettus – St. Andrews Financial
By Michael Thibault
For the Free Press
February 19, 1997
UNLESS YOU are a manufacturer, engineer, entrepreneur or inventor, you probably don’t know Betty Dearth.
But if your occupation is one of those, or something similar, then you may have needed Dearth’s help on more than one occasion.
Dearth is the librarian of the Industrial Technology Centre Library, located on Niakwa Road in St. Boniface. The library, which resides in the Industrial Technology Centre (ITC), is a highly specialized resource library which caters to local busineses, entrepreneurs and innovators in all matters technical.
“We’re basically a source of applied technical information – the how-to stuff,” says Dearth.
There are over 5,000 sources of information, in both book and catalogue form, available to anyone who needs it, she says.
Unlike regular public libraries which cover a wide range of subjects, Dearth says the highly specialized nature of the library cuts down on the amount of traffic coming through the doors.
“We’re much more focused, but that makes us more useful to a smaller audience,” she says.
Some of the more interesting patrons of the ITC library are inventors.
The librarian says everyone from game creators to those with new ideas on fishing equipment show up to find out how they should proceed.
Dearth says she first introduces the budding Edisons to the literature on patents and copyrighting.
The ITC itself has some facilities to help in the creation of a prototype of an invention, plus the capability to test new products.
Like all resource centres in the nineties, the ITC Library is on-line at http://www.itc.mb.ca. Users can gain access to the ITC Library catalog and search for books themselves.
The ITC Library is a member of the Manitoba chapter of the Canadian Association of Special Libraries and Information Services (CASLIS). The organization has membership from about 30 small specialized libraries in the city.
Dearth says the libraries in CASLIS assist one another in helping their patrons.
“The bigger network we have, the better we can help people,” she says.
Dearth says although not many people know of the ITC Library, or the city’s other smaller libraries, she points out that they do play an important role in the province.
The librarian says that often a manufacturer will rely on information at the library, such as official product specifications, to develop their own product.
Dearth says she knows the value of the library to its users. “Those who use us, continue to use us,” she says.
Judy Kendle, a representative with CASLIS, says small specialized libraries are “hidden treasures.”
Kendle points to another CASLIS member, the J. W. Crane Memorial Library on Portage Avenue as an example of the quality of information contained in small libraries.
According to Kendle, the J. W. Crane Memorial Library is Canada’s largest and best-known special library on aging.
