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Canadian Government Trucking Generations of Scientific Data To the Dump
sandbagger writes "Canada's science documents are literally being taken to the dump. The northern nation's scientific community has been up in arms over the holidays as local scientific libraries and records offices were closed and their shelves — some of which contained century old data — emptied into dumpsters. Stephen Harper's Tory government is claiming that the documents have been digitized. The scientists say, 'The people who use this research don’t have any say in what is being saved or tossed aside.'"
No. Seriously.
... is doomed to repeat it.
Does anyone else get the impression that we're on the downside of civilization?
Clearly there is a lot of smoke and hot air being generated, not sure if there is really much of a fire.
That’s no way to treat a library, scientists say
Their internationally renowned collections have been transferred to the two federal aquatic libraries that remain, in Sidney, B.C., and in Dartmouth, N.S. ...
Gail Shea, minister of fisheries and oceans, accuses critics of spreading “serious misinformation.” Her department insists there will be “no changes to the size or scope of the collection.”
In a statement emailed to the Star by her spokesperson, Shea said no more than a dozen nonemployees visited each library annually. And more than 95 per cent of documents provided to users were done so over the Internet.
“It’s not fair to taxpayers to make them pay for libraries that so few people actually used,” Shea says, explaining the government’s main reason for consolidating the collections. The closings will save $443,000 in 2014-2015, according to government estimates. .....
The research, Ayles argues, “is effectively lost because it’s no longer accessible. It’s like stuff in your grandfather’s basement.”
So the data hasn't disappeared, it's now in another library where it is less convenient to access.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
Google could have archived all that data like no one else on the planet. Canadian universities and libraries should have called them in before the obviously incompetent people showed up (or maybe save places not visited yet). Reminds me of the phrase: "We are from the government and we are here to help you."
They've only said that they have. I realize that it's considered poor form around here to read the article before commenting but...
---- The above post was generated by the Turing Institute. Maybe.
There's a war on science in this country. It's a disaster. And it'll continue at least until the next election, which may be years away. I'm ashamed of what's happening to my country.
-- hendrik, a Canadian.
It does seem sad that digitizing books leads to destruction of physical copies. I hope they are earnestly being offered to other libraries beforehand.
The point here is that the books are _not_ being digitized, and it is the _only_ copies which are being destroyed. This isn't the public library getting rid of their extra copies of "Fifty Shades of Gray", it's decades of scientific data being sent to dumpsters or outright burned. In many cases the destruction has been done without any attempt at identifying or recording the books being destroyed, so we may not even be able to know exactly what has been affected.
not to mention the fact that a lot of this research was paid for by the tax payer. This is knowledge that Canadian citizens have a right to access
I'm god, but it's a bit of a drag really...
Don't believe Shea's claims about the usage numbers. Those stats reflect people who requested help in using the libraries - relatively rare with specialized research collections where a host of users just get to work in what used to be showpiece collections. Many of these users came from the DFO institutions but also from outside, including academics, people in industry and other government employees. The provision of materials over the internet? Largely had to be digitized from library collections. Now we'll have neither the collections nor the librarians to do so.
The hasty closures and haphazard deaccessioning of these collections that represent substantial investments of taxpayer money over decades? Entirely the opposite of what conservatives claim to value - careful custody of a nation's heritage and citizen investment. (Canada's federal government is in the control of the Progressive Conservative party, hard at work muzzling the scientists supported by our tax dollars.)
From The Tyee's December 23 story on the topic, "What Driving Chaotic Dismantling of Canada's Science Libraries": Moreover records on library usage were overtly biased and based on who asked for help, said Burton Ayles, a retired director general for DFO who lives in Winnipeg and has used the Freshwater Institute library frequently.
"Most people that come in to the library don't have to request help. They just use the material. Just look at any regular library."
ancarett, historian and zombie gamer
And we're all Taxed to the Max. At the risk of being modded troll I'll point out that this is what happens when "Fiscal Con conservatives" get in power. You didn't think they were going to cut their own pet projects, did you? As the saying goes, this is why we can't have nice things...
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Actually this is a BIG deal.
The purpose of these department of fisheries and oceans (DFO) libraries was not for the general public to access them - they were for government scientists in these research centres be able able to proper research and be able to do studies on climate/fish-habitat change over time, which includes looking up past materials and reports. For a "non-employee" to access, these government libraries actually requires a fairly lengthy application process.
In the past, governments have relied on these scientists to give them accurate reports on what is happening in the environment, so the government could make informed policy decisions based on facts. Without good research materials this is very hard to do. (or maybe that's the point...)
One of the greatest losses will be "grey materials" - reports that are hard to find because they were never "officially published", and may not exist in any other library. Or they may exist elsewhere, but it requires a lengthy wait to locate the materials and have them shipped assuming the other library will lend them out. Reports are now coming in that very few of the materials are actually being scanned, and most are just being thrown out.
The move is especially disappointing because the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans (a politician) is saying this move will save "$443,000" over one year. This is the same federal government that spent $9 million dollars last year on advertising to make people feel better about their cell phone bills.
And, yes I'm Canadian. It's not a good situation.
(name withheld)
95% of requests were over the Internet, rather than in person - no surprise there, it's more accessible. We have no idea how many of the documents were available to be accessed this way, though.
No wait, we do. FTFA:
In late December, as outrage over the library closings grew, her department posted answers to 19 questions online. It gave the total size of the print collection as 660,000 items. Some 30,000 departmental publications are available online and more documents are being digitized. But many books can’t be digitized due to copyright laws.
So only 4.5% of documents are available online (assuming departmental publications == print collection, which I'm not sure about). Too soon to start throwing out entire collections, it seems - if ever.
Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
Stephen Harper's Tory government is claiming that the documents have been digitized.
Yeah, it's all ones and zeros now.
Harper - 1
Science - 0
What excuse does the Harper government have to burn first, ask "if" later?
Under transparency, there is no "if".
Harper has GOT to go . He's not only a foe to science but an enemy of the People of Canada.
what does this mean, "Trucking Generations of Scientific Data To the Dump" ?
Tricky. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that it means that they're taking recorded scientific data, sticking it in a truck and then driving that truck to a dump. In truth they might actually be putting the data in a skip (or dumpster for you North Americans) then lifting the dumpster on to the back of a truck then driving that truck to the dump, rather than loading the data directly into the truck. The headline is admittedly unclear in this aspect.
Presumably after the trucking (with or without a skip) they then empty the truck/skip into the dump rather than return it to the depot full of data or simply park the truck (with or without a skip or possibly just the skip alone) at the dump in perpetuity. I admit that this part is implied but I feel it is not an unreasonable inference.
Is trucking something to somewhere meant to be a pejorative
Yes. It would be much more acceptable if the data was delivered to the dump by an army of bike couriers. Then there would be no complaints whatsoever.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
How much did the LHC cost versus how much practical and EXPLOITABLE knowledge did it give us? I'm not talking about pretty graphs and charts and "a greater understanding of subatomic particles and how the universe works". I mean real, useful knowledge that can be applied to industrial processes?.
(A few hundred year back:)
"Yeah, what is the use of stacking copper and zinc plates so you can make sparks? Why not invest in something useful, like making a better cartwheel or ways to make slaves last longer?"
You seem to forget that MOST inventions come from knowledge that, when discovered, at first seemed to be totally useless. When laser was invented, nobody had any use for it, and look where we are now.
Dissing elemental science just because you don't see any short-term use for it is just stupid and exposes nothing but narrowmindedness.