McGill Library
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CHLA / ABSC Canadian Health Libraries Association / Association des bibliothèques de la santé du Canada Fonds
Fonds
9.8 m of textual records
Before the formation of the CHLA/ABSC, Canadian health science librarians belonged to the Canadian Group of the Medical Library Association, CG MLA, an official group of the Medical Library Association. The Group's annual meeting was held during the annual meeting of the Medical Library Association. Its purpose was to permit Canadian members of the MLA to meet on an annual basis to discuss issues unique to Canadian health science librarians and to be listed in the MLA programme. In June of 1975, the Ad-Hoc Committee to Study the Organizational Status of Canadian Health Librarians was established to review the organization of Canadian health science librarians and to recommend a system to improve communication between such libraries and to provide a means of communication with Provincial and Federal governments. The committee was chaired by David S. Crawford of McGill University and had the following members: Philippe Lemay, Head of the Health Sciences Resource Centre at the Canada Institute for Science and Technological Information, CISTIJ Alan Macdonald, Head of the Kellog Health Sciences Library at Dalhousie University, Richard Fredericksen, Head of the Health Sciences Library at Memorial University and Chair of The Canadian Group of the Medical Libraries Association, Dorothy Sirois, Head of the Montreal Children’s Hospital Library and a member of l'Association pour l’avancement des sciences et des techniques de la documentation, ASTED, Section de la Santé Executive, Martha Stone, Head of the Library of Health and Welfare Canada and Sheila Swanson, President of the health sciences section of the Canadian Association of Special Libraries and Information Services, CASLIS.
Questionnaires were sent to 920 individuals. In June, 1976 the Canadian Group of the MLA, accepted the report resulting from the survey which underlined the need for a separate Canadian organization. The Report was also accepted by the meeting of the Health Sciences Section of CASLIS at its 1976 meeting held in Halifax. The Health Sciences Section of CASLIS then voted to dissolve. The CG MLA agreed to dissolve in 1980 as a Bi-lateral Agreement had just been signed between CHIA and the MLA. The first constitution of the CHLA/ABSC came into effect in October, 1976.
The Executive consisted of a President and six additional elected members. The Annual General Meeting of the Association was to be held in the same city and close to the annual meeting of the Canadian Library Association. Letters Patent were issued to the CHLA/ABSC by the Ministry of Consumer and Corporate Affairs Canada, on December 5, 1979. The CHLA/ABSC published its Newsletter from 1977-78. The journal is now entitled Bibliotheca Medica Canadiana, and is published four times a year. The Directory contains pertinent information for its members, for example the CHLA/ABSC mandate, by-laws, list of presidents, current committees and published reports.
The Osler Library is the official repository of the CHLA/ABSC archives.
Old accession numbers 831 and 882.
The fonds is divided into series, following the provenance and arrangement of the depositor as much as possible. Among the principal series are: President's binders or files, Secretary's binders or files, CHLA/ABSC special reports, and CHLA/ABSC publications. Within the series are found sub-series, i.e. President's binder, correspondence. The organization of the binders revolves around the Board Meetings, which occur three times a year, in June, October and February. At this time, reports are presented and decisions acted upon. Addenda to the Board Minutes frequently exceed 10 items. The fiscal year is from June 1 to May 31.
Rules for the deposit and organization of the CHLA/ABSC archives may be found in the Executive Manual under "Terms of Reference for the Management and Retention of CHLA/ABSC Archival Documents". The fonds is divided into series, following the provenance and arrangement of the depositor as much as possible. Among the principal series are: President's binders, or files, Secretary's binders or files, CHLA/ABSC special reports, and CHLA/A-BSC publications. Within the series are found sub-series, i.e. President's binder, correspondence. The organisation of the binders revolves around the Board Meetings which occur three times a year, in June, October and February. At this time reports are presented and decisions acted upon. Addenda to the Board Minutes frequently exceed 10 items. The fiscal year is from June 1 to May 31. Each entry represents one file and each file carries a reference number for retrieval.
The documents are in English
Items can be requested for consultation online via the Library Catalogue or by email at osler.library@mcgill.ca. Advance notice is recommended.
Further accruals are expected.
Last updated July 2013 for accruals.