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[lobrien@uottawa.ca]

Canadian National Site Licensing Project wins CACUL Innovation Achievement
Award

    OTTAWA, June 21 /CNW/ - The Canadian National Site Licensing Project
(CNSLP) has won the 2002 Innovation Achievement Award of the Canadian
Association of College and University Libraries (CACUL), a division of the
Canadian Library Association (CLA).
    The award is sponsored by the SIRSI Corporation and recognizes
academic libraries, which, through innovation in ongoing programs/services
or in a special event/project, have contributed to the advancement of
academic librarianship and library development.
    CACUL President, E. Jane Philipps, Head, Engineering and Science
Library Douglas Library, Queen's University, said that the Canadian
National Site Licensing Project demonstrates the five essential criteria
of the Innovation Achievement award: innovation, utility, long-term
impact, ambition and currency. According to Philipps, "CNSLP is a
ground-breaking digital library initiative that provides a solution to the
growing demand for efficient purchase, storage, management and
dissemination of scholarly information in electronic form. A major
achievement of this project is establishment of a model license agreement
for use with publishers of digital content, one that is governed by
Canadian law, and secures generous and across-the-board rights for all
bona fide academic users and usage of the content. This inclusive
licensing model, along with the innovative cost-sharing approach, has been
widely acclaimed in Canada and abroad."
    CNSLP Executive Director Deb deBruijn accepted the award on behalf of
the project's 64 member libraries at a ceremony held in conjunction with
the CACUL Annual General Meeting in Halifax on Friday, June 21, 2002.
deBruijn noted that " the unprecedented collaboration of universities
working across political jurisdictions and diverse programs coast to coast
is a major factor in CNSLP's success."
    The Chair of the national CNSLP Steering Committee is Dr. Howard
Alper, Vice-Rector (Research) at the University of Ottawa. According to
Alper, " The CACUL award recognizes the significant contribution that
CNSLP has made in strengthening universities' capacity for research and
innovation. CNSLP provides equitable access to leading edge resources that
underpin world-class research and allow Canadian researchers to remain
internationally competitive."
    About CNSLP: The CNSLP is a consortium of 64 university libraries
aimed at bolstering the research and innovation capacity of Canada's
universities. CNSLP's mission is to expand the universe of digital
research information to Canada's academic research community, through the
co-ordinated services and expertise of academic libraries. The project
offers an innovative model for licensing -on a national scale- electronic
versions of scholarly publication and research databases in science,
engineering, health and environmental disciplines. The CNSLP is governed
by a national Steering Committee representing university libraries,
administrators, researchers and academic associations.
    CNSLP has received pilot funding from the Canada Foundation for
Innovation, member universities, provincial governments, and the Atlantic
Canada Opportunities Agency .Its administrative centre is located at the
University of Ottawa, Canada's largest bilingual university. More
information about the CNSLP is available at:
http://www.uottawa.ca/library/cnslp/.
    About CACUL: The Canadian Association of College and University
Libraries (CACUL) exists to develop high standards of librarianship and of
library and information services, promoting these in institutions of
post-secondary education. CACUL is a division of the Canadian Library
Association, the national English language association representing the
interests of all types of libraries and library workers. More information
about CACUL and its programs is available at:
http://www.cla.ca/divisions/CACUL/cacul.htm

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For further information: Media Contact: Leacy O'Callaghan-O'Brien,
Communications Director, CNSLP, Phone: (613) 562-5800, x3712, Fax:
(613) 562-5195, E-mail: lobrien@uottawa.ca