The National Research Council (NRC) has recently announced plans to reduce the budget of the Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI), Canada’s national science library, by 50 percent while another 20 percent will be removed as spin-offs of cost-recovery programs which will be devolved to the private sector. These programs include CISTI’s Information and Intelligence Services, CISTI’s document delivery services, and the NRC Research Press.

The Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) has written a letter to the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada, expressing its grave concern about these proposed cuts. From the letter:

CISTI gives necessary support to Canadian researchers not only at the NRC and universities, but also in Canada’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SME’s) that could not easily afford in-house or commercially-priced services. If Canada is to avoid becoming a scientific and technological “branch plant” to the US and Europe, it has to give its researchers the support they need to succeed on the world stage. At a time when innovation is crucial for addressing such challenges as climate change, healthcare for an aging population, or cost-effective resource development, we cannot afford to strip away the important support that CISTI offers to Canadian scientists, engineers, and medical researchers.

 Go to complete letter from CARL

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has also expressed its serious concerns regarding the proposed CISTI budget cuts in a letter to National Research Council Canada President Dr. Pierre Coulombe. From the letter:

Making these significant changes will inevitably create long-term consequences for scientific research, not only in Canada but also between Canadian researchers and their global counterparts. As confirmed by Canada’s National Consultation on Access to Scientific Research Data (NCASRD), the work of agencies like CISTI or the National Library of Medicine in the US strengthens the economic competitiveness of a nation’s scientific enterprise and provides for better management of research investments.

Go to complete letter from ARL

More responses to these proposed cuts as well as recommendations on what members of the Canadian library and information services community can do to show support for CISTI are available on Dianne Kharouba's blog on the Canadian Health Libraries Association (CHLA) website. Several entries include:

•  Advocating for CISTI
• 10 Things You Can Do For CISTI
• CISTI-HSI letter to Dr. Coulombe