Smoking out the wrong stuff at Library and Archives Canada

Ian Milligan, writing for ActiveHistory.ca back on May 22, 2012, provided a great overview of the immediate and coming cuts to Library and Archives Canada programs and services, including the elimination of the National Archival Development Program (NADP) and the axing of the interlibrary lending (ILL) service. He called his essay "The Smokescreen of ‘Modernization’ at Library and Archives Canada".

J.L. Granatstein in Globe & Mail on Library and Archives Canada's decimation

Historian J.L. Granatstein has written a most excellent rant against the ongoing decimation of Library and Archives Canada under the direction of the Librarian and Archivist of Canada, whom it seems, would rather carry out the wishes of his politician master the Hon. James Moore rather than do the honourable thing and resign. Take a look at Granatstein's indictment of the radical changes at LAC in the Globe & Mail (June 12, 2012) titled "Who will preserve the past for future generations?" Sadly, one of the cuts Granatstein missed was the elimination of the National Archival Development Program (NADP). Granatstein is the author of Who Killed Canadian History?, so perhaps a sequel might be Who Killed the Library and Archives Canada?

Society of American Archivists opposes the desecrecation of the Canadian archival system by Harper's government

Quoting (with some corrections) from the e-mail submitted to ARCAN-L on May 11, 2012:

Gregor Trinkaus-Randall, 2011-2012 President of the Society of American Archivists, has issued a letter to the Hon. James Moore, opposing the April 30 decision by Library and Archives Canada to eliminate the National Archival Development Program and [by extension] the Canadian Council of Archives.

The full letter is available online and can be found at

http://files.archivists.org/advocacy/Moore_NADPandCCA_051112.pdf .

More Times-Colonist coverage of Prime Minister Harper's attack on Canada's heritage sector

Eric Sager of the University of Victoria's History Department wrote a scatching denunciation in the May 11, 2012 issue of the Victoria Times-Colonist of Primer Minister Harper's government's attack on the Canadian heritage sector from downsizing of the Library and Archives Canada to the elimination of the National Archival Development Program (NADP) to the gutting of Parks Canada which maintains federal heritage sites.

His blistering attack is titled "Harperizing Canada's history and heritage". When the government celebrates the bicentennial of the War of 1812 to the tune of $28 million, but cuts the 26-year NADP funding of $1.7 million that has helped archives across Canada, the optics, as they say, do not look good. The cuts to Library and Archives Canada are equally serious. It's like taking the teachers out of the education system, the librarians out of libraries, the curators out of museums, oh wait, they're next.

Heritage Minister James Moore's weak defense of these cuts in relation to Library and Archives Canada that more effort will be expended on digitization is simply not practical in the face of the staffing loss. Furthermore, while self-service might work fine at Home Depot or Safeway (my experience with both is staff are still needed) and airport terminals, you can't compare a retail experience to a research experience where expert staff have deep knowledge of a subject, whether it's library publications or archival records.

Other Canadian archives are already experimenting with the kind of service LAC now offers where archivists are only available on call or by appointment. Yet some of these archives have not yet told their researchers through their Web site what they can expect when they arrive, that the long-standing practice of staffing a reference desk with an archivist is no more. If you walked into the Toronto Public Library and were told you had to make an appointment to see a reference librarian, what would you think? Welcome to Self-Service Canada!

Online petition to help save National Archival Development Program

Please consider adding yours to the online petition created by archivist Heather Home at Make it Better - Write a Letter: Help save Canada's National Archival Development Program. If you're on the Facebook, you can also add this site as an app and recruit up to 16 friends to sign. The goal is 10,000 online signatures.

A digital archive for Canada's 150th anniversary in 2017

Canada will be celebrating its sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary as a nation in 2017. Canada150 "is Canada’s largest history gathering project ever. It is a collaborative effort of organizations and individuals committed to recording Canadian family and community histories as our gift to our country on its 150th birthday--July 1, 2017." The project is aimed at the boomer generation and their children who "have rarely kept diaries, journals, letters or other documents. We may have thousands of photos stored on our computers but we have few documents that tell our stories. ... You and your parents and children need to record your stories and ensure that they are safely stored forever. Canada 150 is a national project to encourage them to do exactly that in time for our 150th birthday as a nation. By depositing our stories in our national Library and Archives Canada, we will give our families, community and entire country a gift that is invaluable. ..."

Red rock tapes could stay here (more info)

Update for February 13, 2010:

Red Robinson provided his reasons in a lengthy letter to the Times-Colonist editor on February 13 to my question about whether he had contacted the BC Archives or the Library and Archives Canada about acquiring the interviews he gave to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He said that organization will put them online, yet in the original Times-Colonist article it was stated that "A couple of years ago, he had them digitized." Since the interviews are already in a digital format and he was willing to relinquish them for full public consumption, he could have had the digitized interviews uploaded to probably the world's largest online repository of free, historic audio material, the Internet Archive's Audio Archive.

Mr. Robinson mentioned the Jack Cullen and Dal Richards collections. If he had checked the BC Archives Web site he would have discovered that they have some of their work already, along with many other examples from BC radio broadcasters (producers and stations) and musicians.

Original post of February 11, 2010:

My letter to the editor of the Times-Colonist newspaper appeared in the February 10, 2010 issue and online. It's my reaction to its story from February 6 about Vancouver rock and roll DJ Red Robinson donating his interviews with music industry personalities to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.

DJ Red Robinson interviews heading south to Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Ohio, USA

I was very surprised to read in the Victoria Times-Colonist newspaper on February 6, 2010 this remark by Vancouver rock and roll dj Red Robinson:

"There is no repository for my stuff, or Bruce Allen's, or Bryan Adams', or anybody," Robinson said. "It's a disgrace." So he decided to give [his stuff] to the Rock Hall.

First of all, though I obviously can't speak for those institutions, I would love to know if he had approached the Library and Archives Canada or even the Royal BC Museum which houses the BC Archives. Mr. Robinson might be surprised to know that legendary rocker Randy Bachman's archival records (described under the title "Randy Bachman fonds") are preserved by the Library and Archives Canada and constitute a relatively large body of multiple media material. That institution also preserves the Gino Empry fonds, an individual with performing arts credentials somewhat comparable to Bruce Allen's.

Secondly, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) has a Canadian Music Hall of Fame program, so if folks in the music industry are intent on keeping their archival records in Canada, perhaps they should start working with CARAS towards a physical solution rather than see Canadian recording industry cultural property head south or, worse, destroyed through neglect or willful intent.

Although Canadian cultural property generally excludes material less than 50 years old and created by living persons, there are always exceptions. And the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board even has grants available to help designated public institutions acquire material they might otherwise not be able to afford.