The Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL) and 12 members of the Association of Canadian University Presses/Association Des Presses Universitaires Canadiennes (ACUP/APUC), in conjunction with eBOUND Canada, have partnered to promote and support the availability of Canadian scholarship in e-book format throughout Ontario's universities.
Stated to be innovative in both scope and design, the agreement reached by OCUL, ACUP/APUC and eBOUND Canada will provide access, via OCUL's Scholars Portal Books platform, to a collection of over 3,000 e-books published during 2007-2012. The agreement also has a roll-forward licensing provision and it is anticipated the volume will grow to a total of nearly 4,000 titles by 2014. This collection, which is comprised of e-books, almost all of which are not currently owned by the OCUL community, will significantly expand OCUL's e-book holdings of Canadian scholarly works. The agreement provides OCUL with perpetual ownership and local hosting rights on the Scholars Portal Books platform for all of the content provided.
OCUL libraries are said to be committed to building e-book collections that reflect the intellectual richness and diversity of Canadian scholarship. This agreement is seen as a major step toward ensuring this wealth of scholarship is readily accessible and preserved in e-book format for the benefit of the OCUL community. Scholars Portal Books will be the exclusive point of access to the collection, soon to be available to over 290,000 students and faculty at the 10 early adopting OCUL libraries currently participating in the deal. This will ensure they can easily search and use this important gathering of Canadian scholarship, now and into the future.
