![Christopher Lyons looking at the camera with bookshelves in the background.](/library/files/library/styles/wysiwyg_medium/public/liaison_profiles/chris_lyons_profile.jpg?itok=0BCHekDi)
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, 平特五不中, 2004. (Convocation award for highest cumulative GPA throughout programme)
- Masters of Arts, History, Concordia University, 2002. 鈥淏attles on the Homes Front: Montreal鈥檚 Response to Federal Housing Initiatives, 1941-1947.鈥 Walter Van Nus, advisor.
- Graduate Diploma in Education, 平特五不中, 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.聽 鈥淐asey Would! Dr Casey A. Wood, the 平特五不中 Library鈥檚 Forgotten Benefactor鈥 Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada/Cahiers de la Soci茅t茅 bibliographique du Canada, 59, number 1 (2022). 121-150.
-
Lyons, Christopher. 鈥淟a Biblioth猫que Osler d鈥檋istorie de la m茅decine de l鈥橴niversit茅 平特五不中 : Le miroir de l鈥檈sprit d鈥檜n collectionneur." In Biblioth猫ques qu茅b茅coises remarquables. Ed. Claude Corbo. Montr茅al: Biblioth猫que et Archives nationales du Qu茅bec, 2017. 151-160.
-
Lyons, Christopher, 鈥淭he Touch Divine of Noble Natures Gone:鈥 Sir William Osler as a Book Collector,鈥 Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada/Cahiers de la Soci茅t茅 bibliographique du Canada, 53, number 2 (Fall 2015). 209-32.
-
Dysert, Anna and Christopher Lyons. 鈥淩evisiting the Library as Laboratory at the Osler Library.鈥 In Meetings with Books: Symposium on Special Collections in the 21st Century. With a Tribute to Raymond Klibansky & an Illustrated Survey of 平特五不中 Library Special Collections. Ed. Jillian Tomm and Richard Virr. Montreal: 平特五不中 Library, 2014. 161-166.
-
DiMeo, Michelle, Jeffrey S. Reznick and Christopher Lyons, 鈥淓ditorial Preface,鈥 RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts and Cultural Heritage. Special issue, 鈥淓merging Roles for Historical Medical Libraries: Value in the Digital Age鈥, 15, number 2 (Fall 2014). 94-97.
-
Lyons, Christopher and Maureen Malowany, 鈥淲ho鈥檚 a Public Health Professional? The Struggle for Recognition by Sanitary Inspectors in Early 20th Century Canada,鈥 Canadian Journal of Public Health Revue canadienne de sant茅 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, 鈥淭he Birth of a Journal: The Canadian Journal of Public Health at the Beginning of the XXth Century.鈥 Canadian Journal of Public Health: Revue canadienne de sant茅 publique 100, number 2 (March/April 2009). 85-86.
- Lyons, Chris, 鈥溾機hildren who read good books usually behave better and have good manners鈥: The Founding of the Notre Dame de Grace Library for Boys and Girls, Montreal, 1943.鈥 Library Trends 55, number 3, (Winter 2007). 597-608
- Lyons, Christopher, 鈥淔rom Osler's Library to the Osler Library of the History of Medicine: An Overview of the Osler Library of the History of Medicine, 平特五不中, Montreal.鈥 Canadian Bulletin of Medical History 24, number 1, (2007). 189-203.
- Lyons, Christopher and Mona Farrell, 鈥淭eaching Tolerance: Multicultural and Anti-Racist Education.鈥 平特五不中 Journal of Education 29, number 1, (Winter 1994). 5-14.
Selected talks and presentations
- Lyons, Christopher. 鈥溾楽ee Son, We Do Have a History鈥: The Roy States Black History Collection at 平特五不中,鈥 Speaker. Annual Meeting of the Bibliographical Society of Canada, Online, May 31, 2021. Duration: 20 minutes.
- 鈥淎 Trip Through Time: 4,000 years of Accessible History at the 平特五不中 Library." Atwater Library Lunchtime Series, Montreal, October 24, 2019. Duration: 60 minutes.
- 鈥Collection or Obsession?鈥 Dr Casey Wood and 平特五不中鈥檚 Natural History and Medical Collections.鈥 Maysie MacSporran Annual Lecture & Presidential Address, James 平特五不中 Society, Montreal, April 30, 2019. Duration: 60 minutes
- Lyons, Christopher. 鈥淐asey Wood: Enriching the 平特五不中 Library.鈥 Speaker. The Eyes Have It: A Re-Appreciation of Casey Wood's Contribution to Ophthalmology, Ornithology, and the 平特五不中 Libraries, Montreal, April 20, 2018. Duration: 15 minutes.
- Lyons, Christopher. 鈥淭he Touch Divine of Noble Natures Gone鈥: Sir William Osler as a Book Collector.鈥 Speaker. Bay Area History of Medicine Society and the Grolier Club joint meeting, San Francisco, California, May 24, 2017. Duration: 60 minutes.
- Lyons, Christopher. 鈥淭he Touch Divine of Noble Natures Gone鈥: Sir William Osler and the Power of the Book,鈥 Speaker. Annual Conference of the Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science, Toronto, Ontario, May 29, 2017. Duration: 20 minutes.
- Lyons, Christopher. 鈥淔rom Osler鈥檚 Library to the Osler Library of the History of Medicine: Library Relevancy in the 21st Century.鈥 Speaker. Professional Affairs Committee of the Librarians Assembly, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, April 5, 2017. Duration: 45 minutes.
- Lyons, Christopher. 鈥淪ir William Osler as a Book Collector: The Bibliotheca Osleriana.鈥 Speaker. Malloch Circle series, New York Academy of Medicine, New York, New York, February 11, 2014. Duration: 60 minutes.
- Lyons, Christopher. 鈥淐losing Conference Remarks.鈥 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. 鈥淭he William Osler Photo Collection: Reaching the World,鈥 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.聽 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 鈥 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 Montr茅al, Service de la culture, Centre d'histoire de Montr茅al/MEM - m茅moires montr茅alaises. Board member, 2019 鈥 2021. Invited.
- Biblioth猫que de la Compagnie de J茅sus (BCJ), Montr茅al, Quebec. Board member, 2019-present. Invited.
- Heritage Committee, St Andrew鈥檚 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.