ARCHIVED - Library and Archives Canada

• Previous Page
• Table of Contents
• Next Page

This page has been archived.

SECTION I: OVERVIEW

Minister's Message

As Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, I am pleased to present the Departmental Performance Report of Library and Archives Canada (LAC) for 2007-2008. The report outlines the important achievements of LAC over the last fiscal year and demonstrates how it continues to fulfill its mandate.

Through initiatives that make effective use of digital technologies, LAC is doing far more than just preserving Canada's rich documentary heritage; it is making that heritage more accessible to Canadians. By offering an extensive array of online services, cooperating with such partners as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and developing innovative approaches to presenting its collection, LAC allows Canadians to better understand the diverse stories that comprise Canada's heritage and to explore the histories of their own families and communities.

LAC is also responsible for helping the Government fulfill a number of roles of importance to Canadians. LAC's leadership in creating a new regime of governing how departments and agencies organize and manage their records is beginning to enable improved access to information with reduced costs.

As a Canadian Heritage Portfolio agency, Library and Archives Canada has helped create a more prosperous Canada, in which Canadians of all generations and all backgrounds can take part in the rich social, cultural, and economic life this country has to offer.

The Honourable James Moore
Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages

Message from the Librarian and Archivist of Canada

The year 2007-2008 was a challenging and productive one for Library and Archives Canada (LAC). We continued to meet our ongoing responsibilities by building and managing our collection, and making Canada's unique documentary heritage known to Canadians from coast to coast. We are also proud to finalize the acquisition of some extremely important collections of Canadiana.

But in the context of a departmental performance report, what is particularly important is how we focused our agenda so that we were able to meet our commitments to Canadians as a 21st-century knowledge institution. As this Report demonstrates in detail, we have pursued that agenda across our organization and across the country.

To meet the knowledge expectations of Canadians today, and to make provisions to meet them in the future, means that we have to listen carefully to what Canadians need from us. Increasingly, they want online access to their documentary heritage, although most of it was created in non-digital forms such as print, film or sound recordings. They want us to build a collection that reflects our diversity. And they want to be able to use our collections to understand their family histories, the stories of their communities, and how Canada's past informs both its present and future. They want to engage with history on a personal level, one on one. It is up to us to make that happen, and in 2007-2008, we did, as this Report amply demonstrates.

We are also guided by the needs of the Government of Canada, which requires us to lead the way in government recordkeeping and accountability. We are responsible for ensuring that the right documents are preserved from among the millions the government generates in any given year, and for seeing that Canadians have access to those documents. At the same time, LAC has to adapt to a changing information universe, in which so much information, from websites to electronic publications to email records, is "born digital." So as much as we are busy identifying valuable historic items and holdings that we want to add to the collection, we are also developing new ways to acquire and preserve the heritage we create today, most of it online. By leading a process of change, whether in government recordkeeping or in response to the digital information universe, we are moving in the direction that Canadians and our government expect.

To achieve these results in cost-effective ways, we have realigned our services to generate results in line with the expectations of Canadians. Still, our commitment to sound management of current funding levels can only achieve so much. We have also identified continuing risks to Canada's priceless heritage, such as the current use of a network of storage facilities that require fragile items to be moved regularly from site to site. We continue to work on strategies to increase preservation capacity to address risks to our collection.

While we have much more to accomplish and we have learned many lessons from our work to date, 2007-2008 marked a pivotal year in the evolution of Library and Archives Canada. That assessment is not simply ours; it comes from our counterparts in knowledge institutions around the world. We are proud that they increasingly turn to us for advice and guidance, as we make our unique mark in a world where knowledge and information have become our most vital currency.

Ian E. Wilson

Management Representation Statement

Summary Information

Mandate and Raison d'être

The preamble of its enabling legislation, the Library and Archives of Canada Act, states that the mandate of Library and Archives Canada is:

• to preserve the documentary heritage of Canada for the benefit of present and future generations;
• to serve as a source of enduring knowledge accessible to all, contributing to the cultural, social and economic advancement of Canada as a free and democratic society;
• to facilitate in Canada cooperation among the communities involved in the acquisition, preservation and diffusion of knowledge; and
• to serve as the continuing memory of the Government of Canada and its institutions.

