Hello Ottawa

Meet Alexandra, a public librarian and runner who’s originally from Montreal. While she’s normally one of the happy faces greeting the public at the Rideau branch of the Ottawa Public Library, for the next few months she’ll be working as the Coordinator of Diversity and Accessibility Services with OPL. Alex shares her experiences and thoughts on being a librarian in Ottawa on her blog, Only Connect.

Can you tell me about yourself?

Okay. I’m Alexandra, and I’m a Public Librarian. I grew up in and around Montreal. My parents are actually both priests in the Anglican Church, so we moved around a couple of times to different communities around the Greater Montreal Area when I was young; we did four or five major moves. Finally, I went to McGill and settled in downtown Montreal. I moved to Ottawa four years ago, and I’ve been working for the Ottawa Public Library since then. Before that, I was working for libraries in Montreal. My first degree was in English Lit, though, so I have a love of books that you would hope would be essential in a librarian!

I read a lot. Not just for work – I think I read something like 50 or 60 novels a year. I also run, which is something I picked up from my husband. I was never athletic as a kid – I was always picked last for every team. I love it, though. It’s something that I can just get up and do without any special equipment or an appointment with a trainer or anything – you can just do it. It’s also been a great way to get to know the city. I’ve run up and down the canal, by the rivers, over to the Quebec side. Often when I’m talking to community partners or friends, someone will mention a place and I can usually say, “Oh, I think I ran by that once!” It’s really helped me get to know the city.

What brought you to Ottawa?

My job. After doing my Masters in Library Studies, I had a couple of part-time library jobs: one in a public library, one in an academic library, and one in a school. I was toying around with what I wanted to do. I eventually decided I did want to work in public libraries - I ended up stringing together a series of mat-leave positions. That gets hard. After I had done the second mat-leave position, I thought, well, I can’t keep this up. I had some other concerns, too – public libraries in Quebec are very different from public libraries in Ontario.  Because the Catholic Church had such control over culture in general – but especially over books and reading – until the 1960s in Quebec, public libraries aren’t as established there as they are in Ontario. In Ontario, the Public Library Act, I think, was established in the 1890s, whereas Quebec didn’t have one until the 1950s. So Quebec is really just catching up in a lot of ways. I felt like I was really pushing against a wall, and wasn’t able to do a lot of the things I wanted to do. it will take time for the public library structure to be fully established, there.

I had a friend who lived in Ottawa already, so it was a relatively easy choice to move here. Ottawa has a great public library system in that it’s bilingual, and that was a plus for me. I wanted to continue to use my French, and Ottawa’s not too far from home.

What made you decide to go into Library Science?

I grew up in a household that had a lot of books. My parents were big fiction readers, in addition to reading a lot of theology. So my house was full of books, and I had a great aunt who spoiled me rotten with books as a child. Also, though, as I finished my English Lit degree, I was doing an honours thesis about cross-cultural connections. It was about E.M. Forster, and connections between different genders and class structure in England, so I was starting to think about how education is kind of an equalizer for people. The Public Library, in particular – I mean, the tag line for the public library is “The People’s University,” and I felt that very strongly. I really wanted to work in an environment that really could be The People’s University. Anyone can come in and ask a question, pursue a research topic, or, you know, do some leisure reading, pick up a hobby, learn about a new world or different culture, and make some kind of connection.

Now that you’re working as a librarian, have your views on the field changed?

I still feel really strongly that libraries are about connections. One thing that I would say to anyone considering a library degree is: it’s not all about books. I don’t know if I really realized how right I was when I was thinking about entering Library Science for the first time. It really is about creating connections – in a community setting, anyway. In an academic setting, it’s a little different. In public libraries, you’re really a community partner or a community builder. It’s a hub, and as a librarian you’re really trying to reach out and make connections with different groups in the community and say, hey, here’s a place where you can learn, or spend some quiet time and read. You can get away from your six siblings, or your husband or wife, or whatever’s going on at home. Or, here’s a nice clean and dry place where you can spend some time and no one’s going to ask you If you’re going to order something or why you haven’t bought anything yet. It really serves as that “third place” – you know, a place away from home and work, where you can go and just chill.

I think it’s pretty much what I expected, but you do have to be more of a people-person than I think most people think librarians have to be. I think our profession really attracts people who are introverted - and that’s okay! - but we don’t get enough people who are also able to advocate on the behalf of their profession or workplace, and that’s very important for libraries these days, I think.

The Ottawa Public Library has been in the news a little bit recently over the proposed redesign – do you have any thoughts about that?

Well, the thing about public libraries is that they’re really reflections of what’s going on in the wider community. Ottawa is, in many ways, trying to figure out exactly what it is as a city. The issues with the Ottawa Public Library are really part of that whole central debate. It’s an interesting time for the city. The new central library would be a place for imagination and inspiration in the downtown core. Meanwhile, there are some other major physical changes happening downtown – the new congress centre, figuring out what’s going on at Lansdowne. These are architectural questions, but they’re also identity questions. What kind of city do we want to be? What importance do we place on cultural venues, and where do they have a place in the city? Downtown? In the suburbs? Both? How does that work? I think we’re really going through growing pains as a city. We’ll get through it and reach a decision, though.

Coming from Montreal, which is a city that merged and then de-merged, it was really interesting to move to Ottawa, because it seems like an example of a great amalgamation success story. Councillor Jan Harder, who is the head of the library board, often says that Libraries are the success stories of amalgamation. I think that’s very true: we have 33 branches and two bookmobiles, and we’re the third biggest library system in the country. That’s really exciting, but it does mean that any project we undertake is that much more complicated because we have to take all of those perspectives into consideration.

How do you feel about it? What would your ideal Ottawa library system be?

I think it would be a mix of urban and rural. I’m a downtown person at heart, and I think a new central library would be a really emblematic place that people could visit as a resource for the whole community, but also as a cultural hub. A place for people to meet, where people feel inspired, can get a coffee or do some research, and find out about the city’s history.

Now that you’re here in Ottawa, do you see yourself staying here?

I think so. It’s a nice city with a lot to offer. Like I said, it’s a city in transition, so I’m looking forward to seeing how things turn out. There’s a really nice mixture of urban and rural. It’s easy to get away from the city – you know, to get to Gatineau, or even just along the canal. There are great options for people starting families. I think I’ll stay. I’m still homesick for Montreal, though. When I left, I was sitting on my kitchen floor crying as I was packing. It was really hard for me. It does help that I’m close, though.

It took me a long time to get to know Ottawa. I’m still in the process, I think, even though I’ve been here for four years. I have learned some stuff, but I think Ottawa has a little bit of an impenetrable shell sometimes. It gets a lot of flack for being a government city and stuff, but it does have it’s own personality – it’s just a little harder to find.

We did you photos at the Minto Bridges near old city hall. Why is that an important place for you?

It’s one of my favourite places in the city. It was one of the first runs I took when I moved here. I went to the Rideau Falls and crossed over the Minto bridges, and it was one of the first times I thought, “I could live here, I guess it’s okay!” It’s kind of a special corner for me.

Thanks, Alex! Be sure to check out Alex’s blog, Only Connect, which is a really interesting exploration of Ottawa’s library system and life as a librarian. Alex is also running in the Ottawa Race Weekend half-marathon in support of Medic to Medic, which supports trainee health workers who are in financial need – you can find out how to support her run here.