National Defence Image Library crumbling

Inside the nondescript National Research Council building M-23, a chunk of Canada's proud military history is in danger of being lost.

The building is home to the National Defence Image Library, which holds about one million photographs and negatives that chronicle Canada's military operations over the past 90 years.

Modern-day computers share space with dozens of index card drawers containing tens of thousands of photo captions that date back to the Second World War and earlier. Crumbling photo albums packed with black and white photos of Canadians serving at home and abroad are stuffed into old cupboards in one hallway and another room is filled with metal cabinets that hold the majority of the library's image collection.

But while the library's most priceless items -- original gold-inlaid crests for every Canadian unit ever created -- are stored in a small temperature and humidity-controlled room, the rest of the collection has been left to the elements and is quickly deteriorating because of time, rough handling and pollution.

"These are all artifacts," the library's manager, Sgt. Serge Tremblay, told the Citizen during a tour of the facility last week. "They shouldn't be here."

Sgt. Tremblay manages a small team of civilian researchers, image technicians and a string of rotating personnel reassigned to light duty for medical reasons that is trying to scan these photos onto compact discs that are supposed to last 300 years. The scanned pictures will then be sent to Library and Archives Canada for proper storage.

But lack of funding and personnel has severely hampered those efforts and the library, loses between one and two per cent of its collection -- 10,000 to 20,000 images -- every year because they are not being stored properly.

'It's a race against time' - Ottawa Citizen - May 22, 2006