Evidence of meeting #2 for Library of Parliament in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was documents.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Joint Chair  Hon. Lucie Moncion (Senator, Ontario, ISG)
Sonia L'Heureux  Parliamentary Librarian, Library of Parliament
Terry M. Mercer  Senator, Nova Scotia (Northend Halifax), Lib.
Catherine MacLeod  Assistant Parliamentary Librarian, Library of Parliament
Sonia Bebbington  Director General, Information and Document Resource Service, Library of Parliament
Lynn Potter  Chief Financial Officer and Director General, Business Support Services, Library of Parliament
Michael Duffy  Senator, Prince Edward Island (Cavendish), ISG

12:50 p.m.

Conservative

Bob Saroya Conservative Markham—Unionville, ON

I have one last question, a tiny one.

12:50 p.m.

The Joint Chair Hon. Lucie Moncion

You have 10 seconds.

12:50 p.m.

Conservative

Bob Saroya Conservative Markham—Unionville, ON

Does the technology exist to make PDF files accessible? Does the library own that technology?

12:50 p.m.

Director General, Information and Document Resource Service, Library of Parliament

Sonia Bebbington

The technology exists. The library owns the technology. The process to reverse-engineer accessibility into something that we receive in print is really quite labour intensive and was something that was difficult for us to undertake given those previous resourcing limitations in the time we had between 2014 and our appearance here today.

12:50 p.m.

The Joint Chair Hon. Lucie Moncion

We will now begin our second round.

Ms. Quach, you have the floor.

12:50 p.m.

NDP

Anne Minh-Thu Quach NDP Salaberry—Suroît, QC

Thank you, Madam Chair.

With regard to the votes concerning Library of Parliament expenses, there is in fact a major difference between planned expenditures, authorized votes and real expenditures. I examined the 2015-2016 budget mostly. I think there is a difference of almost $1 million.

How is it that that was not spent? And yet, the planned expenditures were higher and the budget that was authorized was also. Why was that money not spent?

12:50 p.m.

Parliamentary Librarian, Library of Parliament

Sonia L'Heureux

I don't have the same data as you.

May I say that 2015-2016 was an election year. It was an election year, and the campaign was quite long. Essentially from July until the end of January or the beginning of February, Parliament did not sit. That had an impact on the amount of money we spent over the year. It was because of the election.

12:50 p.m.

NDP

Anne Minh-Thu Quach NDP Salaberry—Suroît, QC

But the election had been planned.

12:50 p.m.

Parliamentary Librarian, Library of Parliament

Sonia L'Heureux

Yes, it was planned but...

12:50 p.m.

NDP

Anne Minh-Thu Quach NDP Salaberry—Suroît, QC

You didn't expect the election campaign to be that long. Neither did we. Ha, ha!

With regard to human resources, how do you ensure that there is a diverse workforce?

For instance, how many francophones, members of cultural minorities, and indigenous people do research to answer the questions on various issues? Do you have that information?

12:50 p.m.

Chief Financial Officer and Director General, Business Support Services, Library of Parliament

Lynn Potter

I can provide some information right now. As for the rest, I can certainly provide it later.

Regarding official languages, we have a good balance between English and French as official languages at the library. As for cultural diversity, I don't have the data in hand, but it exists and we can provide the necessary information.

12:50 p.m.

NDP

Anne Minh-Thu Quach NDP Salaberry—Suroît, QC

I'd also like to have the data on indigenous people.

12:50 p.m.

Chief Financial Officer and Director General, Business Support Services, Library of Parliament

Lynn Potter

Certainly.

12:50 p.m.

NDP

Anne Minh-Thu Quach NDP Salaberry—Suroît, QC

Did you follow quotas, or is this a hiring concern that is taken into account by the head of the library?

12:50 p.m.

Chief Financial Officer and Director General, Business Support Services, Library of Parliament

Lynn Potter

It is a concern, and it's very difficult given our small size. Of course, we follow certain rules. We analyze our statistics on a regular basis. In fact, we have just put in place a new human resources and financial system that will be better able to capture that information, and that is not something we could do in the past.

12:55 p.m.

NDP

Anne Minh-Thu Quach NDP Salaberry—Suroît, QC

Fine.

I'd like to go back to the digitization issue. Since you don't necessarily have the power to investigate or ask questions, perhaps we at the committee could ask one of the clerks of the House of Commons who holds the discussions with the Privy Council to testify. Perhaps the committee could do that?

I don't know if I should move a motion, but if that is why the digitization file and the 2014 motion are completely frozen, perhaps we could ask one of the clerks of the House and a member of the Privy Council committee to testify before the end of the parliamentary session.

12:55 p.m.

The Joint Chair Hon. Lucie Moncion

That's a good idea. However, I suggest that we let our own clerks find the best people who could provide answers. I suggest that we then ask for a plan.

Rather than doing that through a motion, we could perhaps simply write it in the notes and ask that this be brought up at a meeting before the end of the session.

12:55 p.m.

NDP

Anne Minh-Thu Quach NDP Salaberry—Suroît, QC

Fine, that's good.

12:55 p.m.

The Joint Chair Hon. Lucie Moncion

Does that work for you?

12:55 p.m.

NDP

Anne Minh-Thu Quach NDP Salaberry—Suroît, QC

Yes.

12:55 p.m.

The Joint Chair Hon. Lucie Moncion

Mr. Ouellette, you have the floor.

12:55 p.m.

Liberal

Robert-Falcon Ouellette Liberal Winnipeg Centre, MB

I was just wondering when the last review of services was done with members of Parliament and senators.

12:55 p.m.

Parliamentary Librarian, Library of Parliament

Sonia L'Heureux

Can you specify what you mean by “last review of services?”

12:55 p.m.

Liberal

Robert-Falcon Ouellette Liberal Winnipeg Centre, MB

For instance, I'm a new MP here and have been here for two years and have never had anyone from the Library of Parliament ask my opinion about the services I've received since I've been here. I was wondering when the last time was that the Library of Parliament conducted a review of the services offered.

Sometimes—I have to be honest—I find it very labyrinth-like and very daunting to use all the services, whether to figure out where you're going or to understand which part of the system you need to address yourself to. I'm wondering whether we've actually had a review to maybe streamline those services or make them more user-friendly.

12:55 p.m.

Parliamentary Librarian, Library of Parliament

Sonia L'Heureux

The exercise in 2012, when we had a budget reduction, was one time when there was input from this committee concerning the service offerings. Since the last election, this committee has not had an opportunity to meet. It would be typically this committee that would be representative of the wider population of parliamentarians.

We have conducted various exercises to seek feedback. We've done it by meeting with chairs of committees. We've met with—I forget the term—chairs of parliamentary associations as well to see how our products or services were responding to the needs of those user groups. We haven't recently done a fulsome, detailed review of all of our services.