Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is a vital Canadian heritage institution, an important source of evidence for social and historical research. Its mission is to collect, preserve and make accessible Canada’s documentary heritage: published books and periodicals, historical documents, images and archival materials, and the personal papers of important Canadians.

It sounds simple enough — maybe not so glamourous — but like libraries and archives everywhere LAC plays an important part in helping us all understand our past, present and future. If you check the bibliography of almost any history book or scholarly article, you’ll see references to archival materials, as well as the kinds of books and periodicals that you would find in a library. The acknowledgements sections of such books and articles are also heavily populated with thanks and praise for the librarians and archivists who build the collections and support the research enterprise.

But, like science, heritage institutions in Canada are under threat from the current Conservative government, and Library and Archives Canada is no exception. In fact, there are many parallels between what is going on at LAC and what is happening to Canadian science.

Just as it would be nice if the new minister of state for Science and Technology, Greg Rickford, knew something about science, it also would be nice if new Heritage Minister Shelly Glover had a feel for heritage. While Glover is a bit more of an unknown quantity in her portfolio than Rickford is in his own, only time will tell.

Speaking of leadership, one of the early anti-science actions of the Harper government was discontinuing the role of Science Advisor. That sent a signal to the science community; a similar signal was sent to the library and archival communities in 2009, when Daniel J. Caron was appointed librarian and archivist of Canada.

A whole book could be written about Caron and the Conservatives’ reign of error, just as a whole book has been written about their attacks on science (Chris Turner’s The War on Science: Muzzled Scientists and Wilful Blindness in Stephen Harper’s Canada). I’ll just hit the high points.

Caron is an economist and bureaucrat without any library or archives background. Under his leadership the core mission of LAC was put aside. Instead, the focus has shifted to cutting costs, making it harder for Canadians to access their documentary heritage, and muzzling librarians and archivists. Sound familiar?

Just as it would be nice if the new minister of state for Science and Technology, Greg Rickford, knew something about science, it also would be nice if new Heritage Minister Shelly Glover had a feel for heritage.

Caron left office after an expenses scandal and the search is on for his replacement. From the job ad, you can see the Conservatives’ priorities: “You bring experience at the senior executive level, ideally within a large, diversified private or public sector organization, and proven success in managing financial and human resources as well as implementing modern corporate governance principles and best practices.” Librarian and archivist as CEO — rather than cultural curator.

The nadir of Caron’s time at LAC was surely the 2012 Canadian Library Association conference, where he gave an outrageous and condescending speech to the assembled librarians and archivists, and where there was some controversy about attendees critical of Caron being silenced.

Speaking of silencing — just as scientists have been muzzled under the Harper government, so too have staff members of LAC. Earlier this year, the LAC Code of Conduct was leaked to the media. The Code details such measures as restrictions on attending professional conferences or accepting teaching or presentation opportunities without permission from management, and notes that employees have a “duty of loyalty” to the government.

Cuts to staff and programs have been severe. LAC has dropped from 144 “library science” positions in 2005 to 73 in 2012. These are the people who collect, preserve and make accessible our documentary heritage. Programs that support national and local archives, such as the National Archival Development Program (NADP) and the Canadian Council of Archives (CCA), have been cut. Interlibrary loans, which allow scholars across the country to easily access materials held at LAC, were cut. The list goes on.

To draw a few more direct parallels to the situation in science, the outsourcing and de-prioritizing of the Experimental Lakes Area is similar to what has happened with LAC. It recently signed a less-than-wonderful deal with the non-profit organization Canadiana to essentially outsource digitization of all Canadian heritage materials held at LAC. A task that is a key component of LAC’s core mission, and should have been guarded closely, has been outsourced.

Parallels between the government’s handling of heritage and science can also be drawn from the refocusing of the National Research Council’s mission from pure to applied research. Colleague Myron Groover of the Bibliocracy blog outlines the shift of emphasis from LAC’s core mission to such ‘bread and circus’ events as the fuss about the War of 1812.

I’m just scratching the surface here. What is the toll at LAC? Well, it’s apparently one of the worst places to work in the entire public service, scoring only 15 out of 100 in a 2011 employee survey — and that was before the worst of Caron’s cuts.

I’ll end with a telling tweet from a recent visitor to LAC: “Visiting LAC #Ottawa. It’s a ghost town.”

John Dupuis has been a science librarian at York University since 2000. His thoughts on science, librarianship and Canadian science policy can be found at Confessions of a Science Librarian, where he has blogged since October 2002.

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