November/December 2000 Vol. 32, no. 11-12

Introducing the Digital Library of Canada Task Force

Susan Haigh, Manager, Planning and Content Development
Digital Library of Canada Task Force

In May 2000, National Librarian Roch Carrier announced the establishment of the Digital Library of Canada Task Force. He handed the internal task force a twofold mandate: to focus and strengthen the National Library's efforts to create digital content, and to collaborate with others to ensure that Canadians have barrier-free access to the record of their heritage. This initiative reflects the National Librarian’s commitment to providing compelling Canadian cultural content and services over the Internet, in order to reach users anywhere  --  not just at 395 Wellington Street in Ottawa.

Role of the Task Force

The task force is responsible for planning, developing and technically supporting all National Library of Canada (NLC) information, products and services delivered via the Web. These include digital collections, online exhibitions, databases, educational content and online services delivered by the NLC and its partners.

The task force has drawn together staff selected from across the Library for functions such as planning, project management, digitization, Web development, metadata, copyright administration, translation, editing and quality assurance. This core team is augmented as necessary for specific projects. Certain functions such as graphic design and the production of educational materials are typically performed on a contract basis.

The Federal Agenda

The Government of Canada is increasingly emphasizing content and access, a departure from its earlier focus on building network infrastructure. A new program, the Canadian Digital Cultural Content Initiative, has been initiated by the Department of Canadian Heritage, and it is this program that will be providing the primary support for the work of the Digital Library Task Force. The National Library is fortunate to have obtained $2.5 million from this program for the fiscal year ending March 2001, with a promise of stable funding for the ensuing two years.

Year One Program (2000-2001)

During its first year, the Digital Library Task Force will be concentrating its effort on the selective digitization of core material from the National Library’s vast collection, producing multimedia resources that both interest and educate. These will be woven into a coherent resource that is easy for Canadians to find and to use.

Component projects have been selected for their educational value, popular appeal, the feasibility of their digitization, and their national historical or cultural significance. They fall into three types of product:

• digital collections (which are comprehensive within a scope defined by time frame, medium or subject);
• interpretive/educational resources (which are selective, thematic, narrative, mixed in media, and are usually aimed at a school-aged audience); and
• reference resources (which are descriptive of resources, such as a catalogues, research guides or finding aids).

The resulting Web products will be bilingual and will appropriately balance French and English original content. Most of the planned resources will be augmented with educational support material such as unit and lesson plans, as well as interactive quizzes and games based on the primary and secondary online source materials.

Collection material to be digitized this year includes 78-rpm sound recordings, sheet music, poetry, children's literature, early Canadiana, comic books and historical documentary images. Thematic multimedia projects aimed specifically at youth will include Canadian Prime Ministers, Canadian Confederation, and Explorers. A research guide, From Colony to Country: A Reader’s Guide to Canadian Military History, is also being produced.

In addition, the Library will collaborate with the Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions to digitize early Canadian government publications. This partnership aims to ensure that this valuable digital resource will be freely available to all Canadians, rather than just to subscribing universities.

The task force is also working with the board of the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada to produce a selective Web version of the second edition of this venerable reference source, and with the Canadian Children's Book Centre and Communication-Jeunesse to mount a rich database containing information about Canadian children's books.

A Broader Vision

The Digital Library of Canada Task Force subscribes to a collaborative vision that is significantly broader than selective digitization of the National Library’s own holdings. We will collaborate with others to build a national cultural resource that draws on content distributed in cultural institutions across the country. We envisage a substantive national resource that recognizes the collective efforts of Canadian libraries, archives and museums in making high-quality and compelling Canadian content available to everyone.

It is hoped that, through mechanisms such as the Canadian Initiative on Digital Libraries, institutions will create digital collections, exhibitions, educational resources, and research aids according to standards for access and maintenance that will be established. Each collection or service is expected to have unique content, and a structure and design appropriate to its purposes and audience.

Just as catalogue records are important when looking for books in traditional libraries, metadata will be valuable when users are trying to locate what they need in this vast digital library. At the outset, a standard collection-level description of each Web resource included in the digital library will be of primary importance.

The Digital Library Task Force is examining technical architectures that will allow the development, maintenance and storage of content to be decentralized. Only the mechanisms to access the decentralized content  --  likely some metadata and full-text indexes and some top-level pages  --  would remain centralized.

The task force’s efforts will be directed towards promoting this collaborative vision while developing digital resources drawn from the National Library collections. The task force will also examine how to provide innovative national services and access to new Canadian information resources that are being "born digital".

Conclusion

There is a need to make more  --  significantly more  --  Canadian historical and cultural content available on the Web in a coherent and user-friendly manner. The task force is working towards meeting this need.

The effort of making digital content available and readily accessible is a long-term one that will become a regular part of the business of the National Library, as it will for many libraries. The task force has a three-year mandate to make significant headway in increasing the quantity and quality of authentic, unique, interesting and educational Canadian content on the Web. To realize our vision, the Digital Library of Canada Task Force will pursue all opportunities to make the Library’s collections and expertise accessible, and to generate excitement and momentum that will open doors and create new opportunities for the National Library of Canada to reach out to all Canadians.