Frances Schagen
Frances was drawn to this project because she is grateful to the library for supporting her hundred-books-a-year reading habit and because her four children learned how to be members of the community in the safety of the library and this is her way of giving back.
The Town of Kentville indicated their support for our project by naming Frances their Representative Volunteer of the Year for 2008.
Building a new library draws on her skills as a Building Technologist, as a Project Manager and on her Environmental Science education. She says, “Chairing this group offers me a chance to learn about leadership and organization building, as well as see how people working together can accomplish so much more, while deepening their sense of community.”
Frances owns Crystal Clear Bookkeeping Ltd, Kentville. Her experience includes: organizing local, national and international sporting events, managing multi-million dollar building projects and organizing the annual Kings County Small Business Conference and other small business events. She has served on the boards of the Atlantic Motorsport Park, the Community Planning Association of Canada–NS and the Alternative Transportation Society.
Ginny Evans
Ginny is passionate about the value of public libraries in communities and their impact upon the people who use them. Knowing how much a vibrant, inviting, up-to-date library would benefit her newly adopted town, she volunteered to help spearhead efforts to bring about just such a vision in Kentville.
Ginny has 20 years experience volunteering in elementary school and church libraries, as well as work experience in a public and a university library. She holds a Library and Information Technology Diploma from the University of the Fraser Valley, BC, for which she received the Governor General’s Bronze Award, as well as an AA degree from Chaffey College, California. She currently works as Business Manager for Professor Craig A. Evans.
As a life-long volunteer, Ginny has served as President of the local Town and Country Quilt Guild, on the executive of the Abbotsford Quilt Guild and as the costume designer and seamstress for Barry’s School of Dance, BC, for 15 years. She has held the position of Co-chair of the Friends of the Kentville Public Library Society since its inception, in 2005.
Frances Newman
Frances believes the Town of Kentville needs a new library to keep up with the public’s expectations of library services and notes that library use of the Kentville branch has steadily risen by 61% over the past 8 years with 76,618 items borrowed in 2008 compared to 47,543 in 2000. It’s obvious that the community needs a larger library to meet growing demands.
Frances is the Regional Librarian for the Annapolis Valley Regional Library and has over 20 years of experience working in both public and academic libraries in Nova Scotia. Before coming to the Annapolis Valley Regional Library in 2008, she had been the Chief Librarian of the Cumberland Regional Library serving northwestern Nova Scotia.
Frances has a B. A. from Saint Mary’s University, and a Masters degree in Library & Information Studies from Dalhousie University. She is currently the Chair of the Dalhousie School of Information Management Associated Alumni and is a former President of the Nova Scotia Library Association. She also has served as the Chair of the Cumberland Adult Network for Upgrading (CAN-U) literacy group for adults, and recently served on the Thomas Head Raddall Book Award committee.
Roger Harris
“As a Kentville resident I find the present library totally inadequate by modern standards. Joining the Friends is a potential way to improve the situation.”
Roger is a retired mechanical engineer with over 40 years of design and project management experience in a wide variety of scenarios. These include 15 years in the aircraft accessory industry in the UK and subsequently while in Canada, several multi million dollar projects in the transmission and power generation sectors of the power industry. Some related projects have included the design of mechanical services for buildings.
He holds a Higher National Diploma in mechanical engineering, Master of Engineering degree, a Post-graduate Diploma in Applied Mechanics, was a Whitworth Fellow 1957 and prior to retirement was a Registered Engineer in Canada, the UK and the US with membership in several technical societies.
Since retirement Roger has worked as a Mechanical Consultant, has been the President of the Valley Gardeners’ Club and acted as the Owners Representative during the rebuilding of St. James Church Parish Hall.
Jennifer Bolt
Jen has 21 years of expertise in applying innovation in academic, corporate, and philanthropic settings and currently works for Red Letter Philanthropy Counsel as a Senior Business Consultant.
Her professional experience includes teaching, administration, planning, fundraising and public speaking. During the seven years she served as Director of Acadia University’s Institute for Teaching and Technology (1999-2007), Jennifer helped raise over $7 million in external funds from corporate, private and government sources to fund the Institute. She became a sought-after speaker for international symposia on technology and teaching. Her roles at George Brown College and Acadia University saw her intimately involved in both fundraising and corporate partnership development.
Jennifer holds an Honors degree in Business Administration, from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, as well as a Masters of Arts in Adult Education from Central Michigan University.
Her personal commitment to voluntarism and her community is significant. She supports the Kings County SPCA, the Brain Injury Association of Nova Scotia, and the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, among others.
Mary Davey
Mary Davey became involved with the new library initiative after she retired from a career in teaching at Aldershot Elementary School. It was her love of watching young children become passionate readers that motivated her to participate in a project that would offer more opportunities for children and their families in Kentville and the surrounding communities.
Mary has a B.A. degree from Carleton University, Ottawa, a B.Ed from Acadia University, Wolfville and an M.Ed from Mt. St. Vincent University, Halifax. She has a wide range of interests that include photography, yoga, kayaking and, of course, reading to her granddaughters.
Fred Sgambati (bio forthcoming)
Andrew Montgomery (bio forthcoming)
