The Montreal Gazette has published an article with a Q/A with the Library and Archivist of Canada designate Guy Berthiaume. He clearly has a firm grip on what's needed at LAC. It's good to see this exchange:
Gazette: What surprised you the most during your time as head of the BAnQ?
Berthiaume: One of the things that surprised me the most is people’s passion for genealogy. There’s a very popular British TV series, Who Do You Think You Are? Radio-Canada did a similar show called Qui êtes-vous? Each episode started out here in our archives. It generated a lot of interest. After the show, a lot of people came to our website to try to find their ancestors.Elsewhere in the article Berthiaume speaks of digitization, restoring morale among the staff and building bridges with partners and stakeholders.
No doubt change won't happen fast enough for some, and will be resisted by others. I'm cautiously optimistic that M Berthiaume has the vision to bring about a revitalization at LAC and hope he gets the support needed from us all.
3 comments:
Let's keep keep our fingered crossed!
Let's keep our fingers crossed!
Certainly the signs are hopeful. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, the money is still not there. Perhaps because I know staff at LAC I see staff morale as vitally important and I know it will take years and money to rebuild it (having gone through a similar situation I know of what I speak). However, I wish him well and hope that he will be able to make positive changes that will benefit the collection and its users.
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