Canadian Library Association Submission to Canadian Digital Economy Consultation

National consultations to help the Canadian government formulate a digital economy strategy wrapped up this week. It is possible to see the many submissions made on the consultation website.

The Canadian Library Association was one of the organizations that sent in a submission. It looks at access issues, digital preservation, digital locks in the context of copyright reform, the availability of broadband services, net neutrality, and open access to public sector information and data and to publicly-funded research:

"We believe that Canada’s libraries can and should play an important role in the development of a stronger digital economy. At the same time, we feel that Improving Canada’s Digital Advantage [the government consultation paper] places too little emphasis on individual Canadians as consumers of digital services and on the value of content and roadmaps to assist Canadians."

"The Canadian Library Association has long maintained that Canada needs to place as much emphasis on the content of the broadband highway it is creating as it does on the highway itself. If not, Canada runs the risk that the highway we build will direct Canadians to other countries and to other economies."