Canadian National Site Licensing Project-Success Story

[Ann Okerson <aokerson@pantheon.yale.edu>]

From:   Library Journal Academic News Wire: November 27, 2001

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CANADIAN UNIVERSITY OFFICIALS DISCUSS EXPANSION OF AWARD- WINNING
INITIATIVE

Representatives from colleges and universities across Canada met last week
to discuss the development of and expansion of the Canadian National Site
Licensing Project (CNSLP), an innovative, award-winning $50 million
digital library that has greatly strengthened the research and innovation
capacity of Canadian universities. Now in its second year of a three-year
pilot phase, the CNSLP provides desktop access to electronic versions of
scholarly journals and research databases, primarily in science,
engineering, health, and environmental disciplines. Currently, more than
750 scholarly journals are available on-line to over 650,000 university
researchers, post-doctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students at
64 universities in 10 provinces. The CNSLP has received considerable
support thus far--$30 million from universities and provincial
governments, and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency as well as $20
million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation. And at its most recent
meeting, officials sought to ensure that such support grows.

"In today's economy, timely access to the most up-to-date information and
innovative approaches to research are critical to our success," explained
Howard Alper, Vice- Rector (Research) at the University of Ottawa and
chairperson of the CNSLP Steering Committee. "Our objective is to build a
consensus that will lead to the establishment of a permanent national
knowledge infrastructure in Canada." The CNSLP works by pooling the
resources of research institutions, thus providing a strong voice--and
purse--with which Canadian universities have negotiated agreements with
scholarly publishers. In Spring of 2001, The CNSLP initiative was awarded
the National First Prize in the 2001 Quality and Productivity Awards
Program of the Canadian Association of University Business Officers
(CAUBO) (See LJ Academic Newswire 6/28/01). The award recognized CNSLP's
"national collaboration, content acquisition strategy, and license
procurement as an innovative business and service achievement for the
Canadian academic community."

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