HERI Committee Report
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CHAPTER FIVE: LIBRARIES, PRESERVATION AND ACCESS
In his presentation to the Committee, Mr. Roch Carrier, a
distinguished Canadian author and Canada's National Librarian, described Canada's network
of some 22,000 libraries as a place where
life-transforming discoveries are made and careers are launched. He stated:
Had I not opened a book... I would probably be a forestry worker, like all of the good friends I had back then. Books changed my life. When I visit a library and see the librarian give a child a book, I wonder if she is [also] about to change that child's life.117
With this in mind, Mr. Carrier implored the Committee's members to pay close attention to the role libraries play as a part of the "ecological" fabric of the Canadian book industry, since it is his view that:
We cannot consider the broader issue of books without giving some thought ... to this extraordinary network of libraries that do a remarkable job promoting books and reading and distributing information.118
The Canadian Library Association also reminded the Committee that public libraries "are the most heavily used cultural institutions in many Canadian communities."119 Indeed, as Ms. Carole David of the Quebec writers' union argued, Canadian libraries help fulfil several essential roles:
First they ... encourage people to read ...and educate readers. They are also important as information providers. [Furthermore, they] ... advise users and encourage them to read works that go beyond bestsellers.120
In voicing many of these same sentiments, Claude Primeau, of the Canadian Publishers' Council emphasized that what his fellow publishers wanted was "a strong public library community" and "a public library community that presents itself as the modern information centre in every community."121 He explained:
We need, in this country, a strong bookselling and library community in our schools. ... I can remember when public libraries and school libraries would phone me in November saying 'Have you got any books? We have to spend our budget.' Then all that disappeared. ... So now we really have to dig. ... the kids [are] selling chocolate bars and so forth. That's not healthy for our children, and my grand children.122
The above citations reaffirm the importance of each and every link in the book chain. This chapter examines some key concerns associated with preservation and access as expressed by witnesses involved in these areas.
Surprisingly, an accurate count of how many public, school, and institutional libraries exist in Canada is not available. Mr. Roch Carrier describes the available statistics for libraries as "poor and weak." Mr. Louis Cabral of the Association pour l'avancement des sciences et des techniques de la documentation (ASTED), shares this opinion, further adding that "libraries are looking for valid indicators that would allow them to measure their impact on the cultural, scientific and even economic life of this country."123
Ms. Vicki Whitmell of the Canadian Library Association informed the Committee that approximately 19 million Canadians -- about six out of every ten Canadians -- own a library card and borrow roughly 276 million items in a typical year. Ms. Whitmell also estimated that in 1996, the total expenditures of Canadian libraries were somewhere between $2 billion and $4 billion, of which about $320 million was spent on collection development.124
More recently, The Canadian Library Association has tried to develop a system for gathering accurate and valid library statistics. In partnership with ASTED (its Quebec counterpart), the National Library of Canada, the Association of Canadian Publishers and the Department of Canadian Heritage, the CLA examined the purchasing pattern of Canada's largest public libraries. The study revealed that 33 large urban libraries purchased more than 12,000 copies of 100 Canadian titles published in 1996 and 1997. For Ms. Whitmell, this example highlights the need for further co-operative, statistical and research partnerships. She explained:
This study as is an excellent example of how research ... supported by public libraries and funded in part by [the Department of Canadian] Heritage, can demonstrate what is actually happening in publishing. CLA urges Canadian Heritage to become more active in promoting and funding research on book publishing, book distribution, and reading in Canada.125
On this point, Statistics Canada officials concur. In their appearance before the Committee, they indicated a willingness to work with various partners to harmonize some aspects of the data collection process. Therefore:
The Committee recommends that within a year of the presentation of this report, the Department of Canadian Heritage develop and fund a set of comprehensive tools for measuring the activities of libraries in the form of valid and up-to-date statistics relating to library funding, library spending and library usage by Canadians, including print-disabled Canadians. These impact assessment tools should be developed with appropriate input from Canada's library, publishing and academic communities, as well as representation from Statistics Canada.
B. PRESERVING CANADA'S LITERARY HERITAGE
A unique aspect of the public library is its role in maintaining public access to the literary output of the past. Libraries enable Canadians to access their literary heritage over time. The preservation of fragile materials, however, places special demands on technical expertise and space, since these collections keep on growing. For the National Library of Canada, maintaining that degree of access is becoming increasingly difficult, especially since the national collection grows at a rate of 500,000 items a year, representing a 4% increase in collection space. As Mr. Carrier noted:
In spite of what we hear about print publications being replaced by electronic ... our statistics tell us that there is an increase in print publications. As a result we have reached a point where new items received sit in storage boxes as we have no room to shelve them and make them accessible to Canadians. .... This crisis has not surfaced as a problem in the places of power and decision-making.126
Mr. Roch Carrier identified an additional area of concern.
