Talk:Library and Archives Canada

Ottawa High‑importance

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Canada: Governments High‑importance

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Libraries High‑importance

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[Untitled]

The article does not do justice to the former National Archives of Canada which has a much longer history than the National Library of Canada.--BrentS 22:43, 21 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Brent, you're right. More work does need to be done. I never noticed that there is no mention of Arthur Doughty, the first national archivist or any mention of how the archives was developed in the late 19th C. I might be able to do some editing on this on the weekend. CWood 22:46, 21 Jan 2005 (UTC)

The maximum fine for not obeying legal deposit is defined by Section 735 of the Criminal Code as $100,000.

The referenced section specifies maximum fines, but nowhere does it say that failing to perform a legal deposit is a criminal offence. - Montréalais 16:31, 1 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Off-topic external links

Skeezix1000's edit is clearly explained:

(cur) (last) 12:53, 20 February 2008 User:Skeezix1000 (Talk | contribs) (4,751 bytes) ('→External links: the external links should pertain to the article subject) (undo)

LAC Gatineau Preservation Centre , BAC Centre de préservation de Gatineau

The subject of the article is Canada's national library; and the conservation and perservation functions of the library's collections are not the central focus. Yes, clearly Skeezix1000's point is well taken. As I see it, the only question is whether these questioned links to other national libraries will fail to assist the reader in better understanding and appreciating the on-going work of the Gatineau Preservation Centre. Do these links actually distract, or is it that the rationale for their inclusion has been poorly presented?

If these links do, in fact, diminish the value and effectiveness of the article, then they must be removed; but I wonder if there is some alternative which can be worked out? --Tenmei (talk) 14:26, 20 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

WP:EXT requires that external links be on-topic and should be kept to a minimum. A random selection of links to other archival and library sites in different countries does little to "assist the reader in understanding and appreciating the on-going work" of LAC -- although perhaps a link to some sort of comparative analysis would accomplish that task. These links pertain to organizations that are unrelated to LAC, and the links accomplish nothing that Category:National archives and Category:National libraries (not to mention Category:Libraries by country and Category:Archives by country) do not already do better. While the links might be relevant to an article on preservation, they are off-topic here. Further, the selection of the proposed external links gives rise to WP:NPOV and WP:OR concerns -- if the goal was to provide some sort of comparative materials, why were U.K., Australian, NZ and American institutions only chosen? Are only institutions in English-language countries relevant? What about other English-speaking countries? Why only richer First World nations? Given that LAC is a federal institution, what is the justification for the exclusion of francophone archives? And so on, and so on, and so on.... Short of listing dozens of other archives and libraries worldwide, this is a quagmire we should not be touching with a ten-foot pole. The reader of this article is only a click away from lists to other libraries and archives worldwide -- a random list of off-topic external lists does not add anything to the article. Skeezix1000 (talk) 14:57, 20 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Aha. Thank you for clarifying. More to the point, thanks for the time you invested in explaining a range of ways these links were unhelpful. I was blind to some of the implications you perceived. In this context, it becomes clear that I need to re-think some of my views about the plausible value of such tenuous external links. I suppose the part I most need to ponder is the following:

... perhaps a link to some sort of comparative analysis would accomplish that task .... While the links might be relevant to an article on preservation, they are off-topic here. Further, the selection of the proposed external links gives rise to WP:NPOV and WP:OR concerns ....

Et encore, merci --Tenmei (talk) 17:19, 20 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

In this context, I see the following citation as plausibly relevant to an improved LAC article:

The need for national entities like the National Preservation Office (NPO) in the British Library has been documented in surveys conducted by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) Section on Preservation & Conservation and by the Ligue Internationale des Bibliothèques Européennes de Recherches. Other than the United Kingdom, at least seven other countries have set up an entity similar to the NPO, including Canada and New Zealand.^[1]

Nevertheless, Skeezix1000 has convinced me that adding off-topic external links was an unworkable gesture. Maybe there is still some way to build on misplaced good intentions ...? Skeezix1000's critical analysis pointed out unintended implications which seem valid and entirely unwanted. Maybe the thing to do is to let this rest a while, and then I'll re-visit the LAC in a few weeks. Tentatively, I'm guessing that Skeezix1000 is on to something when he suggests creating another article about library and archive preservation issues ... with internal links to and from NLA? We'll see .... --Tenmei (talk) 00:27, 21 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the comments. Certainly, your proposed text does not give rise to the concerns I had indicated earlier with the external links. It strikes me that your proposed text has a lot more to do with the British Library's NPO than it does the LAC, however, and neither the text (nor the source provided) contain much information on efforts by LAC to set up a central preservation office. Again, I would have though this would be more relevant to a general preservation article (Preservation (library and archival science)), or even Archives, than here. However, that's more of a subjective judgment call, rather than a policy issue, so I will leave it to you and others to determine where it best fits, and beyond this comment I don't really have any objections. Good luck. Skeezix1000 (talk) 20:28, 21 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

References

^ Foot, Mirjam. (1997) "Paper: Towards a National Preservation Policy,"] 63rd IFLA General Conference (Copenhagen).

Troubling promotional language

This has already been noted, but this site has a lot of very troubling promotional language. The article uses this language to justify actions, rather than stating facts: "Given the profound changes in the information world due to the evolution of technology and social behaviour, LAC needs to adapt its ways of working to remain relevant in Canadian society." What kind of strange sentence is this for a Wikipedia article? This sounds like they are trying to justify their recent cuts to their staff and the Canadian Council of Archives. This is very odd and has no place here. I need to study the content before offering any changes. There are so many problems it's difficult to know how to start without rewriting the whole thing.Archivisticus (talk) 04:59, 12 June 2012 (UTC) Archivisticus[reply]

Hidden Hand at Work - Article need to be expunged and started again

A well-placed employee of LAC is writing this "promotional" material and deleting any material critical of LAC. The article is now worthless, and has to be expunged and written by persons who do not work for LAC. Trace the history of this article and its changes and you will see the "hidden hand" of some official. (I cited some opposition to the appointment of Caron a few years ago and someone deleted all this material, even though I had solid citations). LAC has become a highly controversial institution, probably the most controversial cultural institution in Canada. This article does not reflect the intense opposition to changes made by Ian Wilson and Daniel Caron. BrentS (talk) 03:36, 30 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The work of our fine government under Stephen Harper. Don't criticize him, he can do no wrong... Senate expense scandals excluded. Oaktree b (talk) 19:38, 23 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Fair warning

I have started cleaning up this article and in due course will be making sure the text matches the sources, and is written in language suitable for WP (direct quotes identified as such etc.). If other editors want to save content they have added, please make sure it is properly sourced. Helen (talk) 08:07, 29 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Done. Helen (talk) 08:06, 6 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Reference to Minister Moore in June 2013

The reference to Minister Moore in June 2013 conflates two issues: 1) the potential re-institution of the NADP and local efforts through the Canadian Council of Archives with 2) the actual ongoing digitization of LAC's own holdings through the new Heritage Canadiana.org portal agreement with university libraries and other partners in the Canadian Knowledge Research Network. These are two different programs and operations with different sources of funds. They will be subject to review at some point according to Moore's own statements. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.114.56.170 (talk) 17:17, 23 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The issues are not conflated, they are the two separate issues he has singled out for comment in response to public criticism. Helen (talk) 17:37, 23 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Flickr photos

For a while, LAC was releasing photos on Flickr under a CC-by license, they then started using a CC-nc license. Every other government wants to open up their access, ours limits it... UK is using the Open Government License, Canada is hobbled by the Crown Copyright, masquerading as a CC-nc license. I'd put a brief mention of it here, it was discussed on Flickr earlier, not so sure it's worthy though... Oaktree b (talk) 19:41, 23 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It is a worthy issue, and thanks for raising it. Of course, LAC cannot change the copyright status of its public domain images simply by tagging them with any kind of CC license. I suppose, however, they were concerned with the ramifications of licensing non-PD images with the CC-by tag. Typical bureaucratic response. Very disappointing. --Skeezix1000 (talk) 15:00, 25 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

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New section about TRC

I am a new editor to Wikipedia and just added a section to this page about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It would be great if anyone could help edit and add to that section. Thanks. Spartycat (talk) 06:30, 1 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Outdated and needs review

This page is extremely outdated. As an employee, I am not comfortable editing it myself, but I could provide some guidance as to the areas that need to be updated and third-party sources for any changes. Thoughts?

Ouvrard (talk) 13:54, 19 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Some sources to update the current LAC page

LAC/OPL joint facility

In the 2018 Canadian federal budget, funding was announced for a new joint facility with LAC and Ottawa Public Library (OPL), to be built at 555 Albert Street in Ottawa, Canada’s capital city.

