CBC Record Library #RIP

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is quietly (shhhh!) dismantling record libraries in many of its locations across Canada.

As you can see in this article, the Globe and Mail newspaper calls it a "cultural treasure trove built up over decades."

My friend and former colleague Chris dela Torre reported about this on the Calgary Eyeopener on Thursday January 26, 2012. You can hear his story here.

If you've read some of my other blog entries you know I'm not a Luddite when it comes to music. I may have grown up in the age of the vinyl but I consume music in all formats. 

That being said, getting rid of CBC music libraries is a tragedy. 

As a former long-time employee of the CBC, I lived through many cuts. I was even laid off for a brief period because of budget cuts. In my two decades-and-a-bit with the Corporation, I witnessed a variety of decisions about programming and personnel. The worst ones were always based on money and, for the most part, they were made in haste and reversed when the dust settled.

I want to make it clear that I am very much in favour of the CBC creating an internal digital music service where producers have access to the music library online. I know this was being discussed and planned about the time I left the CBC in 2008 and I hope they are making progress. There is no doubt that it is the best way to manage music for broadcast.

Calgary rock band circa 1969

The reason to keep records and CDs is not necessarily to play them on air. The case to be made for retaining music libraries is to maintain an important historical archive.

There are hundreds of LPs and CDs in the Calgary library by local artists recorded decades before present day digital technology existed. Those must be preserved. Digitizing the music is not good enough. The record covers and liner notes have historical value.

Record covers and CD booklets contain important art and information that must not be lost. I believe that part of job of the CBC is stewardship of this resource.

If the regional libraries aren't retained, then, at the very least, CBC staff should be painstakingly reviewing the contents of the libraries  to make sure copies of unique releases are retained, preferably in the regional locations but if not, they need to be catalogued and shipped to the remaining libraries  (I'm guessing Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal).

I am not holding out much hope for this though. Outside of the main archive, it's my experience that the CBC does not see its important roll as an archivist in the regional locations.

My biggest fear is that people who run the present-day CBC will expeditiously dispose of this resource and a few short years from now it will become painfully clear why this was a bad idea.

Then it will be too late.

Here's an interview on the Calgary Eyeopener with a CBC executive explaining why this is happening. (Updated Monday January 30, 2012)  

Here is a link I found to an article about issues surrounding digital archives: Preservation Reformatting Conference: Digital Technology vs. Analog Technology

Here's a link to a collectors site, specifically about LP collecting - Collectors Weekly