The University of Alberta Library: The First Hundred Years 1908-2008

The University of Alberta Library: The First Hundred Years, 1908-2008 by Merrill Distad has been published. From the website “This Centenary publication from The University of Alberta Library will enlighten fellow librarians, institutional historians, and friends of The University of Alberta”. Available from The University of Alberta Press.

British Library ‘mislays’ books

For all the bibliofiles out there, an article in the Guardian yesterday reports that the British Library is missing approximately 9,000 books from it’s collection. Missing treasures include a 1st edition ‘Picture of Dorian Gray’ and an 1876 illustrated ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’.  Let’s hope they’re just misshelved…

No LHIG Conference Session at CLA 2009

It has been reported that the CLA program/organizing committee has turned down LHIG’s application for a library history session at the upcoming conference in Montreal.  Apparently, it’s the first time this has happened since 1980.  Extremely disappointing news for Canadian library history interest group members, community, researchers, and enthusiasts.  Despite this disheartening news, we thank Peter McNally, LHIG Convener, for his continued efforts on behalf of those studying and researching library history in Canada.

This year, the CLA conference is being held in Montreal, a city that holds great historical significance as the place where the first formal library science education program in Canada — and one of the first programs for librarianship in the world — began at McGill University.  To read more about the history of the program please visit the GSLIS 100th Anniversary website.

Regional Libraries in Ontario

At the recent OLA conference, library historian Lorne Bruce presented a session on regional libraries in Ontario up to the 1960s. For those of you who couldn’t make the conference Lorne has kindly posted the power point presentation on his Libraries Today blog.

Call for Papers – Library & Information History (formerly Library History)

This just came across the SHARP listserv:

CALL FOR PAPERS

Library & Information History (Formerly Library History)

Throughout history, libraries have been the repositories of knowledge of all kinds. More recently, this has broadened into a history of information as we have entered the information age, with historians reconsidering the fundamental concepts and manifestations of knowledge and information in society.

Library & Information History is a fully-refereed, quarterly journal publishing articles of a high academic standard from international authors on all subjects and all periods relating to the history of information, in its broadest sense, and on the history of libraries and librarianship world-wide. Library & Information History is a journal for anyone interested in the social, cultural and intellectual history of information, books, libraries and all forms of knowledge in society.

The editorial board of Library & Information History invite scholars to submit papers to their learned journal that conform to the usual standards of publishing within the journal. Papers relating to all aspects of the journal’s aims and scope are welcome, but the editorial board are very interested in developing particular themes within the journal, areas of interest are:

- The theory, development and methodology of information history

- The history and origins of the information age

- The cultural and social role of the library and/or librarian in the past

- The role of the library and/or librarian in times of war or conflict

- The history of the intellectual organisation of knowledge

- The future directions of Library History as a discipline

Contributions and other correspondence should be sent to the Editor, Dr Toni Weller via email: tweller@dmu.ac.uk Please see the website for submission guidelines and Notes for Contributors www.maney.co.uk/journals/notes/libraryhistory

Library History: A Call for Papers

The Library History Interest Group is soliciting papers for a programme at the annual conference of the Canadian Library Association in Montreal, Quebec, May 29 – June 1, 2009. Particular consideration will be given to proposals dealing with the varied aspects of Canadian Library History. Consideration will also be given to papers on other themes.

Selected papers may be published by the Library History Interest Group in conjunction with CLA.

Papers are solicited in any of the following categories of library history:

1. Overviews and syntheses.
2. Studies of particular individuals, institutions, or developments, which provide generalizable interpretations or else serve as case studies.
3. Methodological studies, which look at various aspects of research in library history.

It is anticipated that papers will be based upon personal, funded, institutional, or degree projects. Papers should not have been previously published elsewhere. They should be fully documented, and accompanied by illustrations where appropriate. They may be presented in either English or French.

Deadlines:

October 1, 2008        proposals and brief abstracts
May 15, 2009            completed papers

For further information, or submission of proposals, abstracs, and papers please contact:

Professor Peter F. McNally
School of Information Studies
McGill University
3459 McTavish St.
Montreal, QC
H3A 1Y1

Telephone: 514-398-3367
FAX: 514-398-7193
email: peter.mcnally@mcgill.ca

CLA 2009

The 2009 Canadian Library Association conference will be held in Montreal, QC. At the LHIG breakfast meeting at CLA 2008, it was decided that an application for a library history session will be pursued again for next year’s conference. Stay tuned for more details, and the call for proposals, in the Fall.

Welcome!

Welcome to the Canadian Library Association Library History Interest Group (LHIG) blog. We hope that this will help facilitate the sharing of information amongst members and serve as a communication tool for those interested in library history across Canada.