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Christopher Lyons

Christopher Lyons looking at the camera with bookshelves in the background.
Image by Owen Egan and Joni Dufour.

Christopher.Lyons [at] mcgill.ca 514-707-2108

Humanities and Social Sciences Library
McLennan Library Building
3459 McTavish Street
Montreal, Quebec H3A 0C9


Subjects

  • Historical Canadiana
  • Rare Books and Special Collections

Senior Curator, Rare Books and Special Collections

responsible for:

  • Canadiana (post New France, excluding travel and exploration)
  • Twentieth century history
  • Publishers and booksellers' archives
  • Sports and Leisure

Education

  • Masters of Library & Information Studies, ±«ÓãÖ±²¥, 2004. (Convocation award for highest cumulative GPA throughout programme)
  • Masters of Arts, History, Concordia University, 2002. “Battles on the Homes Front: Montreal’s Response to Federal Housing Initiatives, 1941-1947.†Walter Van Nus, advisor.
  • Graduate Diploma in Education, ±«ÓãÖ±²¥, 1994.
  • Bachelor of Arts, major in History, Concordia University, 1989. (graduated with distinction)

Areas of interest

  • Canadiana collections, including emphemera
  • History of Montreal
  • History of books in Canada, especially book selling of both in-print and rare books
  • Twentieth century history

Selected publications

  • Lyons, Christopher.  “Casey Would! Dr Casey A. Wood, the ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ Library’s Forgotten Benefactor†Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada/Cahiers de la Société bibliographique du Canada, 59, number 1 (2022). 121-150.
  • Lyons, Christopher. “La Bibliothèque Osler d’historie de la médecine de l’Université ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ : Le miroir de l’esprit d’un collectionneur." In Bibliothèques québécoises remarquables. Ed. Claude Corbo. Montréal: Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, 2017. 151-160.

  • Lyons, Christopher, “The Touch Divine of Noble Natures Gone:’ Sir William Osler as a Book Collector,†Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada/Cahiers de la Société bibliographique du Canada, 53, number 2 (Fall 2015). 209-32.

  • Dysert, Anna and Christopher Lyons. “Revisiting the Library as Laboratory at the Osler Library.†In Meetings with Books: Symposium on Special Collections in the 21st Century. With a Tribute to Raymond Klibansky & an Illustrated Survey of ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ Library Special Collections. Ed. Jillian Tomm and Richard Virr. Montreal: ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ Library, 2014. 161-166.

  • DiMeo, Michelle, Jeffrey S. Reznick and Christopher Lyons, “Editorial Preface,†RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts and Cultural Heritage. Special issue, “Emerging Roles for Historical Medical Libraries: Value in the Digital Ageâ€, 15, number 2 (Fall 2014). 94-97.

  • Lyons, Christopher and Maureen Malowany, “Who’s a Public Health Professional? The Struggle for Recognition by Sanitary Inspectors in Early 20th Century Canada,†Canadian Journal of Public Health Revue canadienne de santé publique 100, number 6 (November/December 2009). 409-410. Reprinted in the P.H.I. Observer 2, number 1 (March 2010).

  • Lyons, Christopher and Maureen Malowany, “The Birth of a Journal: The Canadian Journal of Public Health at the Beginning of the XXth Century.†Canadian Journal of Public Health: Revue canadienne de santé publique 100, number 2 (March/April 2009). 85-86.
  • Lyons, Chris, “’Children who read good books usually behave better and have good manners’: The Founding of the Notre Dame de Grace Library for Boys and Girls, Montreal, 1943.†Library Trends 55, number 3, (Winter 2007). 597-608
  • Lyons, Christopher, “From Osler's Library to the Osler Library of the History of Medicine: An Overview of the Osler Library of the History of Medicine, ±«ÓãÖ±²¥, Montreal.†Canadian Bulletin of Medical History 24, number 1, (2007). 189-203.
  • Lyons, Christopher and Mona Farrell, “Teaching Tolerance: Multicultural and Anti-Racist Education.†±«ÓãÖ±²¥ Journal of Education 29, number 1, (Winter 1994). 5-14.

