Perspectives (Volume 2, number 3) (fwd)

[Richard Plant]

Hello all:

This issue of "Perspectives" addresses the newly established review of the
National Library and Archives.

Richard Plant
Dept of Drama, Queen's University
and
Graduate Centre for Study of Drama,
University of Toronto

Subject: Perspectives (Volume 2, number 3)

An electronic newsletter on research and science policy.  A pilot project of
the Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada.

PERSPECTIVES will appear at regular intervals throughout the year and will
be posted on the Federation web site:
http://www.hssfc.ca/Pub/PublicationsEng.html.  Please address your comments
and suggestions to Jacqueline Wright, Executive Assistant, at:
jawright at hssfc.ca.

PERSPECTIVES (Volume 2, Number 3)

Editor: Wayne Kondro

Table of contents:
1)      Summary
2)      Introduction
3)      The Current State of Affairs
4)      Role and Function
5)      Digitalization and the Virtual Library
6)      Other Considerations
7)      Structural Questions

OTTAWA UNDERTAKES REVIEW OF NATIONAL LIBRARY AND NATIONAL ARCHIVES
Review ostensibly aims to improve public access to holdings

SUMMARY
Federal Heritage minister Sheila Copps has appointed former Liberal Member
of Parliament and University of Waterloo historian Dr. John English to
review "the role of the National Archives and the National Library."

Although the terms of reference and the objectives of the review are hazy,
English says his investigation will include an assessment of the role of the
two agencies within the electronic world, as well as their relationship with
other financially-strapped libraries and archives in the nation.

Some observers suggest English should examine whether National Library
collections could be expanded so that it can serve as an academic lending
'library of last resort' for all disciplines, including the humanities &
social sciences. But it's doubtful whether an expanded print collection more
readily available through interlibrary loans, let alone anything vaguely
like a virtual national library, is feasible from either a technological or
financial perspective. Both the National Library and the National Archives
say budget cuts have already limited their ability to adapt to changing times.

That's particularly problematic in an increasingly digital world. The
institutions are both under pressure to transform existing collections from
hard-copy to digital media so as to improve access for all Canadians. But
they also face new challenges in simply collecting materials that are now
only available in electronic formats, as well as in ensuring that Canadians
have 'universal, equitable and affordable access' to published materials.

Given the ambiguities surrounding the review, as well as the financial and
technological issues surrounding the whole issue of digitization, the
outcome of English's review is entirely unpredictable. English's final
report is expected to completed by November.
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OTTAWA UNDERTAKES REVIEW OF NATIONAL LIBRARY AND NATIONAL ARCHIVES
Review aims to improve public access to holdings

The objective and political motivation are somewhat hazy.

Still, Canadian Heritage minister Sheila Copps has struck a one-man
commission to investigate the future role of the National Library and
National Archives. Appointed to the task is former Liberal Member of
Parliament (Kitchener) and University of Waterloo history professor Dr. John
English.

Officially, English has been asked to assess "several key issues including
the structure of the two institutions, how they can help position Canada in
the context of the rapidly evolving information highway, how they can help
preserve and provide access to the collective memory of the country, and how
to enhance the government of Canada's role and responsibilities for
information management."

Yet exactly what that translates into is almost anybody's guess.

Copps says her primary objective is to develop a mechanism or "framework" by
which Library and Archives materials are "democratized and popularized" so
that they're more readily accessible to schools and the general public.

"The Library of Congress in the U.S. has a very proactive program of
actually getting information out to the people so that, for example,
information around the Canadian constitution, the British North American
Act, the decision of Upper and Lower Canada to come together, the role of
women, the suffragettes, etc. ...is made available to the public."

Within that context, several Liberals privately say the review is aimed at
digitizing Library and Archives holdings for use on the Internet as part of
a forthcoming government initiative to promote greater electronic commerce,
(what Ottawa's mandarins are euphemistically calling the "connectedness
agenda"). But others say the intent is to examine the feasibility of a
merger, while deflecting attention from delays surrounding the appointment
of a new National Archivist (the position has been vacant since June/97).

