Library of Parliament Committee on May 24th, 2018

[Sonia L'Heureux]

I wouldn't say there's a body that approves per se, because what you have is a group of people—senior representatives of the Senate, the House, the Library, PPS from the security angle, and PSPC, which is actually doing the work—who come together on a regular basis as various working groups, as well as people at my level who come together every second week to look at where we are, what we need, and where we are going. That group works together.

When it comes to the House of Commons, there is obviously an interaction with the Speaker and the Board of Internal Economy. It's a similar thing with the Senate, where you have the Standing Committee on Internal Economy and the leadership of the Senate.

Until recently we haven't had an opportunity to interact with the committee, but I interact regularly with the two Speakers, who are in charge of the library. Basically, we work together in a working group and we each go back to what you might call our political leadership and make sure that whatever we commit or agree to is okay and acceptable. Then we come back together and continue working.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Thank you.

How much time do I have left?

[The Joint Chair, Liberal, Gagan Sikand]

You have 50 seconds.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Maybe you could just finish up on the boutique.

[Catherine MacLeod]

All right. We're pretty excited about the new boutique space. We're very cramped, as you may know, in the current location in Centre Block. It will more than double the size.

We're also looking, for the Government Conference Centre, at having for our senators pop-up. We've modernized our online shopping, and so on. We have been working over the last couple of years with a retail expert who manages the boutique to prepare for the big move, and we're hoping that our sales will continue to grow, as they have been.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Where will the new boutique be?

[Catherine MacLeod]

It will be in the visitor welcome centre adjacent to West Block.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Thank you.

[The Joint Chair, Liberal, Gagan Sikand]

Thank you.

Mr. Lauzon.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to welcome our witnesses this afternoon.

There are just a couple of things. Before I start, my colleague, Mr. Sorenson, insisted that I thank you and make sure that your staff are thanked for the great work they do, not only for the committees but for our staff. You folks and your staff do a great job, so please put that on the record and make sure they know we appreciate all the hard work they do.

I think in your comments you mentioned that the date of September 2019 is when this is all going to.... Is that a hard date, or is that a tentative date?

[Sonia L'Heureux]

For the web portion, that's March 2019. For September, we're targeting the school program. We want to start with the school year.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

That makes sense.

In your briefing, you said something about 3,000 people in the last year have used a certain meeting room, or a hall or something. Tell me what hall that is. What did you mean by that?

[Sonia L'Heureux]

That is our branch at the Wellington Building. We've been open a little over a year now at the Wellington Building. It's a bit of a pilot for us. It's a different design. I don't know if you have had an opportunity to visit that location. It has a completely different feel. We wanted to look at how people are reacting to that space.

One of the things that we came to realize is in high demand from parliamentarians over the last few years is meeting rooms. We have one meeting room here available to parliamentarians, and it's in high demand. A space where you can go and collaborate is also in high demand, a place where you can go and sit and not be bothered. I used to joke with some people that our poor parliamentarians, when they are not in a building where their offices are located, have two places to go: the cafeteria and the library. We're going to make it pleasant in the library. We can't influence the cafeteria.

That's the space where we've had those visits. It's at the Wellington Building, the library branch there.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

You say there are 700 people. Is this during a year? You said 3,000 visitors during a year, and 700 of them pursued questions or went to the staff there. How much of a staff do you have at that facility?

[Sonia L'Heureux]

The 700 is the people who come physically to the reference desk.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

How many people do you have answering these questions?

[Catherine MacLeod]

It would rotate. We have librarians on rotation, but it's quite a small counter. We usually have one or two in each of the smaller branches. We can get you a more specific answer.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

It's just that I think if you have two people there, or three people, or five people answering 700 inquiries in a year, it seems.... We do that in a constituency in a week. Is it possible that facility is overstaffed? Has somebody looked at that?

[Catherine MacLeod]

Maybe I can add a little bit more. The reference librarians who are at the desk, whether it be in Centre Block or in one of the branches such as Wellington, do other work as well. A lot of our requests come in via email, for instance, so when they are not serving a parliamentarian or a member of staff personally, they will be online dealing with requests or doing reference work apart from the face to face.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

It gives me a little more comfort. Thank you very much for that.

Can you tell me what your overall budget for the Library of Parliament is?

[Sonia L'Heureux]

I think it's about $45 million or $46 million. It has been fluctuating with the departure of the PBO and adding new things for the virtual release. I don't have the number in my head, but we can always follow up with you if you want.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

Thank you very much.

My colleague is going to take the rest of my time.

[The Joint Chair, Liberal, Gagan Sikand]

Mr. Saroya.

[Bob Saroya, Conservative, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Again, from our side, thank you for the great work. We're going to miss you, and we wish you the best on your next...out in the free world, I guess.

I have a quick question. We are going from the iconic buildings, everybody understands the Centre Block, the Peace Tower, among other things, to a number of beautiful branches I see.

What are your thoughts on the tourist industry? Have you thought about it in terms of the tourist industry? What sort of experience are they going to have?

[Sonia L'Heureux]

One of the things we've been doing over the past year or two is keeping the local tourist industry up to date on what we're doing. They are informed about the fact that we're going to be doing visits in the two new buildings. They are familiar with what's coming up. The big questions for the tourism industry.... They're selling an experience. They're selling an opportunity to come and visit these buildings.

One of the things we do not have the answer to is the planning assumption that we're moving in September. The actual formal approval of that is not something we have a hand in deciding, and we're waiting. What the tourism industry is looking for is when it starts. When do we shift from Centre Block to the new buildings? Unfortunately we're not in a position to confirm that date.