What's
Driving Chaotic Dismantling of Canada's Science Libraries?
Scientists
reject Harper gov't claims vital material is being saved digitally.
By
Andrew Nikiforuk
23
December, 2013
Scientists
say the closure of some of the world's finest fishery, ocean and
environmental libraries by the Harper government has been so chaotic
that irreplaceable collections of intellectual capital built by
Canadian taxpayers for future generations has been lost forever.
Many
collections such as the Maurice Lamontagne Institute Library in
Mont-Joli, Quebec ended up in dumpsters while others such as
Winnipeg's historic Freshwater Institute library were scavenged by
citizens, scientists and local environmental consultants. Others were
burned or went to landfills, say scientists.
ANATOMY
OF A 'LIBRICIDE'
[Editor's
note: This is verbatim text from a DFO scientist sent to The Tyee.]
The
loss of seven out of nine DFO regional science libraries is a big
tragedy.
Here
is a link to one comment suggesting it was an act of "Libricide."
The
first step in the process was to move the libraries from Science into
Information Management and Technology Services (IMTS) several years
ago. At that point DFO Science became merely a client of another
sector of the department for library services. It is not known
whether DFO Science management put up any opposition to the cuts when
IMTS announced their plans last year.
IMTS
operates under a corporate business model. Under this model, one
sector of government sells its services to another sector of
government with the objective of providing the least amount of
service for the largest possible service fee. This would seem to be a
very bad business model for running a government department that has
the prime objective of long-term public good -- giving the public the
best return possible on their tax dollar across all sectors of
government though working co-operatively.
The
decision to cut the libraries was made by executives within DFO
rather than imposed by higher levels of government. It was done
without any prior consultation with the DFO research community and
researchers have been kept largely in the dark throughout the
process. There has been very little information provided to DFO
science staff or the public throughout the process.
The
cuts were carried out in great haste apparently in order to meet some
unknown agenda. No records have been provided with regard to what
material has been dumped or the value of this public property. No
formal attempt was made to transfer material to libraries of existing
academic institutions.
Each
of the seven regional libraries had thousands upon thousands of items
in their holdings including unique valuable material of local
regional significance documenting research into aquatic systems, fish
stocks and fisheries carried out in the 1800s and early 1900s, as
well as more recent grey literature such as laboratory reports,
consultants reports, research vessel survey reports, reports of
commissions of enquiries into fisheries etc.
The
Department has claimed that all useful information from the closed
libraries is available in digital form. This is simply not true. Much
of the material is lost forever.
Local
staff in the regions were given a brief opportunity to scavenge
through the piles of books, journals and documents not wanted by the
remaining two DFO Science libraries. Books and other library material
already on loan to researches were never recalled, indicating a
chaotic and haphazard process.
No
explanations have been provided with regard to how the limited space
in the remaining two DFO Science libraries will accommodate material
from the regions deemed (by whom?) too important to destroy. One can
only assume that the amount of material not being dumped is
relatively small.
The
official DFO statements have indicated that an "alternate
service delivery system" is to be put in place to meet the
library needs of the regions and that operations will not be affected
by the library closures. To date this alternate service delivery
system is not in place and no information has been provided on what
form it will take.
The
impact of the library closures on both the operations and the morale
of DFO research staff have been immense.
Furthermore,
the government is falsely claiming that vital content is being
retained by extensively digitizing material from nine regional
libraries that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) whittled
down to two.
"The
Department has claimed that all useful information from the closed
libraries is available in digital form. This is simply not true. Much
of the material is lost forever," reports one DFO scientist who
requested not to be named.
That
picture of a taxpayer-funded treasure trove of information laid waste
emerges from interviews by The Tyee with half a dozen prominent
scientists, many of whom asked to remain anonymous for fear that
their funding or other government support could be hurt if their
names were connected with the concerns they were eager to share.
Some
of the research scientists interviewed questioned the legality of
what they saw happening, accusing the Harper government of
"libricide."
Not
only has the Canadian public lost critical environmental and cultural
baseline data more than 100 years old, but scientists have lost the
symbolic heart of their research operations.
A
DFO scientist told The Tyee, "The cuts were carried out in great
haste apparently in order to meet some unknown agenda. No records
have been provided with regard to what material has been dumped or
the value of this public property. No formal attempt was made to
transfer material to libraries of existing academic institutions."
