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Eleanor London CSL Public Library - Top Books and DVDs for January

The Eleanor London Côte Saint-Luc Public Library is a jewel - the best of its kind in Quebec. Want to know which are the most popular fiction, non-fiction and DVDs being taken out by members? Here are the figures  for January 2011.

Top Fiction

1.Freedom / by Jonathan Franzen.

2. The confession / by John Grisham.

3. The Finkler question / by Howard Jacobson.

4. Cutting for stone / by Abraham Verghese.

5. Room / by Emma Donoghue.

6. Fall of giants / by Ken Follett.

7. Secret daughter / by Shilpi Somaya Gowda.

8. Minding Frankie / by Maeve Binchy.

9. The invisible bridge / by Julie Orringer.

10. Little Bee / by Chris Cleave.

Non-fiction

1. Mordecai : the life & times / Charles Foran.

2. Changing my mind / Margaret Trudeau.

3. I remember nothing, and other reflections / Nora Ephron.

4. My father's paradise : a son's search for his  Jewish past in Kurdish Iraq / Ariel Sabar.

5, The Jew is not my enemy : unveiling the myths that fuel Muslim anti-Semitism /Tarek Fatah.

6. Start-up nation : the story of Israel's economic miracle : a council on foreign relations book / Dan Senor and Saul Singer.

7. Nomad / Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Barefoot Contessa, how easy is that? : fabulous recipes & easy tips / Ina Garten

8, Keith Richards with James Fox.

9.  Hitch-22 : a memoir / Christopher Hitchens.

Top  DVDs

1. The kids are all right

 2. The girl who played with fire

3, The prisoner

4. Dear John

5. The girl with the dragon tattoo

6. Mao's Last Dancer

7. The Wedding Song

8. Nights in Rodanthe

9. The Social Network

10. The Trotsky

From Librarian to City Manager--the rise of Tanya Abramovitch

I must admit that I was immediately impressed with Tanya Abramovitch when we first met almost five years ago, after I was elected to Côte Saint-Luc City Council. I had an idea to do a special commemorative edition of our Courier newsletter and Tanya showed up at my office, volunteering to spearhead the project. That she did and soon after, when it came time for us to appoint a director of Library Services, she was promoted from the post of refererence librarian.

Tanya has taken the best public library in the province and done the impossible - make it even better.Mayor Anthony Housefather had so much confidence in her that  he recently asked her to oversee the game plan for our strategic plan. It was good timing. Not only did Tanya do an outstanding job, it came just a bit before Ken Lerner announced that he was stepping down as our city manager. I salute Ken for a lot of the innnovative ideas he brought to the table these past four years and wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

With Ken departing, the mayor and council were of the same opinion: Tanya Abramovitch was our runaway candidate to replace him.

At Monday evening’s monthly council meeting, we appointed Tanya as city manager and Nadia Di Furia as associate city manager. 

“Tanya and Nadia bring strategic vision, youth, and strong administrative abilities to their respective roles,” Mayor  Housefather said. “Each has shown outstanding initiative, sound judgment, and skills that make them ideal to lead our staff. They are also both in their 30s, which highlights the generational shift currently underway in our municipal government and across the city.” 

The city manager is the senior civil servant of the municipal government and works closely with the Mayor and City Council to establish the objectives of the city and to manage its daily operations. The Associate City Manager performs a similar function and works closely with the city manager and Mayor and City Council. 

Tanya began working in Côte Saint-Luc in 2001 as a reference librarian. She was appointed the Director of Library Services in May 2006. She has a Masters degree in history, and a Master of Library and Information Studies (MLIS) degree from McGill University. 

“I’m looking forward to this challenge,” Tanya said. “I loved modernizing our public library during almost five years and I cannot wait do the same across the entire city government with the help of our staff.” 

Nadia started her career in 2005 in Côte Saint-Luc as a payroll clerk and, later, payroll manager in the Finance Department. She was appointed the Director of Human Resources in April 2007. She has a background in commerce. 

“We have an excellent team around our senior management table and I’m looking forward to working with our team to implement the vision of the City Council,” Nadia said. 

As for Ken, the mayor said it best: “Ken helped re-build our municipal government when Côte Saint-Luc demerged from Montreal and was re-constituted as an independent city on January 1, 2006.”

Tanya becomes one of only a select few women in Quebec to serve as a city manager and at the age of 34 is probably the youngest at the job.