The parallel lives of an alumni couple: John and Elizabeth Warrener

Graduation photos of Faculty of Information alumni John and Elizabeth Warrener.

For John Warrener (MLS 1973) and Elizabeth Warrener (MLS 1974), library school was a direct path to careers they loved. Now, they’re giving back to their alma mater, the Faculty of Information 

When they first met as teenagers at North Toronto Collegiate Institute, neither was planning on becoming a librarian and they weren’t yet a couple. All that changed in the decade after they left high school. They began dating, enrolled at separate universities, got married, attended library school at the University of Toronto, and went on to build parallel and rewarding careers in public libraries, most of it in Etobicoke. 

John was the first to enter library school. After experiencing a few dismal entry level jobs, he decided to follow in the footsteps of a dorm mate at Trent University, who was an aspiring librarian. “As a kid, I loved the Deer Park library near where we lived. I went to all the kids’ programs,” John said. “Through elementary school and high school, I would go and hang out in the library a lot. So I liked libraries as a user.” 

On his dorm mate’s advice, he also did some part-time work in libraries, which helped him gain admission to U of T’s library school even though, he admits, his marks had not been great. 

Marriage, then grad school at U of T

After he and Elizabeth married in 1970, John began the two-year Master of Library Science program in 1971. Elizabeth, who was completing an undergraduate degree in French and Italian literature at U of T’s University College and getting much better marks than her husband had, would often drop by to visit John. Knowing that she didn’t want to be a teacher, she thought library school, which John was enjoying, might also be a good fit for her. She applied and began her studies a year behind her husband.

During the summer before his final year, John landed a job with the Etobicoke Public Library, where, inspired by a reference course he had taken, he was able to put his new knowledge to use on the job. Then, in his final year of studies, Etobicoke called him out of the blue and offered him a full-time position.

Elizabeth also worked in the Etobicoke library system between her first and second years. “They had hired him, and they figured, when I phoned, ‘Oh, well, we know him, and he’s done okay, so she’ll be okay too,” she explains.

While Etobicoke was fine with hiring a married couple, Elizabeth and John weren’t allowed to work in the same branch. Luckily the system, which had librarians even in its smallest branches, was big enough to accommodate both Warreners. Over the next 25 years, the pair worked mainly in reference in the larger branches with Elizabeth also doing a stint as a children’s librarian and John involved in branch leadership.

Reflecting on satisfying careers

After the 1998 amalgamation of Toronto and its surrounding municipalities, including Etobicoke, both Warreners shifted to other locations in the newly amalgamated library system. John worked briefly in Scarborough while Elizabeth took a position in midtown Toronto doing reference and working with young adults. 

As the couple discuss and look back on their careers, what stands out is the small, telling moments they remember and their many varied interactions with different types of people. John elaborates on the satisfaction of reference work and helping people find what they needed. Elizabeth recounts how even jaded teens were drawn in when she told them the shocking English fairy tale, Mr. Fox. 

In retirement, both John and Elizabeth volunteered for Ex Libris, an association of people who worked in libraries, archives and information systems. Elizabeth was on the executive while John illustrated the book column in the organization’s newsletter. The couple also ran the Ex Libris booths at Canadian and Ontario library association conferences. While they have scaled back their work, they still man the booth at the OLA’s annual Super Conference and John recently designed a 40^th anniversary for Ex Libris. 

Giving back to the iSchool

The Warreners also continue to make an impact through their philanthropy. Both support a range of causes, especially educational institutions. Elizabeth gives to her old high school, University College and the Faculty of Information as well as food banks and medical causes. After his mother died, John found that she had kept a notebook recording the charities she supported. The amounts were not large, but the commitment was constant. Her example stayed with him and it’s one of the reasons he decided to make monthly donations to a variety of organizations including the Faculty of Information. 

“Our careers were pretty much seamless in libraries,” says John. “I know that for people of my generation, the norm was to go from one job to another. This is the best thing that happened to me.” Elizabeth concurs. “I loved my job,” she says. 

Originally published by the Faculty of Information