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SECTION II: ANALYSIS OF PROGRAM ACTIVITIES BY STRATEGIC OUTCOME
Program Activity 1.1: Managing the disposition of the Government of Canada records of continuing value
1.0 Current and future generations of Canadians have access to their documentary heritage
Activities
1.1 Managing the disposition of the Government of Canada records of continuing value
Sub-Activities
1.1.1 Issuance of authorities to government institutions
Sub-Activities
1.1.2 Facilitate the management of GoC Records and Publications
Through the issuance of Records Disposition Authorities, the development of recordkeeping advice, tools and guidance, and the provision of Regional Service Centres services for departments of the government of Canada, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) enables and facilitates the management of information within federal agencies and ensures that government's archival and historical records are identified and appropriately preserved.
Financial Resources ($ thousands)
| 2007-2008 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Planned Spending | Authorities | Actual Spending |
| $16,078.1 | $15,299.2 | $13,588.0 |
Financial variances are detailed in explanation of variance tables.
Human Resources (FTEs)
| 2007-2008 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Planned | Actual | Difference |
| 200 | 167 | 33 |
Overview
The Government of Canada creates and manages millions of records annually. These include correspondence and operational files; business documents such as contracts, deeds, leases, surveys and service transactions; and photographs, architectural drawings, plans, and recordings. Under this program activity, LAC oversees the processes through which departments and agencies decide what to keep. LAC also receives and manages records that are no longer likely to be needed for immediate departmental business purposes but that may be required in the future.
LAC created a new long-term recordkeeping regime that will ensure that records of business or archival value are kept and made available for ongoing business and accountability purposes, while those without such value are not kept and the related costs of storage are eliminated. During 2007-2008, LAC co-led an ADM-level task force involving 18 departments and agencies that made recommendations on how best to move forward. Working groups oversaw detailed projects that provided practical experience on how to pursue specific elements of the new recordkeeping regime envisioned. Those projects generated practical rapid results and set the stage for future initiatives, as did internal efforts to eliminate records in LAC's possession with no business or archival value and to explore more cost-effective records storage. While LAC made progress, it also learned an important lesson: the Government of Canada is ahead of other national governments in addressing this issue, which means there are few international lessons that LAC can simply adapt for Canadian use. Instead, LAC is going to have to create home-grown solutions that work for Government of Canada department and agencies, and therefore for Canadians.
LAC identified the following key commitments in the Report on Plans and Priorities 2007-2008.
1. Optimize the role of government record centres to support preservation and access
The Government Records Branch is in the process of re-engineering its regional program in order to contribute to the work of the Assistant Deputy Minister Task Force on Recordkeeping and improve access and capacity for records management and storage of Government of Canada records. Although it is still finalizing and implementing an Accessibility Strategy, it has accomplished the following:
- The branch has put in place an Integrated Regional Service Centre in two of its regions to provide a single cohesively administered entity. Building on a spirit of partnership and collaboration, the Integrated Regional Service Centre model seeks to re-balance activities and re-align resources to more effectively deliver LAC's mandate and to provide better access to government records in the regions. Capacity to respond to access requests and provision of faster service has been increased.
These two Centres are testing an approach that seeks to maximize efficiency and improve service through the integration of digitization into its access strategy. By exploring options to improve the delivery of Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) services in the regional sites with archival records, this new service model seeks to increase the relevance and accessibility of the LAC collection and expertise to Canadians outside the National Capital Regions (NCR).
The Integrated Regional Service Centres will be the regional expression of corporate priority #2 to increase the relevance and accessibility of LAC collection and expertise to Canadians outside the NCR and in corporate priority #3 to develop effective recordkeeping within the regional offices of Government of Canada departments and agencies.
The healing power of records
Sometimes records resonate with the power to change lives. For the past 15 years Library and Archives Canada has provided access to the records of the Indian residential schools to all parties so that claims could be resolved. LAC is deeply committed to helping the Truth and Reconciliation Commission achieve its goals: to heal and reconcile the Indian residential schools legacy. LAC has actively sought out this role, by seeing itself as a vital and primary partner and stakeholder in working with the Commission. By doing so LAC will help raise awareness about the residential schools experience, and the records created and collected will form a unique source of information for that legacy.
