patricia wood

After a year of absence from Canada (husband's sabbatical in France), I was invited to return to Livres Babar to offer personalized and specialized service (experience based) to retail and wholesale customers. I did this on a part-time basis, and the rest of my time was devoted to running an at-home translation business.

Managed large wholesale accounts for Quebec and cross-Canada clients (consulting with client re needs, researching and choosing books specific to their needs, shipping large orders to schools and municipal libraries throughout Canada, selecting the english books for Bibliotheque Nationale du Quebec). Ability to perform this job well was experience-based and relied upon intimate familiarity with a vast and amount of literature (which was read, in order to advise). Also managed all retail aspects of running of Quebec's largest children's bookstore (ages 0-20), including customer service, managing inventory, contact with distributors and company reps, and coordinating work of employees.

Provided bibliographic research for a weekly column in La Presse newspaper, on contract with the Biodome de Montreal

Researched juvenile diabetes. Personally developed new techniques for isolating a pure population of islet cells from exocrine tissue of rats. Ran all aspects of a research laboratory including ordering inventory, overseeing safety protocols, coordinating research technicians, performing research and co-writing a scholarly article for publication in a scientific journal (Diabetologia29:330-333, 1986).

Conducted laboratory research for a professor of microbiology at McGill University.

Researched asbestosis of the lungs of Thetford (QC) asbestos miners, using electron microscope and X-Ray spectrophotometer. Co-author of scholarly article published in scientific journal (Environmental Research 31:374-380, 1983). Ran the day to day aspects of a research lab (inventory, ensuring safety protocols, coordination the use of the electron microscope, devising new laboratory protocols to address research needs).

On contract, researched methods of preserving ivory artefacts in museum collections and preventing cracking and deterioration. Presented results of two years of research at National Gallery of Canada Conservation Conference, March 1980, and published results in 1982 (Studies in Conservation 27:109-117).