As the Deputy Head and Librarian and Archivist of Canada, Daniel Caron oversees one of the most impressive collections of Canadiana in the world. It appears to be his pleasure to preside over the destruction of the collection and service. Visit to see the sad state of the facility. Here are some of the services no longer offered or reduced since he took office.
1. Interlibrary Loan
2. Support to partners through NADP
3. Access to some unique original newspapers (junked).
4. Timely retrieval of archival and published materials
5. Meaningful community consultation
6. Promotion of cultural activities through affordable meeting space
7. Microfilm machines broken
8. Timely consultation services for readers
9. Online service (never-ending website redesign)
10. Professional involvement of staff (Code of Conduct).
The PR version of the list issued by LAC is here.
Thanks again for keeping the attention on the attack on LAC. Your post prompted me to write again to the minister & include your list of things we have lost under his watch.
ReplyDeleteThank you for drawing attention to this - now we know what items among the vast resources of LAC Dr. Caron finds imporant. Another news item featured on the webpage is an acquisition update. I hoped that maybe there might be some significant acquisition that LAC had not turned down! What was said was,"Recently, LAC started using web harvesting tools to surgically identify and collect holdings in digital form, such as blogs, editorials or tweets that document issues relevant to Canadian society." Can anyone tell me what web harvesting tools (a seine net perhaps) are and how they surgically identify holdings?
ReplyDeleteHaving Daniel Caron (or any of Stevereeno Harpoon's trained seals) at the head of the L.A.C. is like having Henry VIII as head of the English Church and thus of the Catholic patrimony of monasteries and of their libraries. We know how that ended! just the way that S. Harpoon wants to close Canadian cultural institutions!
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