2. Lead the development of an action plan arising from the ADM Roundtables and participate in its implementation
Recognizing the critical need to improve government recordkeeping, an ADM-level Task Force on Recordkeeping worked between January and September 2007 on a governance framework for recordkeeping and information management improvement, while five working groups analyzed specific issues. These efforts led to a proposal that Assessment Projects be undertaken in order to develop or test elements of the proposed new Government of Canada recordkeeping regime and to generate quick solutions that would offer immediate relief to particular recordkeeping and information management challenges.
LAC launched 15 assessment projects (www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/information-management/001/007001-5105-e.html) during 2007-2008, in collaboration with other federal departments and agencies, such as the development of a documentation standard for strategic policy research at Human Resources and Social Development Canada, as well as documentation standards for business activities at the Office of the Information Commissioner. The working groups carried out the 15 assessment projects with two fundamental purposes. To test the overall logic of a recordkeeping regime (RK) model and the robustness of the individual recordkeeping regime components that support it; and to help determine the cost, time, and effort necessary to implement required elements of the proposed model. In addition, the projects aimed to satisfy three needs: to develop a recordkeeping regime; to improve RK capacity within the Government of Canada; and to help agencies respond to the immediate problem posed by legacy records.
This work was all well advanced or near completion by the end of the fiscal year. The findings and results of these projects will set the stage for a second phase of documentation standards to be applied across government. These provide insights that confirm key directions for the new recordkeeping regime and provide guidance on operational issues.
3. Develop a methodology to enable departments to identify records of business value
LAC recognized that challenges posed by the sheer volume of records generated by Government of Canada departments and agencies require a much tighter focus on how best to identify records with business value for preservation. This can reduce storage costs by ensuring the destruction of records without value and make access to those of business value much simpler. To move in this direction, LAC committed to progress on the Accessibility Agenda, including the development of the methodology and documentation standard that departments need to make decisions on which records must be kept. (www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/information-management/001/007001-5105-e.html#c)
To move on this commitment, LAC implemented three pilot projects involving 18 departments and researched best practices, philosophies, strategies, methodologies, and criteria related to assigning value to records for the purpose of confirming their business status and managing their retention and disposal. LAC found that there are few best practices, strategies and methodologies in existence that are relevant to the Government of Canada environment. However, the pilot projects gave LAC the basis for a methodology and documentation standards to identify the business value in government records. LAC also saw that departments are enthusiastic about using the concept of business value as the basis of a coherent and accountable recordkeeping system.
4. Begin the implementation of a new storage model for legacy records of the Government of Canada
The new storage model (www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/007001/f2/007001-5105.12-e.pdf) is intended to bring more control over what is stored and reduces the backlog of records that would take up roughly 5,400 kilometres of shelf space while they await storage or destruction. During the year, LAC made progress towards a future storage model action plan by exploring solutions to the rising volume of paper records, including implementing a regional pilot project in the Quebec region which includes Québec and Montréal. LAC also completed consultations on the use of private records storage services for short-term storage. From these consultations LAC learned much more about the expectations of departments and agencies that use its services guiding the definition of LAC's storage model options.
As shown in figure 1, only seven percent of the space in the Preservation Centre is available for textual document representing approximately 4.5 kilometres of records. In 2007-2008, LAC acquired 4.7 kilometres of textual document. LAC managed the situation by implementing the Clearing the Path program.
Source: Inventory Control and Accommodation Section, LAC
Clearing the Path
LAC began the Clearing the Path program to help government departments and agencies identify and dispose of records with no business or archival value. LAC's target for the first year was the identification of approximately 1.5 kilometres. In its first five months, the program identified more than five kilometres out of approximately 50 kilometres of non-archival records for disposal from LAC collection storage facilities, representing 10 percent of textual documents actually in LAC Preservation Centre vaults. This freed up valuable space and makes the truly archival records more accessible to all Canadians.
Program Activity 1.2: Managing the documentary heritage of interest to Canada.