Selected talks and presentations

  • Lyons, Christopher. “‘See Son, We Do Have a History’: The Roy States Black History Collection at ±«ÓãÖ±²¥,†Speaker. Annual Meeting of the Bibliographical Society of Canada, Online, May 31, 2021. Duration: 20 minutes.
  • “A Trip Through Time: 4,000 years of Accessible History at the ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ Library." Atwater Library Lunchtime Series, Montreal, October 24, 2019. Duration: 60 minutes.
  • “Collection or Obsession?’ Dr Casey Wood and ±«ÓãÖ±²¥â€™s Natural History and Medical Collections.†Maysie MacSporran Annual Lecture & Presidential Address, James ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ Society, Montreal, April 30, 2019. Duration: 60 minutes
  • Lyons, Christopher. “Casey Wood: Enriching the ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ Library.†Speaker. The Eyes Have It: A Re-Appreciation of Casey Wood's Contribution to Ophthalmology, Ornithology, and the ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ Libraries, Montreal, April 20, 2018. Duration: 15 minutes.
  • Lyons, Christopher. “The Touch Divine of Noble Natures Gone’: Sir William Osler as a Book Collector.†Speaker. Bay Area History of Medicine Society and the Grolier Club joint meeting, San Francisco, California, May 24, 2017. Duration: 60 minutes.
  • Lyons, Christopher. “The Touch Divine of Noble Natures Goneâ€: Sir William Osler and the Power of the Book,†Speaker. Annual Conference of the Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science, Toronto, Ontario, May 29, 2017. Duration: 20 minutes.
  • Lyons, Christopher. “From Osler’s Library to the Osler Library of the History of Medicine: Library Relevancy in the 21st Century.†Speaker. Professional Affairs Committee of the Librarians Assembly, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, April 5, 2017. Duration: 45 minutes.
  • Lyons, Christopher. “Sir William Osler as a Book Collector: The Bibliotheca Osleriana.†Speaker. Malloch Circle series, New York Academy of Medicine, New York, New York, February 11, 2014. Duration: 60 minutes.
  • Lyons, Christopher. “Closing Conference Remarks.†Speaker. Emerging Roles for Historical Medical Libraries: Value in the Digital Age. The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, December 6, 2013. Duration: 15 minutes.
  • Lyons. Christopher. “The William Osler Photo Collection: Reaching the World,†Plenary Speaker. Canadian Health Libraries Association Annual Conference, Kingston, Ontario, Thursday, June 10, 2010. Duration: 30 minutes.
  • Lyons, Christopher. "'Children who read good books usually behave better and have good manners': The Founding of the Notre Dame de Grace Library for Boys and Girls during the Second World War," Speaker. Libraries in Times of War, Revolution and Social Change. Library History Seminar XI, Library History Round Table of the American Library Association, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, October 27-30, 2005. Duration: 20 minutes.

Professional activities

  • Dawson College, Montreal, Quebec.  Member of the Board of Governors, 2023 - Present. Appointed to the board of governors by the Quebec government to represent Quebec universities.
  • NDG en histories, founding member, 2021 - present (local Montreal history group)
  • NDG Community Council. Board member, 2021 – present. Elected by the board.
  • Council Member and member of the Awards Committee., Bibliographical Society of Canada (BSC) (Term 2020 to 2023).
  • BSC, Co-founder and Co-Chair of the Special Collections Interest Group (SCIG), 2021 - present).
  • Security Committee, Rare Books and Manuscripts Section, Association of College and Research Libraries. Responsible for helping libraries and archives keep their collections secure. Editor of the security blog. Term runs from July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2021. Selected.
  • Ville de Montréal, Service de la culture, Centre d'histoire de Montréal/MEM - mémoires montréalaises. Board member, 2019 – 2021. Invited.
  • Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus (BCJ), Montréal, Quebec. Board member, 2019-present. Invited.
  • Heritage Committee, St Andrew’s Society of Montreal. Member, 2019-present. Invited.
  • Archivists and Librarians in the History of the Health Sciences
    • Nominating Committee, Chair, 2016/2017, appointed
    • Past-President, 2014/2015, elected
    • President, 2012/2014, elected
    • President-Elect, 2011/2012, elected
    • Member-at-Large, 2008/2010, elected
  • Ad Hoc Committee of Memory of the World, Canadian Commission for UNESCO, Ottawa, Ontario, 2012, appointed.

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