What's Driving Chaotic Dismantling of Canada's Science Libraries?

[n2doc]

By Andrew Nikiforuk, 23 Dec 2013, TheTyee.ca

Scientists say the closure of some of the world's finest fishery, ocean and environmental libraries by the Harper government has been so chaotic that irreplaceable collections of intellectual capital built by Canadian taxpayers for future generations has been lost forever.

Many collections such as the Maurice Lamontagne Institute Library in Mont-Joli, Québec ended up in dumpsters while others such as Winnipeg's historic Freshwater Institute library were scavenged by citizens, scientists and local environmental consultants. Others were burned or went to landfills, say scientists.

Furthermore, the government is falsely claiming that vital content is being retained by extensively digitizing material from nine regional libraries that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) whittled down to two.

"The Department has claimed that all useful information from the closed libraries is available in digital form. This is simply not true. Much of the material is lost forever," reports one DFO scientist who requested not to be named.

more
http://m.thetyee.ca/News/2013/12/23/Canadian-Science-Libraries/

[Moliere]

1. More anti-science agendas at work

We really all are heading back to the middle ages

[Wounded Bear]

2. I guess it depends on your definition of "useful information"...

We seem to have infected our northern neighbor with our anti-intellectualism.

Sorry, Canada.

[2naSalit]

3. It seems to be

part of the pogrom to remove all intellectual property such that claims made by the oligarchs of oil cannot be disproven. Isn't that what Pol Pot did? He also killed off anyone who could read and those who could teach and those who wore glasses...

History repeating itself by the next generation of the same kind of players?

[applegrove]

4. Harper loves controlling what information is available to the public. First it was

the long form census cancelled, now this. What type of world does he want Canada to be living in? One where only people who can afford expensive information have it?

[defacto7]

5. If this is true...

then it really is the beginning of the end for humanity as an advancing civilization. The outcome will be our undoing. This catastrophic ideological destruction of information must stop. Dare I mention the libraries of ancient Greece? If you think this opinion is over the top you would be mistaken.

[gtar100]

6. The fate of the Library of Alexandria all over again.

Who says conservatives don't learn from the past.


Oh, they really don't. They just repeat it. Especially the sucky parts.