Closing of NRCan Libraries
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Closing of NRCan Libraries
 
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I never knew I would grow up to discover that the rock stars of my world would be librarians and archivists. They have been the knowledge democratisers of the past couple of centuries and continue to be under the radar in terms of assuring that the public gets access to information resources. They are however under attack from all sides, at a time when we need them more than ever. Sure, their form and methods have to change, and they are, and media are shifting. Irrespective, we need these data and info diggers more than ever, as it is still institutions that produce trusted, 'official' or peer reviewed knowledge, and their products are not always found or accessible via google search engines, no matter what all the new undergrads think.
Today I am working in a library, 615 Booth in Ottawa, one of my favourites, and it will most likely close in the next couple of years as did its other NRCan cousins:
The one I am in at the moment is under incredibly reduced public hours, and because I am doing some special work with older items in the collection, I have been given a kind of priviledged access. The Mines and Minerals section for instance, contains our Canadian heritage in terms of mineral exploration in Canada, from 1842 onward when the Geological Survey of Canada began. The history of resource discovery, documentation, and exploitation, is in fact the history of Canada and continues to be our economic driver, yet the information about it is becoming less and less accessible to us.
Sure, we are opening data, but data need context, classification systems emerged overtime even though we think the data we collect according to them are facts - they are - except, they are socially constructed scientific facts, the outcome of categorizing things a certain way according to a certain norm. How those came to be are stored here, in the libraries.
Open data is mere technocracy if context associated with the data disappear. The libraries hold that context and it is librarians who are the key to uraveling it.
--
Tracey P. Lauriault
Post Doctoral Fellow
Geomatics and Cartographic Research Centre
_______________________________________________ CivicAccess-discuss mailing list [hidden email] http://lists.pwd.ca/mailman/listinfo/civicaccess-discuss |
Re: Closing of NRCan Libraries
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Ah yes, but we will get continued enlightenment about the in's and out's of the War of 1812, a suitable substitute I'm sure… M From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Tracey P. Lauriault I never knew I would grow up to discover that the rock stars of my world would be librarians and archivists. They have been the knowledge democratisers of the past couple of centuries and continue to be under the radar in terms of assuring that the public gets access to information resources. They are however under attack from all sides, at a time when we need them more than ever. Sure, their form and methods have to change, and they are, and media are shifting. Irrespective, we need these data and info diggers more than ever, as it is still institutions that produce trusted, 'official' or peer reviewed knowledge, and their products are not always found or accessible via google search engines, no matter what all the new undergrads think. Today I am working in a library, 615 Booth in Ottawa, one of my favourites, and it will most likely close in the next couple of years as did its other NRCan cousins:
The one I am in at the moment is under incredibly reduced public hours, and because I am doing some special work with older items in the collection, I have been given a kind of priviledged access. The Mines and Minerals section for instance, contains our Canadian heritage in terms of mineral exploration in Canada, from 1842 onward when the Geological Survey of Canada began. The history of resource discovery, documentation, and exploitation, is in fact the history of Canada and continues to be our economic driver, yet the information about it is becoming less and less accessible to us. Sure, we are opening data, but data need context, classification systems emerged overtime even though we think the data we collect according to them are facts - they are - except, they are socially constructed scientific facts, the outcome of categorizing things a certain way according to a certain norm. How those came to be are stored here, in the libraries. Open data is mere technocracy if context associated with the data disappear. The libraries hold that context and it is librarians who are the key to uraveling it. -- Tracey P. Lauriault Post Doctoral Fellow Geomatics and Cartographic Research Centre http://datalibre.ca/ _______________________________________________ CivicAccess-discuss mailing list [hidden email] http://lists.pwd.ca/mailman/listinfo/civicaccess-discuss |
