Chief Librarian and Protector of Information: Ruth Margaret Spencer

Ruth Margaret Spencer - Section 27, F, grave 274

Ruth Margaret (Church) Spencer was born in Montreal on March 3rd 1919. She attended McGill University and graduated in 1940 with a Bachelor of Arts. She pursued her passion for reading by attending the University Library School and graduated with a coveted Bachelor of Library Science degree.

Upon her graduation, Spencer began working at the library in the Head Office of the Royal Bank of Canada. The Royal Bank of Canada was the first of five nationwide banks to establish a library. The library declared its purpose on September 17, 1913: “A library has been established at Head Office with the object of encouraging the staff, particularly junior officers, to read standard books on banking, finance, exchange and kindred subjects.”

The accompanying catalogue listed 398 books; the budget was $2,000 and a bookcase to hold 1,200 books cost $265. Originally named the Head Office Library of the Royal Bank of Canada, it was renamed to Information Resources in 1979. The library housed materials on Canadian banking and finance, Canadian industry, management, marketing and personnel, financial analysis, foreign trade and accounting. The Information Resources allow the public and students from various universities in Montreal to use the collection, not only because it was one of the largest but also because Montreal had no public library with a specialized business collection. The librarians, however, were not often used for research type of questions. The typical job of a librarian working in these commercial libraries was to do the processing of the books and filing periodicals. In 1979, The Information Resources was maintained by a staff of 11, who looked after a collection of 55,000 volumes and 2,000 periodicals. This is the largest banking and finance collection in Canada within a non-government institution.

As a librarian at the Royal Bank, Ruth and the Bank’s Chief Librarian would bring books down to the Montreal Harbour and distribute them to the merchant seaman. This was her first connection with navy and what spurred her to enlist in the Women’s Royal Canadian Navy Service in September 1943.

The Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service (WRCNS) was established on 31 July 1942 during the Second World War. It was the naval counterpart to the Canadian Women’s Army Corps and the Royal Canadian Air Force Women’s Division, which had preceded it in 1941. The WRCNS was established as a separate service from the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN). It was disbanded on 31 August 1946.

During her training in Shelburne, Nova Scotia, Ruth established the first library at the RCN base. After applying for overseas service, she was posted at a Canadian base in Londonderry, Ireland. While there, Ruth along with fellow RCN colleagues ran a library that became a haven for travelling seamen. Ruth loaned books to travellers, which for the most part were returned. The books back then were all hard cover, as paperbacks had not yet arrived. At the war’s end, the base in Londonderry was closed and Ruth was discharged in October 1945.

She returned to school at the University of London to do a post graduate degree in Library Science. This lasted only a short few months, as in early 1946 Ruth was given the job of Librarian at the Office of the High Commissioner for Canada, strategically located at Canada House on Trafalgar Square, London. She was the first professional librarian to join the staff of the Canadian Mission and faced the daunting task of constructing a library whose purpose was to serve as a reference centre for the High Commission’s staff and for the General British public interested in matters Canadian.

After marrying her husband Robert Spencer, the couple moved back to Canada in 1950, as Robert received a teaching position at the University of Toronto. Soon after her arrival, Ruth was appointed Chief Librarian of the Canadian Institute of International Affairs (CIIA).

The CIC has its roots in 1928, in the Canadian Institute of International Affairs (CIIA), when it was founded by Sir Robert Borden. In 1932, Escott Reid was appointed as the Institute's first full-time National Secretary and began organizing annual study conferences where ideas could be exchanged. The conferences were largely round-table discussions and members of branch study groups were invited to participate. Reid also encouraged expansion of the CIIA's membership and greater public participation in the work of the Institute. The CIC's first corporate record dates back to 1950, with the objective "to give attention to Canada's position both as a member of the international community of nations and as a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations."

She worked there until the day before her birth of her first son, Charles, in October 1953. While raising her three children, Ruth worked part-time in the CIIA Library and later established and maintained the library at St Clements’s School in Ottawa.

Ruth passed away in Ottawa on July 2, 2000.