Prof. Lynne Teather - Faculty of Information - University of Toronto

Your Letters
Letters, comments, & address updates can be sent to:
Kathleen O’Brien, Editor, Informed Magazine
Faculty of Information, University of Toronto
140 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3G6
TEL: 416.978.7184 EMAIL: kathleen.obrien@utoronto.ca
www.ischool.utoronto.ca
EdiTor’s NoTE
Nearly a dozen of you wrote
in to express support of our
moving the alumni publication
online. Thank you for
agreeing with our efforts to be
environmentally friendly and
save printing and mailing costs.
If you prefer to receive the
magazine in the mail, please let
me know and we’ll be happy to
send a colour photocopy.
To the right is a lovely
letter from an alumna with
fascinating recollections of
life at the library school in the
1940s. We love hearing about
your experiences, so please
write in with your stories.
Kathleen o’Brien
Editor
Dear Editor:
Thank you so much for the print copy of Informed, which arrived a short
time ago.
While I am fascinated by the contemporary thrust reflected in the
publication, I must admit to not understanding most of it: 2009 is a very
different world from that of 1943.
I was sixteen when I completed Grade 13. Disturbingly, I discovered that
higher education was not available before the age of eighteen. Therefore I
took a one-year business course which I disliked intensely so decided to look
for another way of filling in the time remaining before reaching the elusive
eighteenth birthday. There was a job available in the local public library
which I was fortunate to get, and in no time I was “hooked.”
A year later I discovered the existence of the Library School at the
University of Toronto. Two courses were offered: after obtaining a bachelor
degree, a post graduate course which led to a degree was given; and a
diploma course, for suitable high school graduates who had some library
experience and a recommendation from a qualified librarian.
I was accepted and left my northern mining town of Timmins and
headed for the BIG CITY. It was September 1942, there were nineteen of
us in the class: seventeen studying for the degree, two for the diploma! We
all took the same classes led by excellent profs: Winifred Barnstead was
principal, Bertha Bassam taught cataloguing, Lillian Smith taught children’s
literature and book collections.
There were others, equally proficient, who were involved. One
interesting class taught us how to write “library hand” so that the catalogue
cards could be read – computers were unheard of and typewriters were at
a premium. Degreed persons graduated, those who received diplomas went
back to where they came from.
I returned to Timmins for one year, then accepted work in Toronto.
Marriage and motherhood came later but I was involved in short term
projects along the way as well as being registered in U of T Extension.
Ultimately, I achieved a BA and a BLSc, which led me into more interesting
situations. Finally, I retired in 1987.
If you have managed to get through this [letter], it will give you some
idea of the strides which the profession had made over one lifetime.
Although I am not currently involved in areas now beyond me, I am proud
to have been part of the continuum which has brought it to the present day.
Gwenville Foster
Renfrew, Ontario
informed | autumn 2010 3