Ernie Maitland spent roughly 10 years volunteering with the Burnaby Public Library, which earned him accolades from staff and a local hero award from the city in 2014. In particular, he championed the teen services, home library services and staff morale. Maitland, 88, has lived in Burnaby for about six decades. He raised four children with his wife, whom he credits for keeping the family together. He worked as a traffic manager and transportation economist with Canada Post before he retired about 20 years ago. He has nurtured a lifelong love of literature: he published two text books on international trade, and since he’s retired, he has taken up fiction writing. Maitland never finished high school, but that didn’t stop him from earning a bachelor’s degree with honours in geography from Simon Fraser University while his eldest children were also attending classes on the same campus.
Q&A:
Why was it important for you to dedicate so much time to the library?
Well, I enjoyed the association with the library board, with the members. I enjoy talking about literature, and I enjoy giving my opinion. (Laughs) I guess that’s the short of it.
What got you interested in teen services?
I have five teenage grandchildren and the fact that we didn’t have teen literature. The library had all kinds of stuff for the tiny tots, shall we say. They had all kinds of stuff for adults, but they had nothing for the teens and young adults. So, I asked the three experts - my granddaughter and two of my grandsons - and they said, “Grandpa, put stuff in there that the teens want to read.” So I found out what the teens wanted to read and made myself a pest, pushing this type of literature at the board meetings and funds allocated to buy teenage literature and also to hire a teen librarian. They have now two teen librarians.
Why is it important to have something teens can find at the library?
Because there’s more to life than what’s on the Internet.
You were also a champion of the home library services, where staff will deliver the books to you. Why is that?
I need it. (Laughs) Just straight out, I have to use the home library service. … They bring in books cds, reference material, you name it, magazines, to your home, and you have the opportunity of reading or listening. … When I first retired I was able to go in the library and wander around and pick up what I wanted, now I’m not able to do that.
What role do you think libraries play in the community today?
We have over 100 different languages spoken in Burnaby, we can’t supply literature for 100 different languages, but we can supply a lot of material, and also we help these people get their reading through the Internet. We connect them to their home newspapers and things like that. … We’re not just a library in print, we’re a library in any mode you can ask for.
Is there anything else you would like to share?
Burnaby library is known as the best run library in British Columbia. They’re the best-run library in British Columbia, and a lot of people think they’re the best run library in Canada. First of all, the board just doesn’t listen to themselves, they listen to the staff and the public. The management is the same. They’re busy listening to what the staff have to say. … This is why Burnaby library is so good. They’ve got these packages for the newcomers. The refugees can come in and get a package that has songs from their home country. There are 25 different ones in the library, and I’m pleased to say I was part of getting that accomplished. It was a lot of work on the staff. … They did a heck of a fine job, and got credit for it. This is the thing, one of the reasons it’s the best run library: It’s because the staff gets credit for what they do, and they do a fine, fine job.
