Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to respond to the member opposite on the issue of the closure of the library of the Maurice-Lamontagne Institute in Mont Joli, Quebec.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada provides library services to its staff in support of the department's mandate. The department's libraries contain one of the world's most comprehensive collections of information on fisheries, aquatic sciences and nautical sciences. These very specialized collections also support researchers in other segments of the Canadian economy.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada recognizes that library service is evolving as more and more Canadians are turning to electronic sources and the Internet to search for resources and information. This willingness to look online, coupled with an increasing presence of information online, including electronic scientific journals, has enabled the department to consider consolidating its library resources.
The power of the Internet in facilitating access to library resources is already evident at Fisheries and Oceans Canada. For example, in just one year, over 96% of client requests were addressed virtually. Accessing the service from their own desks, clients downloaded over 137,000 articles. They used the WAVES catalogue over 7,500 times and contacted library staff via phone or email almost 8,000 times.
Complementing this shift is the fact that 95% of the annual library acquisition budget is spent on access to online journals and other digital research tools. The department's library modernization initiative takes advantage of increasingly sophisticated technologies as a preferred means for the availability of library resources.
While the hon. member feels our government is doing away with knowledge, this is not the case. The Fisheries and Oceans Canada entire library collection will remain available throughout two principle locations: Sidney, British Columbia and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. There will also be two specialized libraries to support the Canadian Coast Guard located in Sydney, Nova Scotia and here in the National Capital Region in Ottawa.
In addition, all material in the library collection for which the crown owns copyright can be digitized for a client by staff located in the aforementioned locations. Materials are often available freely in digital form on the Internet provided by international bodies, all levels of government both within Canada and internationally, and research institutes.
On request, portions of publications will be scanned and emailed where allowed by intellectual property rights and copyright law or, failing that, shipped to requesters. In addition, the department will ship entire publications to clients on loan as necessary. Fisheries and Oceans Canada is aware of intellectual property rights, including copyright, of information owners in its delivery of library services to clients and will continue to respect these rights.
In addition, Fisheries and Oceans Canada library services will continue to be offered in English and French. The department's library modernization initiative has been designed to respect this requirement. The French language reference documents to which the hon. member refers will continue to be available on request and there will be permanent, full-time, bilingual staff at the locations in Sidney, B.C. and Dartmouth to meet the demands of Francophone clients.
In conclusion, all currently available library resources will continue to remain available to Fisheries and Oceans Canada clients both in Quebec and across Canada. The only change is the process to search for and acquire them.