Dr. Dorothy Lampard Reading Room established through historical contribution

trevor.kenney — Thu, 30 Nov 2017 22:58:36 +0000

A voracious love of the written word and a lifelong pursuit to quench this thirst for knowledge has led to an historic gift to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s Library.

Dr. Robert Lampard, a physician who practiced in Red Deer for 26 years, is donating his 6,774-item Western Canadian book collection to the U of L Library, where a large portion of the gift will be added to Special Collections and housed in the newly renovated rare book room, the Dr. Dorothy Lampard Reading Room. Named in honour of Lampard’s aunt, a founding faculty member and U of L senator, the room is a celebration of her lifelong commitment to reading.

“The broad scope of the collection will provide western Canadian researchers with a wealth of information about early Canadian exploration, the Arctic, mountaineering, early Canadian railway development (especially Sandford Fleming), western Canadian banking and business history, the political and religious history of the prairie provinces, native studies, the HBC, railways, ranching, the fur trade, local history, the Canadian military and policing, natural history, geology and Canadian art,” appraises Barbara Ellis, owner of The Edmonton Book Store and a member of the National Archives Appraisal Board of Canada.

The gift includes a complete series of the Champlain Historical Society publications, all the volumes of the Hudson’s Bay Record Society, and many seminal primary narratives of the exploration of the Canadian Arctic. Approximately 50 monographs have been signed by their authors. Other materials of note include those from John Palliser, Henry Youle Hind, Paul Kane, George Dawson, George Gladman, Alexander Begg and George Simpson.

"We are very grateful for the generosity of Dr. Robert Lampard in making this important donation to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Library, and for his entrusting the care of these significant historical materials to us,” says Dr. Chris Nicol, ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ librarian. “This extensive, formerly private collection, will now be accessible to a wide audience of researchers at all levels. Members of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s Department of History are particularly captivated by the opportunities that this unique collection will afford in the furtherance of Canadian historical research, particularly from the perspective of graduate education at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ.”

Lampard describes a childhood surrounded by book-lined shelves in his home as one impetus to his love of the written word.

“With a grandfather who was a Presbyterian minister, an aunt whose specialty was reading, and a mother who read to you at bed time, the foundation was laid,” he says.

While he read consistently as a youth, Lampard says he put it aside while studying medicine. When a serious knee injury threatened his mobility, he rediscovered books and reading, beginning with the Rocky Mountains.

“If you can’t climb, you can read about those who did,” says Lampard. “Then, a friend introduced me to the Champlain Society and I became one of only five Alberta members. It wasn’t long before the mountain theme spilled onto the plains. My interest became a disease, and every trip involved searching the local book stores.”

Now a collector, he sought out complete collections, from Sanford Fleming’s Surveys for a CPR mountain pass (eight volumes), to Richard Gordon’s Ralph Connor novels (30 books), to Grant MacEwan’s 49 books. In 1979, a former ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta medical research associate offered Lampard the complete Champlain Society volumes dating back to 1905.

It was not long before his collection totaled more than 4,000 volumes and had taken over the indoor swimming pool in his home.

“The question of what do you do with it arose,” says Lampard.

Just under two years ago, he contacted professional librarian and U of L Archivist Mike Perry, whose interest was piqued. Given a chance to review the collection, Perry is inspired by how it will impact the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ going forward.

“This generous gift from Dr. Lampard has already had many positive repercussions,” says Perry. “It has made our Special Collections a destination for students and other researchers in a number of areas. It has increased our ability to preserve and protect the collection and having the collection stay in Alberta, and accessible to the public through the opening of the Dr. Dorothy Lampard Reading Room, is fantastic. In a hundred years, it should provide just as much excitement as it does now.”

Lampard says the gift gives him comfort, knowing that it honours his remarkable aunt all while continuing a legacy of reading and literacy.

“I am pleased and honoured that now other researchers will have access to the key historical prairie books dating back to the first one by the British Parliament in 1749,” he says. “The “chase” is now over and my avocation now has a new and welcoming home.”

Canadian Research Knowledge Network brings top library resources to the U of L

caroline.zentner — Mon, 23 Jan 2017 22:44:08 +0000

Being able to access top scholarly journals is probably something that many students and researchers take for granted. But librarians like Wendy Merkley know the value of those resources goes far beyond what first meets the eye.

On its own, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge simply can’t afford to subscribe to all the journals it needs. The U of L is one of more than 70 institutions that are members of the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CKRN), a consortium of academic libraries across Canada that joined forces to have more bargaining power with the vendors and publishers of research material.

“That buying power was instrumental in giving academic institutions of a smaller size access to collections of materials online that we would never have been able to purchase had we gone and tried to do it as one institution,” says Merkley. “CRKN, as with many library consortiums, really formed to increase the availability of research materials for all institutions. We have access to literally thousands of journals online through CRKN.”

The CRKN was first known as the Canadian National Site Licensing Project, which started in 1999. It became the CRKN, a non-profit organization, in 2004. The research material accessible to U of L faculty and students through CRKN is costly but the resource materials it brings are used thousands of times every year. The U of L directs some of its Research Support Fund towards the cost of membership in the CRKN.

“I think faculty here would say that the packages we can access through CRKN represent the key and critical resources that researchers are looking for. They also represent a large portion of the journals that our researchers are publishing in,” she says. “The money that we get through the Canada Research Support Fund is really critical to enabling us to continue to support those collections. If it were to disappear, we would have to cancel subscriptions.”

Belonging to the CRKN is key when new programs are being developed or additional courses are being planned to enhance a program. Without the benefits of the CRKN, the U of L couldn’t support the growth of programs or sustain current ones. The CRKN also helps the U of L recruit both faculty researchers and students.

“When we’re looking for new faculty to join our institution, one of the selling points is having access to the range of resources that most researchers now require to continue to do their research,” says Merkley.

The Research Support Fund supports a portion of the costs associated with managing the research funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, such as salaries for staff who provide administration support, training costs for workplace health and safety, maintenance of libraries and laboratories, and administrative costs associated with obtaining patents for inventions.

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Dr. Dorothy Lampard Reading Room established through historical contribution

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Canadian Research Knowledge Network brings top library resources to the U of L

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