Essay Topic: The Destruction of DFO Libraries

I really don't have a concrete idea for my essay.  In my book history seminar, my final paper is on the chaotic closures of the Department of Fisheries and Ocean's research libraries.  In 2013, the DFO announced the consolidation of eleven institutions into 4 locations. Although their mandate was recycle duplicated material, an actual list of what was duplicates and what was destroyed does not exist. In an effort to save original research from the dumpsters, there was a lot of looting by researchers, scientists, and the general public. No one really knows entirely what has been lost and what has been saved. Even the stuff that has been "saved" by looters has been effective lost and cannot be accounted for. Books ended up dumpsters and no one is certain if they are duplicates, grey material (usually reports that aren't widely published), or original research.  The DFO also insists that original items can be made digitally available upon request. We all know how complicated a digitization program can be and the DFO is offering no details on how this material will become digitized. 

Part of the collection of Maurice-Lamontagne Institute library ended up in a dumpster in July 2013.
(From the Tyee)

There are a lot of unanswered questions and a lot of questionable decision-making practices.  For the book history class, I intended to compare the dispersal of information and libraries to other historical instances dating as far back as the fourteenth century. I'd also like to touch on the implication of funding and poverty and the devastation this had on libraries throughout history.  

But for this class, I thinking of just expanding the same topic. There is a lot of literature on library closures and these libraries were closed in the worst possible way.  I'd like to further explore these closures, as closing a library is not a neutral act, it's politically charged. I'd also to explore the implications this has on Canadian scholarship, Canadian culture, and the Canadian identity. How does this implicate us on the international stage? Removing libraries removes access to information. Does this mean a new generation of scholars will emerge into an academic community where information is inaccessible? In sum, what does this mean for the future of information, research, and libraries?

I'd love to hear your opinions on the closure and perhaps form new angles to explore. Click here for an article on the DFO closures.