The End of an Era

Friday will mark the end of an era at the John M. Cuelenaere Library. It will be Eleanor Acorn's last day of work as Director.

For the last eight years, my entire time on City Council, I've been on the Library Board, for most of that time as chair of the board. This has meant working closely with Eleanor on library matters. In all situations, whether monthly board meetings, or more frequent phone calls or quick visits to the library to discuss issues, Eleanor has been unfailingly professional, cheerful, and a pleasure to deal with.

She is truly the sort of person that everyone likes to deal with - open, honest, kind, and always careful to keep everyone informed as to what was going on. Her dedication to the library and to library staff, and her understanding of the library and its history, has made being on the library board one of the more pleasant aspects of my job as city councillor. Budgets were always prepared well ahead of deadlines, and any innovations or necessary expenditures were well thought out in advance. Her work is certainly one of the reasons that JMC is an incredible library for a small city, with some innovations that libraries in larger cities do not have.

I'm not what one would think of as a typical library user - I'm not someone who reads much for recreation, unlike my wife and daughter. But ever since we moved to Prince Albert in 1979, the library has been part of my life - whether going to movies in the auditorium, taking the kids to the terrific children's programs, browsing the annual book sale, or borrowing books on tape or CD for the long car trips back to Ontario. Eleanor has always emphasized the need for the library to serve the interests of the whole community, and to be a place where all ages can come and feel welcomed.

I wish her a wonderful retirement, but will certainly miss working with her, as I'm sure all of the library staff will as well.

"The most important motive for work in school and in life is pleasure in work, pleasure in its result, and the knowledge of the value of the result to the community." - Albert Einstein