Brian Campbell, who pushed and prodded libraries to do more and do it better, who fought for the underdog, who was not afraid to tell the truth, who held authority to account, and who was a mentor to many, died on Dec. 27, 2016. His impact will live on. Brian had a...
BCLA Perspectives
Brian Campbell Tribute
‘His politics were complex and passionate, not rigid and dogmatic’
Brian Campbell and I spent a lot of time together in airport departure lounges. Coming home once from a Working Together meeting in Regina, Saskatchewan, and delayed by weather, I was particularly antsy. My partner Mark and I were buying an apartment and I had a...
‘I note that the only time I have smelled tear gas was in Brian’s company’
Like many of my colleagues, I was deeply saddened to learn of Brian Campbell’s death in December. In thinking about his many contributions to our profession and society, a constant thought was the disbelief that such a vital and energetic individual is no longer out...
‘He talked to us about intellectual freedom, and social equity, and access, and public space’
We were appointed to the Vancouver Public Library Board in 2002, shortly after the Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE) swept to power. It was a heady time in municipal politics: an election fought amid controversy and protest about homelessness, the dire lack of...
‘He was a taskmaster of the best kind’
Brian Campbell’s deep commitment to community engagement made working with him interesting and exciting. We worked on a number of innovative projects and Brian was always very encouraging about my participation at all levels. He was a taskmaster of the best kind,...
‘I owe a lot to Brian Campbell and I try and use that as an example to mentor and encourage my staff in their careers’
Brian Campbell hired/promoted me to Bindery Supervisor in 2000. As my boss he could be demanding, but was also very fair, and I like to think he got the best out of me. He respected my knowledge and allowed me to run the department as I saw fit, provided our quotas...
‘He created the dialogue on information policy in Canada’
It was with great sadness that I—like many people in Vancouver and across the library community—learned of Brian Campbell’s passing. Brian was an extraordinary person and librarian who had a profound impact on the library community in Canada and on many of us as...
‘I admired his commitment to values, even if his politics made other people uncomfortable’
I met Brian Campbell in 2004 when I was working as his administrative assistant at Vancouver Public Library. When I left VPL to go to library school Brian agreed to be my mentor. Annette DeFaveri partly joked that I was Brian’s first grad student, and that was true—I...
‘He knew everyone doing anything interesting in the library world and in many other circles of activity’
When I think of Brian Campbell, I see a whirlwind of energy and determination. I first met him through an exchange of letters after he posted a brief notice in the Canadian Library Association’s newsletter, Feliciter, sometime in the late 1980s. He asked librarians to...
‘I quickly discovered, and admired, his consistent willingness to speak truth to power’
I first met Brian Campbell in 2001 in his office at Vancouver Public Library. Then a manager at the Vancouver Island Regional Library, I knew Brian mostly through glimpses of his legendary contributions to BCLA's Annual General Meetings. That first meeting had...