Andrew Nikiforuk, a Canadian environmental journalist of unparalleled passion and persistence, is sticking with the DFO science library closure story. His coverage in Vancouver-based The Tyee is what spurred our first post, and he’s clearly been reporting non-stop since. His Tyee story today is rich in heartbreaking detail on the irreplaceable material being dismantled, and in first-hand accounts from the scientists most directly affected. To wit:
“The Department has claimed that all useful information from the closed libraries is available in digital form. This is simply not true. Much of the material is lost forever,” reports one DFO scientist who requested not to be named.
It confirms what my own contacts close to the story are saying: Scientific material of real and present value has already been lost, and there’s no telling where the Canadian government is going to stop. Especially, apparently, when it comes to old data that can be used to study such inconveniences as the progress of climate change and the environmental impacts of tar sands development. For much more on what Canadian scientists are apparently calling “libricide” – if you can stand to watch scenes of a modern library sacking in living detail — see Nikiforuk’s story at http://thetyee.ca/News/2013/12/23/Canadian-Science-Libraries/
– Thomas Hayden
The Decline and Fall of Practically Everything 
Tom, Thanks for this post. I knew about the library hatchet job, but Andrew’s piece really opens it up. The saddest thing is that the things is done and probably cannot be rescued. A bloody disgrace.