Malcolm Gorrill
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Oct 26/01) - Most books may tell a story, but yearbooks tell at least a thousand tales.

Near the start, one by one, are the graduates, complete with passages outlining their origins, likes and dislikes, and dreams for the future.

Keep browsing, and before long pages spring up detailing the exploits of the school's athletes for that year. Glorious victories are extolled, and even where athletes and teams were not successful, their efforts are at least acknowledged.

Then there's the random candid shots, showing students on a typical day, studying or doing goofy things. These shots are sure to bring a chuckle when the yearbook comes out, and even 20 years later.

The Inuvik Centennial Library is in the process of scanning to CD-ROM yearbooks from Sir Alexander Mackenzie and Samuel Hearne schools. This project began three years ago.

"There was a big project in the summer of '98, and many of them were scanned," Nora Dixon, director of library services, explained.

Now, thanks to funds from Library Net, the library has hired two students for scanning projects until Christmas. A big priority is the yearbooks that aren't yet archived.

"We would like to borrow the ones we're missing, and then we will return them to people in good shape, and quickly," Dixon said with a laugh.

"There was big holes in what had been collected, so now we're trying to plug those holes, so we'll have a comprehensive set."

Dixon said the library hasn't really spread the word yet about the archived yearbooks, because they want to have it complete.

"I think it would be quite popular if we could get them all done."

The yearbooks are being stored on a searchable format, so people can look up a certain person or event simply by typing in the name.

Missing yearbooks

Samuel Hearne: 1967-68, 1968-69, 1969-70, 1973-74, 1974-75, 1975-76, 1979-80, 1987-88, 1988-89, 1989-90, 1992-93, 1995-96, 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000-01.

SAMS: 1967-68, 1968-69, 1969-70, 1970-71, 1971-72, 1972-73, 1973-74, 1974-75, 1976-77, 1978-79, 1979-80, 1980-81, 1981-82, 1982-83, 1983-84, 1984-85, 1985-86, 1986-87, 1987-88, 1988-89, 1991-92, 1991-92, 1992-93, 1993-94, 1994-95, 1995-96, 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000-01.