RSC Expert Panel: The Status and Future of Canada's Libraries and Archives

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - May 29, 2013) - The Royal Society of Canada is excited to introduce the panellists who will sit on the upcoming Expert Panel on the Status and Future of Canada's Libraries and Archives, chaired by RSC Past-President Patricia Demers, FRSC (University of Alberta). The panellists are: Dr. Guylaine Beaudry (Concordia University), Pam Bjornson (National Research Council), Michael Carroll (American University of Washington College of Law), Prof. Carol Couture (Université de Montréal), Charlotte Gray, FRSC (Carleton University), Judith Hare (Halifax Public Libraries), Ernie Ingles, FRSC (University of Alberta), Prof. Eric Ketelaar (University of Amsterdam), and Gerald McMaster (Art Gallery of Ontario).

Mandate

Libraries and archives throughout Canada have many overlapping obligations. They collect, preserve and disseminate knowledge, and provide access to information and intellectual resources for civic engagement. Libraries and archives are actively meeting the challenges of unfolding digital technologies, changing cultural practices, and society's expectations. These are the founding principles of the Expert Panel of the Royal Society of Canada, which has as its mandate:

1. To investigate what services Canadians, including Aboriginal Canadians and new Canadians, are currently receiving from libraries and archives.
2. To explore what Canadian society expects of libraries and archives in the 21st century.
3. To identify the necessary changes in resources, structures, and competencies to ensure libraries and archives serve the Canadian public good in the 21st century.
4. To listen to and consult the multiple voices that contribute to community building and memory building.
5. To demonstrate how deeply the knowledge universe has been and will continue to be revolutionized by digital technology.
6. To conceptualize the integration of the physical and the digital in library and archive spaces.

Public consultations are being planned to take place in: Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary/Edmonton, Vancouver, and Yellowknife.

The Panel has written a letter of invitation to the Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages. Read the letter here.