21 October 2008

Ireland follows Canada

Although I can find no confirmation, according to a posting in Lorcan Dempsey's weblog Ireland plans on following the model established by Canada in amalgamating the National Library and the National Archives. Also included will be the Manuscripts Commission.

In Ottawa the existing physical co-location of the two institutions made an obvious case for eliminating duplication and conflict within the building. But people still debate whether the amalgamation of NAC and NLC to form LAC was beneficial for the missions. Some feel the National Library got much the short end of the stick. I wonder if newspapers wouldn't have been so neglected, and newspaper digitization been pursued with greater vigour, if the National Library had remained independent?

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