News Release

2003-12

New Children’s Literature Bibliography Marks 25th Anniversary of Preserving Canadiana

Ottawa, June 12, 2003  -  The Library and Archives of Canada is holding a 25th birthday party for the Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions (CIHM) on June 13. Festivities will take place at 10:00 a.m. in the lobby of the Library and Archives of Canada, 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa.

Celebrations will include the launch of a children’s literature bibliography, Children’s Literature: A Feast of Titles / Délices de la littérature enfantine, and the awarding of prizes to young people who wrote contest essays using the Institute’s resources. Jan Cellucci, wife of the United States Ambassador to Canada and former head of Preservation at Boston College, is the keynote speaker for the event.

CIHM was established in 1978 to preserve and provide access to 350 years of Canada’s printed heritage, including books, periodicals and other documents. Over 90,000 rare and fragile early Canadian publications are now safely saved on microfilm and are available on microfiche; in addition, CIHM has digitized over 1.3 million pages of texts from early Canadian documents, which can be found on its Web site at www.canadiana.org.

"The 25th anniversary of the Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions is a cause for national celebration. CIHM is known nationally and internationally for its leadership and willing adoption of emerging technology," said National Librarian Roch Carrier. "The Library is proud to have worked with CIHM to preserve Canada’s published heritage."

The Library has worked with CIHM since its founding, and has provided about 60 percent of the titles in CIHM’s collection, the most complete virtual library of Canadiana.

"CIHM would not have been possible without the cooperation of the National Library, our partner for the last 25 years," said CIHM President and Université du Québec à Montréal history professor Jean-Claude Robert.

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For more information, contact:

Louisa Coates
Media Relations, Library and Archives of Canada
(613) 992-9361
louisa.coates@lac-bac.gc.ca