Recent StepsToward LAC Renewal

Some encouraging actions are underway to set Library and Archives Canada on course to rectify the problems that have plagued it.

Heritage Minister James Moore announced the appointment of Hervé Déry as interim Librarian and Archivist. He also announced that a process for finding a replacement will be coming soon.

Respected Liberal MP Scott Simms ‏has submitted a motion to the Commons Heritage Committee to review the Hervé Déry appointment. As Déry, like his predecessor, is an economist Simms is likely looking to lay down a marker that the appointment can only be regarded as a caretaker, stop-gap. With the Conservative dominance Simms' motion, probably to be considered at a closed-door meeting of the committee on Monday, seems unlikely to be accepted.

Finally, on Friday the Canadian Library Association released a Joint Statement on Qualities of a Successful Librarian and Archivist of Canada, available at http://bit.ly/14JeiXn.

One of the 19 signatures to the statement was that of Shirley Sturdevant, President of the Ontario Genealogical Society. It's a good statement, no mean feat to get so many organizations to buy on. There are always compromises, it would have been even better with some mention of a role in partnering with and promoting the private/commercial heritage sector, and greater emphasis on digitization to promote Canada-wide service.

The Great and Near Great at Brompton Cemetery in New Records at Deceased Online

65,000 burial records for London's Brompton Cemetery are now available at Deceased Online, the first of an eventual 205,000 burials for the period 1840 to 2004, less those for the last 15 years which are withheld for privacy purposes.

Because of its West End London location Brompton has more than its share of notable people, including some you certainly know, or know of. If they're not in this first serving they'll be coming in the next few weeks.

Read about the Brompton Cemetery collection at http://goo.gl/qxkPa.

Over 450,000 Parish Records Added to Findmypast

Over 450,000 parish baptism, marriage and burial records are now added to findmypast.co.uk covering the period 1538-2009 from Northumberland, Durham, Ryedale, Sheffield, Wiltshire and Suffolk.
They comprise:
141,525 Suffolk Baptisms 1753-1911
244,309 Wiltshire Baptisms 1538-1867
27,420 Northumberland & Durham Burials 1587-2009
22,687 Sheffield Baptisms 1837-1968
8,181 Sheffield Marriages 1824-1991
7,113 Ryedale (N Yorkshire) Baptisms, Marriages and Burials 1754-1999

Tips for Lowering the Cost of Conference Attendance

Jill Hurst-Wahl on her Digitization 101 blog posts tips for being a budget-smart  conference attendee. http://goo.gl/MFZns
While her perspective as a US-based employee isn't quite the same as that of the typical retired, or self-employed, genealogy conference attendee much of her advice remains valuable.
Jill  suggests using sites like skyscanner to figure out when an airline ticket is possibly at its lowest price. However, as I found out to my cost on my last trip, the lowest cost fare involving round-about routing leaves you open to extra risk of flight disruptions, extra cost ans travel fatigue.  

The Ghost of LAC Past

A week after his tardy resignation will someone please remove the ghostly visage of the immediate past Librarian and Archivist of Canada from the organization website. The same goes for his listing in the Government Electronic Directory Services (GEDS), the directory of federal public servants.

 

UPDATE: The exorcist service was effective.

LAC Announces a New Version of the 1901 Census

The following is a news release from the Library and Archives Canada Blog

Library and Archives Canada is pleased to announce the release of a new version of the 1901 Census of Canada database. This fourth general census covered the seven provinces and the territory that were then part of Confederation: British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and the Territories.
The new version includes suggestions for corrections that were received from users in recent months, as well as revised district and sub-district information.

The First 20 Hours - How to Learn Anything

Attending a TEDx event on Wednesday evening doesn't leave much time for writing blog posts. This isn't one of the presentations, but might encourage you if you'd like to learn a new skill.

Ottawa Branch OGS May Meeting

The topic for the May 25th, 2013 Ottawa Branch monthly meeting is "The Life of Jack Couture"

"Couture was a journalist, activist, storyteller and poolroom operator who originally hailed from Deseronto, Ontario. The presentation will trace his poverty stricken beginnings and concentrate mostly on his colourful contributions to life in Aylmer, Quebec including his many contributions to the Ottawa daily newspapers in the 1940s to 1950s."

The speaker is Michael MacDonald. The proceedings get underway at 1:30 pm at the City of Ottawa Archives, 100 Tallwood Drive, Room 115, Ottawa

DNA Presentation Online This Evening

At 8pm EDT this evening, May 23rd 2013, Bennett Greenspan from Family Tree DNA will give a presentation at the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum. It will be streamed live at www.kbtx.com/.
More information at http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/museum/events/0/619/

US WDYTYA Starts July 23

According to a post at http://goo.gl/XAWHl US cable channel TLC has picked up the former NBC documentary series for eight new one-hour episodes set to premiere on July 23.
I'll post on Canadian availability when announced.

10 Days To Go

Counting down the days to the official transfer of the 1921 Canadian census to Library and Archives Canada.

With the departure of the former Librarian and Archivist would it be too much to hope that his interim replacement would reconsider the urgency of getting this information out to the public and immediately on receipt place unindexed digital microfilms online available for all to process?

Or will the new leader be as unforthcoming as his predecessor?

Indexes Updates from OGS Niagara Peninsula Branch

From Steve Fulton, Chair of the OGS Niagara Peninsula Branch, comes news of the following updates.

 

• Surname Index - Contains over 24000 Pedigree Charts
• Morse & Sons Funeral Home Records - Contains 19229 Funeral Records from 1828 to Sept 1963
• Neff Young Index - Contains 19136 records of family histories, notes, newspaper clipping and memorabilia from Welland County
• *NEW* Branch Publications Index - Contains 7998 various publication records for the Lincoln/Welland Area

Please check back often as indexes are being worked on.

 

Canadian Headstones project - The Niagara Peninsula Branch continues to work on photographing headstones in the old Lincoln/Welland Counties. Just recently we crossed over the 20,000 mark and the number is continuing to climb.

 

It Doesn't Take Experience as a Sheep to be a Good Shepherd

In a letter sent to Wayne Wouters, Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet, Pilar Martinez, President of the Canadian Library Association, wrote on Friday:

 

"... any individual being considered for appointment to the position of Librarian and Archivist of Canada (should) be a qualified member of either the library or archival professional community."

The quote reminded me of another from "Yes Minister":

 

"All government departments are lobbies for the pressure groups they deal with. The Department of Education lobbies the government on behalf of teachers, the Department of Health lobbies for the doctors and hospital unions, the Department of Energy lobbies for oil companies and so on. Each department of State is actually controlled by the people it is supposed to be controlling."

When the group is unable to exert the desired control of the corresponding department, librarians and archivists in the case of LAC, they fight for a return to the appropriate situation.

There are also calls for LAC to be "a strong and independent institution at the very heart of Canadian democracy." But that's not what I read in the legal mandate of LAC:

• To preserve the documentary heritage of Canada for the benefit of present and future generations;
• To be a source of enduring knowledge accessible to all, contributing to the cultural, social and economic advancement of Canada;
• To facilitate in Canada cooperation among 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.

I see no mention of independent, no mention of democracy. Repulsive as the thought is, LAC would still have a mandate if Canada ceased to be a democracy.

I did find one blog post that had a less self-serving viewpoint:

"I'm not convinced LAC needs a librarian at the top. You’d never know it from the way we talk (and talk and talk and talk) about our importance at conferences, but there are people other than librarians who understand the values of librarianship, and some of them are also good at managing large organizations (there are librarians who are good at this too, of course)."