November/December 2002 Vol. 34, no. 6

An Australian Visit: Pamela Gatenby

Gaby Senay, Communications

Last September 6, Pamela Gatenby, Assistant Director-General, Collections Management Division, National Library of Australia, visited the National Library of Canada (NLC).

Mrs. Gatenby was recently assigned the task of conducting comparative studies of the systems for legal deposit, electronic and digitized publications, and, most importantly, foreign government publications. Once her research is completed, the best practices will be implemented at the National Library of Australia. Mrs. Gatenby’s responsibilities include collecting, cataloguing and preserving the National Library of Australia’s collections. Her Division also takes care of digital collections development. Mrs. Gatenby used her visit to the National Library of Canada to familiarize herself with our general strategic priorities.

Accompanied by Dr. Roch Carrier, National Librarian, Pamela Gatenby met several NLC staff members, including those from the Executive Committee. Sharon Ward, Anne Draper, John Stegenga, Francine Bédard, Susan Haigh and Pierre Gamache also had the opportunity to share their knowledge and expertise with Mrs. Gatenby. This type of meeting enables us to reinforce our already strong ties with the National Library of Australia and to discover important similarities between the work of our two countries in creating and sustaining access to our respective cultures.

Before she left, Mrs. Gatenby saluted the important and constructive projects that the National Library of Canada is currently working on, as well as its effort to make its work with community libraries better known to Canadians.

Mrs. Gatenby’s itinerary will bring her to the national libraries of Denmark and Sweden, as well as the Library of Congress, in Washington, D.C. before returning to Australia.