Table of Contents
Bertha Alice Bassam
b. July 25, 1896, Kingston, ON; d. Sept. 8, 1989, Toronto, ON
Education:
1922 BA (Queen's University)
1923 BLS (Pratt Institute School of Library Science)
1942 MS (Columbia University)
Positions:
Cataloguer, Princeton University Library
Cataloguer, Queen's University Library
1924–1928 Classifier and Reviser, Columbia University Library
1928–1932 Lecturer, University of Toronto Library School
1932–1945 Assistant Professor, University of Toronto Library School
1942–1943 Assistant Professor and Acting Director, University of Toronto Library School
1945–1951 Associate Professor, University of Toronto Library School
1951–1953 Associate Professor, and Director, University of Toronto Library School
1953–1964 Professor and Director, University of Toronto Library School
1964–1989 Professor and Director Emerita, University of Toronto School of Library Science
Publications:
Bassam, Bertha (1940). “The Public Catalogue.” Ontario Library Review 24, no. 2 (May): 137–141.
Bassam, Bertha (1942). “The Teaching of Subject Cross References.” M.L.S. thesis, Columbia University, Library School.
Bassam, Bertha (1943). “Library services for Canada.” Canadian Forum 24 (11): 257.
Bassam, Bertha (1943). “New Trends in Library Training [Synopsis].” Bulletin of the Toronto Chapter, Special Libraries Association 3, no. 1 (Jan.): 2–3.
Bassam, Bertha, ed. (1944). Librarian: Canadian Census Classification Professional Service. Toronto: Distributed by Vocational Guidance Centre, National Committee for Mental Hygiene.
Bassam, Bertha (1946). “What lies ahead for Canada.” Library Journal 71 (June): 882–883.
Bassam, Bertha (1961). “An estimate of space required for the Library School for the next ten years.” Toronto: University of Toronto Library School.
Bassam, Bertha (1968). The first printers and newspapers in Canada. Toronto: School of Library Science..
Bassam, Bertha (1976). Developments in Canadian librarianship. Toronto: University of Toronto, Faculty of Library Science.
Bassam, Bertha (1978). The Faculty of Library Science University of Toronto and its predecessors, 1911–1972. Toronto: Faculty of Library Science in association with the Library Science Alumni Association.
Bassam, Bertha (1979). “Education of librarians is put in historical perspective.” Canadian Library Journal 36 (June): 77–86.
Associations/Committees:
1960 President, Canadian Library Association
Committee Member, Ontario Library Association,
Preparation of: Library Needs of the Province of Ontario: A Brief Submitted to the Minister of Education, Province of Ontario, March 30, 1944.
Honours/Accomplishments:
1989 Distinguished Honorary Graduate Awarded by the Faculty of Library and Information Science
1964 The Bertha Bassam Lecture in Librarianship was established by the Library Science Alumni Association
1965 LLD, University of Waterloo
Other Areas of Activity:
Bassam introduced the first Master of Library Science program in Canada.
Her main objectives as the Director of the University of Toronto Library School was to establish it as a separate teaching division of the University and to secure new quarters The corner stone for the new quarters was laid in 1965.
Sources:
Bassam, Bertha. “Education of Librarians is put in historical perspective.” Canadian Library Journal 36.3 (June 1979): 77–86.
Bassam, Bertha. The Faculty of Library Science University of Toronto and Its predecessors, 1911–1972. Toronto: Faculty of Library Science in association with The Library Science Alumni Association, 1978.
Bruce, Lorne D. Places to grow: public libraries and communities in Ontario, 1930–2000, 2010.
“Congratulations.” Ex Libris News: Newsletter of the Ex Libris Association, Fall 1989(6): 13–14.
ELA biography compiled by Agatha Barc