English says his mandate remains highly embryonic in nature. "I haven't yet
sorted out clearly in detail what the mandate is. Basically, what I've been
asked to do is look at the future of the library and archives given the kind
of changes occurring within government and secondly, the kind of changes
technologically, and thirdly, the way those improve our ability to advance
our understanding of Canadian heritage."

Given the ambiguities surrounding the review, as well as the financial and
technological issues surrounding the whole issue of digitization, the
outcome of English's review is entirely unpredictable. English's final
report is expected to completed by November.

THE CURRENT STATE OF AFFAIRS
Both the National Library and National Archives have absorbed stiff budget
cuts over the past decade, forcing them to severely limit their operations.

Each are formally charged with collecting and preserving Canadiana.
Established in 1953, the National Library maintains over 15 million items in
its collection of Canadian publications and resource materials for Canadian
studies, while the National Archives, established in 1872, conserves private
and public records of "national significance." The Archives also serve as
the repository for all government institution and ministerial records.

The National Library's budget has declined from about $42-million in early
1990s to a '98-99 level of $29.5-million. The National Archives, meanwhile,
now has an operational budget of $46.6-million as compared to about
$59-million earlier in the decade. Since the mid-1980s, the agencies have
shared many common administrative functions such as facilities management;
personnel; financial; and security services.

National Librarian Dr. Marianne Scott says the Library has absorbed the cuts
by severely curtailing its outreach programs in support of other Canadian
libraries and reducing its collection of foreign serials in which there's
Canadian content.

Meanwhile, acting National Archivist Lee McDonald says the Archives have
reduced operations at Federal Records Centres, which provided central
storage for dormant departmental (such as Revenue Canada) and personnel
records in the regions. "We've also focused private sector acquisitions and
deferred some of our work on government records acquisitions," while
accelerating co-operative work with provincial, municipal and other local
archival bodies to ensure that "we're taking in only things of national
significance."

ROLE AND FUNCTION
Although there appears to be no obvious intention to change the mandate of
either the National Library and Archives, English says the function and role
of the two agencies are squarely on the agenda.

But English says the review will focus on the relationship of the two
agencies with other institutions across the country, and their
responsibilities in the digital world, including the degree to which they'll
be accountable for maintaining collections of electronic materials and the
extent to which they should be involved in helping to develop some form of
virtual national library.

Scott interprets that as an attempt to ensure that the two institutions are
able to handle digital responsibilities. The National Library has been
collecting electronic publications for about three years and "that's the tip
of the iceberg to what is coming. We want to be sure that our mandate is
appropriate, that we are properly positioned to deal with this electronic
age. And also, the role we can play in fostering Canadian content for the
Internet."

Politicians "tend to look at this holding as something that should not be
shut away, something that needs to be brought out," McDonald adds. "There's
also a keen interest in getting the treasures out of the vaults and directly
in front of individuals and the Internet really seems to show a lot of
promise to do that and we're investing, as a country, a helluva lot in the
internet linkages of the schools."

DIGITIZATION AND THE VIRTUAL LIBRARY
Within that context of digitization, it's difficult to imagine what English
can accomplish which hasn't already been achieved by the Canadian Initiative
on Digital Libraries (CIDL) or the federal Digitization Task Force (DTF).
Co-chaired by Scott, the DTF is already working on the development of
cost-effective strategies for digitizing Ottawa's collections as part of its
ongoing effort to draft a comprehensive "federal strategy on digitization."
The CIDL, an alliance of the nation's libraries which aims to coordinate the
development of Canadian digital collections, already has working groups
developing guidelines in such areas as digital standards; access and copyright.

Yet, however desirable Copps might find digitizing more of the Library and
Archives collections, it will not be done without significant cost.