Strategic Outcome
1.0 Current and future generations of Canadians have access to their documentary heritage
Activities
1.2 Managing the documentary heritage of interest to Canada
Sub-Activities
1.2.1 Development of collection
Sub-Activities
1.2.2 Description of collection
Sub-Activities
1.2.3 Care of collection
The building of a national documentary resource for all aspects of the study of Canada is fundamental to the mandate of Library and Archives Canada (LAC). The Library and Archives Canada collection consists of published and unpublished materials in a variety of formats acquired through Legal Deposit, agreements with government institutions and selected private materials purchased or received by donation. To access the contents of collections, they must be appropriately described. Description can take many forms and provide various layers of access but is governed by nationally and internationally accepted codes of practice. At the same time, holdings are also described to meet Canadians' expectations for timely and equitable access. Once materials enter the LAC collection they are managed to ensure their long-term preservation and accessibility through policies, procedures and various programs including storage, conservation, and preservation and copying. To fulfill its role as a permanent repository of the government records and publications, Library and Archives Canada enters into agreements with government institutions to ensure that documents of historical and archival value are eventually transferred to LAC.
Financial Resources ($ thousands)
| 2007-2008 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Planned Spending | Authorities | Actual Spending |
| $96,632.8 | $74,692.6 | $68,910.9 |
Financial variances are detailed in explanation of variance tables.
Human Resources (FTEs)
| 2007-2008 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Planned | Actual | Difference |
| 619 | 623 | 4 |
Overview
LAC devoted the vast majority of resources under this program activity to the ongoing work of building and caring for its collection. In 2007-2008 as in other years, LAC was proactive in seeking out high priority acquisitions in line with its collection framework. The acquisition of the second part of the Peter Winkworth Collection came from outside LAC's normal acquisition budget. LAC decided to dedicate a significant portion of its operating funds and to defer other acquisitions to acquire this very important collection. LAC partnered with the National Gallery of Canada which is also purchasing part of the Collection. LAC also acquired substantial amounts of publication and archival records through Legal Deposit, transfers, donations and purchases.
During 2007-2008, the strategic goals for this program activity reflected LAC's corporate commitment to adjust to the demands, and opportunities of the new digital information environment. LAC worked with partners across Canada to define a Canadian Digital Information Strategy that will eventually guide the capture and preservation of Canada's documentary heritage that is "born digital," such as websites or electronic publications. It will also lead to consistent approaches to digitizing documentary heritage that now exists only on paper or in media such as sound recordings or films. LAC invested in developing and implementing new technologies and processes to enable documents to be received digitally and integrated directly into its collection, ideally without the need for action by LAC staff. LAC achieved many expectations for the year but the development of a Trusted Digital Repository (TDR) highlights the dependency of technological development on business policies and procedures as well as organizational commitment and capacity. Therefore LAC will have to work at an accelerated pace to put those policies and procedures in place. There are also organizational challenges in key areas which are still being addressed.
Bringing the Winkworth Collection Home
For more than 50 years, Montréal-born Peter Winkworth collected works of art and artifacts relating to Canadian history. In March 2002, the former National Archives of Canada acquired more than 4,000 works of art from Mr. Winkworth, many of which LAC has since exhibited across Canada. In 2007, LAC acquired another significant portion of the collection, including some paintings, watercolours, drawings, prints, albums and sketchbooks, art publications, 19th century tourist guides and city brochures, sculptures, and artifacts like the wooden small-scale model for the Wolfe and Montcalm Monument in Québec.
LAC identified the following key commitments in the Report on Plans and Priorities 2007-2008.
1. Define a Canadian Digital Information Strategy
After a national summit held in 2006, LAC worked in collaboration with a pan-Canadian committee to develop the Canadian Digital Information Strategy. The Strategy focuses on ways to strengthen production of digital information, ensure its preservation and facilitate access and use for Canadians. A draft strategy was made available for public and stakeholder review in October 2007 (www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/cdis). LAC is incorporating the comments received to modify and shape the Strategy further. As well, LAC explored how best to implement the Strategy through measures including increased digitization of Canadian documentary heritage; the definition of trusted digital preservation networks; and possible policy changes in the administration of Crown copyright, of orphaned works, and of access to public sector information and research.
Mass Digitization
During 2007-2008, LAC initiated the operation of a mass digitization program. LAC digitized more than 600,000 items such as city directories, early Canadian literature, maps, late 19th-century naturalization records, photographs related to Great Lakes shipping, and records of Sir John A. Macdonald. LAC also undertook and completed a special project in support of a major federally funded research project, in which almost 15 million images were digitized from microfilm. In addition to this program, work will be aimed at providing increased access by Canadians to their documentary heritage. In 2008-2009, the program will be extended to include newspapers, official publications such as Hansard, along with finding aids that are key research tools for LAC clients.
