Where are the digital copies of the CYBs for 1991-2005?
For the record:
a) this is the landing page for the Canada Year Book https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/catalogue/11-402-X
b) the URL to the historical collection on that page is wrong as are the notes - the historical collection actually includes CYBs between 1867 - 1990. The URL and the notes states 1867-1967.
c) the link to the historical collection between 1867 - 1990 is this one https://www66.statcan.gc.ca/acyb_000-eng.htm
d) Where are the CYBs for 1991-2005?
Why is this important:
a) we are seeing the disappearance of GovDocs and the historical references to Canada's government records
b) these records are important because they are the few records we have that enable us to see the transformation of the nation across time. For example the Internet we have today is based on the telegraph and postal service we had way back when and oddly the network today resembles the one we have today geographically, and core periphery issues persist. YOu can only know that if you have the data and information to support that. The CYB provides the data one needs to get a picture of priorities across time, who actors were, indicators, technologies, etc. We loose our collective knowledge if we do not have access to these.
c) Every year, I have an assignment where I have between 70 to 200 students looking at these documents, so that they may learn to look at some primary data, and they can begin to connect how infrastructure and the construction of nation are related.
Why am I concerned:
Our libraries are culling information, we not longer have a DSP, we falsely think Gov't archives its documents, but it does not, they barely get DOIs, or ISBNs on government publications, we are mixing gov docs with general collections in research libraries thus loosing sight of these records and then claiming no one accesses them, and we no longer keep the documents with the maps or other important documents related to the nation state. We are concerned with a lack of knowledge transfer and fake news while we key reference documents and records disappear and our research libraries turn into social lunch spaces as we think that all is now digital but we do not preserve even the digital!
Answer:
I’ve reached out to InfoStats for this one and have received the following:
“The Canada Year Book historical collection covers the years 1867 to 1968, 1973 to 1981, 1985, 1988, 1991. Then, the 2006 to 2012 versions are available online. There was a project to digitize the missing Year Books between 1969 and 2005, but we were not able to get clearance for the photography copyrights for these years.
**Paper copy are available at the Statistics Canada Library. Please note that Inter-library loan may be possible Click here for more information on this program. Note that the Statistics Canada library will only accept requests submitted through another library.”
