Thank you.
Good afternoon, everyone.
Thank you for the opportunity to address the committee today.
My name is Hervé Déry, and since May of last year, I am the acting Librarian and Archivist of Canada. With me today is Cecilia Muir, our chief operating officer.
Library and Archives Canada has the unique mandate to acquire, preserve, and make available the documented heritage of Canada, including records of historical value of the Government of Canada. This documented heritage is rich and vast, and Canada's musical heritage is an important part of our unique collection.
As you know, LAC is not an organization that has a role in funding our national musical industry, nor does LAC play a direct role in terms of composition, performance, and production of Canadian musical culture. However, Library and Archives Canada does occupy an important position in the context of Canada's music industry because of our mandate as a memory institution. It is through LAC that the federal government actively supports acquisitions, preservation, and ongoing access to Canadian musical documentary heritage and achievements. The legal deposit ensures that we have a comprehensive collection of the Canadian music production.
We all know that most musical trends come and go from one generation to the next, popular performers rise and fall, and the technical changes domestically affect how music is recorded, delivered, performed, and consumed from year to year. As we did with cultural changes, one constant is the LAC mandate to collect and provide access to our heritage now and in the future.
The works produced and recorded nowadays will represent the musical heritage of future generations. So it is LAC's duty to acquire and preserve them. Library and Archives Canada is a trusted source for musicians, researchers and members of the public who are looking for information on Canada's musical heritage.
I would like to give you an overview of our long-term stewardship for Canada's music industry.
The LAC collections document all aspects of the industry. We have some 200,000 music recordings in all conceivable media—discs, punched tapes, reels, eight-track tapes, digital recordings, and so on.
We have some personal documents that belonged to famous artists such as Glenn Gould and Oscar Peterson, as well as documents produced by orchestras, record labels—like Compo, Canada's first independent record company—and many other people and groups from Canada. We also have published documents, such as books, music reviews, newsletters and magazines, from the 19th century to today.
LAC has acquired sheet music dating back to the 18th century, a collection amounting to over 20,000 songs, piano pieces, religious music, and parlour songs, including music by Canadians about Canada published around the world. This collection has been digitized and is accessible free on our website.
We also have an important collection of aboriginal music and song recordings. Many of these recordings are also available on LAC's website, including recordings from first nations, Inuit and Métis artists, and from the recording label that produced their work from the 1970s to the present. LAC also provides access to a Canadian music periodical index database, which contains almost 40,000 entries on articles dating from the late 19th century to the present day, from over 600 Canadian music journals, newsletters, and magazines.
Among the most important of these music journals was RPM Weekly, which began publication in February 1964. The goal of this magazine was to foster and promote a dynamic Canadian music industry. The publication ran for 36 years and helped shaped the face of Canadian music, including the establishment of Canadian content regulations and the creation of the Gold Leaf Awards, later renamed the Junos, and the Canadian Country Music Association Awards. LAC has digitized every shot of the top hits printed by RPM Weekly, about 10,000 shots, and this information is free and accessible online.
Another popular resource is LAC's virtual gramophone database, which contains information, images, and recordings from more than 15,000 78 rpm and cylinder recordings released in Canada, as well as foreign recordings featuring Canadian artists and compositions.
In addition to many online resources, our reading room on Wellington Street in Ottawa is equipped with audiovisual stations where researchers can access the musical heritage.
As far as preservation goes, every year, we make audiovisual migration part of our basic activities. We want to ensure that any content recorded in at-risk formats is transferred to stable and accessible media. We have already migrated over 50,000 hours of audio and visual recordings.
Another part of LAC's mandate is to serve as the continuing memory of the federal government. We receive and preserve federal departments' and agencies' documents of historical significance that support artists and entrepreneurs who create and broadcast music in Canada. Those government information sources document the policies and decisions that have helped Canada establish a thriving music culture and a world-renowned music industry. Library and Archives Canada will be pleased to continue acquiring, preserving and making accessible Canada's musical heritage.
Thanks again for the opportunity to speak before the standing committee on this important issue. We will be happy to answer your questions.