November/December 2002 Vol. 34, no. 6

André Paul Retires

Monique Renaud and Jean-Eudes Bériault, Acquisitions and Bibliographic Services

After a fulfilling 35-year career at the National Library of Canada (NLC), André Paul retired in November 2002. André provided invaluable service to the NLC, most specifically to the Acquisitions and Bibliographic Services Branch (ABS), formerly the Cataloguing Branch.

André Paul was part of the group hired during the 1967-1969 Librarian Recruitment Trainee Program. A graduate of the Université de Montréal’s Library School, he accepted the position of cataloguer and document analyst for the national bibliography, Canadiana. In 1972, he was already showing an interest in technical services, editing the French translation of the Dewey Decimal Classification, 18th edition.

Over time, he held various positions, including chief of the Subject Analysis Division, chief of Serials and Official Publications Cataloguing, assistant director (Cataloguing) and communications and special projects officer. An untiring worker, he was always ready to help the Branch Director or any other staff member.

For several years, André Paul managed business relations with the staff of Laval University’s Répertoire de vedettes-matière, produced in cooperation with the NLC. With his colleagues, he witnessed the evolution and enrichment of the Répertoire, which moved from a print to a Web publication.

For some time, André has provided the link between ABS and Marketing and Publishing services (now the Communications Branch), thus facilitating the issue of many publications and numerous articles in the National Library News (now the Bulletin). His writing abilities and working knowledge of the French language were used to their full advantage.

As a member of the Association pour l’avancement des sciences et des techniques de la documentation (ASTED), he worked on several publications, most notably contributing to the French version of the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (AACR2). He was also an active member of the Corporation des bibliothécaires professionnels du Québec. Within these two organizations and others, he was part of several committees. He also represented ABS in meetings and conferences, both nationally and internationally.

Along with his professional responsibilities, André was constantly involved in social activities. He presided over charity campaigns at work or helped other persons organize these yearly campaigns, staff Christmas celebrations and picnics. Recent examples include his role in 2000 as chair of the Committee for the 50th Anniversary of the Canadian Bibliographic Centre and as a member of the Committee for the National Library 50th Anniversary, to be celebrated in 2003.

André is to be thanked for his contribution to raising the profile of cataloguing, and for his dedication and generosity. Our best wishes, André, for what will hopefully be a relaxing retirement!