As National Librarian, I must say bluntly, that I do not have the tools in some areas to fulfill our mandate to preserve the published heritage of Canada. The national treasure of original Canadian newspapers, for example, is sitting in horrendous conditions out in an industrial area of Ottawa -- with bare, hot light bulbs dangling from the ceiling not far from very brittle, dry newsprint. ... This is a disaster waiting to happen.127
The Committee recommends that in conjunction with the National Librarian and the National Archivist, the Department of Canadian Heritage immediately initiate a planning process to examine the long-term space and preservation needs of both the National Archives and the National Library.
C. ACCESSING CANADA'S LITERARY HERITAGE
Although its collection of literary treasures spans hundreds of years, Canada's National Library is a relatively young institution. It was established in 1953 by the National Library Act, with the goal of collecting, preserving and making accessible Canada's literary heritage. In less than fifty years, the library has accumulated over 18 million items, including books, literary manuscripts, newspapers, and sound recordings. The Legal Deposit Act, enacted in the same year, guarantees the library's acquisition of contemporary materials. The Act requires Canadian publishers to provide the library with copies of everything they publish. For material written and published before 1953, and for Canadian materials published elsewhere in the world, the library has had to acquire these publications in the marketplace or through the kindness of benefactors.128
In his address to the Committee, Mr. Roch Carrier, the National Librarian, emphasized two issues: continuing acquisition and increased access to the collection. The first, as noted in the previous section, requires space; the second, has implications for government action.
In 1995, the National Library of Canada launched AMICUS (Latin for "Friend"), a bibliographic management system. AMICUS is a database of the holdings of some one thousand Canadian libraries, including the National Library of Canada. Librarians across the country make extensive use of this database when they catalogue their own collections. In consulting AMICUS, librarians and scholars can access rare Canadian materials, wherever these may be held. And through the National Library's Inter-Library Loan System, they can borrow these materials through their own local libraries, no matter where they live in Canada.
In 1999 AMICUS went online, but for a fee.129 Although the National Librarian has received many requests from librarians and users to make this service free, the difficulty, he explained, is due to Treasury Board cost recovery policies. As a result:
Because we have had to charge for this service, there are many libraries in this country who do not have access to this rich source of Canadian information and will search from information via the Library of Congress or British Library catalogues because they are free. But what a lot they are missing of the output of their own countrymen and women.130
A member of the Committee asked the National Librarian: "What kind of money would it take to bring that online here in this country so that, yes, Canadians don't have to go across the line?"131 In a letter to the Committee, Mr. Carrier estimated that it would cost $600,000 to make this service available free to all users for the next three years. He added:
And the world being a global village, free access to AMICUS would give Canada a voice in the market of information which is 95% American. As proud Canadians, we believe that the Canadian Experience might be useful to many.132
The Committee shares this perspective and recommends the following action:
The Committee recommends that the Government of Canada provide additional funding to the National Library of Canada, beginning in the fiscal year 2000-2001, so that its AMICUS services may be provided at no cost to its users.
D. HOW AND WHERE LIBRARIES BUY THEIR BOOKS
In 1998, Canada's larger public libraries spent approximately $66 million on new materials, $44 million of that in Canada.133 This represents an average per capita expenditure of $3.68 for the populations these libraries serve.134 135
Given this scale of purchasing power, it is hardly surprising that witnesses offered suggestions as to how libraries should spend their money. Mr. Charles Burchell, an independent bookseller representing the Atlantic Provinces Booksellers Association suggested that library purchases should be made through stores like his. He argued:
Put in place a program where public libraries and institutions must buy their books from accredited bookstores in their region at fully suggested retail price. As you know, Quebec has done this, and I firmly believe it has been one of the strong points that has kept independent bookstores viable.136
The provincial legislation to which Mr. Burchell was referring is
known as Law 51. This Quebec law includes measures that govern how libraries and schools
should purchase books. In part,
Quebec-owned publishers and distributors must provide accredited bookstores in Quebec --
which also have to be 100% Quebec owned -- with a 40% discount on most materials and 30%
on others. Schools and libraries buy their books at the full list price at accredited
bookstores in their region. In return, publishers receive grants to help keep the costs of
their books down. Bookstores must meet certain standards of service and inventory to
maintain their accreditation, while schools and libraries can apply for grants to help
cover the costs of books published in Quebec.137
In his brief submitted to the Committee, Mr. Louis Cabral, CEO of the Association pour l'avancement des sciences et des techniques de la documentation suggested that the Quebec model forces independent bookstores to learn how to provide new services for specialized library clients.
