Call for chapters: Government Information in Canada

Changing technology and the policies that drive it have radically altered the government information landscape in Canada. It’s time to document the context, tools, and techniques used to produce, acquire, organize, preserve, and access government information in Canada. We intend to do this via an edited book with the working title Government Information in Canada and encourage you to contribute to this project.

In the space of ten to twelve chapters, we expect to provide a platform for practitioners to present overviews, comparative studies, research papers, and case studies on these potential topics (note that individual topics may be combined into a single chapter):

• High level historical overview, bridging the gap between Bishop’s 1981 Canadian Official Publications (Oxford) and the present.

• Recent structural changes and current state of major federal systems:
  • departmental libraries
  • Depository Services Program
  • Library and Archives Canada (government collections only)
  • Canada’s Open Government Initiative
• Overview of provincial publishing, depository systems, and access structures
• Digital developments
  • digitization
  • digital curation and preservation
• Communities of Practice
  • library associations, conferences, Government Information Day
  • advocacy and advisory committees

Please submit a 300 to 500 word abstract about the chapter you wish to submit, noting the proposed title of the chapter and authors, to Sam-Chin Li before April 1st, 2015.

 

Important dates:

Intent to submit: April 1st, 2015

Notification of Acceptance: June 1st, 2015

Full Chapter Deadline: December 1st, 2015

Review Results to Authors: April 1st, 2016

Revised Chapter Due: June 1st, 2016

Note: publisher to be secured by May, 2015

 

Web page: https://sites.google.com/a/ualberta.ca/wakaruk/research/cfp2015

 

Editors:
Amanda Wakaruk
Government Information Librarian
University of Alberta Library
Amanda.wakaruk@ualberta.ca

Sam-chin Li
Government Information Librarian
University of Toronto Libraries
Samchin.li@utoronto.ca

Long-form census [OCUL]

[source page]

Ontario Council of University Libraries has made available information on the impact of the cancellation of the mandatory long-form census and the current process in Parliament to reinstate it for 2016.

n July 2010, OCUL joined many concerned organizations and individuals in Canada in objecting to the government of Canada’s decision to cancel the mandatory long-form questionnaire as part of the 2011 Census of Population.

OCUL represents 21 Ontario university libraries with more than 450,000 students and faculty across the province. In addition, we provide support to researchers from municipalities, provincial and territorial governments, NGO’s, social and cultural associations, as well as private sector marketing and business firms and organizations.

The OCUL Data Community is a community of data professionals with expertise and interests in the use of all forms of data, including the Canadian census. The information presented here has been prepared to identify the impact of the cancellation of the mandatory long-form census and ensure that researchers have a full understanding of the current situation.

These links provide:

background information on the mandatory long-form census cancellation and its impact on research and public policy [click here]

the current process in Parliament to reinstate the mandatory long-form census for 2016 [click here]

Open Government Action Plan 2.0 Consultation – Summary Report

The Government of Canada has released a Summary Report on the Open Action Plan 2.0 Consultations that took place between April and October 2014.

What We Heard – Summary Report

The report includes many visual representations of the data collected and offers examples of comments received on different parts of the Action Plan 2.0.

Of particular interest is the section addressing the ‘Open Information Core Commitment’ and the Appendices which include summaries of the commentary from specific groups.

The Government of Canada also continues to seek feedback from the community on these issues: http://open.canada.ca/en/forms/contact-us

New Network Co-Moderator

I’d like to take this opportunity to announce the addition of Michelle Lake as CLA-GIN Co-Moderator, replacing Caron Rollins. Michelle is the Government Publications Librarian at Concordia University and started her term with the network on January 1st, 2015.

Please, join me in thanking Caron for all her hard work with CLA-GIN over the last several years and in welcoming Michelle to her new role!

Any network-related questions can now be directed to either Michelle or me.