CANADIAN NATIONAL SITE LICENSING PROJECT 11/27/01

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