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L-R: Leah, Brandon, Sunni, Cristen, Korinne, Leigh Anne, Megan, Vaughn, Jennifer, Anita
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Consortial Collaboration = Win for Everyone
What happens when collaborators collaborate? Shared goals are achieved, successes are amplified, and benefits are shared more widely.
Case in point: For the last two years BC ELN, the Council of Prairie and Pacific University Libraries  (COP
PU
L), and The Alberta Library (TAL) have worked together to secure optimal renewal price increases with both EBSCO and ProQuest for all three consor
tia. These combined effo
rts benefit approximately 96 institutions across 4 provinces. With renewal increases kept to a steady 3% or lower across the board, libraries realize significant cost savings and are guaranteed predictability, and it ensures that all colleges and universities are treated equally, no matter their size or budgets. For some additional context: EBSCO's projections are that that academic libraries will see serials price increases in the 5% to 6% range for 2019.
There's also a camaraderie among the women that strengthens professional and collegial connections. "It can be a lonely job. There are not a lot of people who do consortial licensing in Canada - It's important to have a cohort," says Palmer. Relationships like this are evidence of the unique, non-competitive spirit of Canadian library consortia. BC ELN, COPPUL, and TAL have fifteen shared journal and ebook licenses.
When collaborators collaborate, libraries get the best rates with steady, predictable price increases, and end users have continued access to the resources that support their scholarship. It's a win for everyone!
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Points to the Past Webinars Coming Soon
Points to the Past is your gateway to a world-class collection of primary sources, made up of nearly 200 million pages of digitized historical content and available to all of BC and Yukon.
In the New Year, Gale will be offering a
30-minute webinar on strategies for targeting primary source content within the Points to the Past collections to support learning needs and research interests. This session will also provide a navigation overview and instruction on how to incorporate content into coursework, so you'll walk away with the skills you need to start exploring and sharing.
Register for the session that fits your schedule below. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. These sessions will be recorded for those who are unable attend.
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BC ELN All Partner Meeting 2018: From Information to Inspiration
Every winter BC ELN hosts an All Partner Meeting (APM) to bring all partner libraries together to discuss issues of importance for the group. Held at the Morris J Wosk Centre for Dialogue on November 30th, the theme of this year's APM was
From Information to Inspiration. The decision to have an information sharing session was motivated by conversations in the post-secondary library community about the use of innovative technologies as services, and by topics and questions that emerged from the last Steering Committee meeting.
After a warm welcome by BC ELN Steering Committee Chair Patricia Cia, Anita Cocchia provided some context for the theme. Leigh Anne Palmer of BC ELN then took on the emcee role, providing introductions to the morning's presentations. Presenters were largely from the BC ELN community and included:
- Todd Mundle who shared Kwantlen Polytechnic University's experience using Open Journal Systems
- Sheldon Armstrong who spoke about UBC's investigation of OpenAthens
- Gregg Currie (Selkirk College), Ben Hyman (Vancouver Island University), and Shirley Lew (Vancouver Community College) who provided updates on their, and Camosun College's, migration to Sitka
- Suzanne Rackover who shared her perspective of Emily Carr University of Art + Design's implementation of Kaltura.
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Devon Keys from BCNET
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Special guest Devon Keys spoke about
BCNET, a shared services organization that leverages its network to meet the increasing demand for innovative technology solutions at higher education institutions in BC. BCNET-supported services include Kaltura, Moodle, and Blackboard Collaborate.
BC ELN and BCNET have overlapping memberships and shared values; both organizations seek to bring equity to the sector by extending and sharing resources.
In the afternoon, Leah Hopton from BC ELN led two activities that encouraged attendees to network and share inspiring ideas with each other and with BC ELN. In the first activity, attendees spoke to one another in quick rounds about the "Next Big Thing" happening at their libraries. In the second activity - based on the Liberating Structures activity
25/10 Crowdsourcing - attendees generated bold suggestions for the consortium inspired by the prompt "What could BC ELN do if it were ten times bolder?" The crowdsourced ideas were then rated by attendees, and the top 10 were shared aloud.
