The initiative led by Érudit and the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) earned an Outstanding Collaboration Award from the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services, a branch of the American Library Association.
Recently renewed for 2017, the Érudit-CRKN partnership has facilitated a new model agreement between 53 university libraries and 117 scholarly journals, transforming their commercial relationships into true partnerships. The goal is to encourage journals to gradually transition to an open access model while assuring them financial stability.
To make this change possible, it was essential to secure the commitment of libraries and journals. Érudit and the CRKN began working closely together in 2014 to develop an offer that would meet the needs of both parties. One of the key initiatives was to provide open access to all scholarly articles available on Érudit 12 months following publication. Érudit and the CRKN also created a support fund for the 29 journals that have adopted a fully open access model.
The project’s success was recently highlighted by the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS), which will present Érudit and the CRKN with the 2017 Outstanding Collaboration Award at the American Library Association’s Annual Conference on June 24 in Chicago. This award recognizes collaborative problem-solving efforts in the areas of access, acquisition or preservation of library materials.
The renewed agreement for 2017 indicates that Canadian university libraries support scholarly journals and open access. This creates an excellent springboard for extending the partnership abroad—particularly in France and the United States—which will ensure broader visibility for Canadian journals.
More about the Érudit-CRKN Partnership: https://erudit.squarespace.com/home
About Érudit
In partnership with Canadian libraries and scholarly publishers, Érudit works toward the digital dissemination of scientific and cultural publications in the humanities and social sciences. Érudit is an interuniversity consortium of Université de Montréal, Université Laval and Université du Québec à Montréal. Since 2014, it has been recognized as a major science initiative by the Canada Foundation for Innovation. https://www.erudit.org
About CRKN
Through the coordinated leadership of librarians, researchers, administrators and other stakeholders in the research community, CRKN undertakes large-scale content acquisition and licensing initiatives in order to build knowledge infrastructure and research and teaching capacity in Canada’s universities. https://www.crkn-rcdr.ca/en
Contact
Gwendal Henry, Communications Officer
gwendal.henry@erudit.org