File consists of reference materials regarding university libraries in Alberta gathered for the purpose of planning the use and/or expansion of the John E. Robbins Library at Brandon University.
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series 4: Office of the Vice-President
4.2 Office of the Vice-President (Administration &Finance)
Box 1
File consists of reference materials regarding university libraries in Ontario gathered for the purpose of planning the use and/or expansion of the John E. Robbins Library at Brandon University. It includes two photographs of Carelton University Library.
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series 4: Office of the Vice-President
4.2 Office of the Vice-President (Administration &Finance)
Box 1
File consists of reference materials regarding university libraries in British Columbia gathered for the purpose of planning the use and/or expansion of the John E. Robbins Library at Brandon University.
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series 4: Office of the Vice-President
4.2 Office of the Vice-President (Administration &Finance)
Box 1
File consists of reference materials regarding university libraries in New Brunswick gathered for the purpose of planning the use and/or expansion of the John E. Robbins Library at Brandon University.
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series 4: Office of the Vice-President
4.2 Office of the Vice-President (Administration &Finance)
Box 1
File consists of reference materials regarding university libraries in Nova Scotia gathered for the purpose of planning the use and/or expansion of the John E. Robbins Library at Brandon University.
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series 4: Office of the Vice-President
4.2 Office of the Vice-President (Administration &Finance)
Box 1
Files consist of correspondence, reports, recommendations, proposals, financial information, minutes, memos, information on Erickson/Massey Architects and Planners, action outline, library statistics, drawings and reference materials.
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series 2: Board of Governors
2.6 Board Projects
Box 1
A series of three blueprints containing detailed drawings of floor plans for the library addition c. 1991 including the existing library. The drawings relate in particular to the location of books stacks, periodical and reference publication storage.
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series 2: Board of Governors
2.1 Documents
A series of sixteen blueprints A 4 - A19 ( A -1, A -2, A -3 missing) containing detailed plans for the construction of the library addition. Blueprints include main floor of addition including existing foyer, second floor including existing arts building, and the mezzanine floor of the existing library and arts building.
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series 2: Board of Governors
2.1 Documents
Eleven blueprints containing detailed preliminary drawings for the construction of the library addititon to the John E. Robbins Library. Several pages are missing including A 1, A 10, A 11, A 12, A 13, A 14, and A 16.
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series 2: Board of Governors
2.1 Documents
The Senate Planning Committee conists of: the President or designate, who is Chair; the Vice-President (Academic & Research); the Dean of each Faculty/School; one representative elected by and from each Faculty/School; the University Librarian; and two students appointed by the BUSU Council.
The responsibilities of this Committee are to make recommendations to Senate relating to: academic program priorities; support programs for the academic functions; and the establishement of additional departments faculties, schools and institutes.
In 1985 the Senate Planning Committee was replaced by the Senate Planning and Priorities Committee. The composition and terms of reference for this committee are included in the Senate by-laws from 1985. In 2000 the Senate Planning and priorities committee was disbanded. Its functions were assumed by the Senate Executive Committee until the senate Planning Committee was re-established in 2003.
Scope and Content
Sub sub series consists of agendas and minutes of the Brandon University Senate Planning Committee 1967-1985 and various files from the Senate Planning and Priorities Committee relating to external reviews of programs and areas within the University in the years 1985-1995, as well as a number of miscellaneous file some dating from the era before 1985. .
Notes
Information in the History/Bio field was take from the Brandon University Senate By-laws - Section VIII Committees of Senate.
Finding Aid
A file level inventory for the records of the Planning and Priorities Committee prepared by Alison McNeill Hordern is available with the records.
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series 6: Brandon University Senate
6.2 Committees of Senate
Related Material
Senate Planning Committee minutes for 1970-1973 are located in RG 6 Brandon University fonds, series 6 Brandon University Senate, sub-series 6.1 Senate minutes.
File consists of minutes, proposed 5 year program for Continuting Education, memos, and a brief submitted to the Joint Ministerial Task Force on nursing education on behalf of Brandon University (1977)
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series 2: Board of Governors
2.4 Correspondence and subject files
Box 6
The importance of knowledge and education to the Manitoba Wheat Pool is made clear in the The Scoop Shovel, the official organ of the Manitoba Wheat Pool and other co-operatives in Manitoba. Established in the 1920s, The Scoop Shovel owed its existence to a decision by the directors of the Pool to set aside small percentage of income per bushel for educational purposes. R.A. Hoey began to hold meetings to discuss the idea that the Pool was about more than just marketing grain, and in 1926 a Department of Education and Publicity was organized within the Pool. It was directed by J.T. Hull and advised by R.A. Hoey; they expanded and supervised The Scoop Shovel.
