J.B.K. Stinis 1979

Jenneke Bertine Klasina Stinis

The years 1979 – 1982

Portraitphoto 1979

1979

Q: What did you learn at the PATA? I have no idea what I have to imagine by such an education.

A: Everything that has something to do with a library. During the first year, in class 1A, we had more then 32 different lessons. Some of them were only 4/5 hours long with an exam. We had exams during the whole year and then some finals at the end of the year. Our class was great. I had a lot of friends there and we did a lot of things together.

I remember a day when we spent a day at the house of one of our classmates with the whole class. In the afternoon we had a drink and talk and we ended the day with a dinner. We were very close during the first and second year of the PATA.

P.A. Tile Academie Class 1a Class 1a

Q: And what happened after these two years?

A: What do you think?

Q: Oh no, not again!

A: Yes, I didn’t graduate the first time when I ended the second class for Assistant Librarian.

Q: I should have known!

A: Yes, you should. I told you that before. So, I had to do the second year another time. But this time, the class wasn’t so nice. They were all individual people. The only "light" was that I was reunited now with a girlfriend who had to do the first year twice and now we were back together again so we spent most of the time together.

Q: I really hope, you graduate then and don’t tell me you had to do the second class a third time.

A: (laughing). No, twice was enough this time. The first time I needed 0,5 points to graduate. The lessons were called "Ontsluitingsmethoden" in Dutch. If you know a little bit of Dutch, I guess I’m talking of some lessons about giving birth to a baby so I guess its better to give a description. You need to learn then how to use the methods to bring books and other materials to the public in the library. I studied so hard for it the first time, but the exam was in a form I really hate. The second time it was the same procedure, but I thought: I just look through it and see what happens and do you know what happened?

Q: I have no idea.

A: The teacher almost used the same questions as the year before and now I got a 7 for it! During that last year of the second class I hardly have been at school at all. When you had a 6.0 or more for the lessons the year before, you didn’t have to do an exam the second time. Maybe that’s one of the reasons as well that I didn’t get along so very well with the other classmates. Most of the time they even didn’t know that I excited!

Jenneke JR and her mother 1979

Q: And you also made some excursions to other libraries during your education didn’t you?

A: We visited all kinds of libraries. Not only public libraries but special ones too. And not only in Holland. One of the most interested trips we made was the one to Antwerpen to visit "Plantijn". In that "Museum" we saw a lot of equipment they used in the past to make books, brochures and so on.

Q: Your mother told me, that your grandfather (Jacob van Straten) has his own "Printshop" and that he published books too.

A: Can you imagine how great it was for me to see all these equipment’s my mother told me about and that my grandfather also used in the past? I could have stay there for hours. I believe, I was the only one who liked it there. The others got bored very soon and were glad to leave the building, but I really regretted it that we couldn’t stay a little bit longer.

We also went to Santpoort with all the classes of the second year. There was a sort of church were they collected all kinds of materials. They had a big library and a search system of books and other materials. All the classes were split up in sections of three or four persons and during that week we had to do research through all the materials of the subject you had chosen. I have no idea exactly anymore of what our subject was, but I guess it has something to do with water. You also had to do some research for a subject you had chosen yourself.

Santpoort

Q: And what was the subject you had chosen?

A: That wasn’t so difficult. I did some research about books that were published about costumes and all the subjects that were related with them.

Q: After your education for Assistant-Librarian you started another one at the PATA. Can you tell me something more about that?

A: I did an education for Librarian-Documentalist then. It’s a specialization. There was another specification you could chose as well, but with that it was only possible to work in a library of a Ministry or something like that. With this one it was possible to work in all kind of libraries. During that year (it was around Easter) we also went to Paris.

Q: Aha! You have been there before!

A: I was. Three times already. Once with my parents and twice during my years at the Hugo de Groot Scholengemeenschap. These trips were wonderful, but I can’t say that about this last one.

Q: Why not?