As with previous years, partner library directors and guests brought energy and enthusiasm to the meeting's proceedings, making the day both informative and inspiring!
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Coordinators bring you the latest news about BC ELN service areas and the eHLbc consortium.
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Arca project manager Brandon Weigel co-managed the release of Islandora 7.x-1.12, coordinating the international Islandora open source community to test, document, and improve each of the core modules. The release incorporates 5 new features, 14 improvements, and 16 bug fixes. Arca Partnerships Coordinator Sunni Nishimura has been traveling around the province to GLAM sector conferences talking up the opportunity for BCHDP grant recipients to host their content in Arca at no cost, thanks to BC ELN's partnership with the Irving K Barber Learning Centre's BC History Digitization Program... watch for content from the Northern Pacific Cannery and Barkerville Historic Site coming soon to https://bchdp.arcabc.ca On November 27, BC ELN hosted Arca Camp, an in-person 'unconference' for Arca administrators. Participants shared their tips and tricks for ingesting objects, showcasing collections, and soliciting content, and received training on new features and developments. 28 participants - online and in person - attended from across BC, Alberta, and Manitoba. |
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The AskAway Software Evaluation Committee is hard at work reviewing Request for Quotation (RFQ) responses from three software providers: LibAnswers (Springshare), LibraryH3lp (Nub Games), and QuestionPoint (OCLC). The broader AskAway community has also been invited to join AskAway Software Demonstrations in the New Year.
Scripted messages - pre-written notes that are sent to AskAway users during their chat sessions - have been refreshed to better align with service provider chat workflow and to include more proactive and user-centered wording.
User feedback on AskAway emphasizes its seamless nature: "This service is so handy and fast. Within minutes I always get a response which helps me still work on my paper without having to stop to go to the library... This is a fantastic service so work can be done away from the school." North Island College undergraduate student
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I
n a lively in-person meeting this fall, the eHLbc Management Committee met to refresh strategic activities for the consortium, pausing to celebrate Ruth Rochlin's retirement from the Interior Health Authority. Leah Hopton and Megan Robertson co-facilitated the session, which affirmed the strategic plan continues to align with eHLbc member priorities, and identified some top priorities for the Admin Centre in the next 3-5 years.
As a first step towards the upcoming review of the consortium's services, supports, and communications tools, eHLbc staff performed an environmental scan of other library consortia for ideas to adopt or adapt. Stay tuned for more about member services in the new year.
eHLbc now has consortial pricing for the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) Database, Journal, and Tools package, through a Consortia Canada license. This important set of resources is used by health professionals to evaluate the best available evidence on all health topics.
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Just in time for the fall frenzy of monograph spending, BC ELN's eBook Bonanza is here again! Perpetual access offers from JSTOR, Sage, and EBSCO are available on BC ELN's Offers and Renewals page. Discounts range from 20% to 45%.
While learners will be eagerly waiting for the ball to drop on New Years Eve, collections librarians are a bit more focused on the March 31st end of fiscal year. BC ELN has already started getting questions from libraries about what offers would be good to take advantage of with one-time-funding. Feel free to contact Leigh Anne (leighannep@bceln.ca) with questions; the Office is happy to help institutions maximize their use of unexpected dollars.
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Making your job easier: The new "Modify Existing Request" ILL Review feature added to OutLook OnLine (SHAREit), allows ILL staff to update staff or patron-created requests with new records or automatic lender list builds. More info: https://ill.bceln.ca/ill-review
The OutLook OnLine Admin Centre is looking forward to the new SHAREit Version 6, which will maintain a familiar staff workflow while improving search navigation & results and include easy customization of Patron-Initiated Interlibrary Loan Forms!
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Change is afoot for WriteAway... After an extensive investigation, the WriteAway Advisory Committee chose Springshare's LibAnswers as WriteAway's new platform, to be implemented in January 2019.
In order to ensure a smooth transition to the new software, the WriteAway Admin Centre will provide training to tutors and coordinators so that everyone is prepared for the change. Students coming back to the service in the New Year will find clear instructions at
writeaway.ca.
Tutors responded to more than 2,000 submissions from students between the months of September to December, a 16% increase over the previous fall term!
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