Balmoral Hall School - Optima Anni Yearbook (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)

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12 9 THE LIBRARY EXECUTIVE 1961-1962 SENIOR LIBRARY Julia Berry Carol Albertsen Eleanor Gaskell Clare McCulloch Evadne Ward Elsie Shandro The library is a very important centre of activity in the Senior School. We now have approximately 3,100 books, and an average of ninety are circulated every week. Mrs. Collie conducts library periods to help Grades VII, VIII, and IX choose books and make reports on them. In addition, a great deal of browsing and reference work goes on. Several interesting displays have been on view this year. At Christmastime a selection of paintings depicting the Nativity were displayed. During Education Week information about Uni- versities and preparation for various careers was the special feature. We wish to thank the United Kingdom Information Service for their gift of beautiful photographs of the Universities of London, Cambridge, and Oxford. During Canadian Library Week, we featured books about book-making, and the history of the art of writing. During Young Canada's Book Week we had the annual Library Quiz. The Library was filled with eager girls searching for answers in dictionaries, and in every sort of reference book. The winners in the senior section were Carol Swindell and Joan Barker, and in the junior section, Katharine Kilgour. However, there were many good papers and house points were awarded. Ballater just managed to win from its close rival, Braemar. To help Mrs. Collie, a committee of twenty- six girls has worked faithfully throughout the year. Early in the fall a group went to the William Avenue Library to learn how to mend books under the expert supervision of Mrs. Willa Wells. They were particularly impressed by the hot cocoa machine, and the remark that Mrs. Wells would be glad to have them work for her during the summer. In five mending sessions since then, with sharpened awls and a gallon of glue, we have mended many books. Seventy-one new books for the Senior Library have been made ready for circulation, and trans- parent Mylar covers have been painstakingly put on to protect the book jackets. We wish to thank the committee of Mothers who helped in this large undertaking. As in past years the library has benefited from the generosity of friends. We especially wish to thank Mrs. Colluni for the new and versatile globe, and for the beautiful Encyclo- pedia of Art. The whole committee would like to thank Mrs. Collie for her kind and patient guidance this year. The Library has certainly taken on new dimensions for ns. JULIA BERRY Chief Librarian JUNIOR LIBRARY Last year was the year several hundred new Stepping Stones books were added to the Junior Library. This year our main object has been to get these books and the other 1,200 volumes on the shelves circulating. In this respect we have been very successful, and at least seventy-five books have been taken out each week. The library is open during three lunch hours a week, and girls may come in to select books with the Librarian's help, to work from the reference books, orjust to browse. Besides this, each grade has one period a week with the Librarian. During these periods the older girls have had instruction in the use of the reference books, the catalogue drawers, and a brief outline of the Dewey Decimal System. The girls have kept records of their reading, and have had to report on some of the books they enjoyed reading. The younger child- dren have spent part of their time listening to stories which usually have been taken from the current display in the library, or stories that have led them into new fields of reading. Of the sixty new books that have been added this year, many of them have been story books that appeal to the girls who have graduated from picture books, and are eagerly becoming steady readers. Throughout the year there have been many displays. At Hallowe'en, UNICEF posters and pamphlets helped everyone to find out more about children of other lands, and to understand why the Trick or Treat money was so badly needed. During Young Canadafs Book Week the library was made as gay as possible, with red felt lining the shelves, and even part of the carpet. Twenty titles of books in the library had to be guessed from pictures put up around the wall. At Christmas a manger scene made a lovely setting for the readings of 'fAmahl and the Night Visitors , and Baboushka and the Three Kingsu.

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30 Dolls of many lands visited us during February, while books, posters, maps and pamphlets about Japan, Germany, Holland, France, Spain, Eng- land and Italy were being displayed. By means of story books that month we boarded a magic carpet each library period and visited all these countries. We would like to thank the owners of the dolls who kindly let them stay with us so long. Especially we would like to thank Mrs. Sumida, whose many Japanese objects were the main attraction. Our large selection of French books and records were displayed during Education Week. The younger grades listened to and helped trans- late stories read to them in French. A great deal of progress has been made on the vertical file, thanks to the committee of mothers who worked hard clipping interesting bits of information from a great variety of magazines. A subject file is nearing completion as well. It consists of two drawers of cards indexed according to subject matter so that both staff and girls can quickly find out what books we have on any topic, from Africa to Zoos. With so many more books going out of the Library, the jobs to be done, such as returning the books to the shelves, tidying, and repairing torn covers, have increased. Many thanks to Carol Albertsen and her committee for their many hours of work. Tribute to Alec Alexander Romaniuk has been a very im- portant part of Balmoral Hall since the amalga- tion in 1950. One of the few things I can remember of my first day at School is my mother's asking me if I knew Alec. I did. To me, Alec was almost as important as my teacher. His connection with the School gardens is much older than Balmoral Hall. He took care of the gardens when Riverbend School was there. That was a long time ago, but Alec's association with those gardens goes back even further than that. As a young man, Alec started working at Riverbend when it was a private house. I wonder if the children who lived there then had their leaf-houses raked up as we always had! During the summer months, Alec has always kept the gardens at Balmoral Hall in glorious bloom. Each spring, he spent long hours planting his precious petunias. In autumn, when the leaves started fluttering to the ground, he raked them into piles for burning. His ruthless destroying of leaf-houses has often frustrated the Juniors, but nevertheless, Alec raked on because of his wish for a lovely garden. The coming of winter always meant a different kind of work for Alec. Instead of working in the garden, he was faced with the doubtful pleasures of shovelling snow, or flooding the skating rink, but he is one of the few people who never grumble about the cold weather. The benevolent old man's talents have always been applied to repairs as well as to gardening. How often he has repaired a broken desk, mended a bed, or replaced a light bulb! He was also compelled to be a heating specialist in order to put a faulty thermostat in order, and keep the scattered buildings comfortable. Many are the night trips he has made in answer to emergency calls when the furnace had stopped. Few situa- tions arose when Alec could not put things right. This grand old man has withstood a great deal of teasing from the girls. When his bicycle was missing, he knew that one of the girls was merely trying his patience. He continued about his work with the knowledge that the bicycle would return just as the perennials appear each spring. Once a girl discovered that Alec would not become irritated, he became her friend. At first appearance, he looks stern, but anyone seeing him lovingly caring for the garden cannot help realizing how great his heart must be. This autumn, Alec retired. He left quietly. Few people noticed his disappearance until perhaps a desk needed mending. All that had often been taken for granted has gone. Never again will we look upon his broad back as he pedals through the gate. No more will his bicycle stand in its accustomed place. Alec's slow deliberate footsteps will not echo through the halls again. He can no longer be found in his workshop by the laundry room. It used to be hard to imagine Balmoral Hall without Alec, and now we know the gap he has left. The girls of Balmoral Hall all miss him, and wish him the best of luck. JOAN SELLERS If I Had My Way Tiny opened his big brown eyes to witness the breaking of another day. He lay on his mat trying to dream away the dull ache which always haunted his six-year-old body. lt did not help. His stomach still hurt. He rolled off his mat, folded it, and put it in the corner of the room on the mud floor. Tiny wandered into the other room. It was the only other room the hut had. The floor was pressed mud which became soft when it rained. The walls of the hut were made of vines and branches woven together and plastered with mud. A thatched roof kept the sunlight and rain from directly entering the two small rooms. Tiny watched his family prepare for another day. Not a word was spoken. He saw his