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) achieves this mandate through a variety of responsibilities, activities and partnerships that reflect Canadian diversity. With more than 20 other departments, agencies and Crown corporations, LAC seeks to contribute fully to the Government of Canada outcome of "a vibrant Canadian culture and heritage." Increasingly, LAC works with archives, libraries and museums that also hold their own parts of Canada's national collection of documentary heritage.

Library and Archives Canada is constantly building its unparalleled collection of documentary heritage of relevance to the story of Canada. The LAC collection includes printed materials, photographs, electronic publications, maps and documentary art such as posters and paintings of people and places. Some acquisitions result from legislated Legal Deposit requirements that require publishers to provide copies of materials published in Canada. Others are acquired from Government of Canada departments and agencies and through the purchase or donation of materials.

Library and Archives Canada catalogues and describes these holdings in accordance with national and international descriptive standards to make it easier for people to find publications and archival records. LAC's leadership role in developing these standards and in supporting national database networks for the Canadian archival and library communities improves access to the LAC collection and other collections across Canada.

LAC continues to implement both its long term infrastructure strategy and increase its preservation capacity to fulfill this important stewardship and access role. By managing the care of its collection, LAC ensures it is preserved and accessible for current and future generations. Its use of risk management approaches enables LAC to make the best use of its preservation capacity as well as its staff expertise in applying preservation treatments and techniques.

The LAC collection is enhanced by its role as the permanent repository of Government of Canada records of business or historic value. LAC ensures that records are available in response to public requests and to support departmental and government-wide decision making and accountability. LAC also examines broad government recordkeeping issues and advises on improvements in recordkeeping to help meet government priorities.

LAC's mandate within this framework centres on recordkeeping and accessibility. LAC is continuing to work towards establishing recordkeeping as a regulatory regime of accountability and stewardship within government in which records are created, used, kept and preserved as vital business assets and knowledge resources to support effective decision making and achieve results for Canadians. A commitment this framework informs all LAC activities on policies, strategies and methodologies to make government records more accessible to users.

Government recordkeeping is also the focus of work at LAC Regional Service Centres in eight cities, where records in all media are managed on behalf of more than 90 federal government departments and agencies. This extends from taking in records of continuing value from government institutions, including personnel records, storing and protecting them and retrieving those required for reference or research. As part of this activity, LAC segregates archival and historical records that are designated for permanent preservation, and destroy the others when no longer required. Regional Service Centres also hold backup copies of electronic records that are deemed essential, in the event of disaster or emergency, to the operations of government and the protection of rights.

Library and Archives Canada seeks to make its entire collection known in many ways to Canadians and to people interested in Canada. For example, its client services help users understand how the collection and resources are organized and assist them to find items of interest and relevance. LAC safeguards the rights attached to all holdings. This can involve investigating copyright, ensuring privacy protection or providing rights clearances. These include dealing with more than 20,000 requests annually that spur reviews of archival records, of personnel records of former civilian and military government employees, and LAC's operational records.

Library and Archives Canada reaches out to Canadians to wherever they reside through its exhibitions, learning opportunities, public programming and a rich website, including those within the Portrait Gallery initiative. In Canada's National Capital Region, LAC stages this programming at its Ottawa and Gatineau locations and at partner venues. Canadians living elsewhere make contact with Canada's documentary heritage through LAC's ever-expanding website, travelling exhibitions and special events, many involving collaboration with a diverse array of partners.

LAC makes its collection available through resource sharing services that include inter-agency borrowing/lending, document delivery and collaborative reference, as well as its work in partnership with the Canadian library community on the infrastructure that supports resource sharing. Within the federal government, this is matched by its coordination of the library services of federal departments and agencies to achieve excellence and to encourage the effective management of human and financial resources.

A Strategic Assessment of 2007-2008

The 2007-2008 year has been a challenging and exciting year for LAC and its staff. LAC has learned many valuable lessons along the way and has taken the time to consider its best options for the future. This Performance Report presents LAC's achievements on commitments identified in the 2007-2008 Report on Plans and Priorities. LAC has assessed the risks and developed approaches to address them. The challenge remains to balance innovation and risk management.

