Library and Archives Canada
Library and Archives Canada building in Ottawa
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| Type |
National library and national archives |
|---|---|
| Established | 2004 |
| Reference to legal mandate | Library and Archives of Canada Act |
| Location | 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa |
| Collection | |
| Items collected | Aboriginal Magazines; Albums and Scrapbooks; Architectural drawings; Art; Artifacts; Canadian children’s literature; Canadian comic books; Canadian newspapers; Canadian periodicals; Electronic publications; Electronic records; English-language pulp literature; Ethnic community newsletters; Ephemera; Fiction and non-fiction; Films; Globes; Government publications; Government records; Government websites; Hebraica and Judaica; Indian residential school records; Journals and diaries; Livres d’artistes; Manuscripts; Maps; Microfilms; Photographs; Poetry; Portraits; Rare Books; Sheet music; Sketchbooks; Sound recordings; Stamps; Textual archives; Theses and dissertations; Trade Catalogues; Videos |
| Size | 20 million books, periodicals, newspapers, microfilms, literary texts and government publications; 167,000 linear metres of government and private textual records; 3 million architectural drawings, maps and plans; 24 million photographs; 350,000 hours of film; 425,000 pieces of art, including paintings, drawings, watercolours, posters, prints, medals and caricatures; 547,000 musical items; More than a billion megabytes of digital content |
| Criteria for collection | Canadiana, documents published in Canada and materials published elsewhere of interest to Canada; Records documenting the functions and activities of the Government of Canada; Records of heritage value that document the historical development and diversity of Canadian society. |
| Legal deposit | Yes |
| Other information | |
| Budget | CDN$98,346,695 (2013–14) |
| Director | Guy Berthiaume |
| Staff | 860 FTE (2013–14) |
| Website | www |
Library and Archives Canada (LAC) (in French: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada) is a federal institution tasked with acquiring, preserving and making Canada's documentary heritage accessible. LAC reports to Parliament through Mélanie Joly, the Minister of Canadian Heritage since November 4, 2015.
The Dominion Archives was founded in 1872 as a division within the Department of Agriculture and was transformed into the autonomous Public Archives of Canada in 1912 and renamed the National Archives of Canada in 1987. The National Library of Canada was founded in 1953. Freda Farrell Waldon contributed to the writing of the brief which led to the founding of the National Library of Canada. In 2004, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) combined the functions of the National Archives of Canada and the National Library of Canada. It was established by the Library and Archives of Canada Act (Bill C-8), proclaimed on April 22, 2004. A subsequent Order in Council dated May 21, 2004 united the collections, services and personnel of the National Archives of Canada and the National Library of Canada. Since inception LAC has reported to Parliament through the Minister of Canadian Heritage.
LAC's stated mandate is:
LAC is expected to maintain "effective recordkeeping practices that ensure transparency and accountability".
LAC's holdings include the archival records of the Government of Canada, representative private archives, 20 million books acquired largely through legal deposit, 24 million photographs, and more than a petabyte of digital content. Some of this content, primarily the book collection, university theses and census material, is available online. Many items have not been digitized and are only available in physical form. As of May 2013 only about 1% of the collection had been digitized, representing "about 25 million of the more popular and most fragile items".
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