Daniel J. Caron

Dr. Daniel J. Caron
13th Librarian and Archivist of Canada
In office April 25, 2009 – May 15, 2013during pleasure
Governor General	Michaëlle Jean
Prime Minister	Stephen Harper
Preceded by	Ian E. Wilson
Personal details
Born	1957 Ste-Foy, Quebec, Canada

Dr. Daniel J. Caron (born Sainte-Foy, Quebec in 1957) is the former Librarian and Archivist of Canada. He was appointed on April 24, 2009 and retired from the public service of Canada on May 15, 2013. Dr. Caron is also a professor, author and public speaker.

Education

Dr. Caron graduated with a bachelor's and a master's degree in economics from Laval University, and earned a doctorate in applied human sciences from the University of Montreal. His dissertation was in Canadian studies on aboriginal issues.

Career

Dr. Caron began his public service in 1982 at the Competition Bureau and also worked for the National Museums of Canada Corporation and Indian Affairs and Northern Development. Later, in the 1990s, he worked at the Economic Development Agency of Canada for Quebec. From Montreal Dr. Caron moved to the Treasury Board Secretariat where he was Director of the Service and Innovation Division. He moved to Human Resources Development Canada in 2000. He then joined the National Archives in 2003 as the Director General of the Corporate Management Branch working his way up the ranks. In 2009, Dr. Caron was appointed Librarian and Archivist of Canada.

Between 2011 and 2013, at the request of the Clerk of the Privy Council, he became Chair, Heads of Federal Agencies.

Between 2010 and 2013, he was Chair of the Forum of National Archivists within the International Council of Archives. He was also a founding member of the Forum.

He retired from the public service of Canada on May 15th, 2013.

Dr. Caron has also taught at Concordia University, Ottawa University, Carleton University and at École nationale d'administration publique.

He has done research and published many articles and given several conferences in public administration, archival sciences and information management. He is also the author of Web HT.0. Pour use société informée: la pertinence numérique et ses défis pour les sociétés démocratiques XXI ième siècle published at Hermann, Paris in 2011.

Library and Archives of Canada: Policy developments

Dr. Caron has been leading an ambitious program to modernized the institution in order to ensure its transition into the digital world (http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/news/speeches/Pages/default.aspx). The continuing modernization of Library and Archives of Canada's operations since his appointment has resulted in changes to better reflect the requirements of the digital environment for memory institutions. At the same time, budget reductions introduced by the Government since 2009 and totalling more than 20% for the institution have sometimes prematurely affected a number of services, including Interlibrary Loan. These changes have sometimes, and in certain circles, been considered controversial. However, the organization has always worked with the communities to build new approaches that would build on the possibilities of the digital environment. In specific cases like the ILL, LAC is developing new sets of policies that will offer stakeholders the possibility to request digital reproductions of items and in cases where Library and Archives Canada hold the only copy, the institution will lend out the item. Critics, including the Ontario Genealogical Society, have argued that much of the material held by Library and Archives of Canada has yet to be digitized and that the service was used more widely than officials at Library and Archives of Canada have conceded publicly. This illustrates the type of resistance faced by the institution in its attempts to modernize its operations and make material more accessible to all canadians.

References

Deputy Head and Librarian and Archivist of Canada and Chair, Heads of Federal Agencies

External links

Media related to Daniel J. Caron at Wikimedia Commons