To the OC community:
Flags have been lowered at Okanagan College’s campuses and this notice is shared in memory of Dr. Andrea Deakin, a long-time supporter of OC students and recipient of an Honorary Doctorate (2004) from OUC, who passed away recently.
Deakin, formerly a Salmon Arm resident, retired teacher, and reviewer and critic of children's books since 1971, was instrumental in the development, recognition, and promotion of children's literature and literacy in Canada.
In memory of her late husband, Dr. Barry Deakin, in 2000, Andrea became one of the College's major benefactors through her generous donations of award-winning children's literature to the OC Library in Salmon Arm. The Deakin Collection holds more than 8,000 titles and reflects a value and contribution of more than $86,000 to OC by Deakin.
As a means of expanding the use of the collection institution-wide, selected titles were transferred to other campus libraries in 2010. In summer 2019, the majority of the collection was amalgamated into the newly named Kelowna Deakin Collection at the Kelowna campus library. Portions of the collection still remain accessible at the Salmon Arm and Vernon campus libraries. Purchases of new titles including works by Canadian, US, indigenous and international children’s authors and award winners are continuously made. Library Services’ aim is to continue to enhance and grow the College's children's literature collection available for ECED program studies and to keep alive the value of children's reading and literature that Andrea Deakin's contribution instilled at Okanagan College, for all our students, staff and community users.
Deakin is acknowledged and recalled by many across the OC community whose education, teaching and lives she impacted through the collection:
“Andrea was passionately committed to promoting the use of the collection across OC and into the community as well, and we continue to honour and celebrate that legacy,” said Ross Tyner, Director of Library Services. “The Deakin Collection has been and will continue to be an invaluable and inspirational resource for young learners and early childhood educators alike, and we’re grateful beyond words to Andrea for the incredible gift she bestowed on OC and the region.”
“I have been honoured to be able to get through my diploma being in the Deakin collection, and now an instructor bringing the students there to enjoy and learn through the collection too. It will forever be a tribute to her and will forever change students' appreciation for children’s literature through the pages at the Deakin collection where she is in every book,” said Rebecca Ayotte, ECE Instructor.
“Andrea left the College and library and countless early childhood educators, children and families with a treasured legacy,” said Michelle Ward, Kelowna Campus Librarian.
You can read more about Deakin’s life and legacy here. A celebration of life will be livestreamed on Weds., March 9 at 1 p.m. PST. More details are available here.
More information about the Deakin Collection is available on the Library Services page. Read more below for a chronology on Dr. Andrea Deakin’s remarkable life, compiled by Ross Tyner.
Andrea Deakin
- 1933 born in Scotland
- 1947 moved to England (Manchester), where she completed high school and university and then worked as a high school teacher
- 1959 emigrated to Canada with her husband Barry, a physician, where she continued to teach school in Vancouver, Kelowna, Invermere, Winnipeg and other communities
- 1971 began reviewing children’s books, a passion which ultimately became her career over the next 40 years
- 1987 moved to Salmon Arm, where Barry worked as a radiologist
- 1991 began donating children’s books to OUC Library, with a focus on English language literature from Commonwealth nations (primarily Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand)
- 2000 began purchasing books expressly for the purpose of donation to OUC Library, dedicated to her late husband, who died this same year; Library created “Barry Deakin Memorial Collection” in his honour
- 2002 awarded the Keith Sacre Library Champions Award by the BC Library Association
- 2004 awarded an Honorary Doctorate by OUC
- 2004-2011 compiled and edited the Deakin Newsletter of children’s book reviews, hosted online by OC Library (initially monthly, eventually became quarterly, 51 issues in total)
- 2006 moved to Edmonton to be closer to her adult children
- 2010 awarded the Claude Aubry Award by IBBY Canada, for distinguished service in the field of children’s literature
- 2011 The University of Alberta takes over the Deakin Newsletter and turns it into an open access scholarly journal, The Deakin Review of Children’s Literature
- After moving to Edmonton, continued to donate books and DVDs to OC Library until 2019; in total, we estimate that Andrea donated approximately 8,000 books and DVDs to OUC/OC Library over the course of nearly 30 years; initially located in the Salmon Arm campus library, the Deakin Collection is now distributed amongst the Salmon Arm, Vernon and Kelowna campus libraries, so it can be enjoyed in all those communities and beyond, by adults, children and OC students alike
- 2022 died in Edmonton