Irene Brown: Fenelon Falls Librarian, 1938-1961

From Marg Allen’s Files

In 1938, Miss Irene Brown assumed the duties of librarian of the Fenelon Falls Public Library, succeeding Miss Beth Austin and Mrs. Calder in that capacity. The library had been operated first out of the front part of the house that is now occupied by James Webster’s Law Office, on Francis Street, and then from a “shack behind the Bank of Montreal” as Miss Brown recalled. It was to this location of the library that Miss Brown came, having completed a one-month, government-operated course for small-town librarians, in Kemptville. Having a librarian complete this course meant the library received a consideration of $100.

In 1940, the library was again relocated, this time to the main street of Fenelon Falls, in a building that was recently torn down to accommodate the entrance to the municipal parking lot behind Sobko’s IGA [now Red Apple]. Miss Brown remembers “how pleased the inspector was with the new premises” of the library, and he commissioned her to write a brief history of the library to that time, as part of the hoopla that accompanied the move. Besides being more accessible, and in the larger quarters, the new location boasted such improvements as sloping shelves on the bottom two rows, to facilitate easier reading of the titles from the standing position—Irene’s idea. Miss Brown recalled some of the Library Board members: Dr. E.A. White, who was the first chairman, Charlie McInnis, John Coburn (who operated a pharmacy in town) and Bill Bain (who taught English at the high school).

Miss Brown’s duties as librarian included assisting the Board in purchasing books according to what people had been asking for, ordering books from the County Library, stamping, numbering and shelving them according to classification, and assisting patrons of the library in finding what they were looking for. “I enjoyed the library very much, said Miss Brown as she recalled the work and the people with which she was involved. And indeed, she must have enjoyed it, for she was there for 23 years, before turning her duties over to Mrs. Evelyn Snedden in 1961.