Claudia MacFarlane (President)
Claudia holds both a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters' degree in Business
Administration. She has been working in the Library System for 14 years.
Presently, she is filling an interim Branch Operations Supervisor position. Her
regular position is as a part-time LA6/7 Sunday Supervisor.
Having worked at several different branches throughout the library
system, she has had the opportunity to meet many of the wonderful people who
make Halifax Public Libraries great. Claudia writes, "Thank you for this
opportunity to serve on your Union Executive."
Dorothy Gracie (Secretary)
Dorothy currently works as Full-Time Library Assistant 6 (i.e., Cataloguer) in the Collection
Access Department at the Woodlawn branch. She started at HPL in 1987 and has held a number
of different positions at various branches during that time. Dorothy currently serves as a union
advocate, a representative for Collection Management on the Occupational Health and Safety
Committee, and a union representative on the Job Evaluation Committee for HPL. Her past
commitments include, representative, Secretary, and Co-Chair with the Halifax Regional Library
Staff Association; representative for Local 14 on the NSUPE Executive Council; Secretary for the
NSUPE Executive Council; Vice-President with NSUPE Local 14; and member of the Local 14
Labour/Management Committee.
Dorothy is a great lover of cats and recently adopted an abandoned kitten whom she has
named after one of her favourite Canadian authors, Timothy Findley (Tiff). She also enjoys
reading, exercising at the Sackville Sports Stadium (Zumba!), all things U.K., travel, long walks,
Christmas, good food, wine and company, and last, but not least, spending quality time with her
guy, Frank.
Therese Hebert (Treasurer)
For the past ten years, Therese has occupied the Administrative Support position at Spring
Garden Road Library - a position she feels well-suited for; utilizing many skills (left and right
brain). In the early ‘90s, Therese worked as LA5/Youth Programmer at the Musquodoboit
Harbour branch. During a 10 year absence from the library, she was a full partner with her (then)
husband in a successful industrial instrumentation business. Therese also has a Bachelor's
degree in English and Literature.
Although Therese immigrated to Canada from the U.S. in 1982, she lived and worked in
many places before settling in Nova Scotia. Her volunteer experience includes serving as
President of the local Home and School Association, as well as producing and hosting a weekly
radio program called The Seekers’ Forum with Cole Harbour’s short-lived CHCN. Therese loves
nature, gardening, reading, writing, painting, guitar, drumming, dancing; all things creative. She
has a keen interest in spirituality and healing, and has received training in aromatherapy, reiki
and the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). She is tremendously proud of her son (27) and
daughter (26), who live in Toronto and Montreal (though she’d like to see them more often).
Debbie Lambert (Vice-President)
In 1989, Debbie started at the Library as a supervisor on one of two
bookmobiles. When this service ended in March of 2012, Debbie took
on the position of Processing Supervisor in the Collection
Management Department of HPL. Debbie attended the Nova Scotia
College of Art and Design before completing a Bachelor of Arts degree
at Dalhousie University. She has been a member of the Local 14
Executive since 2000 and a representative on the NSUPE Executive
Council for almost 12 years.
Debbie has been married for 21 years to her husband Bob, who
she met through their involvement in the sport of slo-pitch softball.
They have an 18-year-old son, Bruce, and a long-haired orange tabby
named Oliver (or Satan when he’s bad). During her association with
Debbie Lambert (right) with
Dorothy Gracie
the 4-H Club, Debbie also enjoyed showing rabbits and dogs, having owned rabbits from age 12
until she married. Debbie enjoys reading, cross-stitch, photography, swimming, riding and training
horses, and spending time with family.
Andrew Curran (Vice-President)
Andrew has enjoyed working with Halifax Public Libraries since
1996. He works in the Information Technology Division, under the
Information Technology & Collections Management umbrella, as an
IT Support Specialist. Andrew is surrounded with a great crew of
colleagues who strive to provide the very best IT solutions and
personalized support. His specialty is WiFi communications and
cabling networks, both of which he thoroughly enjoys.
As a Vice-President of NUSPE Local 14, Andrew aims to
see that union members are treated fairly and that we get the best
possible deal during the next round of collective bargaining. In this
role, Andrew serves as an observer on the Job Evaluation
Committee; he also reviews meeting packages produced by the Library Board.
Throughout the years, Andrew has often taken the lead in organizing social events, such
as the Christmas party, library golf tournaments; and the HPL Bookies volleyball team, which
once competed in annual HRM volleyball tournament.
Andrew spends his spare time with family, his dog, techie gadgets, and flying (then
repairing) remote control planes and helicopters. He is involved with two RC flying clubs and a
computer flying simulation club, which operates out of the CFB Shearwater Aviation Museum.
Rexanne Phillips (Vice-President)
Rexanne has worked with the Halifax Public Libraries since 1985 and has been an active
advocate for staff from the start. She's worked in several different departments and branches over
the years and was part-time until four years ago when she began working full-time at the Spring
Garden Road Library as an Library Assistant 6.
Zoey Roy (Vice-President)
Zoey is a Library Assistant 6 and Sunday Supervisor 7 with
the Information Desk at Keshen Goodman Library. She got
her start with Halifax Public Libraries as a Clerk at Captain
William Spry Library in 2006. Since 2008, Zoey has
provided crisis intervention training to HPL staff in her
capacity as a certified instructor with the Crisis Prevention
Institute. Although Zoey is new to the Executive, she has
served as an advocate with Local 14 for the last 4 years.
Zoey currently sits on HPL's Labour/Management
Committee and the newly formed Communication
Committee for Local 14.
Zoey's involvement with unions began during the mid-nineties, when she served as a
representative with the University of Winnipeg Students’ Union and the Canadian Federation of
Students, and later, as a union organizer for teaching assistants at Queen’s University, in
Kingston, Ontario.
Zoey is a single parent to her 3-year-old son. She is an active member of the Atlantic
Soto Zen Centre in Halifax.
Kim Velcoff (Vice-President)
Kim Velcoff is a 26-year employee of Halifax Public Libraries; beginning at the Captain William
Spry Library, and followed by the Thomas Raddall Library. She has worked in all levels of
circulation and currently holds the position of Circulation Supervisor at the Keshen Goodman
Public Library. She was involved with the Halifax City Regional Library Staff Association as
Secretary, Branch Representative, and Branch Occupational Health and Safety Representative.
After participating with the certification of Local 14, she has been on the Collective Bargaining
Team for all five contract negotiations. Since 2001, she has sat on the Executive as Secretary,
and then, Vice President.