Canadian Library Association Reacts to Federal Budget

The Canadian Library Association (CLA) published a member bulletin earlier this week in reaction to the Harper government's first budget.

Highlights:

• academic libraries may benefit from additional funding for the Indirect Costs of Research program
• there is a $1 billion payment to a Post-Secondary Education Infrastructure Trust that supports urgent investments in higher education. The CLA comments that libraries and distance- learning technologies are provided as examples
• library students should benefit from the Textbook Tax Credit
• the government announced its intention to create a Canadian agency for the assessment and recognition of foreign credentials
• however, the CLA notes that there was little mention of the Community Access Program for public libraries or other lifelong learning initiatives. As well, there was no mention of the museums and archives component of the Canadian library world