2. Begin development of Trusted Digital Repository services and network; and
3. Develop the "Virtual Loading Dock"
These two key commitments are linked deliverables in a larger strategy to acquire and preserve more of Canada's digital documentary heritage for Canadians. The Trusted Digital Repository (TDR) commitment is a multi-year process. The goal is that Canada will have a network of memory institutions, including LAC and other library and archival organizations, which will use consistent policies and standards as they receive, preserve and manage digital content, such as electronic publications and records. This will mean that Canadians will be able to gain easy access to that digital content, no matter where it was submitted and held in the first place. The Virtual Loading Dock (VLD) will allow publishers of digital material to provide it to LAC in automated ways, complete with all the descriptive information.
LAC completed or worked on the policies and standards approaches to oversee the acquisition, management, preservation and access of "born digital" content that TDRs would receive as well as items that LAC and other partners would convert to digital formats ("made digital"). This work has involved substantial collaboration with memory institutions and organizations such as Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, Alouette Canada, Archives Canada and Canadiana.org.
LAC achieved its projected VLD accomplishments for 2007-2008, such as enabling the legal deposit of electronic publications. LAC also worked to gain the participation of a few publishers in using the VLD and began work with Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) on plans to transfer government archival electronic records from the TBS records management system to LAC beginning in 2008-2009. While LAC has made progress, there are technical challenges involving new infrastructure, standards, and methodologies and expertise that must be developed "on the job." LAC is also working with the development of performance indicators to measure satisfaction of clients who use the VLD and to establish benchmarks for factors such as the cost of processing.
4. Set up several projects to enable users to add information to LAC catalogues
One impact of the digital paradigm is that libraries and archives are increasingly becoming consumers, rather than producers, of metadata. Therefore, it is important for LAC to develop the means to enable people outside of the institution to contribute their knowledge about the diverse parts of its collection by supplying descriptive or other identifying information directly into its catalogues or websites. LAC began a user-contributed metadata pilot project that will be completed in 2008-2009. It will enable users to view on the LAC website digital photographs of 50,000 selected photographic negatives from the collection and to add their descriptions, comments and other useful information. This should enable other users to access this information to help find specific images of interest to them.
Canada's Documentary Heritage Gift to Australia
On September 11, 2007, Prime Minister Harper gave the people of Australia a historic treasure-the oldest, surviving document ever printed in Australia. The story behind the discovery of the playbill, printed in Sydney in 1796, demonstrates the expertise of LAC staff.
In 2007-2008, Rare Book Librarian Elaine Hoag was examining a 150-year-old scrapbook donated to LAC by the Library of Parliament in 1973 when she picked up the playbill for a July 30, 1796, production of the play Jane Shore in Sydney, Australia. The Librarian and Archivist of Canada soon contacted the National Library of Australia to report the discovery, while LAC preservation experts prepared the fragile playbill for its long journey home with Canada's Prime Minister.
The playbill is now on exhibition in the new Treasures Gallery of Australia's National Library.
Program Activity 1.3: Making the documentary heritage known and accessible for use.
Strategic Outcome
1.0 Current and future generations of Canadians have access to their documentary heritage
Activities
1.3 Making the documentary heritage known and accessible for use
Sub-Activities
1.3.1 Services supporting client access to collections
Sub-Activities
1.3.2 Web-based and in-person interpretive public programs
All materials that become part of the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) collection are intended for use by those interested in Canada. LAC provides information and services including consultation, research and lending across multiple channels to facilitate access to the documentary heritage by a wide variety of clients. It also establishes activities, such as the learning program and encourages or organizes activities such as exhibitions, publications and performances, to make known and interpret Canada's documentary heritage. LAC also provides information resources and standards such as the national catalogue and supports the infrastructure necessary to ensure its accessibility to those interested in Canada and its heritage.
Financial Resources ($ thousands)
| 2007-2008 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Planned Spending | Authorities | Actual Spending |
| $43,049.0 | $69,960.6 | $39,957.1 |
Financial variances are detailed in explanation of variance tables.
Human Resources (FTEs)
| 2007-2008 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Planned | Actual | Difference |
| 315 | 329 | 14 |
Overview
The ongoing work of this program activity focuses on making known LAC's collection to Canadians. LAC's key commitments under this program activity centred on re-aligning work to reflect the five corporate priorities as described in Section I of this Report.
