Victoria News: Library “will be downsized”

So much for Speaker Barisoff’s  claim that no final decisions have been made.

Library closing 

By Brennan Clarke
News staff
bclarke@vicnews.com
Mar 21 2007

Ex-librarian says premier wants space for office

Plans to close the B.C. legislature’s library have raised the ire of the facility’s longtime librarian, Joan Barton, a woman who once wrote a report recommending the space be “converted to other use.”

In a 1992 report to then-speaker of the House Joan Sawicki, Barton noted that “alternative space for the library would certainly go a long way toward solving the space problems of the other legislative services.”

The difference between then and now, said Barton, is the government has no plans for a new building to house the library’s expansive collection and wants to put the bulk of the collection in storage in a Saanich warehouse, contrary to the provisions of the province’s Library Act.

“The Library Act states that these materials must be located conveniently close to the chamber. The actual wording is they’re supposed to be able to hear the bell (announcing the house is in session) ring,” said Barton, who retired in 2003 after a 30-year career as legislative librarian.

The legislature has been running out of space for decades and at one time housed the Royal B.C. Museum and the provincial archives, she said. Both of those entities were moved “in an orderly fashion” into new spaces designed specifically for them.

“They could solve their space problem by building a new library,” she said. “But absolutely no planning has been done for the library move.”

Barton said the library space, coveted by a long line of B.C. politicians, is slated to become office space for the premier, his staff and other MLAs.

“He wishes to to move his office into the library rotunda. I know because he was in there pointing out where people would be having their desks and (library) staff were present at the time,” Barton said.

Campbell’s office did not return calls from the Victoria News by Monday’s deadline.

Barton’s 1992 report, one of several to address the legislature’s space crunch and suggest moving the library over the last three decades, was dutifully given to a reporter by the Speaker’s office Monday.

Speaker Bill Barisoff, whose portfolio includes the upkeep of the legislature, said the legislative management committee “hasn’t made a decision on how we think we’ll best use the space in that building.”

Instead, Barisoff portrayed the move as a temporary measure needed to make way for seismic upgrades.

“The library was never meant to be closed. We’re going to keep operating it within the precinct,” he said.

About one-third of the library’s materials – the “core collection” – will be moved to the building on Superior Street, while the other two-thirds will be placed in storage.

The library’s 29 staff members were told Friday the facility will be moving soon.

Barisoff said none of those affected will lose their jobs. Fifteen of the employees will manage the core collection, while the other 14 will be placed elsewhere in government.

	Dunc Malcolm/News staff The legislative library is being turfed out to make room for MLA offices. A library employee who wished to remain anonymous confirmed that staff were informed last week that the library will be downsized and relocated and much of its collection will be placed in permanent storage.

A Victoria MLA speaks out

The response from opposition MLAs on the Legislative Library controversy has been underwhelming so far, but Victoria MLA Rob Fleming has stepped forward to defend our democratic heritage:

NDP MLAs say library shouldn’t close or move

Times Colonist
Published: Thursday, March 22, 2007

There has been widespread speculation about the future of the B.C. legislative library. Even though no decision has been made about its future, I am writing to make clear that New Democrat MLAs believe that the library should remain where it is now.

New Democrat MLAs from the south Island share the strong attachment our constituents have to the library and we are committed to protecting this vital institution.

Rob Fleming, MLA,
Victoria-Hillside

Anyone who wishes to thank Mr. Fleming for his support may contact him via his home page.

Discover your Legislative Library

From the Legislature website’s Discover your Legislature: Place

Legislative Library

The Legislative Library occupies its own wing of the Parliament Buildings, an addition to the original building that was completed in 1915.

The first Legislative Library was founded in 1863 to serve the colonial Legislative Assembly of the Crown Colony of Vancouver Island. The early collection included material related to the history of British Columbia, which later became the British Columbia Archives. By 1893, R.E.Gosnell had been appointed the first permanent librarian.

The one room used for the library in the Parliament Buildings was totally inadequate for an institution intended to serve the Legislative Assembly and all British Columbians and to house the many valuable historical documents and artifacts of the library.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Connaught, Governor-General of Canada laid the foundation stone for the library wing in 1912, a time of relative prosperity in B.C. It was praised as the first “modern” building designed specifically to house a library in any of the provinces of Canada.

The library continues to provide reference and research services to the Members of the Legislative Assembly, their research staff, the officers of the House and legislative support staff. It no longer houses the British Columbia Archives, that moved to its own building in 1970.

The Legislative Library maintains a core collection of materials on political science, parliamentary procedure, law, public administration, economics and Canadian history. It also serves as the official depository library for British Columbia government publications and has extensive holdings of Canadian federal and provincial publications.

