News From New Brunswick
submitted by Nadine Goguen
Public Libraries – Bibliothèques publiques
The Albert-Westmorland-Kent Library Region held many festive activities in their public libraries during the holidays.
Family Literacy Day was also celebrated on January 27th. The Moncton Public Library, as well as many others, tried to break the World Record of the number of adults reading to children, as promoted by ABC Canada. This raised popular awareness on programs such as “Storytime” and “Read to me”, regular offerings at the public libraries.
The region said farewell to Alice Caissie, the Richibucto Public Library Manager, after 28 years of service. She retired at the end of December.
Management staff at the region were consulted for a school library renovation project at the Clément-Cormier High School in Bouctouche. Creating a “Teen Lounge” concept was a dream come true for two local public librarians who snagged swatches of colors and talked carpet, floor plans and traffic flow with gusto for weeks.
Plusieurs activités reliées au temps des Fêtes ont eu lieu dans la région. La Journée de l’alphabétisation familiale fut soulignée dans toutes nos bibliothèques. La région a dit au revoir à la gestionnaire de la Bibliothèque publique de Richibucto qui a pris sa retraite en décembre après 28 ans de service. La bibliothèque scolaire de la polyvalente Clément-Cormier de Bouctouche a eu un coup de pouce dans l’élaboration d’un nouveau plan, de décors modernes et de la création d’un coin pour adolescents. Deux bibliothécaires de notre région de bibliothèques publiques ont eu beaucoup de plaisir à partager leurs idées avec la direction de l’école.
Five of the 10 libraries in the Fundy Library Region offered extra programming for Family Literacy Day by taking part in the Guiness World Record for “Most children reading with an adult - multiple locations.” Heather McKend, Children’s Librarian for the Saint John Free Public Library took the program to the Saint John Boys and Girls Club where 75 youngsters were read the Robert Munsch books. She and the children’s staff also hosted the program in the library, which attracted 48 participants. Jodi Osicki, Reference Librarian in the same library was interviewed by CTV’s “Live at Five” television program about book clubs and how to instil a desire to read. His “Book Club for Men” was also mentioned by Rick Mercer in his CBC television program “The Mercer Report.”
Stephanie Milbury, manager at the Campobello Public Library, reported that the Library is now going through its final steps of the last phase of a three-year plan for outside building repairs, which when completed will see the picturesque building having new cedar shingles, four new windows replaced and new asphalt shingles on the roof. The library, which also houses a small museum for the community, is situated next to the water on Campobello Island.
Leslye McVicar, director of the Kennebecasis Public Library reported that one of their volunteers, Jennifer Burnham is an avid geo-techer, so she approached Leslye about hiding a “cache” in the library. Jennifer explained how it could work, and that the cache would be a “book” complete with call number. So it went forward. The staff was very surprised by the number of people who found the item, and now everyone agrees that it was a “novel” idea!
Speaking of a romantic “novel” idea, Leslye also reported that while shopping for new materials in a local bookstore she encountered a student who mentioned that she had worked at the Library in the summer of 1999, and had met and eventually married another student from that year. Ahhh, another story of kindred spirits and love in the Library!
Staff in the Haut-Saint-Jean Library Region have been busy over the past few months working on their operational plans for their libraries and for the region. Following the strategic plan of New Brunswick Public Library Service, staff have planned for the future of their libraries over the next five years and are looking forward to achieving these goals.
Staff had several training opportunities this fall, including hands-on sessions for Microsoft Office Outlook, Excel and Publisher software. Library staff also participated in training sessions for the new information literacy package produced by NBPLS, Info Savvy. Staff members will now be able to offer various training modules to the public including how to use Google, how to evaluate information, and how to search our online catalogue, Vision.
Finally, Family Literacy Day was a success in libraries across the region with special Story Hours, an author visit with Marie-France Comeau, and many participants for the Guinness World Record Attempt for the Most Children Reading With An Adult, Multiple Locations. We’re waiting to find out if we helped to break the record!