The context for the work and achievements of Library and Archives Canada in 2007-2008 was captured in the 2008-2011 Business Plan (www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/about-us/012-301-e.html) that addresses all program activities under the strategic outcome. On the basis of an assessment of its environment, Government of Canada commitments, risks and opportunities, LAC identified five corporate priorities with implications for all its program activities:

1. LAC will adjust all aspects of its activities to adapt to the needs and benefit from the opportunities of the digital information environment
2. LAC will increase the relevance and accessibility of LAC collection and expertise to Canadians outside the National Capital Region
3. LAC will focus its role in Government of Canada information management on the development of effective recordkeeping
4. LAC will make systematic use of collaborative arrangements and will increasingly deliver on its mandate through or with others
5. LAC will ensure citizen/client research and evaluation results are built into management decision making

LAC anticipated these five corporate priorities while establishing the commitments in the LAC Report on Plans and Priorities for 2007-2008. They served as guideposts during the Strategic Review exercise in summer 2007, in which LAC met its adjusted savings target through a process that external reviewers saw as both conscientious and rigorous. These corporate priorities also influenced LAC management choices during the year as resources were reallocated from areas of relatively lower priority, such as traditional in-person service levels, to areas of higher priority in line with its corporate priorities, such as increased investment in the digitization of its collection and the online services that Canadians increasingly expect. These helped to strengthen LAC's capacity to demonstrate the value of new investments in both the physical and information technology infrastructure needed to conserve and care for a unique, diverse and often fragile collection at a consistently appropriate level. While this report contains many details about specific achievements, some achievements during 2007-2008 are particularly notable.

LAC is leading the commitment across the Government of Canada to improve government recordkeeping as a keystone of accountability to citizens. An effective recordkeeping regime will ensure that records, whether paper or electronic that have business or archival value, are kept and made easily available. It will also ensure that taxpayer dollars are no longer spent to store records which no longer have value. LAC worked with many partners in government to build on the success of Deputy Minister Roundtables that led to agreement on the need for a new recordkeeping regime. LAC co-led an ADM-level task force that made recommendations on how to move forward, while working groups oversaw more than a dozen assessment projects to address specific elements of the new recordkeeping regime and achieve practical rapid results.

LAC's commitment to adjust all aspects of its activities to adapt to the needs and benefit from the opportunities of the digital information environment had tangible impacts on how LAC approached the acquisition, care and making known of its collection. It placed LAC in a leadership role since Canada's documentary heritage is increasingly in digital format. For example, LAC led the collaborative process through which a draft Canadian Digital Information Strategy was published. When finalized, this strategy will guide efforts by all partners to gather, preserve and make accessible Canada's information assets and accumulated knowledge whether created digitally or in other formats.

LAC matched that strategic commitment with operational actions such as the use of legal deposit, digitization of its collection and Web harvesting to expand the LAC collection of electronic publications by more than 6,000 titles. LAC complemented that growth with new policies and the increased use of tools for Canadians to discover the collection online. An example of the use of digital tools is the new LAC Forum on Canadian Democracy that brings together LAC resources on Canadian governance and political culture with both online and in-person elements. Similarly, the Portrait Gallery of Canada supported an ongoing exhibition program outside the National Capital Region by online access to the collection. Many of these activities were implemented through partnerships with other knowledge institutions and organizations and individuals representing Canada's diversity.

LAC also used new means and partnerships to reach Canadians. LAC's central involvement in the CBC program, Who Do You Think You Are, broadcast between October 2007 and February 2008, publicized LAC's genealogical resources and responded to the growing interest in family history among Canadians. The program generated up to a four-fold increase in website traffic for the Canadian Genealogical Centre and public opinion research showed statistically greater awareness and use of LAC services after the program was broadcast. That kind of client service research was complemented by the creation of a new Services Advisory Board to ensure ongoing feedback from user groups as well as public consultation sessions to guide LAC's service offerings.

LAC has implemented a variety of actions to address the Auditor General's recommendations (www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/aud_ch_oag_2003_6_e_12929.html) related to the challenges LAC faces to preserve its collections, as well as the implementation of a new Management of Government Information in collaboration with the Treasury Board Secretariat, of which recordkeeping falls within its mandate. Especially noteworthy in 2007-2008, LAC has:

• Developed a Performance Measurement Framework related to the condition of the collection align with its Management, Resources and Results Structure (MRRS);
• Elaborated an Integrated Risk Management Framework for LAC and was deemed acceptable by the Treasury Board Secretariat based on its 2007 Management Accountability Framework (MAF) Assessment (Round V);
• Completed the methodology for the Risk-Based Approach to Unmanaged Legacy Business Records;
• Developed an action plan based on the survey results related to the nature and condition of archival heritage under the control of departments and agencies;
• Re-engineered the Government Records Appraisal and Disposition Program in order to protect federal government records of archival value; and
• Assisted the Government of Canada in managing its electronic records by developing the Records Management Functional requirements for electronic records with the Records and Document Information Management (RDIMS) initiative.