Although the legislation is not perfect, it allows libraries to establish preferred links with recognized booksellers in their areas and to cultivate professional relations that are beneficial to the libraries. It should also be noted that this legislation has consolidated the book market in the regions and highlighted the treasury of Quebec literature.138
The Canadian Library Association presented a number of objections to the suggestion that libraries be asked to divert their purchase of books from library wholesale specialists to local bookstores. In supplementary information provided to the Committee, the CLA explained:
Public libraries have developed a close working relationship with library wholesalers which includes the development of a range of value added services such as cataloguing,
pre-processing and advance release plans. Any systematic re-direction of orders from wholesalers to booksellers would both deny libraries access to the value added services which have evolved over years ... and place the library wholesalers at considerable financial risk
Furthermore,
Public libraries source a wide range of titles, many of which are not stocked in general bookstores and which they would have difficulty sourcing. Requiring orders to be placed with bookstores would result in weaker library collections due to non-fulfillment.139
Another issue for libraries is the cost of each book. Wholesale, retail and volume discounts can bring down the price of a book by 40%, depending on the size of the library's order. As the Canadian Library Association explains:
There is another approach to consider: the ... issue of whether there should be a single price for books. This ... has been asked for a long time. In France, ... there is a single price for books. In Great Britain, this no longer exists, nor does it in the United States. There are lessons to be learned from what has happened elsewhere. If a single price were adopted, to what extent could this protect writers and small bookstores?140
Mr. Marcel Ouellette, representing Canada's French-language publishers outside of Quebec views any move toward fixed prices as detrimental to Canadian publishing overall. He argues:
... the issue of fixed price ... is a possibility for Quebec and which will have a major impact on us. ... This principle would also be very significant for the Anglophone publishers in Quebec who ... would find it very difficult to have their practices in Quebec jive with those outside of the province...141
In a letter sent to the Committee, Dr. Michael R. Pearce, Associate Dean of the Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario shared an insight which holds direct implications with respect to the question of fixed book prices. He noted:
No sector of the Canadian economy is more subject to the forces of competition than retailing. Creating and maintaining a "sustainable competitive advantage" may be the mantra of consultants and academics, but it is virtually impossible to do in retailing, ... where one wins customers one transaction at a time, and where many competitors have access to the same product offering. Only the "brave and the fit" survive.142
Thus, the Committee can see the inherent value in keeping public expenditures within Canada. As Anne Wedler, of the Inside Story Bookstore in Ottawa commented: "Public funds should be spent within the country...Money could remain in communities, thus strengthening the local economy."143 For this reason:
The Committee recommends that the Government of Canada, in conjunction with the provinces and in discussion with the library community, Canada's publishers, wholesalers and booksellers, offer incentives for Canadian libraries to purchase more of their books from Canadian suppliers.
Many of the witnesses who appeared before the Committee emphasized the importance of introducing children to books in general, and to Canadian books in particular. As Mr. Carrier noted:
When my children were growing up, they read books that were imported from other countries. Little Canadians were never the heroes; the young heroes were always from foreign countries. We have to be open to the world, but we also have to know who we are. ... Today, Canadian literature is international literature, literature that is read everywhere. ... Why? Because we had a visionary policy, a policy that considered the ecology of the entire publishing system.144
In its brief to the Committee, the Association pour l'avancement des sciences et des techniques de la documentation (ASTED) suggested that the Standing Committee "seriously consider recommending that the Government of Canada implement a national policy on reading." At the same time, however, by making recommendations about the development of literacy, this policy could also address the interests of book publishers and retailers. The goal would be "to encourage literacy initiatives as well as activities designed to increase the number of readers in Canada."145 As ASTED explained:
We would like the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage to consider making the government aware of some specific expectations with respect to the development of a reading policy in order to promote access to books and encourage literacy initiatives, as well as measures designed to increase the reading public in Canada.146
A comprehensive policy on reading would address the important issue of literacy in Canada.147 Indeed, the questions of competition in book retail and distribution become, as Mr. Carrier aptly noted, "entirely moot if we are not addressing the problem of the number of Canadians who cannot read, [let alone] ... the purchasing power to buy from bookstores -- large or small."148 To this end:
The Committee recommends that the Government of Canada, in consultation with the National Literacy Secretariat, the provinces, writers, publishers, booksellers, librarians, educators, and the general public, maintain and enhance its support for literacy programs, including programs for print-disabled Canadians.
