Budget Cuts Threaten Canadian Medical Researchers
Officials at Health Canada, the federal agency that oversees Canadian medical and health issues, are voicing concern over a plan to slash the agency’s library. According to Canadian Broadcasting Company reports, the agency’s science library budget has been targeted for a whopping 50 per cent cut and library staff members in six libraries in or around the capital of Ottawa would be cut from 26 to 10 over three years. The move is part of a five-year plan to slash as much as $269 million from the Health Canada budget. Michèle Demers, president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service, blasted the plan to CBC reporters. “The gutting of the science libraries at Health Canada is an over-simplistic decision that was imposed on that particular branch of Health Canada,” she said. “I think Health Canada needs to understand the impacts of this decision and reconsider.” Health Canada is said to be in the process of creating an electronic library to offer access to research, but government officials say there is still no time line for when that system will be available.
Library Journal Academic Newswire, Jan 12, 2006
