National Library News May 2000 Vol. 32, no. 5

The Canadian Bibliographic Centre: The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

I am very pleased to be the guest editor for this special issue of the National Library News. This and the next issue celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Canadian Bibliographic Centre, the precursor of the National Library of Canada.

I know that you will find the articles a joy to read, for their information, memories, humour and professionalism. The Canadian Bibliographic Centre began its life on May 1, 1950, under the direction of Martha Shepard, with no building of its own, no collection and no equipment. What it had, though, was a very small group of devoted individuals with an infectious enthusiasm and determination to build a national institution dedicated to the Canadian published heritage. The Centre was also fortunate in having a Canadian library community that greatly supported its establishment and a leader, Dominion Archivist W. Kaye Lamb, who was outstanding in all respects.

Verification of bibliographic records.

This issue includes accounts from some of those pioneers who describe their activities, such as microfilming card files in various libraries in Ottawa and other cities and preparing cards for the Union Catalogue, beginning to approach publishers to deposit their books at the Centre, and listing these books in the national bibliography. Martha Shepard, Hélène Beaudry, Ian Wees, Clarisse Cardin, and Paul Kitchen, from Victoria, Gatineau and Ottawa, have all contributed their memories and stories. In the next issue of the National Library News, several National Library staff members will provide updates on these same services.

In reading the background material for this issue, I was struck by the continuity that exists between what was envisaged so many years ago and the services that still exist today. The Union Catalogue, the national bibliography, reference and ILL services, listings of Canadian theses, and more, were all meticulously planned and put in place by a few people in the early ’50s. I can personally vouch for some of the work processes that existed. When I started at the National Library in 1971, it was one of my jobs to ensure that all those cards that were pasted on brown sheets of paper to be filmed for the national bibliography were straight and in the proper alphabetical order; once they were filmed, they really were carefully removed from the paper and refiled. The whole process was then repeated to produce the annual cumulation. Today, the methods have changed, but the national bibliography as a listing of Canadiana publications is still being produced. It is a tribute to the pioneers of the Centre that their vision for a national institution dedicated to describing and making known the Canadian published heritage and bibliographic holdings in Canadian libraries continues to thrive.

But it was not all hard work at the Centre, even though the staff worked five and a half days per week. As you will see from the articles, there were also many lighter moments. While I confess that we have not done any tap-dancing at our Christmas parties of late, we have been known to perform in some other "memorable" activities. One cannot help but be struck by how well the Centre’s staff made do with the few tools they had to achieve their goals and by how good a time they had, despite the constraints under which they worked.

I hope that you will find this issue to be informative, while presenting a human portrait of life as it was at the beginning of our Library.

Enjoy!