National Library News July 1998 Vol. 30, no. 7-8

Obituary: Homage to Alice Jean Elizabeth Lunn, 1910-1998

by Gwynneth Evans,
National and International Programs

Less than two months after the opening of the Canadian Bibliographic Centre on May 1, 1950, under the direction of Dominion Archivist Dr. W. Kaye Lamb, Dr. Jean Lunn was appointed Bibliographer. She had a doctorate in Canadian history from McGill University, had served on the staff of the McGill Library and was the Librarian of the Fraser Institute in Montreal at the time of her appointment to Ottawa.

Dr. Jean Lunn.

Jean Lunn played a central role within the national and international bibliographic communities for more than 30 years. Her work was instrumental in laying the groundwork for standards and cooperation in the cataloguing of materials and the presentation of bibliographic records so that they can be shared within countries and across borders.

The origins of Dr. Lunn's achievements can be traced to her academic interests and research in Canadian history and bibliography. She completed her doctoral thesis, Economic Development in New France, 1713-1760, in 1942. Her work was later translated by Brigitte Monet-Nish and published by the Presses de l'Université de Montréal in 1986 as Développement économique de la Nouvelle-France, 1713-1760.

In the June 1935 issue of the Canadian Historical Review (CHR), Dr. Lunn published an article entitled "Agriculture and War in Canada, 1740-1760". ¹ In the December 1941 issue of the same review, her "Bibliography of the History of the Canadian Press", ² initiated by the International Committee of Historical Sciences (ICHS) as part of its investigation of subjects bearing on the history of international relations, was printed, the Committee's publishing activities having been suspended because of the war. Dr. Lunn did this work under the general supervision of the National Committee for Canada, composed of E.R. Adair (McGill University); J. Bartlett Brebner (Columbia University, New York); and G. Lanctot (Public Archives of Canada). Dr. Lunn's interest in the press is evident in a second article, "Canadian Newspapers before 1821: A Preliminary List". ³

In November 1950, as Chair of the Canadian Library Association Reference Section, Jean Lunn visited Europe to attend the UNESCO Conference on the Improvement of Bibliographic Services, and to visit a number of national libraries. The need for a conference had been raised by learned societies, which wanted action to gain control over the "flood of printed materials by which we are presently being engulfed....The ideal is, of course, world bibliography providing a subject approach to all branches of recorded knowledge in all its forms." ⁴

In preparation for the conference, the Library of Congress, on behalf of UNESCO, had completed a survey of the problems, and Dr. Lunn had commented on this study from the Canadian point of view. The reports from national groups formed the working document of the conference.

By the end of the conference, a number of recommendations on the organization of national and international bibliographic services had been formulated. These recommendations directed the work of the Canadian Bibliographic Centre and the National Library of Canada. They were also essential to the Canadian planning committees formed to promote the development of bibliographic services, coordinate efforts, and provide links to international bodies.

One of the points made at the conference was that each country was considered to be responsible for its current national bibliography, which, ideally, would include records for maps, atlases, musical works and audiovisual materials, as well as books and pamphlets. Further recommendations included the need for a bibliography of unpublished theses, an index to articles in journals and newspapers, directories of periodicals and newspapers, and lists of publishers of all types.

The UNESCO conference participants recommended the establishment of a national library in every country to assure the preparation and publication of the national bibliography. Also emphasized was the need to collect at least one copy of every item published in every country. To that end, participants urged a law requiring the deposit of at least one copy of all publications in every member state within UNESCO. Other recommendations concerned the additional desirable functions of a national library, the value of professional training, and the need for UNESCO to coordinate and facilitate appropriate international consultation and training. The application of these particular recommendations within Canada influenced the development of the National Library and its role in national and international bibliographic services as well as the country's schools of library and information studies.

After the conference, Dr. Lunn visited some of the great European libraries, and published some of her practical observations on these visits in the Ontario Library Review. ⁵ She described how each country addressed the issues of both national and international bibliography. This article, among the many that appeared before Dr. Lunn's retirement in 1975, demonstrated her leadership, her intellectual interest and rigour, and her desire to be inclusive in developing national and international bibliographic services. In her articles and speeches, she expressed the need to identify the origins and explain the context of cataloguing, and to discuss the options for and consequences of bibliographic control over the increasing quantities and variety of printed materials.

While Canadiana: The National Bibliography remains the largest and most continuing legacy of Dr. Lunn, she is well remembered for her work on the first edition of the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules and its revision. She also participated in developing the International Standard Bibliographic Descriptions for monographs and serials and establishing Technical Committee 46 (Documentation) of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). During her tenure as Director of Cataloguing at the National Library, the additions to the Library of Congress classification schemes for Canadian history, law and literature were developed. In her retirement, she completed the second draft of the Study on a Model Law for Legal Deposit for UNESCO, working in collaboration with the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). In 1981, UNESCO published her Guidelines for Legal Deposit Legislation.

A review of her writings and works about the National Library between 1950 and 1975 reveals her impressive contribution to the Library from its earliest days and her influence on its direction and leadership. Some of her articles also demonstrate the humour that I and others remember as typical. In an inspiring address to the National Conference on Cataloguing Standards, held at the National Library of Canada in May 1970, Dr. Lunn describes the Canadian cataloguing situation as follows:

"Canada spells diversity. We are seeking for practical purposes a modus operandi in a situation which includes:

(1) At least three cataloguing codes, one foreign, one continental, one international, one going, one here, one coming, none of them Canadian, all of them inherently variable, all of them trying to serve two masters, finding tool and bibliographical tool, one of them providing for the direct approach for ease of location, two of them sacrificing this facility in order to achieve uniformity;

(2) The usual variety of types of library;

(3) A number of major libraries heavily dependent upon the wholly admirable, indispensable services of a foreign national library;

(4) Three systems, one manual (doubtless going), one mixed, that is partially automated (here) and one fully automated (doubtless coming);

(5) Two official languages, and perhaps some increasingly insistent other tongues;

(6) Eleven governments, not counting the municipalities, all with some jurisdiction over some libraries.

Have we any hope of achieving any standardization in this vertical, horizontal, transitionary, institutional, technological, linguistic, jurisdictional mosaic? Canada is a microcosm of the world. IFLA believes that there is some hope for world uniformity. Perhaps we can be at least equally optimistic." ⁶

Dr. Jean Lunn died in April 1998 in Ottawa. She will be impossible to forget. When I discussed her passing with colleagues, they recalled the enduring image of Jean Lunn leaving work with a bag of 3" x 5" cards to be checked, edited and returned the next morning. In both her energy and her dedication, she was matchless.

Former Associate National Librarian Hope Clement very aptly remarked: "Those involved in Canadian studies owe a tremendous debt to Jean Lunn for creating the bibliographic tools to make works published in Canada, about Canada and by Canadians accessible. She also played a pioneering and important role in the development of international bibliographic standards. On a personal note, I appreciated her as a wise and challenging mentor, whose wide knowledge and insistence on the highest standards, combined with a brilliant mind and a dry wit, made her a delight to be with. She was a unique character and will always be remembered as one of the original founders of the services of our National Library."

Notes

¹ Canadian Historical Review, vol.XVI, no. 2, June 1935, pp. 123-136.

² Canadian Historical Review, vol.XXII, no. 4, December 1941, pp. 416-433.

³ Canadian Historical Review, vol.XXV, no. 4, December1944, pp. 417-420.

⁴ Ontario Library Review, vol.XXXV, no. 2, May 1951, pp. 142-145.

⁵ Ibid.

⁶ National Conference on Cataloguing Standards. National Library of Canada, May 19-20, 1970. Conference Paper no. 4, p. 10.