ARCHIVED—Terms of Reference of the Depository Services Program Advisory Committee 2014

Revision Date

Updated and revised, April 10, 2014

Introduction

The Depository Services Program (DSP) was created by Order–in–Council in 1927. Its original mandate was to acquire, catalogue and distribute Government of Canada (GC) publications in all formats to a network of depository libraries, as well as to parliamentarians. In April 2014, the mission of the DSP, and of its parent directorate Publishing and Depository Services (PDS), changed to focus on acquiring, cataloguing and making available for download GC information published in portable electronic formats. This change in mission is supported by the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada and by the GC Procedures for publishing. By collocating and hosting GC documents independently of the author departments, the DSP itself has become the depository of the program. In this way, the original role of the DSP as a safety net for GC published information continues even after its change in mandate.

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 and academic and public libraries, and are representative of Canada's geographic regions and linguistic communities.

Print copy distribution by the Depository Library Program concluded March 31, 2014. The Committee revised its Terms of Reference (ToR), including a revision of the Committee’s name to the Depository Services Program Advisory Committee (DSP–AC), to reflect the changes to the program and to ensure stakeholders still have the opportunity to provide input and advice to the DSP.

Mission

The mission of the DSP–AC is to articulate, communicate and collaborate on, where possible, 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–AC 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–AC is to contribute, via the Canadian library community, to the maintenance and development of public access to Canadian Government publications.

To this end:

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

Committee operations

1. The DSP–AC meets at least once a year, on a date and at a place to be determined by the Director or Manager responsible for the DSP, in consultation with the DSP–AC
2. The DSP–AC may meet using video, teleconference and electronic means
3. The DSP–AC reviews its ToR as required beginning in 2014
4. The DSP–AC 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–AC on or before each meeting
5. Deliberations of the DSP–AC are held in both official languages. Members may express themselves in the official language of their choice

Reporting

1. The DSP–AC Terms of Reference and minutes from DSP–AC meetings are kept in both official languages by the DSP and made publicly available electronically
2. Other reports and related documents are kept in both official languages by the DSP and made available electronically to all DSP–AC members
3. The DSP will draft minutes of the DSP–AC meetings to DSP–AC members within thirty working days of the date of the meeting

Membership

In general, the membership of the DSP–AC should broadly represent the library community along with representatives from Government of Canada stakeholders. 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.

Membership will include the following:

1. The Director and/or Manager responsible for the DSP
2. Representatives of each of the following organizations, to be named by the organization in question:
   • Library and Archives Canada (LAC)
   • Library of Parliament
   • Statistics Canada
   • Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS)
   • Representatives from other federal government departments or interested stakeholders may be invited from time to time
3. Up to two representatives of each of the following organizations to be named by the organization in question and be reflective of Canada's major regions:
   • Canadian Library Association (CLA)
   • Association pour l'avancement des sciences et des techniques de documentation (ASTED)
   • Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL)
4. A minimum of three at–large members from the following types of libraries:
   • Academic Libraries
   • Public Libraries
   • Law Libraries
   • Government or Legislative Libraries

Appointment to at–large membership in the DSP–AC 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. The DSP may issue a call for candidates to fill vacancies in the at–large representatives group on the Committee. Individuals from the library community may also submit their names for consideration as members or they may be nominated by their peers or by current DSP–AC members. A list of candidates received together with summary information on each will be prepared by the Director or Manager responsible for the DSP and transmitted to Committee members representing the library community for consideration and advice. Members will be appointed by the Director or Manager responsible for the DSP.

Participating members of the DSP–AC must subscribe to the DSP's list server, Infodep.

Chairperson

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