The Fort Frontenac Library, located within the
Canadian Land Forces Command and Staff College
The Canadian Army Command and Staff College (CACSC), formerly the Canadian Land Force Command and Staff College, is a school for officers of the Canadian Forces, specializing in staff and army operations courses. It is located at Fort Frontenac, ...
,
Fort Frontenac
Fort Frontenac was a French trading post and military fort built in July 1673 at the mouth of the Cataraqui River where the St. Lawrence River leaves Lake Ontario (at what is now the western end of the La Salle Causeway), in a location tradition ...
,
Kingston, Ontario
Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between Toro ...
, is the main research library for the
Canadian Army
The Canadian Army (french: Armée canadienne) is the command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also respo ...
. Established in 1947 this library is one of the oldest collections of volumes, monographs, documents, and artifacts dedicated to the study of conflict and land warfare in the Canadian context. The Fort Frontenac Library assists the army's advanced officer development programs as well as its research and development communities across the country. The current Chief Librarian is Mr. David Willis.
Origins
Created in 1947, the Canadian Army Staff College (CASC) library was designed to function separately from the
Royal Military College of Canada
'')
, established = 1876
, type = Military academy
, chancellor = Anita Anand ('' la, ex officio, label=none'' as Defence Minister)
, principal = Harry Kowal
, head_label ...
Library, with which it was initially colocated on the college grounds. The CASC library was initially designed to serve the needs of the National Defence College (NDC), while the RMC library served the needs of cadets and faculty. The CASC library was headed by Lieutenant Colonel T.F. Gelley. In 1942, when the Canadian Junior War Staff Course was transferred from England to Canada the initial CASC collection consisted of some 300 books and reports which had been brought over from England. By 1947, the collection consisted of roughly 2100 volumes, which included academic books, technical material, doctrinal and training manuals, popular military texts, and even novels. These donations came from a wide variety of sources, including the Canadian Army overseas, the
YMCA
YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...
, the Royal Military College of Canada, as well as individual officers and soldiers.
In December 1947, the Canadian Army Staff College moved from the Royal Military College to current quarters on the grounds of Fort Frontenac. The CASC library transferred and renamed the Fort Frontenac Library. From that point, the library was designed to meet the research needs of the staff and students of both the National Defence College and the Canadian Army Staff College. The collection consists of books and reports in the fields of military science, international relations, government, politics, and economics.
Origins of the Canadian Army Staff College/Fort Frontenac Library
Retrieved 2011-12-19
Expansion
Between 1950 and 1994 the library was expanded and evolved significantly. Its core collection grew to include a significant holding of volumes on politics, economics, strategic studies, international relations, and military history, a reflection of its association with the internationally focused NDC courses. As well, the collection benefited from several important donations from foreign students and Canadian Army officers. Its relationship with the NDC and the army staff courses allowed for the creation of unique collection focused on land forces and land warfare studies.
Post Cold War era
The end of the Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
saw a significant reorientation of the Canadian Forces
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The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force.
...
, which affected all of its organizations including its education and training systems. Several legacy establishments were closed including the NDC, which graduated its last class in 1994. With this closure, the future of the Fort Frontenac Library became tenuous. Oversight and direction of the library initially returned to the Canadian Land Forces Command and Staff College, but in the late 1990s, its supervision was again transferred to the Land Forces Doctrine and Training System. Responsibility for the library moved again in 2003, this time to the Directorate of Army Doctrine.
Afghanistan War
In light of the army's ongoing operations in Afghanistan and new orientation towards counterinsurgency, in 2006 the library received a new mandate to directly support research and development associated with ongoing army capability development. Under the supervision of the Directorate of Land Concepts and Designs (DLCD) with development and operations then overseen by Major Andrew Godefroy
Andrew Godefroy CD, Master of Arts, M.A., Ph.D. is a Canadian strategic analyst and science and technology historian.
Scholarship
Andrew Godefroy was born in Montreal, Quebec and attended Concordia University (Quebec), Concordia University wh ...
, the library refocused its efforts on the accession of both old and new volumes on land warfare, as well as the development of a number of special collections unique to the Canadian Army. In 2011-2012, direct oversight of the library transferred to Lieutenant Colonel Brad Boswell, with Mr. David Willis being confirmed as Chief Librarian.
New mandate
Effective 1 April 2014, oversight of the Fort Frontenac Library was transferred from the Canadian Army Land Warfare Centre
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
to the Canadian Army Command and Staff College
The Canadian Army Command and Staff College (CACSC), formerly the Canadian Land Force Command and Staff College, is a school for officers of the Canadian Forces, specializing in staff and army operations courses. It is located at Fort Frontenac, ...
. Under new direction, the library continues to support both army command and staff college courses as well as broader army operational research, experimentation, and capability development.
References
See also
* Military history of Canada
The military history of Canada comprises hundreds of years of armed actions in the territory encompassing modern Canada, and interventions by the Canadian Forces, Canadian military in conflicts and peacekeeping worldwide. For thousands of years, t ...
* History of the Canadian Army
The history of the Canadian Army, began when the title first came into official use in November 1940, during the Second World War, and is still used today. Although the official titles, Force Mobile Command, and later Land Force Command, were used ...
* Canadian Forces
}
The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force.
...
{{Authority control
Libraries in Ontario
Buildings and structures in Kingston, Ontario
Libraries established in 1947
1947 establishments in Canada