History

 

The Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) is a partnership of universities dedicated to expanding digital content for the university research enterprise in Canada. From its inception as a pilot project in 2000, CRKN has played a key role in building knowledge infrastructure in Canada, providing equitable and cost-effective access to scholarly content for universities nationwide.  

 

Working with librarians, researchers, administrators, funders and publishers, CRKN has built national capacity for innovation, transformed the research environment, and influenced the marketplace. CRKN’s inclusive and large-scale approach to content licensing continues to deliver value to its member universities and attract international acclaim.

 

In January 2000, 64 universities in Canada signed a historic inter-institutional agreement that launched the Canadian National Site Licensing Project (CNSLP), a pilot project totaling Cdn$50 million over three years. CNSLP’s goal was to bolster the research and innovation capacity of the country's universities by licensing electronic versions of scholarly publications on a national scale.

 

The objectives of CNSLP were three-fold:

 

CNSLP secured $20 million for this project from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) by demonstrating that systematic access to published research constitutes an essential component of Canada's research infrastructure.   Participating universities and provincial governments committed an additional $30 million, and the University of Ottawa acted as the project host and administrative centre.

 

During its pilot phase, CNSLP focused primarily on full-text electronic journals and research databases in science, engineering, health and environmental disciplines—areas where the needs and costs were most acute. 

 

As a result of project funding, CNSLP implemented multi-year licenses with seven major scientific publishers, providing access to over 1,000 e-journals and key citation databases for researchers nationwide. The consortium was also successful in establishing a “made-in-Canada” model license agreement, which set superior terms of usage for the academic community.

 

Leveraging the organizational base and critical mass that had been established, CNSLP continued to add high-impact collections of journals and backfiles to the content portfolio, self-funded by members. By 2004, the consortium had more than doubled its initial content budget, demonstrated its impact on the research community, and met sustainability requirements from CFI.

 

It was at this time that an organizational change was required to formalize the governance structure and move the initiative from project to ongoing program. On April 1, 2004, CNSLP was incorporated as a not-for-profit organization and renamed the Canadian Research Knowledge Network. Incorporation opened the doors to new participants in the consortium, and later that year 10 universities joined CRKN, bringing total membership to 74 institutions.

 

Conscious of the growing need for digital content in social sciences and humanities disciplines, CRKN began planning in 2005 for a three-phase content expansion project that would secure a portfolio of content in diverse formats and culminate with another approach to CFI for grant funding. 

 

The first two phases of the content expansion proceeded on an incremental and self-funded basis, and in February 2007, CFI announced a $19.1 million award to the project under its National Platforms Fund. With matching funds totaling $28.6 million from 67 universities and provincial governments, the Digital Content Infrastructure for the Human and Social Sciences (DCI) project was launched.

 

By June 2008, fourteen major research collections had been secured under the DCI project, making available thousands of e-books, e-journals, primary source materials, videos, classical music scores, etc. In 2009, CRKN committed the remaining DCI content funds toward digitization of select Canadian historical materials.

 

CRKN now licenses a full complement of digital content in STM and SSH disciplines. While CFI has provided critical seed funding to accelerate strategic initiatives and to ensure inclusive and equitable participation, member institutions remain committed to sustaining initiatives through voluntary funding.

 

For Canada to improve its capacity for research output, innovative strategies that work across jurisdictions are critical. New organizational, business and scholarly communication models are needed over the long term to meet researchers' information needs, even as practical strategies for securing electronic journals and databases are implemented in the short term.

 

CNSLP, and subsequently CRKN, represent such strategies. The organization brings together universities in Canada across 10 provinces, two official languages (French and English), and diverse degree and program offerings, and puts in place a national foundation for acquiring scholarly research content in digital formats.

 

The 75 institutions that currently participate in CRKN include all research universities offering degrees at the Masters and Doctoral level as well as the vast majority of institutions offering Baccalaureate degrees, and represent over 900,000 full-time equivalent faculty, graduate students and undergraduates.

 

The consortium is inclusive; that is, member universities are committed to licensing a broad portfolio of research content from multiple vendors, with resources acquired available equally to all participants.

 

As we celebrate a decade of sustained development and growth, we are proud to have achieved the three objectives originally set out. We have built capacity in universities across the country, we have transformed the environment to strengthen research and innovation, and we have influenced the marketplace, accelerating the take-up of digital scholarly content and leveraging the buying power of member institutions for the benefit of research. With this foundation, CRKN is well-positioned for continuing success in its next decade of service.

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