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Terms of Reference of the Depository Services Program Library Advisory Committee (DSP-LAC)

Revision Date

Updated and revised, August 24, 2010

Introduction

The Depository Services Program (DSP) was created by Order-in-Council in 1927. Its mandate and mission is to acquire, catalogue and distribute federal government publications in all formats to a network of depository libraries as well as parliamentarians. The DSP acts as the Government of Canada's information safety net, collecting current and archival government publications and making them widely available to the Canadian public.

The Depository Services Program Library Advisory Committee (DSP-LAC) was established in 1981. It was created to provide the DSP with advice on its operations, policies, practices, plans, direction and services.

Its members represent the major library associations, key federal government organizations, both full and selective depositories and academic and public libraries, and are representative of Canada's geographic regions and linguistic communities.

Mission

The mission of the DSP-LAC is to articulate and communicate the needs of the DSP's partners and user communities and to provide advice to the DSP on its priorities, policies, operations and services.

The DSP-LAC acts solely as an advisory body and does not have any governance authority over DSP policies or operations. Its role reflects the important partnership that exists between the DSP and the library community in providing the Canadian public with access to Canadian federal government published information.

Objectives

The principal objective of the DSP-LAC is to contribute to the maintenance and development of public access to Canadian Government publications via the Canadian library community.

To this end:

1. The DSP-LAC provides advice and information to the DSP on issues of interest to both the DSP and the depository library community.
2. The DSP-LAC makes recommendations to the DSP on matters of interest to the depository library community and user communities.
3. The DSP advises the DSP-LAC on both its current operations and policies and on current plans and priorities.
4. The members of the DSP-LAC work with their respective organizations and user communities to facilitate communication on the DSP role and activities.

Committee Operations

1. The DSP-LAC meets at least once a year, on a date and at a place to be determined by the Director responsible for the DSP, in consultation with the DSP-LAC.
2. The DSP-LAC reviews its Terms of Reference every five years, beginning in 2005.
3. The DSP-LAC may strike sub-committees or working groups to address specific issues or to carry out projects. Such committees or working groups submit reports to the DSP-LAC on or before each meeting.
4. A list server is maintained by the DSP for use by DSP-LAC members, past and present.
5. Deliberations of the DSP-LAC are held in both official languages. Members may express themselves in the official language of their choice.
6. The DSP-LAC may also meet using video, teleconference and electronic means.

Reporting

1. Minutes, reports and any other administrative documents are kept in both official languages by the DSP and made available electronically to all DSP-LAC members and to the depository library community.
2. The DSP will draft minutes of the DSP-LAC meetings to Library Advisory Committee members within thirty working days of the date of the meeting.
3. The DSP will provide any electronic versions of presentations made during the meeting to Library Advisory Committee members.

Membership

In principle, the membership of the DSP-LAC should broadly represent all depository libraries served by the DSP. In particular, the membership should represent, to the extent possible, the various types of libraries, large and small, library communities, geographic regions and linguistic groups, that are served by the DSP.

With the exception of the Director responsible for the DSP and representatives of Library and Archives Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat, Statistics Canada and Library of Parliament, appointment to membership in the DSP-LAC will be for a period of three years with the possibility of a one year extension. Every year, up to one third of the membership will be replaced.

Membership will include the following:

1. The Director responsible for the DSP.
2. One representative of each of the following organizations, to be named by the organization in question:
   • Library and Archives Canada (LAC)
   • Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS)
3. Up to two representatives of each of the following organizations to be named by the organization in question and reflective of Canada's major regions:
   • Canadian Library Association (CLA)
   • Association pour l'avancement des sciences et des techniques de la documentation (ASTED) inc.
   • Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) / Association canadienne des bibliothèques de recherche (ACBR)
4. A minimum of three at-large representatives from the following types of depository libraries of which two must be from selective depository libraries:
   • Full Depository Libraries
   • Selective Depository Libraries
   • Academic Libraries
   • Public Libraries
   • Map Depository Libraries
   • Law Libraries
   • Government or Legislative Libraries

   The DSP will issue a public call for candidates to fill these vacancies on the Committee. Individuals from the depository library community may submit their names for consideration as members or they may be nominated by their peers or by current DSP-LAC members. A list of candidates received together with summary information on each will be prepared by the Director, responsible for the DSP, and transmitted to Committee members representing the library community for consideration and advice. Members will be appointed by the Director, responsible for the DSP.

5. One representative from Statistics Canada and one from the Library of Parliament, to be named by the organization in question.
6. Representatives from other federal government author departments may be invited from time to time.

Chairperson

The DSP-LAC meetings are chaired by the Director responsible for the DSP, or may be co-chaired by the Director responsible for the DSP and another person to be determined by a recommendation of the DSP-LAC.