These efforts and the work that has taken place since the creation of Library and Archives Canada have established LAC as a world-renowned institution leader. That global attention has been increased by events such as Canada's hosting of the 40th International Conference of the Round Table on Archives (CITRA), which took place in Québec in November 2007 and planning for the 74th World Congress of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) being held in Québec in August 2008. The election of the Librarian and Archivist of Canada as President of the International Council of Archives (ICA) further demonstrates the progress LAC is making in becoming a 21^st-century knowledge institution for Canadians.

Program Activity Architecture

Government of Canada Priority Area

LAC Program Activity Architecture

This table presents Library and Archives Canada Program Activity Architecture.

Social Affairs

A Vibrant Canadian Culture and Heritage

Strategic Outcome

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-Sub Activities

1.1.1
.1 Authorities
.2 Monitoring

Sub-Activities

1.1.2 Facilitate the management of GoC Records and Publications

Sub-Sub Activities

1.1.2
.1 Advice, guidance, tools
.2 Federal Record Centres

Activities

1.2 Managing the documentary heritage of interest to Canada

Sub-Activities

1.2.1 Development of collection

Sub-Sub Activities

1.2.1
.1 Publications
.2 Government records
.3 Other documentary material

Sub-Activities

1.2.2 Description of collection

Sub-Sub Activities

1.2.2
.1 Publications
.2 Documentary material
.3 Descriptive standards

Sub-Activities

1.2.3 Care of collection

Sub-Sub Activities

1.2.3
.1 Collection management
.2 Preservation treatment
.3 Preservation copying

Activities

1.3 Making the documentary heritage known and accessible for use

Sub-Activities

1.3.1 Services supporting client access to collections

Sub-Sub Activities

1.3.1
.1 Services to the public
.2 Services to libraries and archives

Sub-Activities

1.3.2 Web-based and in-person interpretive public programs

Sub-Sub Activities

1.3.2
.1 Interpretive programs
.2 Public activities
.3 Portrait Gallery of Canada

Activities

1.4 Internal Services

Sub-Activities

1.4.1 Management and oversight
1.4.2 Public Policy Services
1.4.3 HR Management
1.4.4 Financial Management
1.4.5 Supply Chain Management
1.4.6 Facilities/Asset Mgmt
1.4.7 Information Mgmt
1.4.8 Information Technology
1.4.9 Legal Services
1.4.10 Public Affairs/Communications
1.4.11 Evaluation
1.4.12 Internal Audit

LAC's program activity architecture includes four activities aligned to its strategic outcome "Current and future generations of Canadians have access to their documentary heritage." Commitments for the first three activities were identified in the 2007-2008 Report on Plans and Priorities.

Overview of resources

Financial Resources ($ thousands)

Planned Spending	Total Authorities	Actual Spending
$155,759.9	$159,952.4	$122,456.0

Financial variances are detailed in explanation of variance tables.

Human Resources (FTEs)

Planned	Actual	Difference
1,134	1,119	15

Status on Performance 2007-2008

The following tables provide a "report card" of progress of each program activity for 2007-2008, and shows the financial resources planned and spent.

Most of activities where expected results are partially met are related to long-term or ongoing projects or initiatives. Shorter term results and outputs have been achieved in the meantime.

Strategic Outcome: Current and future generations of Canadians have access to their documentary heritage
Program Activity 1.1: Managing the disposition of the Government of Canada records of continuing value
Planned Spending: $16,078.1 ($ thousands)		Actual Spending: $13,588.0 ($ thousands)
Corporate Priorities: LAC will increase the relevance and accessibility of LAC collection and expertise to Canadians outside the National Capital Region (Corporate Priority #2) LAC will focus its role in Government of Canada information management on the development of effective recordkeeping (Corporate Priority #3)
Commitment/Deliverables	Expected Results	Performance Status
1. Optimize the role of government record centres to support preservation and access	Develop and implement an Accessibility Strategy that will make a particular emphasis of improving accessibility to federal government records that are held outside of Canada's Capital Region.	Partially met
2. Lead the development of an action plan arising from the ADM Roundtables and participate in its implementation	1. Seek deputy minister level engagement on recordkeeping issues and improve departmental stewardship of records 2. Develop a directive on recordkeeping in government, a regulatory regime for recordkeeping, and proposed solutions for specific recordkeeping issues with an overall action plan	Successfully met
3. Develop a methodology to enable departments to identify records of business value	1. Make progress on an Accessibility Agenda, driven by a collaborative approach building on partnerships within LAC and across the Government of Canada and drawing on the implementation of recommendations that were made in 2006-2007 2. Develop a methodology to enable departments to identify records of business value 3. Develop and consult, both within the Government of Canada and beyond it, on draft functional specifications for digital record keeping	Partially met
4. Begin the implementation of a new storage model for legacy records of the Government of Canada	Explore solutions in order to prepare a LAC action plan to address paper and electronic storage capacity in the Government of Canada for implementation in the following years	Successfully met

