Canadian National Site Licensing Project (CNSLP)

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

What is CNSLP ?

The goal of the Canadian National Site Licensing Project is to dramatically increase the quantity, breadth and depth of the most current research literature available to Canadian academic researchers. A national consortium of 64 Canadian universities has negotiated with database and journal publishers to obtain three-year pan-Canadian site licenses for electronic publications mostly in scientific, technical and medical disciplines. A priority of the project is to build the research capacity of the participating institutions. The pilot project is spearheaded by the Canadian Association of Research Libraries, headquartered at the University of Ottawa.

 

How is it funded ?

A $20 million grant from the Canada Foundation for Innovation will cover 40% of the costs of the pilot project, with the remaining $30 million coming from regional or provincial partners and the 64 participating institutions.

 

How does it benefit libraries and their users ?

There is a growing shift from the distribution of research results in print format to its rapid dissemination through electronic networks. Increasingly, libraries enter into license agreements with publishers to gain access to collections via electronic means. Because the Canadian academic market is relatively small, it is crucial to consolidate the negotiating and buying power of academic libraries to reduce costs.  By uniting our efforts under CNSLP, we greatly increase our joint buying power and our ability to negotiate better contractual terms for access to a much larger body of published research with the speed, convenience and utility of electronic access.

 

What collections does it include ?

National access has been negotiated with publishers by the CNSLP Steering Committee in consultation with the participating libraries.  Two databases are included, the multidisciplinary Web of Science and the more specialized  MathSciNet. In addition, licenses have been signed with the following publishers for access to all of their electronic journals : Academic Press, American Chemical Society, Institute of Physics, Royal Society of Chemistry and Springer Verlag. The largest sets are those by Academic Press (206 titles) and Springer (410 titles), covering disciplines in science, technology, medicine, engineering, environment, economics, computer science, business and the law.

 

How long will we have access ?

The site licenses are for three calendar years, 2001-2003 inclusive. The CNSLP National Steering Committee is undertaking talks at the national level with the Department of Industry and others to enable funding for expanded licenses beyond the project time frame.

 

Who is allowed to use these electronic resources ?

The CNSLP electronic collections may be accessed by authorized faculty, students and staff from library, office, lab or home computers.  Access is controlled by IP authentication.“Walk-in” library access is also spelled out in the license as an allowable use.

 

What is covered in the license ?

One license has been negotiated for all of the CNSLP collections. In addition to the usual clauses, it also specifically covers and allows for :

· distribution of print or electronic copies for teaching purposes to all student members of a class

· supply of a print copy to other libraries (Document Delivery)

· supply of print copies in course packs

· supply of print or electronic copies for Reserve or Electronic Reserve

· warranty of no author copyright infringement

· non-scheduled downtime = less than 12 hours per month, 6:30am-8:00pm EST

· guarantee of currency : electronic version posted no later than day of print publication

· usage data disclosure

· written notice of content changes

· archiving of electronic content to be provided upon cancellation

 

General CNSLP Information

· CNSLP Web site

- http://www.uottawa.ca/library/cnslp/

 

· CNSLP Implementation listserv

- send e-mail message to mailto:maillist@sfu.ca. Type in body : subscribe cnslp-ig

 

Specific Product Information                                                                                    

· Academic Press (206 titles)

- http://www.apnet.com/journals/ (list of titles)

- http://www.idealibrary.com/help/index.jsp (general help)

· American Chemical Society (33 titles)

- information kit has been sent from ACS

- http://pubs.acs.org/(see CNSLP Announcement and list under “What’s New”)

- http://pubs.acs.org/liblink/01let.html(ACS Web Editions news)

· Institute of Physics (34 titles)

- http://www.iop.org/Journals/bytitle(list of titles)

- http://www.iop.org/EJ/welcome(general help)                  

· Royal Society of Chemistry (24 titles)

- no information so far

· Springer (410 titles)

- http://link.springer-ny.com/ol/index.htm(list of titles)

- http://link.springer-ny.com/search.htm (search Springer journals)

 

What kind of action will be taken to evaluate the project and its outcomes ?

A national working group of faculty members and librarians has been assigned the task of monitoring and assessing the project to determine how successfully CNSLP project goals are met.

Holly Melanson
Assistant University Librarian, Collections
Dalhousie University