Re: Closing of NRCan Libraries
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On 13-05-06 10:06 AM, michael gurstein wrote:
> Ah yes, but we will get continued enlightenment about the in's and out's > of the War of 1812, a suitable substitute I'm sure… *sigh* http://1812.canadiana.ca/ -- Russell McOrmond, Internet Consultant: <http://www.flora.ca/> Please help us tell the Canadian Parliament to protect our property rights as owners of Information Technology. Sign the petition! http://l.c11.ca/ict "The government, lobbied by legacy copyright holders and hardware manufacturers, can pry my camcorder, computer, home theatre, or portable media player from my cold dead hands!" _______________________________________________ CivicAccess-discuss mailing list [hidden email] http://lists.pwd.ca/mailman/listinfo/civicaccess-discuss |
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In reply to this post by Tracey P. Lauriault
Le 6 mai 2013 à 09:02, Tracey P. Lauriault a écrit : > The Mines and Minerals section for instance, contains our Canadian heritage in terms of mineral exploration in Canada, from 1842 onward when the Geological Survey of Canada began. Administrative data of the past becoming a treasure for historians, poets, dreamers, reference points for the present. And as you said there is a gigantic quantity of them. 1842… 171 years ago. The industrial systems to produce information were reduced to fewer countries in fewer languages with a lower volumes. > yet the information about it is becoming less and less accessible to us. Even if we were/are digitizing everything from the past (time to do it/low cost of storage/etc.), it is a flow, a stream of continuous increase, and as you said: > Open data is mere technocracy if context associated with the data disappear. That said. Not only, it really depends on the contextS. The same topics have many possible interpretation. The data themselves indeed are already an interpretation of the past now and with research work, we attempt to recreate one of these contexts for specific needs usually. But the immense volume of the past is dwarfed by the current volume of now, often created with not that much recorded contexts. > The libraries hold that context Libraries hold part of these contexts. And now librarians, researchers and even simple people are not enough to even process the now and the past. So we select, we forget, we destroy contexts to be able to move, to create new contexts. And it is good to forget too. It creates a flexibility for imagination. Finding the right balance is challenging (between giving the context and forgetting it). > and it is librarians who are the key to unraveling it. and the poets… the poets ;) -- Karl Dubost http://www.la-grange.net/karl/ _______________________________________________ CivicAccess-discuss mailing list [hidden email] http://lists.pwd.ca/mailman/listinfo/civicaccess-discuss |
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> So we select, we forget, we destroy contexts to be able to move, to create new contexts. And it is good to forget too. It creates a flexibility for imagination. Finding the right balance is challenging (between giving the context and forgetting it).
This all sounds very romantic. However, the only acceptable reason for destroying data is because it is not feasible to keep/digitize/maintain it, or it is very easy to re-create. You cannot predict how data may be reused / repurposed in the future. For example: "18th century ships’ logs predict future weather forecast" http://www.jisc.ac.uk/news/stories/2009/09/logbooksonline.aspx Traditionally archivists evaluated the value of keeping an artifact versus the cost of keeping it. That is all. Simple economics. Still applies. Just the technologies have changed, changing the underlying economics. -Glen On Mon, May 6, 2013 at 11:57 AM, Karl Dubost <[hidden email]> wrote: > > Le 6 mai 2013 à 09:02, Tracey P. Lauriault a écrit : >> The Mines and Minerals section for instance, contains our Canadian heritage in terms of mineral exploration in Canada, from 1842 onward when the Geological Survey of Canada began. > > Administrative data of the past becoming a treasure for historians, poets, dreamers, reference points for the present. And as you said there is a gigantic quantity of them. 1842… 171 years ago. The industrial systems to produce information were reduced to fewer countries in fewer languages with a lower volumes. > >> yet the information about it is becoming less and less accessible to us. > > Even if we were/are digitizing everything from the past (time to do it/low cost of storage/etc.), it is a flow, a stream of continuous increase, and as you said: > >> Open data is mere technocracy