The Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) has announced the conclusion of three-year license renewals with 14 scholarly publishers, valued at about $140 million (CAD). These agreements follow an extended round of negotiations with publishers, aimed at providing CRKN's 73 university members with resources that foster innovative research and allow Canadian researchers to remain internationally competitive.
CRKN members have taken advantage of new flexibility offered in the renewal as multiple agreements have been unbundled by CRKN, allowing members to tailor their participation in each separate agreement. Members' return on investment is high through these agreements. A conservative estimate reflects savings of between 15 percent to over 50 percent within the national agreements compared to institutional prices for comparable content, representing savings of over $40 million over a three-year period. In addition, members derive value through superior price protection with caps on annual increases set below market norm, expanded usage terms through the CRKN model license agreement, and the most strategic influence with publishers regarding future services and developments.
The license renewals represent a diverse portfolio of content, and include science/technology/medical content as well as humanities and social sciences content, in diverse formats such as e-journals, databases, primary sources, newspapers and historical archives. These agreements leverage CRKN members' own institutional funds, and are not dependant on investments from external granting sources.
The CRKN is a partnership of Canadian universities, dedicated to expanding digital content for the academic research enterprise in Canada. Through the coordinated leadership of librarians, researchers, and administrators, CRKN undertakes large-scale content acquisition and licensing initiatives in order to build knowledge infrastructure and research capacity in 73 of Canada's universities.
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