The Canadian Library Association (CLA) has requested the federal government engage in talks concerning the recent closures of and cuts to government libraries, according to a statement released Tuesday. 

In the three-page statement, the organization, which represents 1410 library workers, libraries, and library supporters, called for more transparency on the part of the federal government about the process of consolidation and digitization of Canada’s historical records and scientific data. The CLA claims it is "troubled" by the government's handling of budget cuts, which have led to library closures and the disposal of collections.

"There has been much public debate and discussion about these reductions and very little information forthcoming from the government. CLA wishes to participate in informed dialogue regarding government library consolidation and closure," the statement reads.

“CLA agrees that collection management practices, such as withdrawal, are necessary in library management and that library consolidation is often an effective way to reduce costs while still maintaining service for clients; however, when implemented within the context of national public collections, such processes should be transparent and open.”

This statement addresses widespread fears over the loss of archival material, beginning with cut of $9.3 million over three years to the budget of Library and Archives Canada in 2012, which lead to a reduction in service hours and a 20 per cent reduction in staff.

It also speaks to the closure of seven of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ 11 libraries as well as further cuts impacting government libraries in departments as wide-reaching as Health Canada and Statistics Canada. "CLA has received reports that valuable materials are being lost due to the haste of these library closures."

The organization is "concerned about the lack of communication and consultation in the decision-making process around the consolidation and closure of these libraries. Given the absence of such dialog, CLA is concerned that there will be a substantial reduction in access to the materials in these collections, resulting in an irrevocable loss of unique information.” It is also concerned cuts to Library and Archives Canada (LAC) will prevent the federal body from accomplishing its legislated task.

Excerpt from the Canadian Library Association statement on the role of Library and Archives Canada.

Throughout the process, the federal government has said its goal is to digitize information and make it accessible through online portals, but CLA calls these plans “unclear.”

“CLA appreciates that digitization can provide enhanced access to materials for employees, researchers, and the broader public. However, digitization is a long-term, labour intensive process.”

They point out that the role of library and information professionals is “critical” given the volume of material slated for digitization. “It is essential that government use this expertise to manage and curate this material.”

On December 19, 2013 the federal government released a document of “Frequently Asked Questions” regarding the library closures. The CLA called this move a “good first step,” but say “the government’s plans for the preservation of and access to the valuable material remain unclear.”

In a January interview with the Tyee’s Andrew Nikiforuk, CLA president Marie DeYoung echoed these misgivings about the process, pointing out the lack of clarity about the intended outcomes was evidence that librarians were not involved in the planning of these closures. “That's what information professionals do well,” she said. “It is not apparent information professionals have been involved in the process."

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Walter M. Miller Jr.’s classic sci-fi book "A Canticle for Leibowitz" tells the story of a post-apocalyptic future in which a small group of monks strive to preserve the remnants of humanity's scientific knowledge. After the destruction of civilization, in the absence of physical records of its history, humanity repeats the worst of its mistakes.

There have been many tales over the years of the destruction of books. Sometimes, as with the sacking of the library of Alexandria, it was out of sheer thoughtlessness. Other times, it was with the clear intent of the reigning regime to banish knowledge that didn’t fit its worldview. However it happened, it was only in hindsight that we understood to what extent the loss set humanity back.

It’s hard not to think of these things when reading stories of the closure of seven of the eleven Department of Fisheries and Oceans libraries across Canada. Local media outlets have reported dumpsters full of books. The Winnipeg-based North/South Consultants brought a flatbed truck to the closure of the library at the University of Manitoba’s Freshwater Institute and packed it full with the history of Canadian water.

“There's a treasure trove of stuff there,” Don MacDonell, a spokesperson for North/South, which does field research and environmental impact assessments for government and corporate clients, told the Winnipeg Free Press. “In our field, aquatics, the library was quite valuable. It serviced the whole central and Arctic region.”

When word first broke that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans was closing the libraries, government officials promised that there would be no loss of vital historical material. Today many are skeptical of those claims.

In an interview with the CBC, former fisheries minister Tom Siddon called the move “Orwellian, because some might suspect that it's driven by a notion to exterminate all unpopular scientific findings that interfere with the government's economic objectives.”