if context associated with the data disappear. > > > That said. Not only, it really depends on the contextS. The same topics have many possible interpretation. The data themselves indeed are already an interpretation of the past now and with research work, we attempt to recreate one of these contexts for specific needs usually. But the immense volume of the past is dwarfed by the current volume of now, often created with not that much recorded contexts. > > >> The libraries hold that context > > Libraries hold part of these contexts. > And now librarians, researchers and even simple people are not enough to even process the now and the past. So we select, we forget, we destroy contexts to be able to move, to create new contexts. And it is good to forget too. It creates a flexibility for imagination. Finding the right balance is challenging (between giving the context and forgetting it). > >> and it is librarians who are the key to unraveling it. > > and the poets… the poets ;) > > > -- > Karl Dubost > http://www.la-grange.net/karl/ > > _______________________________________________ > CivicAccess-discuss mailing list > [hidden email] > http://lists.pwd.ca/mailman/listinfo/civicaccess-discuss -- - http://zzzoot.blogspot.com/ - _______________________________________________ CivicAccess-discuss mailing list [hidden email] http://lists.pwd.ca/mailman/listinfo/civicaccess-discuss |
Re: Closing of NRCan Libraries
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The collections are incomplete, meaning that we are already forgotting. The Internet did not help, as there was a presumption of permanence with government publications on government websites until they changed the websites and failed to archive the documents.
Curators and places for material to be, are important, as are subject matter specialists and is access to longitudinal data which are found in the paper notebooks of surveyors, geologists, botanists, foresters, traders and so on. Then there are the paper maps and the old journals which provide clues to the present. The lab where I work for instance is taking a post-colonial approach to mapping and understanding of land claims and treaties, and this requires access to archival materials. Else, we are just perpetuation a potentially exploitative approach. Flexibility of imagination is to be able to refer to some facts and not reinvent some wheels, and also to be able to make some of the things we know work, work better. For example the a historic perspective of open data movements and in many respect the disconnect between it and open access, open source and metadata standards and so on, makes it not as great as it could be. Innovation also means re-purposing the past in new. Why re-invent, we know the religious right, and the elimination of facts and the downright fabrication of fictitious ones in intellegent design/creationist science is doing, combined with the dumbing down of schools and so on, is dangerous, as is the cancellation of the census and monitoring stations, which leads to a fictitious or worse and ill informed future, or the inability to evaluate performance. and so on. On Mon, May 6, 2013 at 12:22 PM, Glen Newton <[hidden email]> wrote:
-- Tracey P. Lauriault
Post Doctoral Fellow Geomatics and Cartographic Research Centre
_______________________________________________ CivicAccess-discuss mailing list [hidden email] http://lists.pwd.ca/mailman/listinfo/civicaccess-discuss |
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In reply to this post by Glen Newton
Le 6 mai 2013 à 12:22, Glen Newton a écrit : > This all sounds very romantic. You have been warned. > On Mon, May 6, 2013 at 11:57 AM, Karl Dubost <[hidden email]> wrote: >> and the poets… the poets ;) PS: the cost of keeping is not the only reason for destroying ;) open long discussions on consequences of traceability (good and bad). -- Karl Dubost http://www.la-grange.net/karl/ _______________________________________________ CivicAccess-discuss mailing list [hidden email] http://lists.pwd.ca/mailman/listinfo/civicaccess-discuss |
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In reply to this post by Tracey P. Lauriault
Le 6 mai 2013 à 13:46, Tracey P. Lauriault a écrit : > The Internet did not help, as there was a presumption of permanence with government publications on government websites until they changed the websites and failed to archive the documents. Yes one of my pet peeves. (French) http://www.24joursdeweb.fr/2012/un-site-web-de-1000-ans/ http://www.la-grange.net/2012/10/12/elysee http://www.la-grange.net/2012/10/04/redirection-http -- Karl Dubost http://www.la-grange.net/karl/ _______________________________________________ CivicAccess-discuss mailing list [hidden email] http://lists.pwd.ca/mailman/listinfo/civicaccess-discuss |
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