Strategic Outcome: Current and future generations of Canadians have access to their documentary heritage
Program Activity 1.2: Managing the documentary heritage of interest to Canada
Planned Spending: $96,632.8 ($ thousands)		Actual Spending: $68,910.0 ($ thousands)
Corporate Priority #1: LAC will adjust all aspects of its activities to adapt to the needs and benefit from the opportunities of the digital information environment
Commitment/Deliverables	Expected Results	Performance Status
1. Define a Canadian Digital Information Strategy	Lead the development of a collaborative, decentralized Canadian digital information strategy	Successfully met
2. Begin development of Trusted Digital Repository services and network	1. Build a solid policy and technical infrastructure for effective management of submission information from content creators 2. Address the management of metadata related to the technical, descriptive and rights attributes of the content 3. Ensure that people will be able to find digital resources, through consistent naming, storage and locating practices as well as preservation tactics that will enable long-term access to obsolete file formats	Partially met
3. Develop the "Virtual Loading Dock"	Achieve automated management of submission information as well as other features such as harvesting of digital information, the use of Web forms and effective file transfer approaches	Partially met
4. Set up several projects to enable users to add information to LAC's catalogues	Launch projects that will test ways of creating opportunities for users to add information to LAC's catalogues, while maintaining the standardization needed by LAC partners	Partially met

Strategic Outcome: Current and future generations of Canadians have access to their documentary heritage
Program Activity 1.3: Making the documentary heritage known and accessible for use
Planned Spending: $43,049.0 ($ thousands)		Actual Spending: $39,957.1 ($ thousands)
Corporate Priorities: LAC will increase the relevance and accessibility of LAC collection and expertise to Canadians outside the National Capital Region (Corporate Priority #2) LAC will make systematic use of collaborative arrangements and will increasingly deliver on its mandate through or with others (Corporate Priority #4) LAC will ensure citizen/client research and evaluation results are built into management decision making (Corporate Priority #5)
Commitment/Deliverables	Expected Results	Performance Status
1. Integrate virtual and in-person planning and delivery of making known activities	Plan for the development of programming that has both virtual and in-person elements by increasing the integration of digital approaches into its strategies, including for public programming	Partially met
2. Work with networks to enhance delivery of the Strategy for Public Programming and the Genealogy Strategy, and the Portrait Gallery Program's travelling exhibitions	Move forward with a wide-range of initiatives that will build its collaboration with partners to connect better with Canadians through its Strategy for Public Programming and its Genealogy Strategy	Successfully met
3. Develop and implement an institutional plan to follow up on multicultural consultations	Develop an institutional framework for increasing the multicultural relevance of LAC's collection	Partially met
4. Develop a partnership policy and framework	1. Develop a partnership policy and framework to guide its actions 2. Prepare model agreements, procedures, guidelines and other tools necessary for consistent, effective and appropriate action	Partially met
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	1. Identify some of those partnership possibilities and investigate possible partners that will contribute to and further LAC's overall strategic objectives while increasing access to and visibility of the collection 2. Announce a new partnership approach, which will include inviting proposals from traditional and non-traditional partners, leading to the launch of pre-pilot projects	Partially met
6. Continue implementation of the National Archival Development Program (NADP)	Work with Canada Council of Archives to implement performance measures that should provide evidence that will demonstrate the degree of effectiveness of NADP in preserving and making accessible Canada's archival heritage	Successfully met
7. Test or pilot a mechanism to conduct client research	1. Establishing feedback mechanisms for its Web-based programs as well as its public programming more generally 2. Develop other client research tools that LAC will begin to test	Successfully met

• Previous Page
• Table of Contents
• Next Page