Several scientists spoke anonymously to the Tyee’s Andrew Nikiforuk. "I was sickened," said a research scientist who had worked for the federal government for 30 years. "All that intellectual capital is now gone. It's like a book burning. It's the destruction of our cultural heritage. It just makes us poorer as a nation."

Green Party leader Elizabeth May, whose constituency of Saanich-Gulf Islands is home to one of the four remaining libraries, also condemned the move. “Consistent with their policy of muzzling scientists, the Conservatives have now moved on to trashing libraries,” she said. “This administration seems to be deliberately undermining our ability to make good policy decisions by limiting access to scientific evidence.”

On December 7, in response to the landslide of criticism, Fisheries and Oceans Minister Gail Shea sent out a press release ensuring that it is “absolutely false to insinuate that any books were burnt.”

“The decision to consolidate our network of libraries was based on value for taxpayers,” she said in the release. “The primary users of DFO libraries, over 86%, are employees of the Department. An average of only five to 12 people who work outside of DFO visited our eleven libraries each year. It is not fair to taxpayers to make them pay for libraries that so few people actually used.”

The scientific community did not find the argument convincing, including Jeffrey Hutchings, Canada Research Chair in Marine Conservation & Biodiversity at Dalhousie University.

“A logical extension of this argument proffered by DFO spokespersons is that it would not be fair to make taxpayers pay for the libraries and associated resources of the Supreme Court of Canada, the Bank of Canada, or even the Library of Parliament because ‘so few people actually used’ the libraries in question,” he told the Tyee.

Many of the research libraries facing closure are meant to act as resources for the federal government rather than the public, such as the library at the Maurice Lamontagne Institute. On the Institute's website, the research facilities are described as providing "the federal government with a scientific basis for the conservation of living marine resources, the protection of the marine environment, and safe maritime navigation, as well as to ensure the application of legislation designed for the integrated management of the marine environment and the protection of fish habitat."

Contents from the Maurice Lamontagne Institute library fill a dumpster in July 2013. File from www.cpcml.ca.

A memo uncovered by Postmedia’s Mike De Souza said that the closures would only save the taxpayers about $443,000 per year, after millions of dollars had recently been spent renovating the St. Andrews Biological Station in New Brunswick.

It referred to the removal process not as digitizing, but as “culling” materials to make room in the remaining four libraries.

Shea did not address widespread concerns regarding the technical aspects of the digitization process.

In response to a request for more information regarding the culling process, DFO media spokesperson referred to the Fisheries and Oceans Canada Library Collection Development and Management Guideline released February 2013.

“The Department withdrew obvious duplicates from its collections and approached universities, academics, museums, community and non-government organizations, and other libraries and offered materials in the collection that were outside of the department’s mandate,” the department told DeSmog via e-mail.  

At the time, scientists expressed skepticism regarding the logic behind the withdrawal of materials and feared that important historical documents may be lost.

“It is information destruction unworthy of a democracy,” said Peter Wells, an ocean pollution expert at Dalhousie University in Halifax, told the Vancouver Sun. He called the potential loss of materials a “national tragedy.”

Biologist and researcher Pamela Zevit worked on an early effort to digitize government research in the mid-1990s when she served the British Columbia’s Ministry of Environment. She remembers the excitement around providing searchable, easily accessible databases quickly falling away to the enormity of the task.

The biggest issues, she says, are quality control and maintenance. How do you assure the sensitive historical documents are properly scanned and who will maintain these archives over time and changes in technology?

It would be a mistake, Zevit believes, to think of digitized archives as infallible guardians of data. A recent article by University of British Columbia researcher Timothy Vines found that as much as eighty percent of data is lost over a period of two decades because changes in technology make storage formats obsolete.

“What happens if you lose information digitally and you have no hard copy resource or archive to go back to?” Zevit says. “All trace of it is eliminated from the planet unless somebody’s actually downloaded something at some point in time.”

As a researcher, Zevit doubts the federal government’s ability to follow through on its promises to maintain quality of service at the remaining libraries. “When I worked for government, I worked under the premise that disclosure and transparency were very important responsibilities,” Zevit says. “There’s no point in investing tens of thousands, if not millions, of dollars in curating information if it’s never accessible to anyone.”

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