The NRCan Libraries Project

In October 2004, Dr. Yvan Hardy, Chief Scientist, was mandated by the Departmental Management Committee (DMC) to review the NRCan Libraries, their governance, resources and operations.

This task was assigned to Marilyn Taylor, Executive Director of the Knowledge Services Secretariat. With the assistance of Annette Bourgeois, consultant to the project, and the NRCan librarians, an “As is” study [ppt; pdf] was completed. It provided a snapshot of the situation of libraries across NRCan with respect to resources, staff, space, activities, clients and services provided.

Following presentation of the report to DMC in February 2005, Dr. Hardy was further mandated to develop a business case and strategy for NRCan libraries in consultation with other senior managers.

This second phase of the project will take into account client needs, best practices in other organizations as well as the transformation approach expressed in the Government of Canada service vision. We are developing a strategy that will strengthen NRCan libraries and position them well for the future.

As a first step, we organized a workshop to provide context to the study and to identify key elements of a vision for NRCan libraries. Among the forty participants were clients, managers, librarians and other stakeholders.

Workshop Report: What do you want the library to be?