Interior

The library is located adjacent to the Speaker’s corridor, just behind the legislative Chamber, on the second floor of the Parliament Buildings. As one proceeds down the hallway, the library rotunda and reference desk become increasingly visible, and there is growing anticipation about the splendour to be revealed. The library rotunda is three storeys high, with gallery openings on the second floor. It is finished in Italian Carrara marble and punctuated with eight giant columns, a perfect complement to the classic architectural features of the rest of the building. The walls are panelled in marble and the rotunda’s impressive eight columns are made from scagliola, an Italian neo-classical revival of stone and plaster intended to imitate marble. One architectural critic humorously noted that the impression upon entering the library was “not that you’ve come to study, but that you have drowned in a Roman bathhouse.” However, most visitors agree that the rotunda reflects the dramatic splendour and decadence of the late imperial age. One striking feature of the rotunda is the eight large heraldic beasts that peer down over librarians and library users.

The two reading rooms adjacent to the library rotunda are panelled in mahogany and decorated with elaborate wood carvings. The Members’ Reading Room features a fine example of hand-carved limewood in the style of 17th century English sculptor Grinling Gibbons. They were carved for the library by H.H. Martyn & Co., of Cheltenham, England, also known as the “Cheltenham School.” The vast library collection is spread out over seven floors, accessed by the staff using stairways, a dumbwaiter and the second-oldest working elevator in Victoria. The oldest is reportedly at the former law courts building in Bastion Square, now the Maritime Museum of British Columbia.

Exterior

The east, west and south wing additions to the Parliament Buildings were completed in 1915. Like the original 1898 buildings, the additions were designed by F.M. Rattenbury. His first plans for the library’s south wing called for an impressive chateau-style design, but this was thought to be too grandiose and earned the disapproval of the Legislative Librarian, E.O.S. Scholefield. Although the final plans were a compromise, the library wing still emerged as the most ornate portion of the buildings. The addition of the three wings cost almost $1.2 million, considerably more than the $928,000 cost of the original buildings in 1898. However, little opposition was raised about the addition costs since the province was enjoying an economic boom at that time.

Among the library’s interesting features are the portico entrance and the sculptures of historical and mythological figures adorning the outer walls. The portico entrance features the original gates from the pre-1915 south entrance to the Parliament Buildings. Rattenbury never intended this library entrance to be used. It was added primarily for architectural effect. Scholefield himself chose the historical and mythical figures represented in the sculptures adorning the exterior of the Library.

Visitors first notice the fourteen tall statutes 2.74 metres (9 feet), that grace the exterior walls. Each one is connected in some way to British Columbia’s early history. The female figures represent the arts of painting, music, sculpture and architecture. Six literary medallions depict Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Socrates, Milton and Sophocles. Two craftsmen, Charles Marega and Bernard Carrier, sculpted these classical statues from the same Haddington Island stone used in the construction of the buildings.

The Exterior Statues:

Beginning on the east side and moving westward, the figures include:

Chief Maquinna, the Nootka chief who welcomed the first white explorers who landed on Vancouver Island in 1778.

Captain George Vancouver, the explorer who is credited with first circumnavigating Vancouver
Island.

Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie, the first Chief Justice of British Columbia.

Dr. John McLoughlin, a Chief Factor of the Hudson’s Bay Company.

Dr. J.S. Helmcken, an early Victoria surgeon and politician who helped negotiate British Columbia’s terms of Confederation.

Captain James Cook, the British naval Captain who discovered and named Nootka Sound in 1778.

Sir James Douglas, the founder of Fort Victoria and Governor of the Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia.

Sir Frances Drake, the 16th-century explorer and the first Englishman in the North Pacific, in 1579.

Sir Alexander Mackenzie, the North West Company explorer who, in 1793, was the first white man to traverse the continent north of Mexico.

Simon Fraser, the early fur trader and explorer who followed the Fraser River to its mouth in 1808.

Lord Lytton, the British Colonial Secretary who created the mainland colony of British Columbia in 1858.

Sir Anthony Musgrave, British Columbia’s first colonial Governor, who expedited the province’s entry into Confederation in 1871.

David Thompson, an early 19th-century fur trader and explorer who charted British Columbia’s
interior.

Colonel R.C. Moody, a Commander of the Royal Engineers who surveyed many of the province’s
townsites.

Past renovations at the Legislature

From the Legislature’s “Self-Directed Guide Book“:

Today, the Reception Hall is occasionally used for special functions and receptions, but forty years ago it was still office-space for the former Department of Lands and Forests. At that time the space was partitioned into cubicles and had peach-coloured walls and red battleship linoleum on the floor. During the restoration, the ceiling of this room was discovered and restored to its original Early French Renaissance style. When the linoleum was lifted, restorers recovered the original parquet of local Douglas fir.

If the present government goes ahead with the plan to convert the Legislative Library to offices will history repeat itself? Will some future generation be forced, at their expense, to restore the heritage their ancestors so callously threw away?

