January / February 2001 Vol. 33, no. 1

Margo Wiper, Director of Marketing and Publishing, Retires

Since her arrival in May 1974, Margo Wiper’s career at the National Library has been intimately tied to publishing. She came from the government’s well-known journal Optimum to set up the serials and monograph program. This was the formalization of a publishing program that, combined with Canadiana: The National Bibliography and its various services, has always been central to the fulfillment of the Library’s cultural and professional mandates. The techniques, technologies and products of publishing have changed dramatically over the last quarter century, but the activity itself has been integral to all the Library’s developments.

Margo often chuckles that she has had more bosses than she can count on two hands or remember in order. Over the years, she and her loyal band of staff have also been housed on more than a few of the floors in the 395 Wellington Street location and the West Memorial Building  -  including in the stacks. Issues of accommodation just do not go away.

When some of us close our eyes and picture Margo, we see her sitting at a drafting table with her Exacto knife. We are familiar with her ability to design and envision the final product and to make things happen. Her precision and at ease at editing and cutting and pasting the actual texts and illustrations to lay out the camera-ready copy are well known.

As the technology advanced and the enthusiasm for Canadian studies resulted in many large bibliographical projects, the Library, through the Queen’s Printer, engaged in several co-publishing ventures. Partnerships with Canadian publishers such as the University of Toronto Press, Fitzhenry and Whiteside, and University of British Columbia Press, as well as the Canadian Library Association (CLA) and the Association pour l’avancement des sciences et des techniques de la documentation (ASTED), were managed by Margo with the professional and humorous manner for which she is known. Even when she and her staff were concurrently juggling the preparation of an exhibition opening, the booth for a library conference, an issue of National Library News and several promotional pamphlets, Margo’s desk showed admirable order. Each project with its own file  -  the timetable, status report and costing of the product ready to be shared in a flash.

As the public programs of the Library promoted its collections, revealing the myriad expressions of the Canadian experience, publishing staff worked behind the scenes. The multiple exhibits of Livres d’artistes, the travelling exhibitions, such as Glenn Gould, the successful annual Read Up On It campaign, the partnership of several federal cultural institutions in "West on Wellington", the provision of events for tourists and citizens for occasions such as Canada Day, and the Governor General’s Literary Award readings  -  these examples reveal the creative collaboration among many members of staff and partners to make known the Library’s treasures.

Margo Wiper has a canny way of anticipating and preparing for changes  -  technological, financial and organizational. She sent her staff to be trained in information technology services for the transition to electronic publishing; working with an inter-branch committee, a marketing program was introduced to staff with responsibility for consulting clients and designing products to meet their needs; and with a much reduced budget and staff complement, Margo and her staff have continued to meet deadlines with a great variety of high-quality, bilingual (and some times trilingual!) products on the Web site and in print.

While the dominant and enduring leitmotif of Margo’s contribution to the Library has been her tireless work with her team to promote the National Library from behind the scenes, she was also ready to put her organizational skills and energies into a number of special projects. For her leadership in chairing an interdepartmental group in developing and using guidelines for the production of alternative format materials (braille, audio, large print) for use by federal managers, Margo won a National Library Recognition Award and an Award of Excellence from the Public Service of Canada. And she admits great satisfaction in having to go to a second printing of Accessible Library II, a manual compiled by Wendy Scott, with the assistance of Ann Archer, to enable Canadian libraries to prepare themselves and assess their readiness for serving persons with disabilities.

A second campaign that now seems distant focussed on the introduction and application of permanent paper standards. Awareness of the destructive influence of acid in paper arose at the time that recycling came into vogue. Many worked to clarify the issues and to change habits in the planning and producing of information materials for long-term use. The National Library’s work within government and with publishers in Canada led to Dr. Marianne Scott’s initiatives in promoting and adopting the use of permanent paper standards at UNESCO and by its member states.

The accompanying illustrations of some of the National Library’s publishing achievements and the thoughts of colleagues reveal the unfailing dedication of the talented and humane National Library publisher, Margo Wiper. To her, our collective thanks and best wishes. May she enjoy a very well deserved retirement.

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Margo has impressed me with the importance she places on building a team and encouraging the people who work for her to develop their skills and talents. In Marketing and Publishing she has built a team that has really accomplished a great deal in the last few years, taking what was a conventional print-oriented publishing operation and transforming it into a multi-media communications function. A great deal of the success in that is owing to Margo’s leadership, her focus on team-building, and her talent for eliciting the best from the people she works with.

Tom Delsey

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I did not work with Margo often, other than during the Impressions exhibition at the end of 1999. At my first meeting with her, I was resigned to the fact that the NLC would not issue a catalogue for my exhibition. To hold an exhibition of this size without a catalogue was ridiculous, but the lack of resources is a chronic problem. After several minutes of discussion with Margo and Randall Ware, Margo looked me right in the eyes and said unequivocally, "We will do a catalogue. I want a catalogue for this exhibition, and a good one, too." I knew that with Margo’s determination, everything was possible, even an exhibition catalogue! After several months of work, the publisher decided this was not the kind of publication he wanted to do. Once again  --  and without telling me  --  Margo came to the rescue, negotiated with the publisher and saved the day. We had our catalogue, and "a good one, too". My memories of Margo’s contribution to the NLC will always be slightly egotistical. Without her I wouldn't have had a catalogue for the exhibition that I had worked on for an entire year. Thank you, Margo.

