2000 – 2024 College Service. From Library Technician to Senior Librarian – Monographs.
Annabel Bristow, after 24 years of service in the Donald Robinson Library of Moore College, is retiring this month. Annabel has been a faithful servant to generations of students, Faculty and Staff and during this time she has been a blessing to the library team and the wider College community.
Annabel can you take us back to when you first started work at Moore College in 2000?
I started as a Library Technician, working mainly at the Service Desk. I had a qualification of Bachelor of Arts in Library Studies and one of my first jobs was transferring journal-holding records from cards onto the new Library Management Software. Back then the Library was open four nights a week until 9:00pm and sometimes after finishing late I would be back at the desk at 8:00am the next morning!
I have seen several of the now Faculty starting out as students and it has been a privilege to see them, and their families, all grow.
What do you love best about working in the College Library?
There is a big service aspect to working in a Library, I have the opportunity to help people find the information they need. I get to connect with people, listen to them and even pray for them.
The relationship between everyone working at the College has been really special and God has assembled an amazing team in the College Library. This is the best team I have worked with, they are all skilled and efficient and work together really well.
What about the environment?
The Library, when I first arrived at Moore College, was not purpose-built, it was a rabbit warren with stacks in the upper T. C. Hammond Room and later offsite at Sydenham and 93 King Street. There were more books than we could house. I have memories of books being piled on the floor in the aisles. The aisles themselves were very narrow and the bookshelves were high. There was the odd occasion when a book would topple off the top shelf and crown a passerby!
So, the new Library space is lovely. The shelves themselves have a lower profile and are very stable! We are always receiving positive feedback about the environment. It is light-filled and a very pleasant place to work.
It is a privilege to work in the leading theological library in the Southern Hemisphere. We have the most amazing resources which have been collected since 1856. The Library has books that no one else has. When I started work here the Faculty used to do their study leave overseas and then come back and say “The books I wanted were here all the time”! Today many of the Faculty complete most of their study leave here and Rod helps them find the information they need.
What will you miss most?
No hesitation, I will miss the people. But I do love cataloguing. Sometimes there is something obscure that needs to be catalogued – there are challenges every day. I just loved my job.
It has been a real privilege to work here. There have been many opportunities to grow and it has been amazing to work with some of the best Library, Faculty and College Staff that you could hope for.
Annabel leaves us feeling loved and cared for but she also leaves with a reminder which seems appropriate considering her expertise: Progress is good but history is important.
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