Fonds P148 - Beatrice V. Simon Fonds

Beatrice V. Simon received her B.A. in 1943 and her M.A. 1950 from McGill University. She was Assistant Chief Librarian at McGill University. In the late 1930s Miss Simon carried out a survey of medical libraries in London, England. In 1963, with the support of the Association of Canadian Medical Colleges, she published Library Support of Medical Education and Research in Canada, Report of a survey of the medical college libraries of Canada, together with suggestions for improving and extending medical library service at local, regional, and national levels. This survey of Canadian medical school libraries arose from a meeting in Ottawa in February, 1962 attended by the librarians of twelve medical schools, the executive of the Association of Canadian Medical Colleges, officers of the Medical Research Council, the National Library and the National Research Council Library. In 1959 at the Annual conference of the Medical Library Association in Toronto, Doreen Fraser, Biomedical Librarian at the University of British Columbia, had presented a paper entitled "Canadian Medical School Libraries and their Collections." (M. Doreen E. Fraser. Bull Med Libr Assoc. 1960 April; 48(2): 149–161.) In 1962 twelve and later thirteen medical school libraries formed themselves into the Committee on Medical Science Libraries of the Canadian Library Association – Association Canadienne de Bibliothèques. The Committee worked closely with the ACMC and the MLA. Issues raised in the Fraser presentation and the desire to establish a cross-Canada medical library network to provide adequate library support for medical education and research led to the establishment of this national survey, popularly known as the Simon Report. In 1969 Beatrice Simon received the Special Libraries Association Award in recognition of her achievement in the field of Librarianship.