License and Content Updates

Licensing 

2017 renewals have been divided into three categories: I, II, and III. The categories reflect a combination of the expected complexity of the renewal and the expiration date of the license. This classification allows the Content Strategy Committee (CSC) to prioritize the most complex renewals and effectively focus the time of CSC committee members. In addition, staff and the CSC will be working on multiple mid-year renewals early in the year. Several of the Category III license renewals may be expedited in order to focus the Content Strategy Committee’s attention on those renewals that will benefit most from extended negotiations. Check the Upcoming License Renewals page of the website for more information on the renewals we will be working on this year.  

Projects & Collaborations

Working with Canadiana.org

In August 2016, a working group was formed, comprising of members of the Board of Directors and staff of CRKN and Canadiana.org, to explore the potential and feasibility of merging the two organizations. After reviewing the mandates, governance, operations and finances of both organizations, the working group identified similarities between CRKN and Canadiana that suggest potential opportunities, as well as identified associated challenges for a merger. Following a presentation to the CRKN membership during the AGM in October, the working group continues to explore new potential opportunities for a merged organization while keeping the Boards of both organizations apprised of discussions. A vision for a combined organization is being developed and the associated financial assumptions and implications are being explored.   

CRKN will be holding a strategic meeting for all member library directors on May 15th at which time the working group will provide both a vision and more in-depth information for discussion and review by the membership. 

Journal Usage Project 

The Journal Usage Project continues to progress with the data collection phase completed in September 2016. In the fall, the focus was on acquiring ethics approval from the 23 Universities participating in the faculty survey. The ethics approval process took much more time than anticipated, resulting in having to reschedule survey deployment to occur in January 2017. Following the completion of survey data collection in late February, data analysis will continue until the end of April. Look for an update on the results of the project in May. 

Read More

CRKN-Érudit Partnership Continues

The CRKN-Érudit partnership, which was initially established in 2014, has been extended for another year. This unique partnership creates a framework for a new relationship between journals and libraries, and helps to provide financial support to Canadian journals during the transition to a fully open access model. 

During the one year extension, both organizations will continue to work together to contextualize the current partnership in the larger environment and to establish how to build upon the successes while working with a broader stakeholder community to create a collaborative and sustainable scholarly journal publishing environment in Canada. This work includes participation on the Canadian Scholarly Publishing Working Group and Érudit’s continued collaboration with the Public Knowledge Project. 

Foreign Exchange Services

Over the past two years, increases in exchange rates have translated directly into increased member costs, with member license expenditures of just more than $100M in 2014-15, nearly $112M in 2015-16 and an estimated $124M in 2016-17. The Finance & Audit Committee continues to explore options for foreign exchange services that may help members to manage these fluctuations.

Based on the success of previous foreign exchange service offerings and with the support of the Board of Directors, CRKN once again offered an optional foreign exchange management service for payment of Elsevier ScienceDirect, Wiley Blackwell and Springer invoices for the 2017 calendar year. As in previous years, CRKN successfully arranged for the foreign exchange bids for all three products in April 2016.  A new service offered to members this fiscal year was the option to pay in USD, allowing members to draw on institutional USD accounts.  CRKN has now invoiced all members for the three licenses, including USD invoicing options.

Read More

Canadiana Heritage Project 

Canadiana continues work on the CRKN funded Heritage Project. As of December 2016, close to 40.5 million images have been digitized with approximately 40 million of these now online at the Héritage Discovery Portal. In addition, 86 collections have been tagged and transcribed, representing about 1.5 million pages. 

The ad-free premium portal, which is available to Heritage supporters (CRKN members who participated in the initial Heritage Project funding) has now been launched. This interface provides access to complete metadata and full-text, as well as offering a more sophisticated search functionality, compared to the public platform. All of the content digitized through this project remains freely available to the public through the basic platform.   

ORCID CA 

The ORCID CA Implementation Group was established in late October and has been meeting regularly and working through the requirements for launching a Canadian ORCID consortium in 2017. The Implementation Group is composed of stakeholders representing organizations in the digital scholarly infrastructure environment, universities, researchers and libraries. CRKN has agreed to act as the administrative lead organization, and is working with ORCID on the consortial license agreement. 

The ORCID CA Implementation Group is finalizing a Joint Statement of Purpose which will be circulated soon as well support documents to clarify and promote the benefits of becoming an ORCID institutional member. Launch of ORCID CA is anticipated to take place in the first quarter of 2017. To learn more about this initiative, direct questions and comments to the Implementation Group by sending an email to: orcid@crkn.ca. 

Updates on Financial Information

Quarterly Financial Updates

CRKN released its quarterly financial update to members on December 19th, providing information on CRKN's foreign exchange services, invoicing results to date, and information on various administrative topics including CRKN’s anticipated invoicing schedule and membership fees for 2017-18. Copies of current or previous updates are available on the news section of the CRKN website (members-only content). 

Board Committee Meeting Recaps

Board Meeting Minutes

Recent CRKN Board meeting minutes are available to members on the CRKN website (login required). 

Content Strategy Committee Meeting Recaps

CSC Meeting recaps are available to members on the CRKN website. 

Upcoming Events 

Special Meeting of the Members - Save the Date!

On May 15, 2017 in Toronto there will be a special meeting of CRKN members to discuss the findings of the CRKN-Canadiana working group.  More information about this meeting will be available shortly.
 

AGM 2017 – Save the Date 

The dates for the 2017 AGM are confirmed for October 18-20, 2017. The meetings will be held at Marriott Château Champlain in Montréal, QC.  Programming details and accommodation information will be available in the coming months. 
 

Topics for AGM 2017

Always looking to improve on past events, CRKN is seeking input regarding programming for this year’s meeting. If you have ideas for stand-alone sessions, workshops, lightning talks or panels, please contact Nazia Bundhoo (nbundhoo@crkn.ca / 613-907-7036).

Industry News & Announcements  

CRKN is Pleased to Welcome Two New Members to our Community

Mme Sylvie Fournier has been appointed Director General of Libraries and Archives Services at Université de Sherbrooke effective December 12, 2016,

Dr. Melissa Just has been appointed Dean of Libraries at the University of Saskatchewan. Read more.
 

Staff Update

Senior Content & Licensing Officer, Monica Ward began a one-year leave of absence on January 3, 2017. CRKN is finalizing a secondment agreement with a member institution for an experienced licensing officer to work with CRKN beginning in mid-February until the end of 2017.