Canada’s national archives being dismantled and scattered
One the one hand, I can kinda approve… decentralizing important functions is a generally good idea, if you can do it. And since archives can be digitized, decentralization becomes easy. But then there’s this:
A generous estimate is only 4% of the LAC collection has been digitized to date — a poor record that will be made worse by the cuts announced on April 30, 2012, which reduced digitization staff by 50%.”
Errr… bad idea. Once the archive is fully scanned – at high resolution with minimal compression – then scattering it about can make sense. The last thing Canada needs is suicide bomb attacks by jihadi polar bears taking out their cultural memory.
And even after the collection is wholly scanned and decentralized, the archive will still need a knowledgeable and skilled staff. People with valid research to do will need assistance, and even Google is not an adequate replacement for a human who knows what’s what and where. Additionally, a good staff will be needed to acquire and deal with new items.