Gloucester, October 5, 2000
The Public Library: A Centre for Community Development
Speech at the Closing Banquet of the French-Language Congress
of Ontario Public Libraries
Dr. Dyane Adam - Commissioner of Official Languages
Check against delivery
Ladies and gentlemen:
I was very pleased to accept the invitation to speak to you at your closing banquet. I have long wanted to salute the dedication of those present, who, as my colleague Diane Desaulniers so aptly put it, live in the middle of the whirlwind. I am very familiar with all the services you provide to Francophones in Ontario. Your achievements are many and deserve to be highlighted.
The Challenges Facing Libraries and Librarians
For libraries and librarians, as for all Canadians, the transition to a knowledge-based society has not been easy. Libraries have had to meet numerous challenges. They have had to redefine their mission and update their interdisciplinary skills to ensure the effective integration of traditional and digital resources.
These upheavals, moreover, occurred at the worst possible time, when the various governments were reducing budgets, forcing amalgamations and urging greater self-funding. At the same time, the public was becoming more and more demanding, calling for higher quality, greater speed and easier access.
Fortunately, librarians - or should we not call them information professionals now? - are people who know how to meet challenges. Quietly, libraries have become knowledge exchanges. They welcome and inform the public locally or remotely; they provide a work station for researchers and a cultural space for artists and writers; they are a meeting place, indeed a coffeehouse, for the community.
In fact, public libraries in Ontario are becoming one of the axes of community development. This is how I understand the motto that you have adopted: "Your librarians, standard-bearers of the Francophonie" (our translation). Access to knowledge is an essential element of the social and economic development of the French linguistic minority communities.
Public Libraries and Community Development
By adopting the Official Languages Act in 1988, the Canadian government made a commitment to support the development and enhance the vitality of the English and French linguistic minority communities in Canada. For my part, I do not see how this objective of equality of opportunity can be met unless it is possible to provide these communities with all the tools of the modern age in their language. Inequality in respect of information is the first hurdle to be cleared if we are to put an end to exclusion and reduce the disparities among our citizens.
In my opinion, as librarians, you are called upon to play a key role in the development of the Franco-Ontarian communities in four ways:
- by promoting life-long learning;
- by providing access to information in French;
- by strengthening linguistic and cultural identity;
- by meeting the information needs of voluntary associations and small businesses.
Allow me to make a few observations on each of these points.
Life-long learning
The information revolution has made all of us apprentices. Many Canadians are turning to librarians to learn how to use the computerized catalogue, how to consult the Internet or how to use electronic mail. In this regard, we must also not forget those who are overwhelmed by so much novelty and are afraid to enter the multimedia world. I am thinking in particular of the serious problem of functional illiteracy in French Ontario. We must not impose another form of exclusion on this already-disadvantaged group.
Public libraries must help these Canadians come to grips with technology. This is an enormous challenge that can be met if they call upon knowledgeable people, particularly young people for whom technology usually holds no mysteries, to train new users. Moreover, this is an ideal opportunity to develop new links of solidarity in the community.
The information revolution has multiplied opportunities for long-distance communication through the development of interconnected networks. This has dramatically increased opportunities for distance education. The growth of distance education will pose new challenges for librarians, who will have to define their proper role with respect to these now-delocalized educational services. The public library could become the nerve centre of the virtual university or college, or even of continuous learning. Will today's information professionals be required to be the educational advisers of tomorrow?
Access to Information in French
Last year, the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages published an important study entitled The Government of Canada and French on the Internet. This study emphasized the importance of greater consultation to increase French-language content on the Internet. The federal government responded favourably to the recommendations we made and is now becoming a model user of information technologies and the Internet in French.
We also note that the overall objective of the federal government, as enunciated in the Speech from the Throne in the fall of 1999, is to become the government most connected to its citizens by 2004. It promises Canadians access to all government information and services on line, at the time and place of their convenience. I need not tell you that one of the best places to access such information will be the public library.
In fact, it must be expected that, in many cases, the public library will play for Franco Ontarians the role of a single window for access in French to a full range of services delivered electronically. Will today's information professional be required to be tomorrow's front-line provider of government services?
Linguistic and Cultural Identity
The public libraries of tomorrow will not only promote continuous learning by introducing their clients to multimedia information and government information and providing global access to data. They will increasingly be meeting places, both real and virtual, for the creators of culture.
People will visit libraries as much to talk and write as to read and learn, as much to circulate and disseminate their research, poetry and opinions as to become familiar with the cultural products of others. In this sense, the library will be a virtual cultural centre contributing to the community's artistic development. French-speaking Canadians will ask the library to put them in touch with other French-speaking communities, to support cultural exchange networks and to promote cultural activities outside the bounds of the traditional majority networks. Will today's information professional be required to be an impresario tomorrow?
The Information Requirements of Voluntary Associations and Small Businesses
It may seem curious to you to speak of the information requirements of voluntary associations and small businesses, but we should bear in mind that few of them by themselves have the resources to obtain the tools required to cope with globalization. This is even more true of Franco-Ontarian associations and businesses, which usually suffer from a double handicap, being smaller than their majority counterparts and also finding it harder to locate information in their language. They must therefore develop strategic links with public, government and university libraries, in order to enrich their information environment.
These organizations will therefore call upon regional information service networks to a greater extent. Librarians will often be the consultants of choice regarding information sources and the handling and gathering of information. Will today's information professional be required to be tomorrow's management consultant?
These, ladies and gentlemen, are the thoughts I wanted to share with you. If you answered "yes" or "unfortunately" to each of my questions, it is because you understand that you are living in the middle of the whirlwind. But your future, difficult and demanding as it may be, is full of promise and rewards.
More than ever, the public library will be a democratic and civic place. It will restore the social aspect of the information society. You will be the artisans of this democratization of knowledge. You will be able not only to respond even better to local needs, but to make your library an important tool in the progress toward the equality of status and use of French.
Conclusion
Allow me therefore - and this will be my conclusion - to pay you the tribute that you deserve. Your qualities already make you specialists in the new knowledge: a spirit of initiative, an ability to adapt, independence and motivation.
They are also qualities that make you leaders in defending the French language and culture. You do not forget the past, but you resolutely face the future. You are anxious to promote your profession, to bring it into the new millennium with modern techniques and practices aimed at promoting the social progress of your communities.
In the end, we share the same objectives: to provide all our fellow Franco-Ontarians with the best possible conditions for their vitality and development.
I wish you every success. Thank you.
