Labrador Institute

• Labrador Institute of Memorial University
• Labrador Institute of Memorial University

• University

The Labrador Institute grew out of Memorial University's Extension Service in 1979. The institute has evolved significantly over the decades, and today the LI focuses upon research, education, and public engagement in its role as the only permanent university presence in Labrador.
In 1982, the institute (then called the Labrador Institute of Northern Studies, or LINS) announced the creation of an “information centre,” LINSIC, to support its educational projects and a broader program of local development. Many changes of administration, staff, physical location, and mandate later, LINSIC endures today as the Labrador Institute’s library and archive. Since 2007, the library has been co-located with the College of the North Atlantic collection, with circulation services provided by CNA staff, and since 2012, cataloguing and bibliographic control have been provided by the Memorial Libraries system. Also since 2012, a program coordinator has been assigned to oversee collection development, with a sustained policy of acquisitions and collections management now firmly in place for the first time in some years. One of the coordinator’s first tasks was to formally establish the archive as a separate entity, and to begin work on a finding aid, integrating previously disparate sets of holdings and records.
The Labrador Institute’s library and archive are open to the public and aim to support Labrador-based research and education both within and beyond the post-secondary educational community.

The Labrador Institute collects, conserves, circulates, and promotes Labrador material, with a particular eye towards supporting academic research and to collaborating with other local institutions, such as Them Days. The archive’s special strengths include a large collection of video and sound recordings, along with several thousand photographs. The library contains approximately 5,000 items, including books, films, reports, music recordings, and other resources. As of 2014, both collections are undergoing rapid development, with a strong acquisitions mandate and an increased focus on quality of access, through cataloguing and digitization.

The Labrador Institute’s library collection is searchable at www.library.mun.ca (select “Labrador Institute” as a location in the classic catalogue). About half of the archive holdings have currently been described and entered into a new, on-site digital finding aid. Future plans include online publication of the finding aid and participation in the ARC-ANLA project. The Labrador Institute also promotes its holdings through initiatives like Labrador/ians on Film, a bimonthly, free screening series, and The Labrador Institute Presents DVD series, which was launched in February 2014 with the release of TVCR’s The Strever Express.

Monday to Thursday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Friday 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Summer hours may vary, and the library and archive are generally closed on provincial holidays.

Created - April 9, 2013
Revised - June 11, 2014

• English

2001 ANLA Member Institutions Directory