(See sidebar.)
One
scientist after another struggled to make sense of the shuttering of
libraries devoted to water and fish in a nation that guards the
world's largest coastline and roughly 18 per cent of the world's
surface freshwater. Most saw in the actions a political agenda by the
Harper government to reduce the role of government in Canadian
society, as well as the use of scientific evidence in making policy.
According
to an analysis by Bill Curry published by the Globe and Mail, the
Harper government will reduce the size of the Canadian government to
its smallest level in 50 years by 2015.
Closing
libraries, stopping research
As
reported by The Tyee earlier this month, key libraries dismantled by
the government included the famous Freshwater Institute library in
Winnipeg; the historic St. Andrews Biological Station (SABS) in St.
Andrews, New Brunswick (that's where famed environmental scientist
Rachel Carson did some of her research for Silent Spring) and one of
the world's finest ocean collections at Northwest Atlantic Fisheries
Centre in St. John's, Newfoundland.
At
the same time the government has killed research groups that depended
on those libraries such as the Experimental Lakes Area, the Hazardous
Materials Information Review Commission and the DFO's entire
contaminants research program. The Freshwater Institute as well as
the Centre for Offshore Oil, Gas and Energy Research (COOGER) has
lost much of their funding and staff, too.
Ken
Lee, a world authority on oil spills and COOGER's former director,
saw the writing on the wall and took a prestigious job in Australia.
In
a private email originally sent to a colleague and then shared with
The Tyee, one scientist compared the dismemberment of the Freshwater
Institute library last week to a rummage sale: "I did manage to
salvage a few bits and pieces, one of which was a three volume print
version of the data that went into the now extinct DFO toxins
database."
The
scientist suggested "that interested individuals should drop-in
and loot [the] library before the bonfires begin."
Kelly
Whelan-Enns, head of media and policy research for Manitoba
Wildlands, spent two days at the library trying to salvage maps from
the 1900s and wildlife data from the 1920s.
"I
saw a private consultant firm working for Manitoba Hydro back up a
truck and fill it with Manitoba data and materials that the public
had paid for. I was profoundly saddened and appalled."
"It's
obvious that this government cares little for public discourse."
The
scene at the Freshwater Institute's library shocked another scientist
with 30 years of experience in the federal government.
"Hundreds
of bound journals, technical reports and texts still on the shelves,
presumably meant for the garbage or shredding. I saw one famous
monograph on zooplankton, which would probably fetch a pretty penny
at a used science bookstore... anybody could go in and help
themselves, with no record kept of who got what."
'Heartbreaking'
Although
some books have been transferred to libraries in Sidney, B.C., and
Halifax, Nova Scotia, the dismemberment of priceless library
collections has stunned freshwater and marine scientists and ordinary
citizens.
"The
fact that many materials were thrown away or given away is
heartbreaking to those of us who are dedicated to this field of
research [marine science and fisheries] and the history of science in
Canada," says Peter Wells, a prominent marine environmental
scientist at Dalhousie University.
Wells,
who is also an aquatic toxicologist, spent a career working as a
public servant for Environment Canada (1974-2006) on a variety of
environmental issues.
"That
we as a society are condoning information destruction and core
library closures in Canada is unbelievable, and in my view,
undemocratic and probably criminal... that would be an interesting
aspect to investigate," adds the scientist.
"Through
a misguided policy purportedly driven by the desire for cost savings
in the public service, and I believe this was only one reason for
this action, we have trashed a network of world-class marine and
fisheries libraries, the envy around the world. The rest of the world
cannot believe what is happening in Canada on this issue."
Concludes
Wells: "If I were still working for the government, I probably
would be fired for being concerned and outspoken about the future of
aquatic science in Canada and the impact of current federal
policies."
According
to an infographic made by Environment Canada (another agency that has
witnessed severe science cuts) "about 14 per cent of Canada"
is covered by lakes, rivers, wetlands, marshes and the marine waters
of estuaries.
Moreover
"these fragile freshwater habitats, vital to the ecology and the
Canadian economy, are under severe threat by drainage, land
reclamation, pollution, overuse and development."
