Appeal for the digitization of Québec’s cultural heritage

• Given that Québec society has a law concerning cultural heritage, and that its objective is to further the knowledge, protection, promotion and passing on of Québec’s cultural heritage;
• given that this heritage helps to preserve the cultural diversity and the collective identity of Québec society;
• given that access to this cultural heritage constitutes a right of all citizens;
• aware of the precariousness of the preservation conditions of a part of Québec’s cultural heritage;
• noting that that the knowledge, promotion and passing on of cultural heritage must be supported by the advantages offered by information technology and the reliable dissemination networks that are accessible to all;
• recalling the collective responsibility as it relates to the preservation of and promotion of this heritage;

We, the signatories to this Appeal, believe that:

• digitization is a democratic response to the problems of access to and dissemination of cultural heritage;
• digitization plays a pivotal role in the safekeeping of Québec’s cultural heritage;
• digitization also constitutes a means to promoting the spread of the Québec identity;
• collective and concerted action must be undertaken so that Québec society can fully profit from the advantages offered by digitization for the safekeeping and promotion of our cultural heritage.

For these reasons, we ask for help and support in order to:

• promote the dissemination of Québec’s digitized heritage to a large public;
• set up a network for Québec’s digitized heritage that brings together representatives of museums, archival services and libraries;
• implement a national program to digitize our heritage;
• create a dissemination infrastructure that provides open access, free of charge, to the heritage collections of archives, libraries and museums.

INVITE YOUR CONTACTS TO SIGN THE APPEAL: