Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec: Convergence and the path of innovation

Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (known by its acronym, BAnQ) is a relative newcomer to the city and is in many respects unique, at least among the library and information community. Born from the successive merging of three institutions, it inherited their respective mandates that would form the heart of its mission: the mandates of a national library, national archives and public library. There can be no doubt that this merger was central to the institution’s originality and forms the basis of its innovative initiatives. A Québec government corporation under Québec’s Ministry of Culture and Communications (ministère de la Culture et des Communications du Québec), BAnQ’s three-fold mission is to acquire, permanently preserve and promote Québec’s heritage materials. Among other similar Canadian provincial institutions, it is the only one that has the mandate of a national library, while Library and Archives Canada fulfills that role for the country as a whole.