Through a new Strategic Program Plan, LAC began to design its exhibitions and events using digital tools and online delivery to reach more Canadians than LAC can through in-person services. Key programs and services were aimed at clients such as educators and people interested in Canadian family histories, with new approaches such as LAC's participation in the CBC program Who Do You Think You Are, which reached 100,000 Canadians during its 13-week run. Initiatives such as the LAC Forum on Canadian Democracy drew on the institution's unique collection of historical items and a network of contributors to foster discussion and understanding today of Canada's democratic system. The Forum developed a full day of public programming in support of the Aboriginal Treaties exhibition Spirit and Intent, and promoted the exhibition online with photographs, links to related LAC resources and an essay written by one of the exhibition's curators, Dr. John Borrows.
Resources were shifted to make these new service investments possible. Some of this took place through an LAC Strategic Review exercise, which led to the closure of the Canadian Book Exchange Centre, as announced in Budget 2008. Some involved reduced in-person service hours in the National Capital Region. Client response to that decision (indicated in the second quarter decline in the "In-person" client satisfaction shown below) and LAC's commitment to use client research more in guiding service choices led to launching new client consultation mechanisms including the creation of a new Services Advisory Board that resulted in a decision to test possible service enhancements in 2008-2009. Even so, satisfaction rates for "In-person" and "At a Distance" inquiry services continued to exceed targets while rates are improving for those Web-based services.
Figure 2: Percentage of total number of external clients satisfied with the response to their inquiry
Source: Client comment cards and website survey
LAC identified the following key commitments in the Report on Plans and Priorities 2007-2008.
1. Integrate virtual and in-person planning and delivery of making known activities
In January 2006, LAC approved a Strategy for Public Programming. LAC followed this high-level strategy with a more detailed plan of action, the Strategic Program Plan (SPP), in 2007-2008. The Public Programming strategy sets out an approach that will see LAC use many channels to reach diverse audiences. Since the planning for "making known" events in 2007-2008 preceded the finalization of the SPP, those events only partially incorporated the new and more comprehensive approach which led to some lessons learned.
For example, all programming developed by the LAC Forum on Canadian Democracy, which was launched in November 2007, is being conceived to take full advantage of the relationship between live events and online venues. There were approximately 180 participants in total for two different events and both events subsequently were televised on CPAC.
The Learning Centre (www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/education/index-e.html) developed educational resources based on LAC's virtual exhibits that provide teachers and students with new lesson plans, classroom activities and digitized learning objects. It was complemented by on-site programming, such as research by more than 500 high school students into the military personnel files of soldiers of the First and Second World Wars, while other classes conducted similar research using LAC online resources and photocopies of files from its collection. www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/cenotaphresearch/index-e.html
LAC's main on-site exhibition for 2007-2008, Spirit and Intent: Understanding Aboriginal Treaties www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/whats-on/treaties-exhibition/index-e.html), was complemented and extended through a companion display and a small virtual exhibition with links to LAC's Treaties and Surrenders Collection and other related resources, as well as the LAC Forum on Canadian Democracy (www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/democracy/index-e.html) programming. While Spirit and Intent was a success with visitors, particularly First Nations people, it would have had a much greater impact with the fuller range of approaches that LAC is making the standard for its future programming.
The Portrait Gallery of Canada (www.portraits.gc.ca/index-e.html) has integrated virtual and in-person planning of activities by offering online and on-site visitors the opportunity to experience the collection through exhibitions and interviews with artists and curators. LAC also launched a pilot program of behind-the-scenes vault tours of the Portrait Gallery of Canada program at the LAC Preservation Centre in the fall of 2007. Up to 15 people were admitted to each one of two tours that took place on eight consecutive Sundays. This initiative generated extremely positive public and media feedback. Its success led to offering vault tours on an ongoing basis for 2008-2009, for six weeks every quarter. www.portraits.gc.ca/009001-5023-e.html
2. Work with networks to enhance delivery of the Strategy for Public Programming and the Genealogy Strategy, and the Portrait Gallery Program's Travelling Exhibition
This commitment centred on increased use of partnerships and networking activities to reach Canadians, which was demonstrated across LAC programming. For example, the Learning Centre worked very closely with educators. This included collaboration with Canada's National History Society in its activities related to the Governor General's Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Canadian History and an annual poster design competition. LAC worked with Veterans Affairs Canada to develop specialized workshops for 68 students from across Canada during the Historica Encounters Week in November 2007.
