The Ex Libris Association is a group of retired librarians founded in 1986 and dedicated to documenting the history of Canadian libraries and librarianship in a number of ways. What has The Ex Libris Association done about the library-related archive problem in Canada?

• Set up a committee on Personal & Institutional Archives and consulted widely.
• Sent a questionnaire to members asking if they had personal papers relating to their work as librarians, encouraging them to preserve such documents and assisting them in finding an archive to make them accessible.
• Investigated the possibility of creating a database on library and librarian-related archival material in Canada but suspended this work when it became clear that this would duplicate holdings in CAIN (the Canadian Archival Information Network http://www.cain-rcia.ca), now developing rapidly in Canada.
• Gathered information on library- and librarian- related archival material found in Canada's archives via CAIN and found over 200 entries of which two-thirds are for institutional archives. More material is being added to CAIN every day and other material may be held unofficially.
• Created a document for our website: "Searching for Archival Records on Canadian Librarians and Libraries"  to assist researchers in how to search CAIN and the provincial archival databases.  This document contains information on the differences between archives and libraries & their cataloguing and how and where to search for records of archival holdings relating to librarianship in Canada.

Do Your Bit for Canadian Library History - Preserve Your Library's Archives!

If we as librarians care about being able to write the history of Canadian libraries and librarianship, we need the archives that form the basis for library history.  It is vital that we preserve both archival records of all libraries across the country and personal papers of librarians.  The Ex Libris Association , a group of retired Canadian librarians and library staff, has been concerned with this issue for the last few years.

A prominent Canadian librarian and library historian, Harry Campbell, said recently:

"Of particular concern is the history of Canadian library development in the period 1950-2000.  This was an era of remarkable expansion in buildings, services, and library management. Do we have adequate records of what happened in Canada in the decade of the 1960s when off-line information searching was inaugurated, and such institutions as CISTI and new library schools sprang up?  The 1970s brought on-line searching providing bibliographic and full-text information.  These were the heady days of ONULP, UTLAS and Asyvol.  In the 1980s came the world of CD-ROMs, and in the 1990s the Internet.  Many of the active players, (both libraries and librarians) of Canadian library development in these periods have unique records of what actually happened.  Is this vital record being made secure for future use?"

It is apparent from our research that many archival records generated by librarians stayed with their institution when they retired and that relatively few library archival records has found their way into Canada's archival institutions.  We, therefore, urge individual libraries, public, special & educational, regional library systems, library boards, & library associations to take steps to see that the archival records of their institutions and personnel are preserved for posterity and moved to the appropriate archive if the library itself does not have one.

And we would urge any Canadian library institution that is not now archiving its records to put a records management system in place.  Such a system is the first step in effective archives management and if properly implemented ensures a proper file organization from the beginning and a sound policy for the retention and disposition of records.  Such a policy determines three kinds of records: (1) disposable records, (2) records that legally must be kept for a stated period of time (usually seven years), and (3) archival records that should be kept permanently.  Often, staff are concerned about allowing files to go to archives, for fear that they will not be retrievable if needed.  However, effective records management should result in orderly preservation of archival files, so that they can easily be found again.

We list below some examples of types of archival materials created by libraries :

• Legislation & documents re establishment of library & amalgamations
• Annual reports, minutes of meetings, etc., of library boards
• Sectional & departmental annual reports & other reports/documents
• Reports & documentation on services (& new services) to users, etc.
• Correspondence incoming & outgoing
• Library transaction records, user surveys, etc.
• Financial reports
• Audiovisual records of services, personnel, buildings, etc.