Editor:
Re: Union upset by cuts at archives, Feb. 6
Two years ago Delta Archives and the Edgar Dunning Reading Room opened with ribbon cutting and speeches, a proud day celebrating a fine legacy created for all Deltans.
Today, the picture is not so happy.
As your article pointed out, the Delta Museum and Archives Society (which operates the museum in Ladner and the Delta Archives) is cutting professional staff at the archives by 37 hours. The assistant archivist will be laid off and the full-time archivist position becomes part-time. Public open hours were cut from 30 to 24 hours.
The Delta Archives serves the community and the municipal government in important ways. The archives was relocated to its new facility to support an expanded role as the municipal archives. The Delta Museum and Archives Society was contracted by the municipality to manage its archival records in combination with the society's collection of private and public record holdings.
A municipal archives is not simply a climate-controlled storage area for "historical" records. It becomes an integral part of the municipal records management system. A well-run archives ensures records are not only preserved, but arranged, described and protected so we can be sure municipal staff and the public have access to true and dependable records. This requires professional staff.
A municipal archives holds significant evidential records of government.
These are records the municipality depends on for recreating corporate memory and through which it is accountable to its citizens.
Why is this important? Consider the example of upgrading our dikes in response to global warming. The Corporation of Delta may need to consult records about its land holdings and relations with landholders in the vicinity of the dikes over a span of 121 years, since the first municipal dikes were built in 1892 and 1895. Without these records, or effective access to them, planning for and upgrading the dike system becomes more costly.
In Canada, we assume our documentary heritage is safe. Our reaction to such events as the burning of the Sarajevo Library, and the recent destruction of records in the Timbuktu Archives, is that could never happen here. Such examples are horrific, but neglecting our records, and ignoring the true value that an effective archives brings to a community, can be equal but hidden threats.
A viable community and municipal archives, one that implements best practices, is key to preserving and utilizing community memory and identity.
In my opinion at the new staffing level, Delta Archives will fail to meet the expectations spoken of on that grand opening day two years ago.
Kathy Bossort
