Truth is, I secretly always wanted to be a librarian. When I was ten, I had the Dewey Decimal system memorized down to the 1/10th decimal. (And no, to answer your next question, I didn’t have a lot of friends.) But buried deep within the CBC’s Toronto Broadcast Centre is a reference library like none other in Canada — yet for some reason, a lot of CBCers don’t know what it holds and how to access it.
     I asked CBC librarian Michele Melady a few questions about the library and whether I could get a lifetime membership to the Switchback collection (answer: no).

What kinds of things does the Reference Library archive?
Our primary function is providing research services to CBC production. But over the years, we have also become a de facto custodian of the Corporation’s history. In the absence of a formal Corporate Archives, the Reference Library has actively collected CBC press releases, staff publications, internal documents and reports dating back to the 1930s. We continue to do this. We’re just as interested in written materials relating to the history of podcasting, high definition television and platform expansion at CBC as we are in the early days of radio.
     When the publicity department was outsourced in 2005, we made arrangements to obtain the publicists’ files, an invaluable historic collection. If not for librarians saying “this is important, we want it,” this material could have disappeared. The CBC is one of the country’s most important cultural institutions, and the history that breathes in our files is the history of Canada. What would future generations of researchers and academics have to work with if all the records were thrown out?
     We also try to collect any book written or edited by CBC personnel. So we have books by Peter Gzowski, Knowlton Nash, Stuart McLean, Arthur Black, Barbara Frum.. all available for borrowing!

What sorts of requests from CBC people do you get on a weekly basis?
In 2006, we answered more than 6,500 research questions from CBC staff across the country. The Reference Library is the only Library on the English-side of the Corporation. We handle requests from TV, Radio, .ca, support departments, anybody who calls or emails, we help. I want to stress that we are not just a Toronto resource — we do a lot of work for local and network shows in the “regions” — On the Coast and Sounds Like Canada in Vancouver, All in a Day in Ottawa, News at Six across the country, for example. So all staff should feel free to make use of our services.
     The type of questions we get ranges from the simple to the complex. An example of a simple request is “I need an article that ran in the Edmonton Journal a month ago and I can’t find it anymore on their website.” Or, “I’m interviewing so-and-so tomorrow and I need to know what he has said recently about the environment.” No problem, the Library subscribes to databases like Factiva and Infomart and Nexis that we can search to get you those articles. The more complicated questions often are for investigative shows or units, like the fifth estate or Marketplace, and involve searching many specialized databases for court documents, property holdings, statistical information, etc.
     We also have arranged site licenses to many online resources that people can search themselves, including Encyclopedia Britannica, the Oxford English Dictionary, The New York Times (from 1980 to present). All are available at http://intranet.cbc-radio-canada/refdesign_en/databases/ (note: this link works inside CBC only).

Do you offer any services to the general public?
Members of the public who are researching the Corporation or the history of broadcasting in Canada are welcome to use the Reference Library. We ask that they contact us in advance to schedule an appointment.

How many people work in the Reference Library?
We are a staff of eight: 4 Reference Librarians, a Library Technician who handles acquisitions and cataloguing duties, a Subscriptions Clerk, a Generalist Clerk, and myself. We are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST Monday to Friday.

What are some of the things in the library that people might find peculiar or interesting?
We have an amazing collection of scrapbooks about the Royal Family. They were maintained by Head Librarians of yore, and date back to the Duke and Duchess of Kent’s wedding in 1934. There are 69 volumes in total, featuring newspaper clippings about the Abdication Crisis, Royal Visits to Canada, the Coronation of Elizabeth II, etc. Researchers on Pop Up Royals used them extensively and thought they were wonderful!
     We also have CBC Program Schedules dating back to 1939 and the CBC Times from 1948 to 1969. So if you’re writing a novel and need to confirm what your protagonist would have been listening to on the radio on Thursday nights at 9:30 in 1950, just call… (the answer is the Wayne and Shuster Show, btw).
     We have original copies of Maclean’s and Saturday Night magazines from the 1940s and 1950s that researchers in the Documentary Unit have found to be very useful.

Pictured left to right: Michele Melady, Louise Goldberg, Cathy Ross, Diana Redegeld, Helen Kugler, Stacie Egerton, Anne Mercer, Tyana Grundig

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