From: Kingsberry,Danny [NCR] Sent: January 9, 2014 5:11 PM To: munro@shaw.ca Subject: Response to your request - Libraries consolidation Importance: High      Hi  Margaret.      As  promised,  please  find  below  our  answers  to  your  questions.      Q1  Why  is  the  consolidations  happening?  Q2:  How  many  libraries  have  been  closed?  Q3:  How  much  material  has  yet  to  be  sorted?  Q4:  Reporter  heard  that  600  boxes  behind  cages  is  Saskatoon  waiting  to  be  catalogues  and  sorted.  Can  EC  comment?  Q5:  What  is  the  plan  for  digitization?  Q6:  How  much  money  is  being  saved  by  this  consolidation?        Environment  Canada’s  libraries  are  available  to  Environment  Canada  employees  only.  In  2008,  after  consulting  with  Environment  Canada  employees,  EC  began  to  modernize  our  library  services  to  provide  more  equitable  services  and  access  to  information  resources  for  all  employees.  With  the  support  of  Environment  Canada  employees,  the  department  began  the  process  of  providing  electronic  access  to  resources  and  reduce  redundant  and  out  of  date  material.  This  process  also  included  expanding  library  services  in  some  areas  and  consolidating  underutilized  locations.  We  have  consolidated  5  staffed  libraries  and  a  further  7  unstaffed  minor  (eg.  Reading  Room)  sites  to  other  location  as  part  of  this  modernization  initiative.      Library  staff  has  been  working  continuously  on  this  but  there  remains  work  yet  to  be  done.  The  Library  Service  inherits  significant  collections  every  year  as  scientists  retire  and  leave  their  books,  journals  behind.  These  are  checked  to  see  if  they  retain  value.  As  well,  we  enquire  if  Library  and  Archives  Canada,  or  other  government  libraries  would  like  to  claim  them.  There  are  approximately  650  boxes  of  print  material  in  a  storage  cage  at  the  National  Hydrology  Research  Centre  in  Saskatoon,  where  the  

Saskatoon  Library  is  located.  The  bulk  of  it  is  transferred  material  from  consolidated  EC  libraries  and  EC  Programs  that  has  not  yet  been  reviewed  by  local  library  staff.  This  material  will  be  sorted  and  either  added  to  the  collection  or  not,  based  on  the  relevance  of  each  item.      We  are  digitizing  almost  all  EC  publications  and  many  reports  and  articles  and  have  an  ongoing  digitization  plan  to  put  as  much  material  that  is  rare,  historical  and  'one-­‐off'  up  on  the  network  for  all  EC  staff  to  use,  no  matter  where  it  physically  resides.  Over  50,000  documents  have  been  digitized  in  the  last  3  years.      Q7:  The  reporter  understands  that  in  the  1950's-­1980's  the  government  spent  a  large  sum  of  money  translating  close  to  100  boxes  of  old  papers  from  the  1950's  -­1980's  regarding  polar  bear  hunting.  And  that  they  have  now  been  thrown  away?  Please  explain  why  this  happened.      The  library  has  no  record  of  specific  Polar  Bear  collections  that  have  been  thrown  away.      Q8:  Can  you  comment  on  concerns  regarding  access  to  "Gray  Literature"  collected  in  Environment  Canada  libraries  but  not  put  into  catalogues?      Every  item  that  the  library  has  access  to  is  reviewed  and  catalogued  based  on  the  relevance  of  each  item.          Danny  Kingsberry  Conseiller  principal  en  relations  avec  les  médias  |  Senior  Media  Relations  Advisor  Relations  avec  les  médias  |  Media  Relations  Direction  générale  des  communications  |  Communications  Branch  Environnement  Canada  |  Environment  Canada  10,  rue  Wellington,  23e  étage  |  10  Wellington,  23rd  Floor  Gatineau  (Québec)  K1A  0H3  Tél:  819-­‐934-­‐

8094  Fax:  819-­‐994-­‐1412  Danny.Kingsberry@ec.gc.ca  Gouvernement  du  Canada  |  Government  of  Canada  Site  Web  |  Website  www.ec.gc.ca