The LAC Forum on Canadian Democracy exchanged information and ideas with partners in academic, cultural and government institutions. It receives guidance from a national advisory committee. The program was launched in late November 2007, so only two public events were held during the last fiscal year. Approximately 180
participants in total (90 per event), were received and both events subsequently were televised on CPAC.
www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/democracy/023023-1000-e.html
LAC's Canadian Genealogy Strategy has engaged two major partners. LAC signed a significant partnership with The Generations Network, an American provider of genealogy websites, which has digitized records in partnership with memory institutions around the world. It will lead to the digitization of up to 12 million records, which will be freely available on the LAC website without cost to the Crown www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/genealogy/index-e.html. As per this agreement, 787 reels have been digitized in 2007-2008 for an estimated cost saving of $35,520 ($45/reel) for the institution. The collaboration with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on Who Do You Think You Are is noted later in this section.
For 2007-2008, the Portrait Gallery of Canada (PGC) initiated two new exhibition formats, in partnership with federal, municipal and private partners. Portraits in the Street placed five reproductions of items from the PGC collection on public buildings in Ottawa's ByWard Market. Portraits on the Ice involved the installation of 12 reproductions at a site along the Rideau Canal Skateway during the Winterlude festival. www.portraits.gc.ca/009001-2100.4-e.html
Opening the Door to Family History for Canadians
LAC's newly re-designed Canadian Genealogy Centre website combines thousands of immigration, military, public service, land and census records into a single search, as well as offering research advice and guidance. The website also contains two powerful new search tools. Ancestors Search (www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/genealogy/index-e.html), developed by LAC, combines 18 genealogical databases into one search. That's My Family, developed in partnership with LAC and the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, which allows users to access a variety of genealogy and family history databases. It is supported by the Council of Provincial and Territorial Archivists of Canada. www.thatsmyfamily.info/
3. Develop and implement an institutional plan to follow up on multicultural consultations
In 2006-2007, LAC began consultations on how best to ensure that its collection reflects Canada's Aboriginal and multicultural heritage and to ensure that Canadians of all cultural backgrounds can find material of relevance to them. For 2007-2008, LAC committed to continue these discussions and move towards a plan that would respond to their findings and guidance. To do so, LAC conducted a survey on Aboriginal library and archive issues. LAC also finished and compiled the results of its consultations with multicultural communities, which identified resources on which LAC can draw www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/multicultural/005007-200-e.html#m. These efforts gave LAC the basis for the future development of its Aboriginal and multicultural collections.
A new home for the Portrait Gallery of Canada
On November 9, 2007, a Request for Proposals (RFP) was launched to locate the Portrait Gallery of Canada in one of the following cities: Halifax, Québec, Montréal, Ottawa-Gatineau (National Capital Region), Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver. The new exhibition and programming facility for the Portrait Gallery of Canada is anticipated to open in the spring of 2012. In the meantime, the Portrait Gallery of Canada continues to provide a full array of innovative programming and outreach and share its collection through virtual exhibitions, touring exhibits and curriculum development.
4. Develop a partnership policy and framework
LAC is regularly approached by potential partners and needs a consistent way to assess opportunities received and opportunities that LAC should seek out, as well as a way to manage partnerships consistently and strategically. During 2007-2008, LAC developed a draft plan that will be finalized for approval in 2008-2009. It aims to ensure accountability for LAC investments, and to guide communications with potential or confirmed partners. It will be complemented by procedures, guidelines and other operational tools. This work has drawn the attention of other federal departments and agencies with similar needs.
