2017 Conference of the Queen’s Printers Association of Canada Modernization in the Digital Era – Open and Accessible Documents Canada Gazette Directorate (CGD) & Publishing and Depository Services Directorate (PDSD)

Canada gazette Directorate (CGD)

Celebration of the 175th Anniversary of the Canada Gazette The first Canada Gazette was published in 1841. On October 2, 2016, we celebrated our 175th anniversary! The CGD communications team organized several events to mark this major milestone in our history. One of these events was a celebration in honour of the Canada Gazette, which was attended by over 70 people and distinguished guests, including Mr. Rémi Massé, former director of the CGD and now federal Member of Parliament.

List of the Queen’s Printers for Canada The CGD completed its research concerning the Queen’s former printers for Canada (from the very early existence of this service to today) with the aim of improving the list found on the website of the Queen’s Printers Association of Canada. Thanks to this work, the names of 13 of the Queen’s former printers were able to be added to the list; only two are missing now. The CGD is always very happy and proud to work with the Association at every level.

Transformation of the Canada Gazette’s Website The websites of departments and Crown agencies are being gradually merged onto a site called canada.ca. The Canada Gazette website is no exception and its transformation is complete. The CGD communications team reviewed the entire website. Quality control was also conducted at the CGD, and the new website should be online by the end of the fiscal year.

New Layout for the Canada Gazette The CGD transformed its layout for all of its publications, to meet the new layout requirements for Justice Department acts and statutory instruments. All scripts and styles created using InDesign to produce the Canada Gazette more efficiently have been reviewed and improved as a result. The first issue of Part II of the 2016 Canada Gazette was published on January 13 with the new Justice Department layout. The cover page took on a whole new look, as did the statutory instruments and orders, and it now includes the Arms of Canada in colour. With respect to Part I, which is more complex, the transformation work and tests were completed a little later; the first Part I with the new layout was published on July 30, 2016.

Workload Management System The CGD would like to implement a workload management system to manage all revision and layout tasks. We planned to adopt the SharePoint system, but following an assessment, it seems that this system does not really meet the CGD’s needs. A specialized consultant will be hired to study what is available on the market for this type of system and to advise us on the most viable solution for our group.

Canada 150 As you are aware, 2017 marks the 150th anniversary of Canada, and the CGD wanted to take part in this major event’s activities. Three different groups from the Integrated Services Branch (ISB), Public Services and Procurement Canada, designed images that are now on display in the windows on Sparks Street in Ottawa for the duration of the 150th celebrations. The Canada Gazette, which is part of the ISB, is displaying various historical items in its window, such as the former distributor for its publications and a very old platen printing press that was used to produce previous gazettes. A photo of this window display is on the following slide.

Canada 150 (cont’d) – Social Media Throughout 2016, the CGD tweeted twice a month on the PSPC Twitter account to increase visibility of the 175th anniversary of the Canada Gazette, celebrated on October 2, 2016. In keeping with its social media communications plan, the CGD will continue to have a presence on Twitter in 2017 as part of the 150th anniversary of Canada; the CGD will tweet regularly on this platform. The CGD also intends to post on PSPC’s Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn accounts to ensure maximum visibility during the 150th anniversary celebrations.

New Cost Model A new cost model is being prepared to adjust publication rates to the reality of the current production system. Also, because of the new layout, notices take up more space in the publication than before, and equivalences need to be established for billing our clients. A new calculation method must be set so as not to penalize clients. As a result, the CGD chose not to increase its rates in 2017–2018 but rather to wait for the results of the cost study and new calculation method. The rates will be adjusted on April 1, 2018.

Digitization of Canada Gazette Publications A few years ago, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) digitized issues of the Canada Gazette published between 1841 and 1997 as part of a joint project with the CGD. The vast majority of the issues were digitized and are accessible to the Canadian public on the LAC website. However, certain issues prevented the digitization of the entire collection; it will be completed during the current fiscal year as part of a special joint project.

