blogcutter

Two weeks ago, I attended the conference of the Association of Canadian Archivists, which this year was held at Carleton University. It was intense, stimulating, worthwhile and exhausting. As it was the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Association of Canadian Archivists (hereafter ACA), this was something of a special landmark event. Without going into excruciating detail, I'll comment on what were a few highlights for me.

First, the plenary sessions.

The opening session was a panel of founders and veterans of the ACA, talking about how things were, how they evolved, and what the future of the profession might hold. Something of an eye-opener, really.

Some of the panellists felt that archival studies were not really a respected field of endeavour 50 years ago when the Association was born, that archivists were just regarded as a "weird sort of librarian" as one of them put it. I discussed in a recent post how librarians' work has historically been undervalued. Moreover, in 1978, when I was a newbie government librarian, our LS group (predominantly female) brought a case to the Human Rights Commission contending that our work was of equal value to that of the HR (Historical Research) group (predominantly male), most of whom were archivists employed by the Public Archives (later National Archives) of Canada and were paid considerably more.

We won. Eventually.

Upon reflection, I could understand where they were coming from. When I was at Western earning my librarian credentials, courses like "Archival Theory and Practice" and "Conservation and Preservation" were optional courses that one could take towards an MLS (Masters of Library Science), which nowadays is more likely to be an MLIS, or Masters in Library and Information Studies. It didn't occur to me at the time that there was no parallel educational stream for those who wanted to focus on the archival side of things, with a view to possibly holding a position within a gallery, archives or museum, for example. It probably ought to have occurred to me, as my first permanent job out of library school was in the library of the National Film Archives - so I actually had a foot in both camps! At that time, the National Library and the Public Archives were still two separate entities, each with its own leader, and I was an LS-1 employed in the Public Archives.

So fast forward to the Thursday morning plenary with noted Canadian author Mark Bourrie, who wrote his doctoral dissertation on press censorship. The title of his presentation was "Tales of access, obfuscation, censorship and secrets in the archives." It was definitely interesting - he's generally an engaging speaker - although I didn't feel it quite lived up to the promise of its title.

A comment he made almost in passing was that he didn't feel we were well-served when the National Librarian and the National Archivist positions were consolidated into one single position, as their mandates are quite distinct from each other.

He's absolutely right, of course. But for a history buff, he seemed remarkably uninformed about how this came to pass. During the Q&A, I challenged him, probably more gently than he deserved, and mentioned the English Report on the Role of the National Archives of Canada and the National Library of Canada. You can read it here:

https://www.capalibrarians.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/englishreport1999.pdf

In 1998, John English was asked by then-Heritage Minister Sheila Copps to consult with the relevant communities in both organizations on what we felt our functions and overall role should be. We were asked some detailed questions, our views were solicited and John English listened and made some thoughtful recommendations. Unfortunately, those at the political level didn't listen quite so intently or if they did, they decided we didn't really know what we were talking about and didn't understand their pressures and priorities. Or something.

Amongst the various views we had, we were practically unanimous in our feeling that there should continue to be a National Librarian of Canada (who should be a qualified librarian) and a separate National Archivist of Canada (who should be a qualified archivist). That's not rocket science. It's library science! And archival science!

I'd been really looking forward to the Wednesday opening plenary, which was advertised as follows:

What if we radically imagined a future where archives were for change? There is a growing energy among archivists who want to promote accountability and social justice. However, archival institutions are resistant to change - as they are designed to uphold institutional power.

We were promised a panel that would bring archivists and scholars together in a discussion to imagine and "critically hope for a future where we can truly support the people."

I arrived bright and early Wednesday morning, only to find the panel had been cancelled. I wonder why?

The closing session late on Thursday afternoon was to be a conversation between the Librarian and Archivist of Canada and the former US National Archivist Colleen Shogan, the one who was unceremoniously fired earlier this year. I understand that went ahead. I was too exhausted to stay for it, but I look forward to listening to it later.

(A continuation of the saga I began on August 9)

So even with my refund in hand (or at least recorded in my online bank accounts), it was with some trepidation that I set about making travel arrangements for my trip to Ireland. I'd heard all about cancelled and seriously delayed flights, lost and delayed baggage, ArriveCan woes, random COVID testing and intrusive follow-ups even for fully vaccinated travellers, airlines refusing to compensate passengers in and appropriate and legally prescribed ways... need I go on?

In shopping for an airline, I considered both Air Canada and Westjet. Air Canada looked to be far more expensive, although the cost varied considerably according to how much flexibility they offered if you had to cancel or change your travel arrangements. Westjet offered premium economy seats at what I considered reasonable rates, and they looked to be a big step above regular economy class for the comfort, services and amenities provided.

Another consideration was the route taken and the airports I would have to go through. I've never been a fan of Toronto's Pearson Airport at the best of times and after hearing that it ranked worst in the world for canceled and delayed flights, that cemented my determination not to risk a layover there. Ideally I would have found a direct Ottawa-Dublin flight that suited my schedule (better for the environment too), but it was not to be. Travelling to Toronto meant travelling west in order to travel east, which makes little sense to me. And Toronto was also one of the sites where returning passengers might be subjected to random COVID testing in addition to the numerous other indignities we keep hearing about!

So I booked my flights to go through Halifax instead. Not only would I be flying continuously east (the irony of doing so on an airline named Westjet did not escape me) but by losing one of my hours immediately, prior to the overnight flight to Dublin, I figured it might be easier to adjust to the rest of the time difference. Plus, I could arrive earlier in the morning, go directly the the convention centre to check into the conference, attend the opening ceremonies featuring former (and first woman) president Mary Robinson, then check into my hotel for a nap, as there weren't any conference sessions later in the day I was that interested in.

That was the plan, anyway. In the end, the Ottawa to Halifax flight got cancelled - AFTER I had supposedly "checked in" for my flight the night before, AND printed boarding passes indicating the gates I'd be boarding at in Ottawa and Halifax and the times boarding was scheduled to begin! But at least it happened while I was still at home, not while I was sitting in a crowded, uncomfortable airport waiting area. And Westjet did offer me an alternative, which I accepted as the lesser of two evils.

The substitute offer had me on a flight at 6:45 PM instead of 6PM, bound for (sigh) Pearson Airport and a correspondingly later flight from Toronto to Dublin, which then took off about 40 minutes behind schedule. On the other hand, I was still assigned a comparable seat in Premium Economy and other than the comparatively minor delays, there were no problems at the airport. Security was quite fast and efficient; they don't even make you take your shoes off anymore to go through the scanner. A big advantage for me of Canadian airports and Canadian-based airlines is that masks are still required throughout the journey, except for meals and identification purposes at the gate.

I've become a big fan of Westjet and their premium economy service too. The Westjet in-flight people seemed to be genuinely enjoying themselves and keen to make the experience pleasant for their passengers. For the meals, a flight attendant whipped out a little white tablecloth to spread over each tray-table. Wine was included. I hadn't specifically ordered a vegetarian meal but on all flights there seemed to be a vegetarian (though likely not vegan) option. On the flight from Toronto to Dublin that was potato gnocchi and on the flight home (Dublin to Halifax) it was a vegetarian lasagna. There were plenty of take-away snacks too, like granola bars, nuts, pretzels, mints and chocolates. Pillows and blankets were provided as well as little care packages with sleep masks, lip balm, ear plugs and socks inside.

The seats that I booked entitled me to two pieces of checked luggage, one carry-on bag (to go in an overhead bin) and one smaller personal item (such as a handbag or small knapsack) to go under the seat.

After all I'd heard about baggage handler strikes, misplaced bags and the like, it seemed safer to travel to Dublin with everything I needed in the cabin. But I was also pretty sure I'd want to buy a few things while I was over there. So inside my carry-on bag I packed a scrunchable backpack and a sort of day-bag (a tote-bag with rubberized lining, therefore waterproof) I'd need while in and around Dublin. The backpack would become my carry-on for the flights back to Canada and I would check my larger (and by then heavier) rolling carry-on suitcase. I figured it didn't matter quite so much if my bag got lost or misplaced on the way home.

That arrangement worked pretty well, although I did wish I'd packed a few extra plastic bags. Single-use plastics seem to have been completely eliminated in Ireland and good on them! It's just that paper bags are not always practical - they take up more room in the luggage and they disintegrate in the rain. One partial solution I adopted was to buy cloth bags from some of the landmarks I visited - the James Joyce Centre, the Rock & Roll Museum, the Winding Stair Bookshop - and they were useful for separating clean clothes from dirty ones and for cushioning a few of the more fragile items I wanted to pack for the trip home. And the barman at the Ha'penny Bridge Inn was good enough to give me a reusable plastic (or at least plastic-like) carrier bag from Tesco when I arrived there with a rapidly disintegrating paper shopping bag.

I wrote earlier about my frustrations with Canada's own ArriveCan website. Somewhere in Dublin, but no sooner than 72 hours before my expected arrival back in Canada, I had to be in possession of my ArriveCan receipt: probably a printed one, as I was not using a smartphone during my trip. So where would I print my receipt? The conference was already over by that time and as for the hotel, there didn't seem to be at the kind of business centre that I had hoped for. I had perfectly fine Internet service via my laptop, but no access to a printer. Maybe a public library? But the problem was, there wasn't any obvious public library
in the areas I wanted to visit and I didn't know what their hours were or what their printing facilities were like. But something I HAD seen around town was Internet cafés.

On the Friday evening (July 29), just after I returned from a day trip to Galway, I entered my expected return flight details into ArriveCan. I couldn't believe how smoothly it went! I soon had the requisite ArriveCan receipt in my e-mail box and now it only remained to find somewhere to print it off. I did an online search for Internet cafés in the Dublin area and jotted down a few possibilities to explore the next day.

So, about Internet cafes. They do have Internet and printing services but they don't really have café. In fact, the one I went to was combined with a tanning salon. The good news is that it was inexpensive and was open long hours. The bad news is that even though I used the few privacy tricks I knew about and was assured I was "going incognito", I still got a couple of spam messages the next day, telling me (erroneously, thank goodness) that my e-mail had been locked and several e-mail messages had been withheld. But other than printing off my ArriveCan receipt, I wasn't using the Internet café for anything confidential or anything I can think of that would be much use to hackers and crackers.

The flights back to Ottawa were fine. I went through Halifax as I had wanted to. Things were efficient at Dublin airport and since I was flying on a Canadian-based airline, they made sure I had my ArriveCan receipt right from the get-go. Masks were not required at Dublin airport (and most passengers weren't wearing them) but things weren't so ridiculously congested as to preclude social distancing. But they WERE required on board the plane. I checked one bag at Dublin airport, as planned, and it was checked right through to Ottawa. At Halifax airport (my point of arrival back in Canada), Westjet staff were on hand to guide us through customs procedures, which were mostly about punching the relevant buttons on a computer terminal. I didn't have to go through security a second time before my flight from Halifax to Ottawa.

So that concludes my piece on the logistics of travel during the 7th wave of COVID-19. In a future blog post, I'll write more about my experiences in Ireland.

I'm musing wistfully about some of the conventions I've gone to in the past - Bloody Words, Bloody Scotland, Iceland Noir, Left Coast Crime, Crimefest, Maplecon, CanCon and Bouchercon... I've never been to a ConCept, Ad Astra, AndOrCon, Comicon or WorldCon, although I'm sure they could be a lot of fun too. Usually they take place in the spring, summer or fall but in 2020, they haven't happened at all.

So here's a thought. When we're finally able to hold those larger events once again, why don't we hold a Pandemicon? We could have panels discussing all that marvellous post-apocalyptic literature we read while we were holed up in self isolation practising imaginative distancing. We could talk about how prescient it was or how wildly unrealistic. We could have our True Science and Pseudoscience and "What were we thinking?" features as well. Film screenings. Masquerade balls with plenty of masks and face-shields and PPE. People dressed as space aliens and paramedics and grocery store workers and maybe as Stan or Cassie the sourdough starter? Someone wearing a version of the toilet paper dress from that commercial? Contests too. Pandemic-era games. Live entertainment - maybe a performance by I Furiosi in their full medical regalia? Picnics and banquets in courtyards and on terraces and patios.

The possibilities are endless. And wouldn't it be a great way to revive the tourist industry?

On Thursday, June 6, I flew out to St. John's to attend the annual conference of the Atlantic Provinces Library Association. It was held on the Signal Hill campus of Memorial University and I stayed nearby at the Sheraton (on Cavendish Square, just on the edge of downtown). This was my first visit to Newfoundland and it leaves me with just two Canadian provinces I have yet to visit - New Brunswick and Saskatchewan. Here are some of the highlights (and a couple of lowlights) of my trip.

First, some overall impressions. The residents were VERY friendly and helpful. If I looked slightly lost at any point, there was always someone there offering to orient me and tell me how best to get to where I wanted to go. But when I wanted to just explore and poke about a bit on my own, that was fine with them too. They seemed to have a good sense of just how much personal space I needed - something that seems incredibly rare in this day and age. The downtown area had lots of great places selling local products and art and crafts - good authentic stuff for the most part too, not trashy or tacky-touristy. I was a little worried about how vegetarian-friendly their cuisine would be, given how important fish and seafood are to their local economy. But that concern proved groundless - in fact, I ate at two superb restaurants along Duckworth Street (The Peaceful Loft Vegan Cafe; and Seto, another Asian-oriented restaurant) and enjoyed a very nice black bean burger at the hotel's restaurant. The Peaceful Loft was rated #1 of around 300 St. John's restaurants on Tripadvisor (though I didn't know that at the time):

https://www.tripadvisor.ca/Restaurant_Review-g154964-d7356906-Reviews-Peaceful_Loft-St_John_s_Newfoundland_Newfoundland_and_Labrador.html

and Seto was also reviewed favourably there:

https://www.tripadvisor.ca/Restaurant_Review-g154964-d10076471-Reviews-Seto_Kitchen_Bar-St_John_s_Newfoundland_Newfoundland_and_Labrador.html

At Peaceful Loft, they were playing Simon & Garfunkel while I was there and I overheard the proprietor telling two other diners that he was 64 years old, had been an engineer in (I think) Korea (don't know if that was North or South) but cooking was his passion. And the food was indeed good - he served me soup and tea as soon as I arrived and I ordered the "peaceful rolls" from the menu.

At Seto, I was the only diner there at first, which suited me nicely as I had gone there to escape some of the Friday evening rowdiness of the George Street bar district. I sat by the window and watched the world go by. My server (who may also have been the cook) asked me straightaway whether I had any allergies. I ordered the vegetable fried rice and treated myself to their one dessert which that day was a sort of blueberry fritter with a small scoop of ice cream.

The conference itself was quite small, although aside from the keynote presentations there was some choice of sessions to attend. I went to sessions on diversity, "art hives" in libraries, and dealing with book donations. The closing keynote was on ensuring authentic indigenous content (I missed the opening keynote as I didn't arrive until Thursday afternoon). The "lightning talks" on Saturday morning were excellent, particularly the one on the Gander "flybrary", a kind of little free library located at Gander airport. The inspiration for it came with the events of September 11, 2001, when large numbers of international travellers found themselves stranded in Gander (a fairly small centre, population ca. 10,000) as a result of all the flights that were grounded. The conference also featured a small exhibits area, where Ex Libris had a table.

