The screen is black. We hear a man giving orders: "Royal Military College of Canada, Quick! March!"
Music: "Precision" played by the RMCC Band
The Library of the Royal Military College of Canada
presents
a Massey Library Production
and Mathieu Sly film
about the Massey Library
Scene: A young man in a projection booth
takes a reel of film (Clicking noises)
and locks it in place on the spindle of an old projector
He takes an end of the film and threads it onto an empty reel.
The projector begins to rattle and whirr.
All archival video, photographs and audio are available in the RMCC Library and Archives
Collection of scenes: Vintage black and white clips and photos of the RMCC campus
The Massey Library is named after the 18th Governor General of Canada
and first Canadian Governor General, the Right Honourable Charles Vincent Massey,
who opened the Library in 1960.
Marching band music plays to a series of vintage photos and film clips.
Here is community, big and small.
Here are friends, classmates and professors.
Books, journals and newspapers.
Here are bridges being built, distances spanned…
Obstacles overcome.
Cadets. Good times... and down time.
Here are leaders, scientists and historians.
Fighters, engineers and philosophers…
a library, an education.
(sound of whirring projector)
Brooke Claxton, Minister of Defense (1946-54), speaking at the Reopening Ceremonies of RMC in 1948 after WWII:
"Education means a good deal more than the acquisition of a skill... "
Any intelligent person can be taught law or medicine or military science..."
"This however represents but a small part of education, "
"a high degree of specialized knowledge can be useless, or even dangerous, "
"unless its owner is taught to apply it in the interests of the community."
"In other words, education must bring with it a sense of responsibility as a citizen."
Speaking at the official opening of the Library in 1960, the Right Honourable Vincent Massey said:
“No matter what your job is, in one of the services or in civil life, you should never overlook the human aspect of what you do…"
"Books, we should remember, do not minister to the mass of men, they serve the individual."
" They will always remain the foundation of a free society."
Scene: A classic countdown begins on the projector
A lot has changed since Vincent Massey spoke in 1960.
The conflicts of yesterday are replaced by those of today and tomorrow.
Letters become emails, newspapers become WebPages
the research of today builds on that of yesterday
but people are still people, news still new, education… still education.
Collection of scenes: Images of locations on the RMCC campus in present day
The military science collection is a recognized strength of the Massey Library, but the library includes a diversity of materials.
You can find records of our General Collection and Special Collections from library computers or from home using the Massey Library Catalogue online.
Just GOOGLE 'RMC Massey Library' to access the webpage.
or select the 'Library' link on the left-hand side of the RMC web site.
Once you're on the Library page, select the 'Library Catalogue' link.
From here you can perform a KEYWORD search or BROWSE.
You can narrow your search by using the dropdown menu.
Maybe you already know the title or author of the material you're looking for.
If you need to be even more specific you can GO BACK and select POWER SEARCH.
Here you can combine many different words or phrases as well as limit the search by MATERIAL TYPE...COLLECTION... or PUBLICATION YEAR.
If you are having a hard time, ask our bilingual reference staff. We're here to help
Once you have found the material you are looking, select DETAILS. And make note of the item's CALL NUMBER and LOCATION.
The library is divided into 3 sections.
First, the General Collection; which includes the PERIODICALS and NEWSPAPERS, current and past,
the REFERENCE SECTION of dictionaries, atlases etc., the books,
and the AUDIOVISUAL collection of films, documentaries and audio-books.
Secondly, the Special Collections of unique historical diaries, books, manuscripts and other works of value.
Thirdly, the archives. Consisting of MAPS, DOCUMENTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, 16mm and VHS footage from RMC's history.
The Library also includes a LEADERSHIP Collection, and reading room.
Scene: Sound of bagpipes with video of marching cadets superimposed with scanned book covers and the word ‘LEADERSHIP’
Footage of RMC students of the past
Archival footage of RMC students marching
The End
Scene: Black screen accompanied by sound of bagpipes fading out