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The Huron Expositor, 1988-03-23, Page 44 — THE HURON ,EXPOSITOR, MARCH 23,1988 49, *4404. 5 YEAR ANNUAL All rates subject to verification Huron's new chief librarian ALL DEPOSITS INSURED WITHIN LIMITS happy with job BY LOU -ANN DE BRUYN from the community after high school Being in Goderich, brings back lots of when she enrolled at the University of memories for Beth Ross, Huron County's Toronto. new chief librarian. She graduated in 1976 with a Bachelor of • Ross assumed the chief librarian's Arts degree, with a double major in duties January of 1988. She replaces French and Spanish —not an everyday former librarian Bill Partridge, who is degree. now working in Saskatechewan. "I thought I wanted to be a teacher and Ross was born and raised in Goderich. then I decided not to be. I looked around Her desire to learn more took her away for an alternative career and met a (dtnnent ik Tsir:P1 • 604 0.4090901 pi nsd'l AAllw0RTH 91' Sery ng Ontario since 1976 will? 15 locations for your convenience .41a; ramildime WITH THIS COUPON FRESH PORK SHOULDERS LB. .89 OFF PER ROAST 31 SIZE OR OVER !luny, Sirloin Trip or Roland Steak Roast Coupon vend III Sal, March 26, 1988 j SIRLOIN STEAKS L. B. 3.49 FRESH ROASTING CHICKENS 1 821: imde �tjt',Of SMOKED TON -END HAMS 3.10 Ob. Avg. LB. 1.98 LB.1.19 Super Savings on Mattresses, Box Springs, Sofas, Chairs, Sleeper Lounges, Lamps, Wall Units, Entertainment Centres, Coffee and End Tables, Bedroom Suites, Dinette Sets, Curio Cabinets, Glider Rockers, Wing Chairs, Swivel Rockers, Whirlpool & White -Westinghouse Ranges, Refrigerators, Washers, Dryers, Panasonic Microwaves & Vacuums, Zenith & Electrohome VCR and Televisions, Carpets, Hard Surface Flooring. librarian who explained to me what 4P�> a professional librarian was all about. Sire explained the kinds of work professionls due as compared to what the public sees done in a library," she said in explaining her introduction to library science. Often people assume a librarian is one who works in the public library and while this is true to some degree, usually persons working in the public libraries have no for- mal library training. At this point, Ross decided library science may be the career she was looking for, so she enrolled in the Masters of Library Science program at the University of Toronto. Two years later, in 1978, she • was awarded her master's degree. Ross was interested in the challenging field of reference work and her first job in the field was doing precisely that. "It's a challenge linking people who are looking for information with the informa- tion they need," she said. Her first position in the library field was working inthe research library of an engineering and research company based in Toronto and Niagara Falls. Prior to accepting the Huron County position, Ross was assistant librarian at the Oxford County Library for nine years on a full-time basis. While there, she was responsible for children's services, branch exchange and the reference section. CHIEF LIBRARIAN When she realized the position of chief librarian was open at the Huron County Library, she decided to apply since she viewed it as a good step in her career. "When the position came available, it was with a county library system and it was an opportunity to come back to the place where I grew up and advance in the field I had chosen. It was a chance to be a chief librarian. It was a career challenge," she said. Ross assumed her duties as chief librarian of the Hurpn County Library system almost three months ago and is set- tling into her new job. A county library, in comparison to a private library or public library, is com- prised of several small town and village libraries which are run co-operatively from a central headquarters. The Huron County Library headquarters are located on Waterloo Street in Goderich. Ross noted there are 28 branches of the library system throughout the county. The smallest library is located in Lakelet while the largest is the Goderich branch library. WHAT LIBRARY OFFERS Centralizing, selecting, processing and referencing are just some of the jobs which are done at the county library for all of the system's libraries. "Small libraries couldn't handles all of these jobs on their own," Ross said. She explained that all books for the coun- ty are selected and purchased by the coun- ty library based on each of the libraries recommendations. The books are distributed and rotated among the libraries. In 1987, the Huron County Library spent $122,000 on books for the libraries. Lists of new books come out practically every week, Ross noted, making selecting books even harder. The Huron County Library is also home to government documents, talking books, and a Canadians section. "The county library offers the oppor- tunity for libraries to share resources and have professional expertise on staff," she added. She said most small branch supervisors do not have formal library training and that having professionals on staff at the headquarters is an asset to all libraries. On staff with Ross are; Sharon Cox, who has her Masters of Library Science and is assistant librarian as well as being respon- sible for children's services; and, Marian Doucette, a library technician who is in charge of the library's information ser- vices and has a high interest in children's programs. NEW PROJECTS Ross noted she and others at the library are looking forward to a number of new projects. The largest project for the Huron County Library was started in 1987. It is an automation process which will not be fully completed for a few more years. The automation process, Ross explain- ed, creates a data base for library holdings. This means all card catalogue entries are transferred to an $80 compact disc catalogue which can be read with an IBM PC computer. This will allow each larger branch library to have a master catalogue of all books in the county and district rather than a catalogue of what they have on their shelves. The system also will allow a catalogue of Huron County's 198,000 books to be kept on a disc rather than on cards as is now the case. Filings are done manually at the county library at the present time. age 2 of the automation process begins this year and will take a few years before it is fully in use with other Ontario libraries. "It (the computer) will replace the cumbersome manual filing of cards. This means being able to move more books bet- ween the libraries," Ross said. She noted she also hopes to start a video collection in library branches with the next year or so. "This will not compete with video outlets. It will not provide commercial box office hits. These videos will be the 'how to' kind, documentaries and some classics," she explained. Ross said she felt videos could be much more effective than a book, for example 'learning how to golf' would probably be easier if you would see what to do rather than trying to understand through a description only. In order to undertake this project, the library has applied for lottery based grants with which to set up a collection. Th library is also enlarging its supply of talking books. There are currently 600 such books in the Huron County Library system in a wide range of topics. Huron County's chief librarian lives in Wingham with her husband.