The New Brunswick Public Library Service (NBPLS) Provincial Office has been busy in the past few months.
The look of our main website, http://www.gnb.ca/publiclibraries, has changed slightly to include the VRL Top Five Picks. This new feature is meant to showcase the excellent resources found in our Virtual Reference Library. Every month, one of the regional Heads of Reference Services picks five links to promote that correspond one of our monthly web ad themes. These links are authoritative websites on topics ranging from everyday knowledge, to online services, to research.
New Brunswick Public Library Service also had the exciting opportunity to participate in a meeting gathering representatives from numerous New Brunswick library and archive institutions. At this meeting, subcommittees were formed to investigate a potential collaboration on two main issues: electronic resource licensing, and the digitization of historical and special materials held in New Brunswick collections.
Le Bureau provincial du Service des bibliothèques publiques du Nouveau-Brunswick (SBPNB) n’a pas été inactif au cours des derniers mois.
Nous avons changé légèrement l’apparence de la page principale de notre site Web (http://www.gnb.ca/bibliothequespubliques) afin d’y inclure le Palmarès mensuel des 5 meilleurs sites de la BRV. Grâce à cet ajout, nous souhaitons mettre en évidence les ressources de haut niveau de notre Bibliothèque de référence virtuelle. Chaque mois, un chef régional des services de référence choisit cinq liens recoupant l’un des thèmes couverts par nos annonces Web durant cette période. Ces liens renvoient à des sites faisant autorité et dont les thèmes recouvrent tout autant le savoir de tous les jours que les services en ligne ou, encore, la recherche.
Le Service des bibliothèques publiques du Nouveau-Brunswick a aussi eu la chance de participer à une rencontre avec les représentants d’organismes archivistiques et de bibliothèques du Nouveau-Brunswick. Lors de cette rencontre, des sous-comités furent mis sur pied afin de collaborer à deux projets : l’achat de licences pour les ressources électroniques et la numérisation de documents provenant de collections spéciales ou historiques qui se trouvent dans la province.
NB Provincial Archives
The New Brunswick Provincial Archives launched on November 18, 2008 a new website that invites people from all over the globe to explore a virtual encyclopaedia of community names in New Brunswick – places where people live or have lived - dating as far back as 1784 and earlier.
Called “Where is Home? New Brunswick Communities Past and Present”, the website lists 4,513 place names of communities, each accompanied by a description of the community’s origins and its precise geographic location. Viewers will also be able to access digitized photos, maps, and documents that relate to each community as well as links to related sites such as published works on that community’s past and present.
A highlight of the site is the opportunity for the public to contribute additional information and content to the site through a feedback form.
“This is a fantastic and innovative new project at the Provincial Archives,” said Ed Doherty, Minister responsible for The Archives. “Never before have we built a website such as this that brings information and content on this scale.”
The addition to the Archives website is its 40th anniversary project. The Archives was officially opened in 1968 and was the newest archives in Canada at the time.
“From an archival and historical perspective, the individual documents that make up this website are spectacular and the range of content will be sweeping,” said Marion Beyea, Provincial Archivist. The public will be amazed at the depth of the materials they will be able to access on this website.”
From cadastral maps to manuscript maps to documents, users of the site are offered outstanding primary sources. Then there are the photographs, from the major 19th and 20th century photographers such as Isaac Erb, Ole Larsen, Jacob Mersereau and George Taylor and dozens of others, that accompany the community place names. There are links to diaries, memoirs, land petitions, and correspondence, to round out the history of as many communities as there is historical material available. A search function allows users of the site to dig deeper or select communities in various ways including by proximity.
This website will be a standard reference work for people from ages 10 to 100 who wish to conduct an inquiry into the history of communities in New Brunswick, from a casual interest to scholarly research. This product is a result of the participation of the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick in the Archival Community Digitization Program of Library and Archives Canada, the Department of Canadian Heritage, and the Canadian Council of Archives.