They also began to accumulate the educational volumes that would become the Pool library. Hull announced in November of 1926 that the library would be open by the end of the month and reported that: "We have a good representation of works on sociology... On co-operation we have about every book that we can find published in the English language. We have also a good selection of books on economics, history, science, general literature, and rural life. In a word, we have tried to make the library one of usefulness to people whose life is on the land."
He also encouraged Pool members--who were the only ones allowed to use the library at this time--to utilize the library to educate themselves, saying “Use it, for knowledge is power”.
Once the library was open to all Pool members, Hull wrote a regular column for The Scoop Shovel called “In the Library”, in which he would review books and recommend reading in response to frequent questions from members. When the library gained new books, which was almost continually, he would list them and sometimes discuss them.
The library service was a mailing one; the main collection was kept at the Manitoba Wheat Pool central office in Winnipeg and members could request a catalogue of all the library holdings. If they wanted to borrow a book or books on a specific topic, they could write to Hull and the books would be mailed out to the member and returned by mail, all postage costs covered by the Pool Library.
During the crisis of the early 1930s, the library was saved because the Manitoba Co-operative Conference believed it was vital to the success of the Pools and the co-operative movement. The Conference took over administration of the Pool library in 1931, leasing the books and equipment from the Wheat Pool. The library was formally incorporated under a charter after it changed hands, the other charters members being the Co-operative Marketing Board and the United Farmers of Manitoba.
In 1935 the service was made available free of charge to all rural Manitobans with the financial support of the Co-op Marketing Board. By 1939, Manitoba Pool Elevators had begun to prosper again, and took back responsibility for the administration and housing of the library. The traveling library was also established around this time, and hundreds of boxes were distributed to all MPE points. The boxes were rotated and refreshed twice a year.
In 1942 Hull estimated that there were approximately 4,700 books in the Pool Library with an annual circulation of 4,000 to 5,000 books. Operating the library cost around two thousand dollars per year, although the cost was split between the members of the Manitoba Co-operative Conference, at least it was in theory. The Pool library ran as a free service to all rural Manitobans, regardless of whether they were members of the Pool, and the federal government census in 1941 indicates that over half of Manitoba’s population (56%) still lived in rural areas. In 1948, the majority of the Pool Library’s services were rendered unnecessary by an act called the “Public Libraries Act” that had been passed by the Manitoba legislature on April 22, 1948, and would go into effect July 1, 1948. The act provided for the establishing of a provincial “Public Library Advisory Board” that would be appointed by the government. Once the board had been established, the act allowed for the establishment of municipal and regional libraries that would be the administrative responsibility of the municipality or region they served and would be supported by a land tax levied on the population that would have access to the library. All employees of the central provincial library would be considered civil servants.
When the Provincial Library was being established in 1949, the Minister in charge of education--Ivan Shultz--actively sought both the advice of those who operated the Pool Library and the physical resources of the Library. In a letter to W.J. Parker, the President of Manitoba Pool Elevators, Shultz wrote that: "We find that in looking at the province as a whole that the box library service of the Manitoba Pool Elevators is the best developed and the best distributed within the province... We would feel that to a considerable extent you had pioneered in this field and we would be using your accomplishments as a springboard for a wider coverage of the province and an enlargement of the service."
He also requested that Miss E.L. Shields—the Pool Librarian--be released from Pool employment so that the Provincial Library could hire her for a year to aid in setting up the new library system.
An agreement was reached between MPE and the Provincial Library, and the bulk of the Pool Library was transferred to the province. The Pool retained the volumes it wished to keep as reference for its employees, and donated the rest of the open shelf library to the province. The traveling library service was sold at a discount to the province, with the caveat that service not be interrupted during the transfer and that the quality of service to rural Manitoba not diminish once the Library had been entirely transferred to the government. In a letter to Ivan Shultz after the agreement to sell the traveling library had been reached, W.J. Parker wrote that: "...Manitoba Pool Elevators has maintained an open shelf library for a period of some twenty years. These books have been made available to anyone in Manitoba, outside the City of Winnipeg, and the postage both ways was paid by the Pool. We feel it has served a very useful purpose, but that it is not primarily our function and if the government proposes to offer a more complete and universal service we are prepared to retire from the field and avoid what might be considered unnecessary duplication."
Scope and Content
Series contains items once held as part of the Manitoba Pool Library. It has been divided into the following four sub-series: (1) MPE E 1 Manitoba Pool Library publications; (2) MPE E 2 The Scoop Shovel; (3) MPE E 3 The Manitoba Cooperator; and (4) MPE E 4 Pamphlet collection.