In the Spring/Summer 2018 issue of Signatures magazine, Library and Archives Canada reviews activities and events in 2017 and shares how it plans to continue reaching out to the public and making its collections and staff more accessible.
In the introduction, Librarian and Archivist of Canada Guy Berthiaume writes, ” In recent years, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has increased its outreach activities to meet the demands of the documentary community and the expectations of users, who want better access to the collection.”
Social media outreach
To counter the myth that its specialists are inaccessible, LAC last year launched a new digital initiative. This initiative allowed specialists to share their knowledge and expertise directly with the online community. Between October and December 2017, LAC held three separate Twitter chats, with LAC’s specialists and the Librarian and Archivist of Canada answering questions directly from the public through #AskAnArchivist, #AskALibrarian, and #AskTheLAC (Librarian and Archivist of Canada).
In 2018, LAC will host targeted chats on specific topics such as genealogy, the military, censuses and more.
Genealogists and genealogical societies may want to start preparing questions to ask during this year’s Twitter chats.
Collaboration with local institutions
In recent years, LAC embarked on a project to redefine its national presence to move closer to the public, providing a broader scope of services outside Ottawa.
“For decades, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) clients outside Ottawa have been travelling to far-flung warehouses in suburban industrial parks, to consult records in reading rooms set up amid the vast repositories of archival documents,” writes Caitlin Webster, archivist, Public Services Branch.
To provide a more local presence, LAC has had discussions to collaborate more closely with memory institutions, such as libraries and museums. Last year, these efforts resulted in new co-location arrangements in Halifax and Vancouver.
Halifax
In June 2017, LAC opened its public service point at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21. In addition to providing in-person reference support, LAC Halifax offers kiosks where researchers can access LAC online research tools, as well as subscription databases, such as Ancestry.
Vancouver
A few months later, in November, the LAC Vancouver office implemented its co-location partnership with the Vancouver Public Library (VPL). At VPL’s central branch, LAC Vancouver provides in-person orientation and reference services, as well as kiosks for LAC research tools.
In addition, given the ongoing needs of the local community regarding Indigenous claims, treaties and other subjects, LAC Vancouver continues to supply access to original archival records of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada for British Columbia and Yukon.
Winnipeg
LAC Winnipeg has expanded and improved on-site reference services. Clients can now access a self-serve digital kiosk for online LAC resources, as well as a larger reading room for on-site document consultation.
New facility
Within a couple of years, LAC will build a new preservation facility, dubbed Gatineau 2, next to the existing building in Gatineau, Quebec, across the Ottawa River from our nation’s capital. In 2011, LAC’s collections were stored in 22 buildings. When the construction of Gatineau 2 is complete, LAC’s collections will be preserved in five specialized buildings.
LAC says, “With the addition of a new building, our documentary heritage will benefit from state-of-the-art preservation techniques: optimal ambient conditions and a leading-edge automated shelving and retrieval system.”
Construction on Gatineau 2 will begin in 2019 and is expected to open in 2021.