Update from Vancouver Association of Law Libraries

The Vancouver Association of Law Libraries has put together an update on the situation at the Legislative Library with helpful action points. View the pdf document here.

Update on Matrix Planning Associates report

It’s amazing what you can find out when you consult a professional librarian! I was unable to find the 1988 report by Matrix Planning Associates in the Legislative Library online catalogue, but a quick phone call revealed that it is indeed conveniently located just down the hall from those who would like to eliminate the library. The reason I couldn’t find the report was because it was authored by a previous incarnation of Matrix, William Wood Consulting Ltd., and it appears that it was published in 1993, five years after it was completed. Why the delay in making the report public? I wonder if there are any other reports out there that we don’t know about?

In case anyone would like to go down and read this report, it is titled “Facilities study, Legislative Library, Parliament Buildings, Victoria, British Columbia,” with the call number Gov Doc BC B62 D:F2L4 1988. I’ll hopefully be taking a look at it this week. Stay tuned.

Reaction in the blogosphere

Here’s a quick roundup of what bloggers are saying about this issue.

LibTech Life: “The Legislative Library houses an important piece in this province’s history. Limiting its access by boxing it up and sticking it in a warehouse would be a shame. Let’s hope the library still has a future.”

Offal News: “The fact that the BC legislature has closed their library without any explanation or replacement will hobble all the members of their legislature whether they realize it or not.”

Flotsam and Jetsam: “Rattenbury is no doubt spinning in his grave end over end…”

slaw.ca, Library Tech Confidential, Concerned Librarians of British Columbia have also linked to the news stories.

Keep it coming, bloggers!

“Historic legislative library faces uncertain fate”

Here is the full version of the story first printed in the Vancouver Sun on March 16, 2007.

Historic legislative library faces uncertain fate
90-year-old facility to be closed for upgrade but may move permanently

Miro Cernetig
Vancouver Sun; with file from CanWest News Service

Saturday, March 17, 2007

VICTORIA – It has existed for 144 years as one of B.C.’s great democratic institutions: The library within the legislative buildings devoted to tirelessly researching and cataloguing the political events, laws and history of British Columbia.

But B.C.’s Speaker of the House, claiming the legislative library is in a wing that needs to be seismically upgraded, is about to close the library down for up to two years, and perhaps move it from its historic site for good.

About half the 30 librarians will be sent to other jobs in government. The millions of precious items in the library’s dusty stacks — historical Canadian documents filled with esoteric government business dating back before Confederation — will be sent to a warehouse.

“There will still be a library on the legislature’s precinct,” said Speaker Bill Barisoff, who holds the library’s fate in his hands. “The only thing difference will be the location of the books.”

That isn’t good enough for those who see the library, which has been at its current site for 90 years ago, as an important resource for non-partisan research in the heat of political debate. Documents that can sometimes be found nowhere else can be signed out by politicians, academics and journalists in a few minutes, often in time for deadlines and ongoing debates.

“It’s a tragedy,” said veteran Times Colonist columnist Jim Hume, who has used the library for more than 50 years. “My God, if the legislative chamber is the heart of the legislature, the library is its soul . . . . This is our history. If you really want to do research, you use the library where you can find everything, not the Internet.”

Barisoff said it is unclear where the contents of the library will be warehoused, but promised that materials can be available to users within 24 hours.

The New Democratic Party, which relies on the library for its research, as opposition parties always have, said nobody should panic. NDP house leader Mike Farnworth said the library will not be “banished” and that the “core collection” will stay near the legislature, if not in it.

The uncertain fate of the library only became public knowledge Friday morning, when reporters walked in for some research and were met by teary-eyed librarians.

The library here is under siege while the federal government has recognized the importance of having a library of Parliament. More than $136 million was spent on refurbishing that institution over four years and it was reopened to widespread praise.

But word is that the government covets the library’s five marble floors — all housed under a towering dome that covers cosy reading rooms with a fireplace — for office space. The legislature has faced a space crunch for decades as the number of MLAs steadily expands — now at 79 and with another four expected after the current review of electoral boundaries.

In recent weeks, Premier Gordon Campbell, a book lover who likes to promote literacy as one of the great goals for the province, checked out the facility, but not any books. That raised librarians’ suspicions something was up as the government eyes a major refit of the legislature.

Joan Barton, who ran the library for more than 30 years, told the Times Colonist the legislature’s space crunch has been long ignored and has now precipitated a rush to action. “Now they’re in crisis mode, and the premier’s office is driving this agenda,” she said, dismissing the argument that in the digital age a legislative library a few hundred metres away from the debating chamber is a waste of space.

“There is no such thing as ‘everything is on the Internet,’ ” she said. “When you say that to a librarian, they’re too polite to say so, but their first thought is: ‘I’m dealing with an idiot.’ “

mcernetig@png.canwest.com

FOR THE RECORD(S)

1863 — Library is founded with a grant of £250 to serve the Colonial Legislature of Vancouver Island.