A: Well, first of all it was organized by some other students who probably had never been there before and they obvious wanted to safe money (Poor students I guess). We traveled by bus, but it wasn’t a comfortable one. When we arrived in Paris, we were split over two hotels. During the day we visited some libraries but after that you have to find your own way. One of the first days of the week, I made a wrong move and hurt my ankle again so I could hardly move the rest of the week. It wouldn’t have been a problem when we had a nice hotel to stay in, but it was so cold during that week and inside the hotel it wasn’t much better. No wonder that almost everybody went sick during that week. I left Paris on Thursday together with someone else by train. Later I heard that half of the students went home earlier and that they traveled back to Holland on Saturday with only one bus inspite of two!

Q: You never really worked in a library, only had some education’s in it during a 6 weeks period of time in your first and (two) second years at the PATA.

A: Let’s start with the second part of your question. The first year I "worked" 6 weeks in the library of Zuid-Holland in the building where my father worked more then 40 years till 1973. A year later I worked in a public library in Waldeck and then in the library of Rijswijk. Really enjoyed that and my intention was indeed to try to get a job in a library after my studies, but it wasn’t that easy.

Q: Why not?

A: Well, first of all (please don’t laugh) I failed for my exams for Librarian-Documentalist, missing another 0,5 points. We learned a lot about computers during our educations and about a program (BASIC) in particular. In the 80’s all the libraries used BASIC and we hardly heard something about Windows at the time. Unfortunately, there were no computer at school (I guess they have changed that now) and the only possibility to learn BASIC was to read books about it but there was no way to see what you were learning on a PC. We only went to Utrecht then once a year to do some practice and that was it. Can you imagine that? And it were very old PC"s too. I’m more a person who learns things on a PC the best when I can do them myself and that wasn’t possible then. With only reading books about it, I really didn’t understand much of it. And now with Windows on my own PC, sometimes I’m thinking: "I guess, I really wasted my time then learning things I will probably never use anymore". But anyway, I refused to do the whole year again for a second time.

Q: 1981 wasn’t such a beautiful year either.

A: In April one of my best friends (I went to the Hugo with her) got her first baby. She had moved to America shortly after her exam and met her husband there, married and came back, with the baby, in August to show the baby to her family and friends who still lived here. Then suddenly the baby died only four months old and his funeral was just on my birthday. Of course I went to it, but as you can imagine it wasn’t a pleasant day for me. Then later that year the father of another friend died.

There was also a "highlight" during that year. For St. Nicholaas I made some little Brownies for friends and they were well appreaciated. Here you see me right in the middle.

With the little Brownies

Q: Shortly after the Summerholidays you started another education at Schoevers. Why? I guess, you had had enough in the meantime of studying?

A: I couldn’t find a job immediately. That was the mean reason. I would have start in September 1982, but by the end of August 1982 my whole world turned upside down.

Q: I guess you mean the fact that your father became ill and shortly after that he died.

A: That’s exactly what I mean. If you don’t mind, I won’t tell you more about it here. I already wrote some pages for this Familywebsite about the last 14 days of my father’s life. Go to "Contents G.W. Stinis" and then to "The last 14 days" to read more.

Q: I will. After his death you staid at home for a year inspite of going to Schoevers.

A: I went to Schoevers by the end of September 1982. It was very hard for me to concentrate myself. The other schoolmates were great and helped me with everything, but during the vacation in October I got a concussion of the brain. I was very tired then and we staid by some relatives. There I felt on the floor with my head against a table and I had to stay at home for some weeks. My arm was also hurting and typing was a real nightmare. It was impossible for me to catch up then with all the lessons I missed and I had to stay at home for the rest of the year recovering from all the injuries and so on.

Q: But you also find a new hobby during that year.

A: Doing nothing, wasn’t what I had in mind and to do something I liked, keeping my mind away from all the sadness that came into my life I decided to find a new hobby. And it really helped.

Q: What kind of hobby did you discover?

A: Making dolls. Click here to go to "Dollmaking" to read more about this hobby.

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