Preservation Management and Circulation

Preservation management involves developing policies, standards and guidelines for the long-term preservation of the collections held by the Library and Archives Canada; ensuring the safe custody and security of the records at all times and in all places; providing proper storage conditions and accommodation; surveying the collections to assess their physical condition; and developing comprehensive long-term and short-term plans for their treatment, copying and housing requirements. Preservation media specialists contribute to these activities and provide preservation advice to colleagues in the department, associates in other cultural institutions, and to the public.

A very active loans program provides support to the exhibition programs and film festivals of other national and international institutions and associations, and in turn allows LAC to give broader access to its cultural treasures in locations across Canada and around the world to audiences numbering in the hundreds of thousands. Staff also coordinate preservation activities to assist with LAC's exhibition program and supervise filming of archival records by the media in support of the department’s public service program.

Circulation services are provided to researchers accessing the heritage collections of LAC, and to staff who work with the holdings to describe, process and preserve them.

Preservation specialists provide disaster preparedness training for the department’s Response Action Team and 24 hour on-call disaster service for the department.


Date Modified: 2006-03-16	Top of page	Important Notices