Government information is a national resource that is acquired, preserved and made accessible by the National Library of Canada through its Official Publications Collection. The Collection is heavily used for a variety of research purposes.
Work is under way to improve access to electronic government information.
Introduction I am in full agreement with the recently released Blueprint for Renewing Government Services Using Information Technology 4 which calls government information a national resource, vital to the country's social, cultural and economic development. The National Library of Canada takes very seriously its mandate to acquire, preserve and make accessible the part of this national resource which Canadian governments have chosen to publish. This article will describe this national resource and highlight new developments in both the collection and related services with emphasis on federal government information. The National Library has the largest collection of Canadian official publications held anywhere. Beginning with a large retrospective gift from the Library of Parliament, it has grown since 1950 through on-going arrangements with the federal and provincial governments for deposit of current material, and has been enriched by donations from many Canadian libraries and federal government institutions.