RETIRED FORESTRY company owner lke Barber with UBC head librarian Ca- :

therine Quinlan were in Terrace recently talking about an ambitious project to
open up UBC's vast collection of information to all of B.C.

Millionaire spreads
knowledge around

A FORMER FOREST products company
owner is using $20 millton of his own
money to spread knowledge throughout
the province.

Irving “Ike” Barber, who founded Slo-
can Forest Products, says he wants
people in areas such as Terrace to have
access to the same amount of information
and knowledge available to anybody who
lives in Vancouver.

So his $20 million, matched equally
by UBC and the province, is going toward
the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, a
building that will encompass the original
1925 main library structure at UBC.

Using leading edge technology, infor-
mation will be available around the clock
anywhere in the province.

The learning centre will also broadcast
courses and workshops as well as contain
classrooms so people can come to UBC
for instruction.

The idea, said Barber who visited Ter-
race Nov. 28 to explain his concept, is to
puncture what he calls “concrete silos” of
information at places such as UBC,

“People build walls around themselves
for valid reasons, But what we are trying
to do is distribute that information around
the province,” he said.

“We must maintain individualism in
places such as the north, but we must find
a way for information to flow back and
forth. In remote places, you can’t main-
tain the quality of information that is nee-
ded, I's too expensive. The economy
can’t afford it, but you can find a way to
make information more available,” Bar-
ber continued.

He chose UBC as the place for his do-
nation because it is the province’s central

a i

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repository of information. The UBC li-

brary, for example, values its 10 million
item collection at $1.6 billion.

Barher said the plan to have informa-
tion flow out from UBC is not intended to
compete with existing educational insti-
tutions outside of the lower mainland.

“UBC will have a supportive role and
won't in any way erode whal communi-
ties already have,” he said.

Barber said it is just as important for
the learning centre to be a place where
people can come for training as it is for a
place where information flows outward.

“While we want students to be able to
stay at home and have access to informa-
tion, we want well-rounded citizens. And
for that, you have to step into the world.
You can’t be sheltered,” he said.

‘One phase of construction is to be fin-
ished next year with the project sche-
duled for completion in 2005.

The original 1925 UBC library building
will be the core of the learning centre and
subsequent wings are being demolished.

“We're preserving that 1925 building
and building the 2Ist century around it,”
said Barber.

Barber, originally from Edmonton, en-

ralled at UBC in 1945, graduating in 1950
with a Bachelor of Science in Forestry
degree. He became a registered profes-
sional forester in 1952 and worked around
the province, including the northwest. The
Slocan Valley became his eventual base.

In 1978, at the age of 55, Barber foun-
ded Slocan Forest Products Ltd., building
it into a major player. He retired as chair-
man in Feb. 2002: « :-- ns .

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