The new facility, being designed by Diamond Schmitt and KWC architects, is expected to open in 2024.

The facility will allow LAC to modernize its public services and to reach an expanded clientele through a new purpose-built space.

The design and use of the building will be informed by public consultations, as well as discussions with Indigenous groups, LAC and OPL staff, and stakeholders.

http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/about-us/publications/signatures/Pages/signatures-spring-summer-2019.aspx#art04

https://www.canadianconsultingengineer.com/buildings/architects-selected-for-ottawa-public-library-library-and-archives-canada-joint-facility/1003408338/

————

A new section should be inserted below the modernization and budget cuts heading to discuss the priorities since 2013. Below are the priorities as written in the Library and Archives Canada annual report which is tabled in Parliament.

Update 2014-2019

The four priorities

In 2015, four priorities were established for LAC:

LAC is an institution fully dedicated to serving all its clients: government institutions, donors, academics, researchers, archivists, librarians, students, genealogists and the general public.
LAC is an institution which, drawing on the strength of all its staff, is at the leading edge of archival and library science and new technologies.
LAC is an institution proactively engaged with national and international networks in an open and inclusive way.
LAC is an institution with prominent public visibility that highlights the value of its collection and services.

http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/about-us/annual-reports/annual-report-2015-16/Pages/AnnualReport-2015-16.aspx#tab2

Other initiatives during this period

An expanded version of the Documentary Heritage Communities Program was launched in June 2015, providing funding to libraries, archives and other memory institutions throughout Canada. As of June 2019, it had provided $6 million to 130 documentary heritage organizations to support 170 projects.

http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/about-us/annual-reports/annual-report-2018-2019/Pages/annual-report-2018-2019.aspx#tab3

On June 3, 2016, LAC announced the National Heritage Digitization Strategy, in co-operation with 50 leading institutions in the Canadian documentary heritage community. Its goal is to compile Canada’s largest digital collections and make them available through a single platform.

https://www.canada.ca/en/library-archives/news/2016/06/librarian-and-archivist-of-canada-announces-national-heritage-digitization-strategy-collaboration.html

LAC signed a contract for a new library management system in March, 2017, with the OCLC co-operative, the world’s largest online published document retrieval system. The system, which is now up and running, allows users to access the resources of hundreds of the country’s libraries.

https://www.oclc.org/en/news/releases/2017/201709dublin.html

On November 7, 2017, the Marshall McLuhan collection at LAC was added to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register, in partnership with the University of Toronto Library.

https://www.canada.ca/en/library-archives/news/2017/10/library_and_archivescanadauniversityoftorontolibrariesandcanadia.html

Two digital initiatives were established by LAC between 2017 and 2018. DigiLab (March, 2017) provides a free digitization lab for public use, while Co-Lab (April, 2018) allows the public to transcribe key historical documents.
http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/about-us/publications/signatures/Pages/Signatures-2017-fall-winter.aspx#tab3 http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/news/Pages/2018/type-tag-share-co-lab.aspx

In August, 2018, LAC had completed the digitization of over 622,290 service file records from soldiers who enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War. These complete records are now searchable online.
https://thediscoverblog.com/tag/cef-digitization/

LAC introduced a major new initiative on April 5, 2019, to preserve, revitalize and enhance Canada’s Indigenous languages and cultures, working with an advisory circle of Elders and Indigenous leaders.
https://www.canada.ca/en/library-archives/news/2019/04/library-and-archives-canada-launches-funding-and-services-to-help-preserve-indigenous-culture-and-language-recordings.html

On August 12, 2019, LAC began construction on its second preservation facility in Gatineau, which will be the first net-zero carbon building dedicated to archival preservation in the Americas. The facility should be in operation by summer 2022.
http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/news/Pages/2019/construction-begins-new-preservation-facility.aspx

If editors have any other sources to provide for updating the article, it would be great to add them to this list. I hope that this page can be taken out of the dark ages and into the light.

Ouvrard (talk) 18:07, 11 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Not the fifth largest library in the world

If you go into the page, by number of copies, it should be about the 16th in the world. The listing there is not in proper order. Υφ22 (talk) 00:09, 20 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

[1] Foot, Mirjam. (1997) "Paper: Towards a National Preservation Policy,"] 63rd IFLA General Conference (Copenhagen).

[1]