When the conference ended at midday Saturday, I decided that since I was already half-way up Signal Hill, I might as well climb the rest of the way up there. I made it as far as the uppermost "Ladies' Lookout" and really wanted to climb up higher to see if there were any "gentlemen's lookouts" or perhaps "hiker-men's lookouts"? But once I saw a plaque commemorating the Battle of Signal Hill and noticed that the weather seemed to be turning nastier and foggier, I decided it was time to head downwards again. I went from the Ladies' Lookout Trail to the Burma Trail, which snaked downwards into Quidi Vidi Village. By this time I was tired and hungry and I could see a bus-stop. A passing walker informed me that there was a bus due quite soon, although it was usually a bit late. That took me right to the edge of Cavendish Square, where I could walk across a park to my hotel.

Since I had all of Sunday "at leisure" (as they say in the tourist brochures) I decided to book myself on an O'Brien's boat cruise out to Witless Bay where there are many different species of local birds. Some of the brochures mentioned a "bird sanctuary" out there (though I don't think it was much of a sanctuary for one unfortunate puffin we saw being unceremoniously scooped up and devoured by a gull!) We saw several icebergs and a couple of people told me they had actually spotted a whale - or part of one, anyway. I'd call it a fish story except for the fact that whales aren't fish!

There was a bar on board where I sampled an Iceberg Beer and several of us got ourselves "screeched in" and left the boat in yellow Sou'westers emblazoned with the O'Brien's logo, proudly clutching our certificates.

I had paid for the shuttle to drop me back at the hotel afterwards, but the driver was also willing to drop us off at alternate locations. I decided that "The Rooms", a kind of museum to end all museums, was at the top of my must-see list and asked to be let off there. It was about 2:30 PM and I spent the rest of my afternoon there until it closed at 5:00 - in fact, I could easily have spent a day or two there if I'd had time.

So those were the highlights; now for the lowlights. First off, the weather. It rained every day I was there. Thursday and Friday were almost complete washouts; Saturday and Sunday were mixed - at least there was some good weather Saturday afternoon for climbing and exploring around Signal Hill. There was a power failure at my hotel Thursday evening and my TV and remote didn't work properly all the time I was there. But at least the hotel staff were pleasant and tried to be helpful - kudos to the bellhop who managed to tune my TV to Bravo so I could watch the season opener of Handmaid's Tale. "That's Margaret Atwood, right?" he said to me. He then mentioned that he'd met her once and that she had stayed at the hotel a few times. He said he had also met Farley Mowat.

There WERE some hotel amenities I did appreciate - the fridge in my room and the pool, sauna and hot-tub on the lower lobby level which I visited once.

Another lowlight occurred on the plane trip. I had decided I didn't want to deal with checked baggage and all it entails in terms of delays at the airport, extra charges and the possibility of it being lost or damaged. So that meant travelling fairly light. For reading matter on the flight to St. John's, I had settled on a slim Ngaio Marsh paperback, Singing in the Shrouds, that fit quite nicely in my purse. Halfway through the flight, somewhere in chapter 5, I turned a page... and realized that the book was mis-bound, with one section appearing twice over and some 30 pages missing altogether! Now that has happened to me before, though never when I've been suspended in mid-air, so I suppose I should have examined the thing before choosing it as my travelling companion. Aaaaarghh!! I ended up leaving it in St. John's (it can't be returned to the store because I got it second-hand to begin with, and a long time ago at that) and on the way home, I read a book called Corner Boys, a memoir by someone who grew up in St. Johns in the 1950s and 60s. But I got my happy ending - yesterday at the Friends of the Experimental Farm annual booksale, I managed to find a copy of the same Ngaio Marsh book, same cover, same edition - except that this one had all its pages.

So all in all, it was a good trip. I didn't see everything I would have liked to see nor did I get beyond the St. John's area, but I made the most of the time I did have.