Halifax Regional Municipality Archives’ Submission to the
Royal Society of Canada’s Expert Panel on the Future of Libraries and Archives in Canada
Thank you to the Royal Society of Canada for this opportunity to comment on the future of
archives in Canada, and thank you to the panel members for your work synthesizing and
analyzing our input. This submission focuses on the state of one municipal archives within the
Nova Scotia and Canadian archival systems, and the framing questions regarding digitization
and resources:
1. What are the main challenges of born-digital material for your institution?
2. What role libraries and archives should take in the digitization , the dissemination and
the long-term preservation of Canadian heritage (print publications and archives)?
3. What percentage increase to your current budget would permit you to realize the
aspirations of your users? If you received an increased budget and consistent adequate
resources, describe your library/archives in 2017.
Mandate and Services of HRM Archives:
Halifax Regional Municipality Archives is a relatively recent addition to the network of archives
in Nova Scotia. Established in 2006 from the repatriation of municipal records from Canada’s
oldest public archives, the Nova Scotia Archives, HRM Archives’ mandate is to identify, acquire,
preserve and promote access to municipal government and non-government archival records
and publications documenting the history of our region.
HRM Archives is part of the municipality’s information management unit, and is staffed by one
full-time archivist supplemented by the occasional assistance of students, volunteers, and
externally-funded contract archivists. HRM Archives preserves approximately 3 linear km of
documents, 9,000 photographs, 20,000 maps and plans and some audio-visual material, and
responds to around 60 requests per month from academics, students, local residents,
developers, genealogists, media, creative artists, municipal staff and councillors, as well as
managing the constant ingest of new material transferred from departments and donated by
community groups. Our storage environment is adequate for most of our holdings, but does
not include the specialized environment that is optimal for photographs and audio-visual
holdings. Future storage space for the archives’ holdings is predicated on a reduction in the
storage required for paper semi-active records; we still are far from being a “paper-less”
municipality, however, and long-term storage capacity is a concern.
To promote the archives to our users and new audiences, we rely primarily on our web-site, our
on-line database and the municipality’s social media presence. While we occasionally put on

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displays, tours and other outreach activities to build awareness of our program, these can be
time-consuming and a strain on resources.
Acquisition of community records is welcome but not done proactively; we respond to
donations offered which fit our mandate, and participate in Nova Scotia’s Co-operative
Acquisition Strategy. The transfer of municipal government records is our chief priority.
As a government archives, we do not charge for public access to our holdings. Reproduction
fees are levied from public users under a cost-recovery model, while commercial users are
charged higher usage fees. We have limited drop-in reference hours (9hrs/wk) and also
respond to remote requests via phone or email. While we do not charge research fees, we do
limit the amount of research we will do for an external client (1hr/yr). The archival program is
financed through the Municipality’s Information Management budget, but has no budget
dedicated for preservation or digitization.
HRM Archives within the context of Provincial and National Archival Networks
HRM Archives relies on the mutual support available within the provincial and national archival
networks. The training, cooperative approaches and funding available through the Council of
Nova Scotia Archives (CNSA) and the Canadian Council of Archives (CCA) have been vital in
strengthening our local archival program.
HRM Archives uses the CNSA’s Archway provincial catalogue as another means of publicizing
our holdings; however we have no presence on Archives Canada, the national catalogue
because there have been no uploads from Archway since before we were established. The
renewed platform for Archives Canada will soon rectify this long-term problem.
There is a desperate need for a national funding program for archives. With the loss of the
National Archival Development Program (NADP), archival institutions across Canada are
struggling to meet their mandates to acquire and preserve documentary heritage. Of particular
concern is the looming challenge of digital preservation and increasing access to digital heritage
content online. For a small sum of money, the NADP had a high return on investment.
Because of the Archives’ limited resources, the majority of our efforts go into maintaining basic
operations. Most of our major processing projects have only been possible because of external
funding from programs such as the NADP. Since its creation in 2005, Halifax Regional
Municipality Archives has received over $50,000 in matched-funding through the NADP:
Year
2005
2006

2007

Received

Project
Preservation Assessment - to ensure our new facility met
$ 2,500.00 preservation standards and to recommend improvements
Description of Repatriated Material - made bulk of holdings
$ 8,450.00 accessible via our new on-line database
Preservation of Halifax City Engineer's Office Maps and Plans 500,000 reviewed, selected, described - including original Halifax
$12,331.00 City Hall architectural drawings and Africville settlement maps
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Year

Received

2008

$10,000.00

2009

$ 8,320.00

2010

$12,000.00

Total:

$53,601.00

Project
Halifax County Records Processing - made accessible Poor Farm and
County Home records among 50 other series
Microfilm Holdings Review - inventory work that is allowing fast and
cheaper digitization from the microfilm
Halifax Archival Processing Project -critical Clerk's Office records
including original lease to Point Pleasant Park, and large donation
from Halifax Civic Historian and Halifax waterfront preservation
activist Lou Collins
The fruits of much of this work can be seen at:
http://halifax.ca/archives

The NADP provided a vital training ground for new information professionals. The 13 recent
graduates we hired with federal money have gone on to work at various national and
international institutions, provincial councils of archives, universities, and even our own
institution. The NADP has provided these graduates with a head start in their careers, provided
critical hands-on experience, and allowed them to contribute meaningfully to the national
economy.
The NADP also funded training and advisory services through a strong network of provincial
councils and archives advisors. That network is now weakened as many of the archives advisors
were funded through the NADP. As an archives with few staff, HRM Archives counted on access
to these training opportunities to keep current to meet preservation challenges and to
contribute content to Canada`s on-line digital heritage.
The NADP is a stellar example for other jurisdictions to follow. When the Province of Nova
Scotia created its Provincial Archival Development Program in 2008, it was leveraged and based
on the NADP.
Challenges of Born-Digital Holdings:
1. What are the main challenges of born-digital material for your institution?
HRM Archives does not yet have a digital preservation strategy, policy or procedures. We
struggle to meet expectations to preserve and provide access to our current holdings, and are
not adequately prepared for the approaching digital onslaught. While staff has acquired some
experience in this area, training needs to be frequent in the continually changing realm of
digital preservation. Little high-level training and support is available in Canada, and even less
in the Maritimes.
HRM Archives is more fortunate than some small archives, as we have the support of an IT
department and work within the corporate information management unit to encourage good
digital record-creating practices. The challenges of long-term digital preservation are
specialized, however, and require different standards and best practices than regular IT
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security. Thus equipment and server space may be less scarce than the required expertise.
While many digital preservation processes can be automated, some, like migrating records from
obsolete carriers (eg. floppy discs), require considerable human-hours.
Elected officials are likely unaware of the potential loss of our digital documentary heritage.
There has been little leadership from either the provincial or federal governments in tackling
this issue. Canadian archivists look to the research efforts forging ahead in the U.S., Australia
and Europe for practical solutions and experience. The U.S. National Archives and the Library of
Congress have recognized this as their main challenge and have funded co-operative programs
like the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation (NDIIP). There are good
models for Canada to follow.
Role in Digitization
2. What role libraries and archives should take in the digitization , the dissemination
and the long-term preservation of Canadian heritage (print publications and
archives)?
For the most part, HRM Archives digitizes on-demand as clients request digital copies of
holdings, or as digital copies are needed for exhibits. We are able to digitize textual records,
photographs and microfilm on-site, but out-source any large-format, audio-visual or bulk
digitization. We are doing some bulk-digitizing of frequently-used records, some through the
support of the provincial archival funding program. Our digitized records are disseminated via
our web-site, and our on-line archives database, where records are presented in context and
with the value-added archival descriptions which enhance their usefulness.
Copyright restrictions do limit which digitized holdings we can make available on-line, but the
Copyright Act’s provisions for libraries, museums and archives do facilitate research.
Libraries and archives are excellent access points for Canada’s digitized content. We need to
consider more creative and bold funding sources to increase the quantity of that digital
content. We are under no illusion that we can digitize even a fraction of our holdings with
current funding. A more co-ordinated approach would ensure institutions are not digitizing the
same material and making their digital content universally available.
Users increasingly expect our holdings to be digitized and available on-line. We either need to
adjust that expectation because of the huge investment needed, or find a way to make that
investment. Our middle-road of mass digitization of frequently-used material and then
digitization-on-demand for the rest is currently the most we can do, but this means much
material of potential interest is hidden from on-line researchers. Archives have started out
digitizing their pretty, quirky or heavily-used material - but there is so much more.
Digitization funding must also consider that providing digital access involves more than
rendering a digital copy. Some records may require conservation before they can be digitized.
Without the metadata that should be recorded with the digital image, the item is useless, or at
least robbed of its context and the information that will allow it to be used legally into the
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future (copyright, technical details). That metadata is created by archivists and is built on the
archival arrangement and description that is a pre-requisite for digitization.
An Adequately Resourced Future
3. What percentage increase to your current budget would permit you to realize the
aspirations of your users? If you received an increased budget and consistent
adequate resources, describe your library/archives in 2017.
The aspirations of our users would be to have all of the Archives’ holdings arranged and
described and freely available on-line; to broaden our acquisitions to document more fully
activity in our region; to be more integrated into the local community; and offer responsive
reference services.
These expectations cannot be accomplished on our own, nor does it make sense to work
towards these goals in isolation. To achieve a cohesive and sustainable digital archival system
we must work co-operatively with other memory institutions, our local community, and a
strong provincial and national network of archives.
In an ideal scenario, tripling our budget would create an HRM Archives in 2017 that would:
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have three additional archivists to do processing, reference and outreach activities
increase or change our reference hours to allow evening and weekend access (at least
until everything is on-line!)
participate in and create outreach opportunities to integrate the archives in the local
community.
liaise with community groups (especially African Nova Scotian and Mi’kmaq groups) to
ensure a broader spectrum of the region’s activities are represented in our holdings.
Embark on proactive, targeted acquisition.
have a digital archivist and digital preservation lab to support digital preservation of our
born-digital and digitized holdings, and work with records creators to promote good
digital records-creation.
have environmentally-controlled storage appropriate to each record-type and with
adequate growth space to 2027.
be working towards financing a temporary army of digitizers to re-format our holdings
for digital accessibility

These are reasonable goals for a municipal archives, ones that we work towards as we can
within our present reality.
Thank you for this opportunity to explain our challenges and dream of a future where we can
meet those challenges and the expectations of our users. Please ask if you require any
clarification or further information.
Susan McClure, Municipal Archivist – archives@halifax.ca – 902-490-4643
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