Maloney, Margaret

ENCAENIA, MAY, 1992
MARGARET CRAWFORD MALONEY
to be Doctor of Laws

Margaret Crawford Maloney is a librarian by profession, and an expert in children's literature by choice. Since 1979, she has been the curator of the Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books at the Toronto Public Library. The Osborne is a research collection, made up of valuable first editions and rare books printed before 1900, a gold mine for the historian and literary scholar. But far from being simply the custodian of some crusty old books, Margaret Maloney has become an ambassador from another land, a land of enchantment and wonder that we might easily forget were it not for her diplomatic prodding and her scholarly reminder that the culture of childhood is a culture that nursed us all.

She has lectured in children's literature at the University of Toronto, she has consulted world-wide with libraries and universities, she has spoken to literally dozens of organizations, and she has planned and mounted exhibits in museums, libraries, and conferences. She has published two dozen articles, prefaces, or introductions and numerous reviews, all in the name of expanding the universe of interest in children's books. It was in her capacity as consultant that she advised the University of New Brunswick first in how to create a special children's book collection here, and then in guiding, supporting, and assisting the University in acquiring titles. Today, UNB's Children's Literature Collection has 8000 volumes housed in the Education Resource Centre, part of the university's library system. It is the only research collection of children's literature in Atlantic Canada, and one of the few premier collections in the country. And while creating the collection has been the work of several dedicated librarians and teachers at UNB and St. Thomas University, it is Margaret Maloney whom they all credit with making the collection what it is today. She has encouraged book donors to direct their benefactions to UNB, she has identified valuable collections at book dealers, she has generously linked UNB's people into an international network of persons with similar interests, and she has supported UNB's applications for SSHRCC funding. It is her generosity of time and of spirit which UNB recognizes here today.

The richness and variety in children's literature fascinate Margaret Maloney. She resorts to metaphor: children's stories are wisdom's gardens, a looking glass for the mind, rags worth saving, cobwebs to catch flies, limed twigs to catch young birds, and paths of learning strewed with flowers. And what these metaphors tell us is that she sees in children's stories and their fanciful illustrations a reciprocal process: their messages amuse and instruct, delight and entice, at the same time that they reflect the culture of childhood, with its uncompromised moral integrity and simple values - of trust, of joy and wonderment, and of belief in endless possibilities. In preserving and protecting children's literature, Margaret Maloney stands guard over a tradition, a heritage that is there for the children of today to enjoy and for the child within us all to remember and value. There is philosophy here; there is belief in literacy, in the power of the written word, in the enduring legacy of the past, and in the magical recreative process that links the reader and the book, the process that we know more simply as imagination.

"How many miles to Babylon?" A fanciful question to many, but for Margaret Crawford Maloney the answer is simple: it is as close as the nearest public library.

From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 3