Last Updated: 2001, October 7

Scholarly Societies 
Project

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The Editor
Jim Parrott, the Editor of the Scholarly Societies Project, has been a librarian since 1970 at the University of Waterloo Library in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

Further information is given below, in the following categories: Academic Curriculum Vitae, and Personal Interests.

Academic Curriculum Vitae
Time Period
Activity
1965 B.Sc (Physics) from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada
1966 M.Sc. (Theoretical Physics) from University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
1969 B.L.S. (Library Science) from University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
1970 - present I have worked since 1970 as a reference and collections librarian at the University of Waterloo Library in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Over this time, I have gained various skills beyond those I had acquired in the process of obtaining my university degrees:
  • In general, I strengthened my skill in tracking down obscure information.
  • In particular, I learned a great deal about the bibliography of the 17th and 18th century scholarly literature; specifically, I made extensive use of the monumental Reuss Repertorium.
  • In addition to the French, Latin and Russian courses I had taken before becoming a librarian, I took additional language courses: Russian (a refresher), Latin (a refresher), Italian, German, and Dutch. I am now beginning to learn a bit of Arabic.
1985 - 1990 I did research on and wrote several articles exploring issues in the foundations and implementation of expert systems to aid in reference work in libraries (the process of finding information of various types).
1993 - present I have worked on various Internet-based projects at the University of Waterloo Library, including:

Personal Interests
Category
Specifics
Music I enjoy a broad range of music, most of it composed between 1600 and 1900. But, for some time, my special passion has been Baroque opera, mainly from the late period (1700 - 1750), and especially that composed by Handel and Rameau.
Art & Architecture I tend to enjoy representational, or semi-representational art (such as Surrealism). My special passions are the gentle, magical Surrealism of the Spanish-Mexican artist Remedios Varo (1908-1963) and the Symbolism of the Pre-Raphaelites, especially Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898).

My favourite architect is Antonio Gaudi (1852 - 1926), best known for his Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona.

One might reasonably conclude from my interests in art and architecture that I am fond of detail. A fascination with detail is also a feature of parts of this Project.

Sprituality Although I was born a Christian (Anglican), and still see much to admire in that faith, I long ago left behind any commitment to an organized religion. My spritual feelings are probably most closely allied with those of various neo-pagan movements, particularly those that emphasize the relationship between humans and the other creatures with whom we share this planet.
Cuisine I've been vegetarian since 1989. Within that constraint, I tend to enjoy food from the Middle and Far East especially that from Egypt, Lebanon, India, Thailand and Indonesia.
Continuing Education In the three decades since I completed my university degrees, I have continued to take courses. To date, these have been in mathematics, philosophy, and various languages. The most recent courses were a couple of courses in Dutch, taken partly to help in my research on the Scholarly Societies Project, and partly because it is the first language of my partner (and husband as of 2003, June 14), William Pensaert, who grew up in East Flanders in Belgium.

The work I did in the Summer of 2001 in encoding various non-Latin scripts using the Unicode Standard has increased my interest in studying more languages, especially those employing non-Latin scripts.

Community Work The communities with which I identify most strongly are the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered communities in the Kitchener-Waterloo area of Southern Ontario. I've lived in this area since 1970. I've been active in LGBT community work here from 1971 to about 1981, and from 1991 to the present.

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First published 2001, September 22
Last amended 2003, November 1
Jim Parrott, Editor
Scholarly Societies Project
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