Canadian Digital Information Strategy Issued for Comments

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has issued the Canadian Digital Information Strategy in draft form for comment. Comments are due by Nov 23, 2007.

Over the past 2 years, LAC consulted with over 200 organizations: publishing and media producers, creators, rights bodies, academics, provincial and federal officials, and heritage institutions.

The strategy being proposed is based on the following vision:

"Canada's digital information assets are created, managed and preserved to ensure that a significant Canadian digital presence and record is available to present and future generations, and that Canada's position in a global digital information economy is enhanced".

"The Strategy puts forward three broad opportunities for achieving this vision:

1. Strengthening content so that, over time, Canada's information assets and accumulated knowledge will be in digital form.
2. Ensuring preservation so that Canadians will have ongoing access to their country's digital knowledge and information assets, and future generations will have evidence of our intellectual and creative accomplishments.
3. Maximizing access and use so that Canadians will have optimal access to Canadian digital information important to their learning, businesses and work, leisure activities, and cultural identity; and Canadian content will be showcased to the world".

The draft strategy document highlights a number of current digitization projects in Canada and contains an extensive bibliography on international strategies, preservation, and digitization.