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November 1995, vol. 27, no. 11
by Iris Winston, Staff Writer
Irena Bell.
Irena Bell is excited about the future. "I'm a firm believer in serendipity," says Bell, who was a liaison officer for the National Library's National and International Programs when she took early retirement in July. "Now I will have time for pursuing dreams. I'm looking forward to being surprised by life."
The former Assistant Chief of the Library's Multilingual Biblioservice (MBS) began her professional life as a teacher and moved into a career as a librarian, first at the University of Toronto's College of Education Library and then at the National Library of Canada. "I started out in Subject Cataloguing in 1971," she recalls. "This was the growth period at the Library, when many new divisions were being set up. In 1973, I was hired for the new MBS. It was exciting, and wonderfully challenging. We had no models on which to base such a centralized multilingual service to ethnic communities across the country. So we had to go back to the theories of library science to devise solutions to problems."
An early problem, for instance, was deciding whether all MBS collections should be catalogued with records using Roman script. "We decided on the vernacular," she says. "It was unusual for its time -- perhaps even now -- to do cataloguing in the original script [of the publication], but we were very fixed on the users. It was easier for them to find books catalogued in their own languages."
The matter of languages -- eventually, MBS had works in 32 of them -- remained a challenge for the next 20 years, particularly with regard to the selection of material. Each language collection and each country's publishing reflect its culture and values, she explains, and that made the work particularly interesting. "But," she says, "in many languages there are no selection tools for the latest books. During political upheavals in various countries, it was difficult to obtain any books at all. So it was very important to develop a close rapport with dealers in Canada and other parts of the world to explain MBS requirements."
As an example of making an unusual contact in the quest for books in the early days of MBS, Bell tells of an Irish professor of Asian Studies in Hawaii who had a personal collection of Vietnamese books, which he made available to MBS.
"There is no doubt that MBS was special, and its 20 or so language consultants were the highlight," she says. "The mix of so many cultures and languages and so much good will was unique. I think that is why so many of us stayed there for so long. Even though I left for other assignments for a while, I always came back. Now we've formed an MBS alumni group because we couldn't bear the thought of dispersing."
A series of budget cuts necessitated refocussing MBS into an advisory service to help other libraries develop multilingual collections (see "The National Library's Multilingual Biblioservice: Update", National Library News, vol. 26, no. 10, October 1994, pp.1, 3-4). "It was sad to close down MBS, even though it was a decision made after considerable con-sultation," says Bell. "In many ways, my work as a liaison officer was a continuation of my role in MBS. We have now transferred all the MBS books to the provinces and expect that they will continue to provide services to other-language readers."
With this work completed, Bell decided that this was an appropriate time to take advantage of the Early Retirement Incentive offered to federal government employees. "I have thoroughly enjoyed the stimulation of working in a large institution involved in national and international issues," she says. "And I will take many happy memories with me."
Though her work in MBS remains the highlight of her career at the Library, Bell also values a number of other assignments, particularly her work on various planning committees. "I was part of the committee that submitted The Future of the National Library of Canada [1979] which recommended strengthening the Canadiana collections," she says. "I also worked with Information Technology Services in determining requirements for the new system, and was part of the committee that looked at the National Library's areas of emphasis and developed criteria for collection building. I hope that I helped to bring to it a viewpoint that recognized the contributions of groups other than the two founding nations."
Her Ukrainian roots and her longstanding involvement in the Ukrainian-Canadian Professional and Business Association of Ottawa have made her an ideal person to promote such causes. This year, she received the Association's first Achievement Award for her longtime contribution.
Another memorable accomplishment was her completion of a Christie's fine arts course in 1980, when her geologist husband was on sabbatical for a year in England. "I wanted to do something unique that year," she recalls. "The Christie's course was an incredible experience that just became available at the right time. That's what I mean about serendipity. Now, I am looking forward to having the freedom to pursue an assortment of interests. I hope to do some consulting and volunteer work -- I have signed up as a Friend of the National Library. But I don't know exactly what's coming next. I just know that I'm excited about what the future may bring."
Copyright. The National Library of Canada. (Revised: 1995-12-11).