117 Mr. Roch Carrier, National Librarian, 2 March 2000.
118 Ibid.
119 Ms. Vicki Whitmell, Executive Director, Canadian Library Association, 21 March, 2000.
120 Ms. Carole David, writer and professor, Union des écrivaines et écrivains québécois, 21 March 2000.
121 Challenges, Opportunities and Technology in Canada's Book Distribution Industry, Brief submitted by the Canadian Publishers' Council, 2 March 2000, p. 3.
122 Mr. Claude Primeau, President and CEO Harper Collins Canada Limited, Immediate Past President, Canadian Book Publishers' Council, 2 March 2000.
123 Mr. Louis Cabral, CEO, Association pour l'avancement des sciences et des techniques de la documentation, 21 March 2000.
124 Although these numbers are taken from the National Core Library Statistics program of Statistics Canada, they are but loose approximations, an issue that Statistics Canada readily acknowledges. For this reason, argues Statistics Canada, "[B]etter information on such indicators as library membership, personal visits, and electronic information access would further enrich" an understanding of Canada's library network.
125 Ms. Vicki Whitmell, Executive Director, Canadian Library Association, 21 March, 2000.
126 Mr. Roch Carrier, National Librarian, supplementary answers to questions raised by members on 2 March 2000.
127 Ibid.
128 In 1977, for example, Montreal industrialist and bibliophile Jacob M. Lowy donated his collection of rare Judaica and Hebraica, assembled over a 50 year-period, to the National Library where it now has a room for researchers and scholars. The Friends of the National Library of Canada, a volunteer support group founded in 1991, organizes fundraising events to help purchase rare Canadian materials pre-dating Canada's legal deposit regulations.
129 Training
session: $125; Documentation: $40; Account set-up: $40; fee-per of between $0.55 and
$0.70 for every item searched; plus a minimum billing fee of $40. (fee-schedule posted at:
http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/amicus/access/billing-e.htm>
130 Mr. Roch Carrier, National Librarian, supplementary answers to questions raised by members on 2 March 2000.
131 Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, 2 March 2000.
132 Mr. Roch Carrier, National Librarian, supplementary answers to questions raised by members on 2 March 2000.
133 Equivalent statistics are not available for the thousands of smaller public libraries in Canada.
134 Close to 13% of their materials budget is spent in United States. Canadian Public Library Statistics 1998, Council of Administrators of Large Urban Public Libraries, (CALUPL) p. 92.
135 Canadian Public Library Statistics 1998, Council of Administrators of Large Urban Public Libraries, (CALUPL) p. 35.
136 Mr. Charles Burchell, Owner, the Book Room; Atlantic Provinces Booksellers Association, 29 February 2000.
137 Backgrounder on "Act respecting the development of Quebec firms in the book industry", provided by Ministère de la Culture et des Communications, Government of Quebec.
138 Brief submitted by Association pour l'avancement des sciences et des techniques de la documentation, p. 5.
139 Supplementary information provided by The Canadian Library Association, 5 May 2000.
140 Ms. Vicki Whitmell, Executive Director, Canadian Library Association, 21 March 2000.
141 Mr. Marcel Ouellette, Consulting Publisher, Regroupement des éditeurs canadiens-français, 2 March 2000.
142 Letter submitted by Dr. Michael R. Pearce, Dean, Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario, 3 April 2000.
143 Brief submitted by The Independents, p. 6.
144 Mr. Roch Carrier, National Librarian, 2 March 2000.
145 Brief submitted by the Association pour l'avancement des sciences et des techniques de la documentation, 21 March 2000, p. 4-6.
146 Mr. Louis Cabral, Chief Executive Officer, Association pour l'avancement des sciences et des techniques de la documentation, 21 March 2000.
147 The 1994-95 International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) published by the OECD and Statistics Canada, surveyed adults in Canada, the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and Poland. Participants between the ages of 26 and 65 were asked to work with three types of printed materials: prose (ordinary texts), documents (maps and timetables) and quantitative (how to calculate a tip). Participants are ranked according to a 5-point scale, where level 1 represents illiteracy and innumeracy, and level 5 represents high-functioning skill levels. People ranked at levels 3-5 are deemed to be literate and numerate. Those ranked at levels 1 and 2 have serious problems with words and numbers. Although Canadian adults were ranked only slightly behind Sweden and the Netherlands overall, a significant portion were unable to perform the more complicated reading, interpretation, and calculation tasks included in the test. Canada is well represented at the top and the bottom of this scale. International Adult Literacy Survey, Statistics Canada/OECD, 1994-1995.
148 Mr. Roch Carrier, National Librarian, supplementary answers to questions raise by members on 2 March 2000.