Closure of fisheries’ libraries called a ‘disaster’ for science

Seven libraries across Canada, belonging to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), are to close by fall of 2013, "including two that have been amassing books and technical reports on the aquatic realm for more than a century."

The libraries are home to the 50 illustrated volumes from Britain’s Challenger expedition that sailed the seas in the late 1800s exploring the mysteries of the deep.

The shelves heave with reports detailing the DDT pollution that wiped out young salmon in New Brunswick’s “rivers of death” in the 1950s. And they contain vivid reminders of native fisheries, Canada’s once vast cod stocks and the U.S. submarines that prowled the quiet fjords along the B.C. coast in the 1940s — history that is being packed into boxes as the Department of Fisheries and Oceans “consolidates” its world-class library collection.

So why is this a disaster?

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March 2013

BOOKS READ

1. Compost, Ken Thompson. ISBN 978-0-7566-1341-9 (2007, Dorland Kindersley Limited). 2013.03.02
2. Patient: The True Story Of A Rare Illness, Ben Watt. ISBN 0-8021-1612-4 (1997, Grove Press). 2013.03.18
3. The Little Prince: Adapted From The Book By Antoine De Saint-Exupéry, Joann Sfar, Trans. Sarah Ardizzone. ISBN 978-0-547-33802-6 (2010, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company). 2013.03.18
4. Chu's Day, Neil Gaiman, Ill. Adam Rex. ISBN 978-0-06-201781-9 (2013, HarperCollins). 2013.03.23
5. Ecothrifty, Deborah Niemann. ISBN 978-0-86571-715-2 (2012, New Society Publishers). 2013.03.23
6. Fairies And The Quest For Never Land, Gail Carson Levine, Ill. David Christiana. ISBN 978-142310935-8 (2010, Disney Enterprises Inc.). 2013.03.25
7. City Living: Inspirational Homes In The Heart Of The City, Ed. Bo Niles, Katherine Sorrell. ISBN 1-84172-396-7 (2003, Ryland Peters & Small). 2013.03.25