collecting

The mission was to track down a thin publication, released in 1967, possibly by the Canadian Wildlife Service. The thing you don't realize before you work in reference is just how useful those old timey mid-century bibliographies are. They're on paper, actual paper, which means you can flip back and forth quickly instead of ticking off agonizing seconds while the screen changes to the digitized page you think you might want. You can unfocus your eyes enough as you flip though the book on the table and let the right word reveal itself to your brain.

I didn't find what I was looking for, in any bibliography of the CWS, Environment Canada, NRCan, on the Publications Canada website, or in the Canadian Publications catalogues. No. Dice.

But in one of those bibliographies, and this was before I was Collecting collecting, which means I was just scribbling little notes to myself on the backs of AMICUS printouts, there was a listing for another thin paper. Just a few pages, I believe, and if you've worked in non-profits or the gov, you know the type - 10, maybe 15 pages, thick staples leaving flecks of rust on the cover cardstock. A block of now-retro colour across the bottom half of the front, maybe avocado, maybe burnt orange, a square with rounded corners cut out to reveal the title on the title page. One corner with a diagonal tear where someone picked it up once with clumsy fingers.

I never did see the book, but the title was "This Trout is a Great Fighter."

A flat statement. A specific trout. I like to imagine one fish, fighting a great fight against a predator’s teeth, claws; the encroaching ice.

It puts me in mind of a poem I can’t remember – one that involves river water glinting like diamond scales. I thought it was “The Fish” by Marianne Moore. Or a poem by Elizabeth Bishop – maybe “The Fish” again, or “At the Fishhouses.” No and no and no. I think I’m focused too much on the fish-image instead of what was back of it. No mind, though. I can still see the river in the fall, running hard, small crests flecked with foam under moonlight.

When I was blogging before, I was very very careful to not blog about the organization I was working for or even the cause we worked so hard on. Part of that was because I wasn't really interested in blogging about the topic, since I already spent all day thinking about it. Also, it's just stupid to write personal stuff about work on the internet, unless you want to spend all your time worrying about alienating your co-workers and/or getting fired.

Now though! HaHA! I am FREE! And I will be blogging about work all the time.

Though: nothing personal of course; and as far as your concerned, I have absolutely no thoughts about the grand machinations of my department. I'm still not stupid.

So, the big news, even if it is old by now. I started working as a Reference Librarian at Library and Archives Canada going on a year now. It was a very weird shift to go from being the webby-webby barely-librarian at a small non-profit to being the librarianest of librarians at the librariest of libraries.

The joy of this job is really in the collection itself. I spend my days answering questions, mostly about the published collection, but a little bit about our archival holdings as well. And boy howdy, is it ever an insanely amazing bunch of stuff we have. Depending on the question I've been asked, I could be looking at the correspondence of Stanley G. Grizzle, going through old train schedules, searching old government publications catalogues for a specific report, or photocopying articles on someone's famous Grandma.

The collecting I've been doing is amazing. Sentences, images. Words. I have no idea how all this stuff will come together. Yet. But stay tuned.