Background

Harry Douglas Sandy Ayer was born on May 7, 1952, in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada. He is the son of Gordon Saunders and Euphemia Sinclair (Whitehead) Ayer.

Education

Harry Ayer began his studies at the University of British Columbia where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1974 and a Master of Library Science degree in 1984. In 1980 he obtained a Master of Christian Studies degree from Regent College. He is also the recipient of a teaching certificate from Simon Fraser University.

Career

Harry Ayer has been working in libraries since the 1980s when he started working as the assistant librarian at Regent College. In 1984 he became director of library services at the Canadian Bible College/Canadian Theological Seminary (now Ambrose University). He also serves as Ambrose's archivist and in this capacity also administers the archives of the Church of the Nazarene, Canada, and the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada. In conjunction with his archival duties, he also maintains the library's special research collection on the history and thought of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA) and an annotated bibliography of C&MA sources. On occasion, he works as a library consultant.

Ayer is also engaged in writing. His book The Christian and Missionary Alliance: An Annotated Bibliography of Textual Sources was published in 2001. He started writing the Alliance bibliography as a means of determining which items he should include in the special research collection he had begun to compile for the library of the Canadian Bible College and Canadian Theological Seminary. The in-house project turned into something broader when he discovered that he qualified for a sabbatical and needed a research proposal to get the sabbatical approved. Actually, it took him two sabbaticals to complete the project. He also continues publishing scholarly articles.

Achievements

• Harry Ayer is known as director of library services at Ambrose University who is respected by his colleagues as well as patrons for his professionalism, helpfulness, initiative, and creativity. For his services, he received a grant from the American Theological Library Association in 1992.
  
  Ayer is also famous for his book The Christian and Missionary Alliance: An Annotated Bibliography of Textual Sources.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Christian and Missionary Alliance: An Annotated Bibliography of Textual Sources

    (The Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA), which offic...)

    2001

Views

Harry Ayer's motto as collector and educator is "every librarian who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old." Accordingly, he seeks to ensure that the library's collections reflect both classical and contemporary works and an appropriate balance between old technologies (the codex) and new (electronic resources and delivery systems).

He sees himself also as a "navigator," i.e., one who gives guidance in evaluating sources, and in narrowing searches and assessing their results.

As far as library service is concerned, his motto is "hospitality with resourcefulness." Many patrons, especially students, simply do not feel at home in libraries, and to address their needs he is trying to adapt the service ethic of the public library to the setting of the academic library. To measure patron-related outcomes he initiated in 2008 an annual library survey.

He thinks that resourcefulness often involves doing all one can to find the resources that best answer patrons' research queries. To this end, he asks probing questions to determine as precisely as possible the knowledge the patron requires. Like all academic librarians, he also believes in making patrons themselves more resourceful by increasing their self-reliance as researchers. To facilitate this goal, he delivers instruction in a variety of ways, including tours, in-class presentations, electronic handouts posted on Moodle, and one-on-one sessions.

Quotations: "As a generalist who enjoys helping people, I find librarianship to be ideally suited to my personality and interests."

Membership

Harry Ayer is a member of the American Theological Library Association and Regina Natural History Society.

Personality

Harry Ayer speaks French, German, and Spanish.

Interests

• birding, fishing, speed-walking, languages, poetry (including writing haiku), liturgy, travel, and humor

• Sport & Clubs

  football

Connections

Harry Ayer married Diane Susan George on May 29, 1982. The marriage produced two children, Adam and Hannah.

Father:

Gordon Saunders Ayer

Mother:

Euphemia Sinclair (Whitehead) Ayer

Wife:

Diane Susan George