Both agencies are already involved in some digitization projects and the
development of protocols for so-called 'virtual catalogues'. The National
Archives has completed digitization of about 20% of its attestation records
of Canadian Forces in World War One and is contemplating the digitization of
immigration records. But McDonald notes it's an expensive process and
generally problematic because "each record is different, each shape is
different, each color a different ink, different contrast. You're almost
doing it as a portrait of each one."

As for the notion of a virtual national library, Scott notes "there are a
lot of misconceptions about virtual libraries. I don't know whether any of
us will be alive and involved when the time comes that the technology is so
effective and so economical, and so safe, from the point of view of
preservation, and people are so well-adjusted to it, that they will accept
to have in place the world's billion books and publications and archives and
records and pictures and whatever, on the head of a pin."

Both Scott and McDonald also say the pressures to digitize materials in
text, image, audio and video formats present unique challenges. Not only is
digitization often expensive (an average $2-6 per page), it's not a
preservation medium, Scott notes. "It's an access medium."

McDonald adds that there's currently "no guarantee we can send that
digitized version down the road. For sure, the medium itself is going to
deteriorate and the key will be making sure we can move the software and the
content forward generation to generation. That's the biggest challenge,
right now, for archivists like ourselves."

Nor do either appear to harbor any illusions that English's review will
ultimately yield a pot of gold for digitization of materials, although Scott
notes "it might help or facilitate getting some money at some point."

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
The financial pressures on libraries across the nation are forcing
institutions to reduce collections in all disciplines, not just in the
social sciences and humanities. Given those pressures, University of Ottawa
mathematician Dr. Michel Racine argues that there's a need for the National
Library to expand its collections in all disciplines and serve as a "library
of last resort" for the academic community.

Whether the materials were available electronically or in print, through an
expanded interlibrary loan system, is immaterial, Racine says, adding that
the nation's libraries are slowly being eroded by budget cuts and the
resulting impact on scholarship and teaching in coming years will be
immeasurably detrimental.

Budget cuts are often being "driven by financial constraints rather than an
overall plan of what should happen to a library in the future," he notes.
"It's quite clear that for most fields in the university, libraries are
labs. Yet, if you say, we're going to cut this and cut that, it just
accumulates over the years and students and professors won't have access to
the books they need eventually."

Still, with the National Library already cutting back on its foreign
collections because of budget woes, it's difficult to imagine any scenario
in which it could expand its holdings to serve as a library of last resort.
At present, the agency does not maintain collections in the natural and
biomedical sciences, which are seen as falling under the purview of the
National Research Council's Canada Institute for Scientific & Technical
Information.

But the notion of increased partnerships and co-operation between libraries
and archives across the nation appears front and centre in the review. Copps
says finding new inter-library, inter-archival and inter-agency partnerships
and mechanisms of co-operation are "key" to the review. To that end, she's
already discussed with the National Film Board the possibility of it
becoming a national repository for audio-visual materials and thereafter,
working with the National Library and Archives to develop a "joint strategy"
for improving public access to materials.

STRUCTURAL QUESTIONS
Copps has also placed the structure of the two agencies on the table,
inviting speculation that the intent is to amalgamate the institutions. But
English says that while a merger is a consideration, it's equally valid to
say he'll be examining whether "greater separation" between the two
institutions is desirable.

Both Scott and McDonald say shared common services have already achieved any
possible cost- savings which might accrue from a merger, so they don't see
any need to create a single entity.

"But there's always room to look at two areas that are cooperating closely
together and say yeah, we set you up this was 30 years ago: are you sharing
the right things now and are there other things you could share better?"
McDonald says.

"My own assumption is that any look at mandate and structure spins out not
so much from any value that might be found from looking at those things, per
se, but by looking first at digitization" and means of getting more Canadian
content on the Internet, he adds.

English says structural considerations will "flow from consideration of the
function of the two institutions."

Editor:
Wayne Kondro is a freelance writer based in Ottawa.  The former Editor of
the "Science Bulletin", an independent newsletter on national S&T policy, he
is currently a regular contributor to such publications as "Science" and
"The Lancet".

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