Canadian National Site Licensing Project

[Ann Okerson <ann.okerson@yale.edu>]

of possible great interest to liblicense-l readers.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1999 14:44:41 +0000
From: Tim Mark <carl@uottawa.ca>

Canadian researchers to have greater access to published research.

$20million grant will improve dramatically quantity, breadth and
depth of available electronic journals in Canadian universities. 

OTTAWA (Thursday, June 24, 1999)  

The Canada Foundation for Innovation will provide $20 million over
three years to fund the Canadian National Site Licensing Project
(CNSLP). The project is spearheaded by the Canadian Association of
Research Libraries (CARL) and will be administered by the University
of Ottawa.

The goal of the CNSLP is to dramatically increase the quantity,
breadth and depth of the most current research literature available
to Canadian academic researchers. A national consortium of 64
Canadian universities will negotiate with journal publishers and
vendors to obtain pan-Canadian site licenses for electronic versions
of scholarly journals mostly in scientific disciplines.

"To remain internationally competitive, Canadian researchers require
speedy and convenient access to the primary scientific, engineering,
health, and environment research literature," said Dr. Howard Alper,
University of Ottawa's Vice-Rector, Research, who heads the CNSLP
steering committee. "National site licensing has the potential of
providing this type of access for over 34,000 university researchers
and 76,000 graduate students in Canada."

"This is wonderful news," said CARL president, Frances Groen,
following the grant announcement.  "Canada's researchers will benefit
immeasurably from this national initiative. Now researchers across
the country will enjoy equal access to research literature and
findings."  The CARL headquarters are housed at the University of
Ottawa.

By uniting their efforts under the CNSLP, institutions will greatly
increase their buying power and will be able to negotiate better
contractual terms to gain access to a much larger body of published
research. In addition, they will improve accessibility through
electronic delivery of research material, which creates the
possibility of national digital library services.

A decade of double-digit price increases from publishers,
proliferation of publications and rapid technological innovation in
electronic publishing provide a powerful impetus to transform library
systems. The use of information technology is accelerating the pace
of the entire research cycle. There is a growing shift from the
distribution of research results in print format to its rapid
dissemination through electronic networks.

Increasingly, libraries no longer purchase individual journal titles
in print format. Instead they enter into license agreements with
publishers or vendors to gain access to journal collections via
electronic means. This is called site licensing.

In recent years, Canadian libraries have entered into site licensing
arrangements at the provincial and regional levels. The strategy
worldwide, however, is toward national site licensing. Because the
Canadian academic market for electronic publications is relatively
small, it is crucial to consolidate the negotiating and buying power
of academic libraries to reduce costs.

The project funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI)
comes from the Institutional Innovation Fund. The $20 million grant
will cover about 40 percent of the cost of the CNSLP, with the
remaining $30 million coming from regional or provincial partners
and the 64 participating institutions.

CFI is a corporation established by the federal government
tostrengthen Canadian capability for research. Its mandate is to
increase the capability of Canadian universities, colleges,
hospitals, and  other not-for-profit institutions to carry out
important world-class scientific research and technology
development.

Information:

Richard Greene
University Chief Librarian
University of Ottawa
(613) 562 5883
rgreene@uottawa.ca

Tim Mark
Executive Director
Canadian Association of Research Libraries 
(613) 562 5800 ext. 3652
carl@uottawa.ca