Ross Tyner
Wow! ELN is old! So old that it even predates my career as an academic librarian in BC, which is saying something. But though it seems to me that ELN has always been around, I’ve never taken for granted the incredible contributions it’s made – and continues to make – to BC’s post-secondary libraries and our users. I think that’s a tribute to ELN’s ability to continually renew itself, largely thanks to the energy of its staff, the commitment of member institutions, and those wonderful strategic planning sessions…
In fact, although ELN has long been part of my mythology, my first up-close-and-personal experience with the ELN occurred in 1996, when someone at Okanagan College thought it would be a good idea to send a cocky, young, pony-tailed, beer-swilling, neophyte librarian to the ELN’s strategic planning session in Richmond. It was at that meeting that I first met Anita Cocchia, Sheila Comeau and other ELN staffers, along with librarians from all the other institutions in the province and representatives of whichever government ministry we reported to in those days. My memories of that meeting include the camaraderie created by the opening reception, the amazing ELN librarians who made me want to work for the ELN (sadly, I’ve never realized that dream), and the realization that the ability of the ELN to get stuff done was – and is – almost entirely dependent on its member libraries. The title of the report I wrote for my library once I returned to work is indicative – “ELN R US” (please forgive the corny title; I had a 3-year old child at the time).[i]
It’s no coincidence that the ELN’s provenance roughly coincides with that of the Internet as a going concern. When the 1990s began, the mere existence of the Internet was unknown to the vast majority of the population; by the end of the decade, we had web-based full-text databases, online banking, and Napster. Libraries and librarians, to our credit, were among the first to realize the incredible potential of this new technology to help us with our key mission of connecting people with information. In Canada, the ELN was an early example of the power of human networks – a.k.a. consortia – to exploit the potential of computer networks. In BC, it was only through the ELN that many of our students and faculty gained access to any of the early online resources that emerged in the early 1990s – resources such as OJAC (Online Journal Access Catalogue, a text-based, command-driven suite of databases that included the first full text articles most of us ever saw) and Infoserv (a short-lived “Gopher” server), both of which were projects that I was fortunate to have the opportunity to work on.
Today, ELN retains its relevance and its value, and has become much more professional than in its early days, while the strategic planning sessions are still surprisingly energizing, the ELN librarians and staff continue to be incredible, and the organization continues to be driven by its members. Happy anniversary, ELN, and thanks for everything you do.
[i] I’m sorry that I don’t have photos from this era that I can submit, but am at the same time hopeful that others do not possess photos of which I am unaware or which I've long ago forgotten.