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TL9.1Larry The Teaching Librarian Volume 9/No. 1 25 At Clarke Road, students lined up to be library assistants (I had sixty students sched- uled into the library with as many being turned away in this technical and business high school where non-achievement could be a badge of honour). I am still staggered by how easily we could change the academic achievement of these students by giving them something positive and exciting. They stayed right through Grade 13. It was great. Teaching school librarianship at Queen's was wonderful in the root sense of the word. The college was born out of the '60s and gave its staff license and freedom to follow its own vision. When you consider that each of the three librarianship courses was 150 hours in length plus the work we had the temerity to give outside classtime, you had the most marvellous canvas upon which to let people create the librarianship of their dreams. And create they did. It was fabulous. The work we did in wedding cur- riculum design to librarianship (with David Pratt) was cer- tainly the biggest professional contribution we made. The work led to Partners in Action [ancestor of Information Studies], one of the truly influential documents of the 80s world- wide. I have very fond memories of the week- long program that I started for school librar- ians whose Specialist qualifications were at least five years old. It was in this amazing setting at McArthur that Margaret Beckman and Stephen Langmead first introduced their ideas about the relationship of program to library space, ideas that have been used right up to this day. The University of Maryland's Jim Liesener brought his chal- lenging no-where-to-hide approach to pro- gram planning and in the process widened our vision of what was important in a way that changed our focus forever. And those who heard Roald Dahl, one of a series of authors we were fortunate to attract, will never forget the experience. Since coming to the OLA, I have met more brilliant, dedicated, fun people to work with than I would have ever thought possible. It is such a pleasure to support them and to ensure that they get to accomplish the real fruits of their vision. I have been very lucky indeed. The memories and outstanding moments are legion. I have had a very satisfying and often exciting - at least for me - career. TTLL: Speaking of "the librarianship of your dreams", can you share your dream for school libraries in Ontario? L.M.: It is harder to dream these days than it has been in almost any time in my career in libraries. In my work as Executive Director, I am being challenged by teachers, superin- tendents, politicians, and bureaucrats to jus- tify the values we argue teacher-librarians can bring to successful programs for our stu- dents and our schools. If I have a dream, it is for a reinvention of school information services that will lift us out of our current perception problems. In this dream, school librarians will be able to raise their eyes and embrace a role that is not based in a physical room but in the provision of a school-wide service - Vice-Principal of Information if you will. Only through a new PROFILE TL The 80s. Larry becomes the OLA's second Executive Director the day before the Public Libraries Act enters the legislature. Here with government Library Director Wil Vanderelst. The 90s. Larry's job is to support his Presidents. He is pictured with Carleton School Board teacher-librar- ian Allison Craig, who was OLA President for the joint con- ference with the New York Library Association in Niagara Falls.