1893 — The first librarian, R.E. Gosnell, a close friend of Premier Sir Richard McBride, establishes a separate collection of material relating to B.C. history. That forms the nucleus of the provincial archives.

1898 — Known as the Provincial Library, the collection begins a travelling library service to bring books to British Columbians because of a lack of libraries.

1974 — The library is re-christened the Legislative Library and focuses on serving the legislature, its MLAs, academics and the press gallery.

1985 — The Speaker of the Legislature takes over management and control of the library.

March 16, 2007 — News leaks out that the government plans to shut the library for up to two years for seismic upgrading and likely move it to another location.

Letters to the editor

Here are some of today’s letters to the editor of the Victoria Times-Colonist.

Save the library

Times Colonist
Tuesday, March 20, 2007

It’s truly astounding that a premier who promotes literacy would consider closing the legislative library. While I understand the space shortage, the voraciousness of wanting it for parties and receptions just because it is beautiful is repugnant.

The library should be preserved as a heritage site.

Pieta VanDyke,
Victoria.

Library’s documents cannot be in storage

Times Colonist
Tuesday, March 20, 2007

My father worked in the legislative library for 28 years, the later years in charge of government documents. Part of his work (and other of the staff) was to supply reference material to the MLAs during sessions, no matter how late an hour the house ran.

Opposition members could check on what was promised in former sessions and all could look up laws, etc. There is a serious reason for its existence. It is not simply a collection of fictional works.

I cannot understand how our elected members can have so little appreciation of the value of the library. The books of a library should be in the library, not in a warehouse across the street. This is supposed to be a government that promotes education. A library is a depository of knowledge as well as works of the imagination.

Does Speaker Bill Barisoff really expect a staff member to go out in the dark, possibly in the rain, and retrieve an item from some area on Superior Street? Has he really considered the logistics of retrieving material?

Reference librarians have special training to find material. Not everything is on the Internet. Perhaps this is a case of “spending a day in someone else’s shoes.” What is the government thinking?

The parliament buildings exist for the governing of our province, not so that a few select politicians can have wine and cheese parties.

Joyce Harrison,
Victoria.

No vanity spaces for our MLAs

Times Colonist
Tuesday, March 20, 2007

The plans for the legislative library sound ominously like the government’s earlier intention of moving Victoria’s Land Registry to New Westminster without credible regard to why it shouldn’t be. Luckily the First Nations stopped it.

Librarians who know the usefulness of their work and the diligence effect of a library atmosphere convenient for users don’t have that clout. For citizens, the quotes of former head librarian Joan Barton on the lack of space planning ring true.

Given the level of citizen distrust of government motivation shown in its recent “Conversation on Health” session, what is the standard for the government’s public accounting for its library intention that allows sensible challenge?

It should honestly state its intention, who it thinks would benefit from the intention, how they would benefit and why they should in the manner intended; and who it thinks would bear what costs and risks and why they should — both immediately and in the longer term.

No intention advances until knowledgeable people have publicly challenged the premier’s assertions and have had them audited for their fairness and completeness, including the dollars. It’s not a Speaker decision; it’s the executive government’s.

The increased number of MLAs may well mean new efficient offices, but they don’t need to create vanity space.

Henry McCandless,
Victoria.

“Legislative library will be closed to make space for offices”

From the Vancouver Sun.

Legislative library will be closed to make space for offices
 
Miro Cernetig
Vancouver Sun

Friday, March 16, 2007

VICTORIA — It has existed for 144 years as one of B.C.’s great democratic institutions: The library housed inside the capital’s legislative buildings devoted to tirelessly researching and cataloguing the political events, laws and history of British Columbia.
But B.C.’s Speaker of the House is about to close the legislative library down for up to two years, and perhaps move it for good from its historic site, claiming it is in a wing of the legislature that needs to be seismically upgraded to make it safe in an earthquake.

About half the 30 librarians will be sent to other jobs in government. As for the millions of precious, and in some cases priceless, materials in its dusty stacks, a treasure trove of Canadian history filled with the esoteric businesses of governments dating back before Confederation, will be sent to a warehouse. It’s also not clear the institution will ever come back to the legislature since the politicians, who are are short on space, have been eying the cavernous space for a warren of offices.

“There will still be a library on the legislature’s precinct (the property around the legislature),” Speaker Bill Barisoff, who holds the library’s fate in his hands. “The only thing different will be the location of the books.”

That wasn’t good enough for those who see the library — first moved into the legilsature aboout 90 years ago — as an important outlet for nonpartisan research in the heat of political debate.

Documents that can sometimes be found nowhere else — or take weeks to obtain — can be signed out by politicians, academics and journalists in a few minutes, often in time for deadlines and ongoing debates.