Volume 11, No. 3 - December 2008 - John Abbott College

ZEN AND THE
ART OF BOOK REPAIR
On October 18, the Public Relations class of the Information
and Library Technologies (ILT) department held a workshop
on book repairs. Guest speaker Mrs. Debbie Poirier, a graduate
of the John Abbott ILT department, delivered a lecture
to a packed classroom of approximately 50 librarians,
library technicians and volunteers, teaching them simple
ways to give renewed life to tattered and torn books. “It
was very interesting, lots of useful information. I can’t get
over all the things I have been doing wrong” declared Mrs.
Raphaella Dixon, one of the attendees. Debbie Poirier
presently works for the Lester B. Pearson School Board
(LBPSB). She is in charge of the St. John Fisher School
Senior Campus library and also works updating the library
systems of other schools of the LBPSB. This event was
organized by Carolyn Debelle, Melonie White, Sarah
Shanahan, Yi-Chun Chen and Emilia Quintana as part of a
series of ILT workshops including, amongst others, demystifying
copyright and genealogy.
HOT READS, COOL CONTEST!
Contest winner Morgan Lang with organizers
Faye Trecartin and Leslie Lawrence.
In literary news, the Read/Write project is in full swing.
The recent introduction of the “hot reads” section in the
Abbott Library, aimed at encouraging students to read for
pleasure, has set the stage for a host of activities and
contests that revolve around promoting reading and writing.
During the month of October, a challenge was
extended to students in the form of an essay contest.
Students were asked to write a comparative analysis of a
novel and its screen adapted counterpart and explain
which they preferred and why. The contest’s theme
revolved around the paranormal and students jumped on
the chance to read about ghouls, ghosts, goblins and
everything in between. On October 31, the contest winners
were announced. First place was awarded to
Morgan Lang for her pointed and persuasive essay on the
paranormal thriller “Blood and Chocolate”. First prize was
a highly coveted set of four Stephanie Meyers novels,
which Lang, having already read them, generously donated
to the Montreal Children’s Hospital. Second and third
place prizes were awarded to Dina Charafiddine and
Gabrielle Lavoie Trottier respectively. Congratulations to
the winners and many thanks to all the participants.
4