Michel Brisebois

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It all started with a simple telephone call from Margo, to whom I jokingly responded, "The answer is yes!" before I even knew the reason for her call. I wanted a change of routine at work and I had no idea that I had just plunged head first into the whirlwind of publishing at the National Library. Thus began my career as a serial publications editor, with all that the position entails, including proofreading and meeting publication deadlines. I had to quickly learn how to accommodate Margo and tight deadlines, and I still don't know the difference between the two. Thank you, Margo, for taking the risk in 1992 of accepting my spontaneous response. Throughout these years in Marketing and Publishing, under Margo's direction, I always appreciated the intensity with which she completed her projects… and I am sure that her retirement will be a complete success.

Jean-Marie Brière

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I arrived in Margo's section for a short work assignment. Thirteen years later, I was still there. Over the years, technologies changed, and eventually the painstaking process of cutting and pasting text onto layout sheets was accomplished by computer. So many changes, yet Margo embraced them all and encouraged us along the same path. Change is inevitable, but sometimes things are lost in the name of progress, like the familiar smell of the waxing machine and the cheerful banter that accompanied the preparation of a publication as we huddled over the drafting table. Still, throughout the continual upheaval, we knew we could count on Margo's stewardship.

Dale Simmons

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The best thing about working with Margo was her willingness to find a way to make things happen. She had a unique ability to find money or time or staff or whatever it took... and it frequently meant that the time was her own. Her commitment was exemplary.

Randall Ware

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I first met Margo back in 1985. I had been at the National Library for eight years, but I knew Margo only by name and would not have recognized her had we crossed paths. But I had certainly heard people mention her name several times, and in my mind she came across as a rather formidable person. So you can imagine my trepidation when I went to see her in the National Librarian's Office (it was unnerving enough just to walk into the NLO) in order to discuss the duties of the Executive Assistant to the National Librarian. A work assignment had come up, and I had either applied for the position or was considering applying and had decided that it would perhaps be wise to get the current incumbent's impressions. But I need not have worried because Margo and I hit it off very well, at least from my perspective, from the very beginning, and we have remained on very good terms ever since. During the 16 months that I was in the position of Executive Assistant, I often went to Margo for advice, help and also sympathy; I think Margo found my situation and my adventures in NLO rather amusing most of the time, but she never failed to rally my spirits, and I thank her for that. Like so many other veterans of the National Library, Margo is taking a great deal of knowledge and experience away with her as she retires, and she will be missed.

Bill Murphy

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It is a challenge to be brief in commenting on Margo's contribution to the achievement of the goals of the National Library. The words that first come to mind are standards, devotion, enthusiasm and friendship.

It was always a pleasure to meet and discuss projects with Margo. She was full of ideas. Regardless of what challenge was given to her, I cannot ever remember her saying: this may be a problem. During the period when the National Library was promoting the concept that information should be available to all, not just to those who could easily read print, it was appropriate that the Government of Canada start with its own publications. Margo recognized how important this was and readily took on the challenge of chairing the Interdepartmental Working Group on Alternate Format. The group first developed recommendations and then, under Margo’s leadership, worked tirelessly to see them implemented throughout the Government.

Her love of her work showed in the care and attention to detail that is evident in the many excellent publications she produced; publications that not only brought pleasure to their readers or, in the case of posters, viewers, but also brought a number of prizes and awards to the National Library.

Margo was a loyal and trusted friend and for that, above all, I thank her and wish her all the very best in the coming years.

Marianne Scott

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Satisfaction comes from a job well done  --  thoughtfully conceived in response to need, well planned, delivered in a timely, cost effective and attractive manner. Over and over again, I have experienced the joy and satisfaction of working with Margo and her team. These notes and illustrations harbour many stories and leave many other happy outcomes to our memories.

Gwynneth Evans

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The enduring image I have of Margo Wiper is of a woman of action. She never seemed to stop working and went from one thing to another with the ease of a master chef who can prepare several different dishes at once. Her active nature also showed in her dislike of "wasting time" in stalled meetings where decisions were a long time coming.

The other image I have of her is as the "little tornado" who spun between the offices of her staff and who drew in all those in her wake, making surprise visits during their daily routine.

During her career at the Library, and as Director of Marketing and Publishing in particular, Margo was at the heart of almost all the projects and activities that touched on publishing and external communications. It was always necessary to involve her at one point or another in the implementation of projects in these areas. She had the ability to grasp the direction an activity should take and knew how to give it a "communications spin". Her point of view, which she expressed strongly under certain circumstances, sometimes resulted in redirection of the initial approach.

My contact with Margo was often via e-mail or telephone, since we didn't work in the same building. Often when she took the phone to answer my call, I had the impression that I had caught her in the middle of something or was being squeezed in between two other things. I have heard her giving directions to someone else, type on her keyboard or rustle papers while she was on the phone with me.

Over time, I came to know Margo as a demanding and extremely professional individual. I also felt that she was generous with her time and experience whenever she was needed.

André Paul