A staff interchange with Library and Archives Canada.

• Author: Berko, Monica

In August 2006, I left Australia to work for Library and Archives Canada (LAC) for 11 months as Manager of Strategic Initiatives in their Information Technology Branch. The Government of Canada has an Interchange Canada program which supports the temporary exchange of staff between their federal agencies and other institutions both within Canada and internationally.

My participation in meetings of the International Internet Preservation Consortium (IIPC) from its inception in 2003 led to the development of personal contacts and information exchanges with IT staff from a number of national libraries and archives, including LAC. This ultimately resulted in an invitation to work as a consultant there for a period of time, with the objective that I would bring in a fresh perspective and an awareness of digital library initiatives taking place in other national memory institutions, and in particular the NLA.

It was a wonderful opportunity for me both professionally and personally. I believe that the short-term disruption caused by my absence from my post at the NLA will be more than compensated for over the longer term by increased collaboration with an institution whose mandate and environment is very similar to ours. Peter Bruce, the Chief Technology Officer for LAC, and Leigh Swain, the Manager of the Research and Standards section, supported my travel to a number of events in North America and to IIPC meetings in Paris and San Francisco. I also worked with staff in their Strategic Office and was asked to write some reports as well as contribute to others. It was a wonderful opportunity to have the time to do lots of reading, research and discussion, knowing that it was of...