Background: Library and Archives Canada Proposes to Outsource National Catalogue (AMICUS) to OCLC (April 2, 2014)
CLA’s concern over OCLC hosting the catalogue focuses on the availability of free MARC records that are available via the current AMICUS catalogue from Library and Archives Canada.
From British Columbia
On July 22, 2014 a letter sharing concerns about the proposal was sent to the new Librarian and Archivist of Canada, Guy Berthiaume, by the British Columbia Library Association.
The Canadian Association of Law Libraries sent a statement dated July 30, 2014 to Berthiaume supporting BCLA’s comments.
CLA’s Letter and Response
On August 5, 2014 the Canadian Library Association also sent a letter to Mr. Berthiaume that was posted online by CLA today. You can read it here.
It begins:
The Canadian Library Association (CLA), as the national voice for Canada’s libraries, is very concerned that access to MARC records be ongoing and freely available to all members of the library community.
We believe that the move to OCLC may seriously compromise this.
On August 26, 2014 Guy Berthiaume responded to the letter. His response, also posted by CLA earlier today, is available here.
See Also: On March 27, 2014 Myron Groover at Bibliocacy also expressed concern over the proposal.
About Gary Price
