Mount Allison University’s Libraries and Archives is starting a new chapter in its campus history. The University welcomed Dianne Keeping as its new university librarian on Aug. 7. Keeping replaced Marc Truitt who retired from the position this summer.

“I’m originally from Newfoundland. Returning to the East Coast and to a small town really feels like coming home,” she says.

Keeping previously worked as manager of library collections at Mount Royal University in Calgary where she helped oversee the opening of the new university library in 2017. She also worked at Memorial University of Newfoundland, the College of the North Atlantic, and with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador in related areas.

“I’m excited to join Mount Allison and the Libraries’ close-knit team. There are a lot of possibilities on a campus like this one,” says Keeping. “It’s always interesting to me to look around a place like a library and wonder who studied and was inspired in this space.”

Keeping will help lead the University’s library revitalization project and also oversee Mount Allison’s first academic year as a member of Novanet, a consortium of university and college libraries that allows students greater access to materials through a regional inter-library loan program among 12 member institutions. Mount Allison is the first university outside of Nova Scotia to join the network.

“The University library is a central spot on campus for academic activity and plays a key role in many of our students’ experiences at Mount Allison,” says University Provost and Vice-President, Academic and Research Jeff Ollerhead. “Dianne’s librarian and academic experience and knowledge will be tremendously valuable as we continue working on the University’s multi-year library revitalization project.”

Academic research is an area Keeping has worked in throughout her adult life. She holds a PhD from the University of Bradford as well as a Master’s degree in library and information science from Dalhousie University and a Bachelor of Arts from Memorial. Her PhD thesis focused on medieval nunneries, studying cemetery populations to learn more about lifestyles and causes of death among this population. 

“In my research, I found there was a lot of information around monks and other groups from this time period, but very little about nuns,” says Keeping. “My first thought was, ‘why is this?’ and I knew I had my dissertation topic.”

Keeping’s love of libraries and research started at an early age when she became a regular visitor to the A.C. Hunter Children’s Library at the Arts and Culture Centre in St. John’s, NL while her mom was a summer student at Memorial University.

“I went to that library almost every day that summer. I loved it,” she says. “It’s what sparked my interest in libraries. From there I started going to the public library in my home town and that interest in exploring the worlds offered in those stacks of books eventually led to a career in libraries.”

At Mount Allison, Keeping is excited to begin working with the library team and also to get to know the students and faculty on campus.

“A library should be the hub of learning on campus and a space that’s open to all. I’m excited to be part of the Mount Allison team and learn more about the community,” says Keeping. “We’re here for the students. I hope we can continue to pass along the excitement around research and scholarship, and be helpful to our students. People learn and process information in different ways. It’s important for a centre like the University library to be mindful of this and offer different learning and research opportunities.”