5. Initiate pilot projects to work in partnership on acquisition, preservation, access and/or making known projects, including creators, memory institutions or user groups as appropriate
As mentioned previously, LAC signed an exciting and immensely significant pilot partnership with The Generations Network, an American provider of genealogy websites that has digitized records in partnership with memory institutions around the world. This partnership will involve the digitization of up to 12 million LAC records without cost to the Crown and will be available on the LAC website without cost. www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/whats-new/013-331-e.html and www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/whats-new/013-293-e.html
In 2007-2008, a Services Advisory Board was formed and met twice to discuss public services. The Board will meet next year to continue the work done in 2007-2008. The Board brings together representatives of such user groups as genealogists, academic historians, researchers in aboriginal records, graduate students, and librarians. Following the Board's recommendations on hours of service, LAC will be piloting opening on Saturdays and simplified procedures of self-service. LAC also consulted the public on similar access issues at two public consultation sessions on February 26, 2007. www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/the-public/pcsab/index-e.html
The Portrait Gallery of Canada (PGC) completed the final development phase of their commissioning program in 2007-2008. The program will invite members of the public to submit their choices of subjects for portraits to include in the Gallery's collection. The subjects will be considered by an expert committee, with three subjects being chosen to have their portraits created. The program is being launched in May 2008, and will take place on a biennial basis.
In the late fall of 2007, the PGC opened a unique exhibition in collaboration with the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). In Your Face is the result of an invitation the AGO made to the general public to create small scale, two-dimensional portraits for display. The AGO received over 17,000 portraits in all media, from all over the world, and a small portion of those are on display at 395 Wellington, until September 1, 2008. Other partnerships have been initiated with other federal institutions and museums, including the Canadian Museum of Nature (Varley exhibition) and the Canadian Museum of Science and Technology (Karsh Festival). www.portraits.gc.ca/index-e.html
LAC, through the Programs and Services Sector, maintains many partnerships with the private and public sector to ensure high-quality programs and services are delivered to Canadians. For example, LAC is currently working in partnership with the National Archives of Ireland www.census.nationalarchives.ie., the Canada Council of Archives, the Department of Canadian Heritage, the University of Ottawa www.socialsciences.uottawa.ca/api/eng/index.asp, and others to create, develop and maintain multi-channel programming for Canadians. In addition to these and other longer-term and continuing partnerships, LAC has developed several pilot projects to develop new and exciting programming www.portraits.gc.ca/index-e.html which will have broad reach and appeal across the country.
On October 2, 2007, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) launched a three-year, $3-million dollar Initiative to produce a strategy that would allow Canadians with print disabilities to have sustainable and equitable public library access. The Initiative for Equitable Library Access (IELA) will develop a strategy to meet the long-term public library and information access needs of Canadians with print disabilities, estimated at some three million people. LAC has begun enhancing the electronic clearinghouse that enables publishers to make their electronic files available quickly and securely to producers of multiple formats. The development of IELA will take place in consultation with a wide variety of stakeholders.
Who Do You Think You Are?
Who Do You Think You Are (www.cbc.ca/whodoyouthinkyouare/) was a 13-part documentary series featuring Canadian celebrities such as General Lewis Mackenzie, Don Cherry and Margaret Trudeau and their family histories. In partnership with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Ancestry.ca, and the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund, this major partnership initiative reached out to Canadians about history, genealogy and historical research.
The show introduced Canadians to the process of researching family history, and to LAC and its family history resources. The positive results were immediate-the night the first episode aired, 92,000 searches were launched on the Canadian Genealogy Centre (CGR) website before midnight, and during the last episode, there were 110,000. Use of the website has increased by 50 percent since the launch of the show.
Surveys found the series had direct and noticeable effects on clients who had watched it:
- Increased awareness about LAC genealogy resources, up from 28 to 35 percent
- 18 percent more clients in direct response
- 14 percent more clients did online research
- Time on the website increased from 16 to 22 minutes per session as the series progressed
6. Continue implementation of the National Archival Development Program
The National Archival Development Program (NADP) provides financial assistance to Canadian archives and related organizations to increase their capacity to preserve and make accessible archival materials about Canada and Canadians. As committed, LAC worked closely with the Canadian Council of Archives to implement new performance measures and implemented the necessary processes to track performance. LAC's experience has identified some improvements that will be addressed in 2008-2009 to better meet its information needs and the needs of the archival institutions that receive this support. An evaluation of NADP is available on the LAC website (www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/about-us/014/012014-208-e.html).
7. Test or pilot a mechanism to conduct client research
Feedback mechanisms were developed for LAC's public programming, including its Web-based programming, as well as new client research tools. During the year, LAC met its objectives in many ways. In support of its involvement in Who Do You Think You Are, described above, LAC monitored the increased activity on the Canadian Genealogy Centre website. LAC also contracted for telephone surveys of Canadians that indicated the impacts of the program on interest in LAC genealogy services and LAC's online resources.
