Expected for a while to head the Library and National Archives of Quebec (BAnQ), Guylaine Beaudry was finally recruited by McGill University. A woman of experience, well known in the library community, last summer she saw her candidacy rejected by the Legault government in favor of that of former ADQ member Marie Grégoire. A “partisan” appointment that had raised the ire of many.
A year after the controversy, Guylaine Beaudry was named dean of the library at McGill University this week, after an international search for candidates and the recommendation of a committee.
“It’s not a consolation prize at all. I am very proud to have been chosen following an international competition. I am very happy to serve McGill University, which is a very important institution for Montreal and Quebec,” she said in an interview with the To have to.
Ms. Beaudry, who until now headed the Concordia library, has a long track record in the community, being recognized, among other things, as the one who set up the Érudit academic search engine when she worked at the University of Montreal.
In view of his curriculum vitae, the board of directors of BAnQ had retained his candidacy last year in its final selection to fill the post of CEO. But the Legault government had preferred another person on the short list. of the board of directors, the political analyst Marie Grégoire, who however had no experience in the world of libraries and archives before taking office. The Minister of Culture, Nathalie Roy, has since many times had to defend the appointment of this founding member of the ADQ, a party that has since merged with the CAQ.
Several people in the community have also openly decried this choice. A member of the BAnQ board of directors had even slammed the door.
The CAQ government, which had promised to put an end to political appointments when it was elected, has always claimed that it should not be seen as a political decision.
Guylaine Beaudry did not want to come back to this episode on Thursday. She also did not want to commit herself to the first months of Marie Grégoire’s reign at the head of BAnQ.