Digital Technology The CGD has been communicating electronically with Canadians by posting tweets on the PSPC Twitter account since 2016. This year, the CGD will continue to use Twitter, but it will also use other social media such as Facebook to inform the Canadian public of various activities, including those associated with the 150th anniversary of Canada. The CGD still provides RSS feeds for the three parts of the Canada Gazette. You can access all issues of the Canada Gazette published from 1998 to date on the CGD website. As for issues published between 1841 and 1997, the vast majority of them have been digitized and are accessible to the Canadian public on the Library and Archives Canada website.

Increased Efficiency of Work Processes The CGD encourages all of its clients, both in the private sector and in the federal government, to send their notices by regular email, provided their documents are not secret. Secret documents may be sent by encrypted email. Since documents can be sent electronically, the entire production process for the Canada Gazette is now electronic. All corrected versions of the same document are saved on our secret server; before, paper versions were kept.

Sustainable Recordkeeping – GCDocs The CGD implemented GCDocs, an information management tool that is part of the Government of Canada’s Open Government Initiative. This system ensures the consistency of recordkeeping and electronic information management in the entire public service. It allows for a quicker response time for requests for access to information and enhances the efficiency of program and service delivery.

Email Notification Service The email notification service will inform clients as soon as new parts of the Canada Gazette are published on our website. Users of this service will be able to subscribe to the following four categories: new insertion rates, news or changes in News and Announcements, new publication dates and deadlines, and special communiqués. Email notifications also enable us to inform our clients in the event of a service interruption, such as when IT problems prevent the publication of the Canada Gazette on the usual date and time. The email notification service should begin in the coming months.

Publishing and Depository Services Directorate (PDSD)

PDSDs Statistics 2016-2017 Our website contains bibliographic information for more than 355,000 Government of Canada publications, of which 235,000 electronic publications are freely downloadable. We had 1,847,225 visits on our website with 4,218,630 page views. Our team catalogued 76,335 publications. 1,226,010 publications were downloaded.

Publishing Challenges Departments publishing in HTML only (no permanency, no portable format available for download, Web pages are removed and changed). Departments using old catalogue numbers and ISBNs rather than asking for new ones.

Ongoing Priorities Repealing the Publication of Statutes Regulations to continue printing the Annual Statutes of Canada in the new format adopted by Justice Canada in January 2016. The file is moving forward. PDSD is working with the Privy Council Office and The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat to complete the paperwork required to repeal the Regulations. The Annual Statutes 2016 should be printed in the New Layout for Legislation in 2018. Working with Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat to find solutions to comply with the Standard on Web Accessibility.

Service Improvements PDSD recently introduced improvements to the Weekly Acquisitions List to allow clients to filter their views and select individual MARC records for download. PDSD is working on modernizing its website to facilitate navigation and to comply with the new Canada.ca Web standards.

Digitization Projects Ongoing Statistics Canada historical publications project Statistics Canada has digitized approximately 117,000 publications. As of May 2017, 60,000 of these publications have been catalogued. Other special cataloguing batches from departments digitizing old pubs: PDSD has digitized print copies of catalogues and checklists of Canadian government publications from 1953 to 2003, and added them to the Publications catalogue. PDSD has also added to its catalogue a large quantity of historic publications that are made available through federal departments’ digitization projects, including Royal Commission reports and technical documents of the Department of Finance, among others.

Outreach InfoDep – A mailing list service to which any library can subscribe to get updates and participate in conversations related to Government of Canada publications. Library Advisory Committee – A committee established to collaborate with stakeholders to discuss operations, policies, practices, plans, direction and services. Meetings and conferences across the country to meet and discuss with Canadians and library stakeholders.

Questions, Comments or Ideas? Contact us! Publishing and Depository Services Directorate General questions about our services? Email: publications@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca Want to tell us about a publication? Email: publications.acquisitions@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca Canada Gazette Directorate Email: info.gazette@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca