INNOVATION May-June 2014

Another reason that skeptics may question maintaining a techni- cal library, especially one focused on geosciences, is based on federal policies of the last decade. The intention is to reduce or end long- standing administrative overlap with provincial responsibilities. For decades, the provinces did not complain while the senior govern- ment paid the bills for specialist scientists and their laboratories, libraries and costly fieldwork. Despite our Constitution assigning lands and resources to the provinces, the federal government has borne much of the cost of research and applied science in geology, forestry, agriculture and soils, surface water and pollution prevention. Federal government policies that edge away from provincial topics have influenced the GSC’s five-year strategic plan. The GSC will foster competitive development of Canada’s energy and mineral resources with an emphasis on the oil sands and frontier areas like the Arctic Ocean and the islands. Activities planned under its “Open Geoscience” priority will deliver geoscience information using “web- enabled methods,” rather than support traditional research libraries. It follows that because of technology and policy, BC geoscien- tists might lead to the end of federal government support for GSC’s Vancouver library. Accordingly, BC geoscientists should begin to think about how we may make better use of the library’s collections and services, and why the library is necessary for information man- agement. An essential factor is whether APEGBC members may help over the long term by stressing the library’s value to its membership. The Cordilleran Research Library offers more than archived geo- logical work. It holds all current GSC publications and open files on Western Canadian geology, geophysics, geochemistry, geomorphol- ogy and seismicity. It has a good selection of recent publications from similar geological agencies. It maintains subscriptions to printed journals and purchases key textbooks and conference proceedings. It offers Internet search advice and has approvals to download copy- right articles that would be costly for an individual. The library offers access to facts that geoscientists may need in their work but cannot easily obtain anywhere else. While both geoscientists and engineers work with natural materials, geoscientists have a different viewpoint in that their work is always rooted in his- tory. Knowledge in other sciences—biochemistry, for example—may have a half-life of only a few years. Geoscience knowledge obtained as long ago as the 1880s can contribute to today’s work in interpret- ing the effects of climate change on hydrology and alpine glacia- tion. Geology never goes stale. Geoscience has benefited greatly from advances in global po- sitioning. The new tools and software will not make printed maps obsolete, as studying maps in a comparative way is easier when placing printed copies side by side. Digitizing the oldest maps at high resolution creates huge files that resist quick scale changes or zooming. This limits their use on conventional screens, aside from the cost and availability of printing them on large bed, multi-colour machines. Printed maps will remain valuable sources, especially for the minerals sector, because the rocks don’t change. If one needs a fact about a mineral property, like the year it received a drill program, then a computer search will deliver it in a minute or two thanks to BC’s prescience in scanning decades of annual reports by the Minister of Mines. But a more complex task, like tracking arsenic contamination in river sediments from old tailings, becomes much easier and gives a better result by working through a stack of the printed reports. Besides, the printed maps

and photos are of a far better quality than the scanned versions. The same argument applies to working with the library’s unique collection of university theses on BC geological topics. Geoscientists practising in brownfield cleanups know history matters. Assessing contaminated sites goes beyond checking a drill hole for petroleum product. Old printed reports and journals may contain clues that help to determine the facts that can focus drilling and sampling, lower the costs of site assessment and help identify potential responsible parties. APEGBC’s geoscientists should support the maintenance of the Cordilleran Research Library, principally because we need it. Vancouver’s large mining community can make the strongest case. It has influence all over the world. Its competitiveness in promot- ing mining investment depends on the sector’s many professionals having ready access to geoscience and mining information. But even if BC’s geoscience community expressed a desire to preserve the library, that fact, by itself, probably would not convince Natural Resources Canada to continue its support. BC geoscientists must begin to think about other ways the library could continue, by posing and answering questions about the form it should take; the services it could provide; its management; physical location and last but hardly the least, who pays and how much. To date, Natural Resources Canada has made no mention of any intention to close any of its libraries, though Natural Resources Canada recently received a new Minister, Hon. Greg Rickford and a General Election will occur in 2015. These reasons probably mean a delay in a decision about the GSC library and its users may have sufficient time to plan for another agency or some society or foundation to maintain the collection, and serve the information needs of BC’s geological and mining communities. Robert G. McCandless, P.Geo., FGC, FEC (Hon), worked in pollution prevention with Environment Canada in Vancouver from 1981 to his retirement from practice in 2009. Previously he worked in mineral exploration in BC, the Yukon and Alaska. Roy Wares, P.Eng., FEC, has been an independent consultant in mining exploration, regulatory geology and environmental assessment for the past 32 years. Previously, he worked in mining exploration for various companies, syndicates and geological survey organizations.

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