Scientists
blast claim material adequately digitized
A
DFO website claims that the library closures and consolidation of
nine regional facilities into just two central libraries somehow
"allows for easier search and access to clients no matter their
location."
The
site also defends the closures by claiming that few citizens ever
used the libraries anyway, and that most material will be digitized.
An
agency spokesperson did not answer a series of questions posed by The
Tyee. Instead David Walters referred The Tyee to a government
propaganda site.
Six
scientists contacted by The Tyee all refuted various claims on the
website.
They
argue that DFO statistics show that only one out of 20 books in the
department's 600,000 plus collection have been digitized. Moreover
records on library usage were overtly biased and based on who asked
for help, said Burton Ayles, a retired director general for DFO who
lives in Winnipeg and has used the Freshwater Institute library
frequently.
"Most
people that come in to the library don't have to request help. They
just use the material. Just look at any regular library."
Ayles
had no doubt that the closures will severely restrict public and
scientific access permanently.
"Previously
one could walk in, scan the shelf of such material, select one
publication and see if it is relevant to one's needs. Now you have to
get an inter-library loan to even look at material that may be stored
away in some vault."
'Losing
libraries not a neutral act': scientist Hutchings
The
Freshwater Institute library held collections dating back 100 years,
on the quality and state of freshwater systems in central Canada, the
Great Lakes and the Arctic.
Acclaimed
Dalhousie University biologist Jeff Hutchings, who recently chaired
the Royal Society of Canada's Expert Panel on the future of marine
biodiversity, calls the closures scientifically disastrous and an
assault on civil society.
"It
is always unnerving from a research and scientist perspective to
watch a government undermine basic research. There are many materials
online but just as many books and materials that are not. The idea
that you can send an email to Ottawa and get a book somewhere down
the road is a myth. The idea that all requests will be honored also
won't happen."
"From
a science and research perspective these closures will have no
positive impact on the quality of research but they will have a
negative impact. Losing libraries is not a neutral act."
He
notes that the closures have also demoralized researchers. "This
is a department that has suffered cutbacks and been stripped of its
responsibilities. For scientists, technicians and biologists, for
people who have gone to university, the library symbolically
represents knowledge and wisdom. It's key to research. Taking it out
of a building is not easy."
'It
must be about ideology': Hutchings
Hutchings
said none of the closures has anything to do with saving money, due
to the small cost of maintaining the collections. He, like many
scientists, concludes that Harper's political convictions are driving
the unprecedented consolidation.
"It
must be about ideology. Nothing else fits," said Hutchings.
"What that ideology is, is not clear. Does it reflect that part
of the Harper government that doesn't think government should be
involved in the very things that affect our lives? Or is it that the
role of government is not to collect books or fund science? Or is it
the idea that a good government is stripped down government? "
Hutchings
saw the library closures fitting a larger pattern of "fear and
insecurity" within the Harper government, "about how to
deal with science and knowledge."
That
pattern includes the gutting of the Fisheries Act, the muzzling of
scientists, the abandonment of climate change research and the
dismantling of countless research programs, including the world
famous Experimental Lakes Area. All these examples indicate that the
Harper government strongly regards environmental science as a threat
to unfettered resource exploitation.
"There
is a group of people who don't know how to deal with science and
evidence. They see it as a problem and the best way to deal with it
is to cut it off at the knees and make it ineffective,"
explained Hutchings.
"The
other worrying thing is that no one seems to care a great deal about
it. There is minimal political cost for doing these things just as
there is no political cost to making bad decisions about ocean
management."
Many
scientists, including Hutchings and world famous water ecologist
David Schindler, compared the government's concerted attacks on
environmental science to the rise of fascism and the total alignment
of state and corporate interests in 1930s Europe.
"You
look at the rise of certain political parties in the 1930s,"
noted Hutchings, "and have to ask how could that happen and how
did they adopt such extreme ideologies so quickly, and how could that
happen in a democracy today?"
A
recent Sunday editorial in the New York Times condemned the
suppression and monitoring of environmental science in Canada by the
Harper government:
"This
is more than an attack on academic freedom. It is an attempt to
guarantee public ignorance," said the editorial.
"It
is also designed to make sure that nothing gets in the way of the
northern resource rush -- the feverish effort to mine the earth and
the ocean with little regard for environmental consequences."
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