CRKN and Canadiana.org Merge as Combined Organization

If you have used Early Canadiana Online, part of Canadiana.org, this merger announcement may be of interest. The organizations will be stronger together.

Here is the text of the announcement at www.canadiana.ca/crkn-canadiana-merge/.

The Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) and Canadiana.org (Canadiana) are pleased to announce a merger of the two organizations, which will now be under the leadership of CRKN. The merged organization began combined operations on April 1, 2018. As a merged organization, CRKN will continue its core licensing activities for scholarly journal content, while expanding support for the digitization, access and preservation of Canadian heritage content through the services of Canadiana.

“This a milestone in our respective organizations’ histories and a significant step in Canada as we move forward together to leverage the opportunities of the emergent global, networked research environment,” says Jonathan Bengtson, President, Canadiana. “This merger will expand and accelerate Canadiana services and programs that ensure the long-term viability of digitized documentary heritage for all Canadians and generations to come,” continued Mr. Bengtson.

“Academic libraries in Canada have a long history of working together to the benefit of their communities. Merging CRKN and Canadiana is yet another example of the strength of this community in both leveraging and understanding the complexity of the digital landscape and seeking opportunities to facilitate alignment,” says Alan Shepard, Chair of the CRKN Board of Directors. “Expanding CRKN’s portfolio through this merger builds on the organization’s strength and ability to collaboratively, and collectively, make significant and meaningful contributions to scholarship in Canada,” continued Dr. Shepard.

Merger discussions began in June, 2016 in recognition of a changed research environment and with the goal of building on the strengths and complementary activities of two of Canada’s most impactful content-based national organizations serving Canada’s digital research infrastructure. This merger allows CRKN and Canadiana to cohesively pursue a united and coordinated strategy that is envisioned and directed by member libraries, and works in partnership with research and memory institutions, funders, and other partners, broadening and expanding Canada’s vision and impact in digital scholarship.

Quick Facts

CRKN has worked with Canadiana since 2006 to provide subscription access to the Early Canadiana Online (ECO) collection, which is a large collection of full-text historical content about Canada, including books, magazines and government documents.
Currently, 54 CRKN members have subscriptions to Canadiana Online or the ECO collection. CRKN members provide the bulk of Canadiana’s funding through subscriptions and membership fees.
In 2013, CRKN and Canadiana collaborated on the Heritage Project, a 10-year initiative to digitize and make accessible online some of Canada’s most popular archival collections encompassing roughly 40 million pages of primary-source documents. This project was funded by 46 CRKN members.
The merger will leverage Canadiana’s certification as a Trustworthy Digital Repository (TDR) to support members in their own institutional digitization work.
As part of the merger, CRKN will propose By-Law changes at its next Annual General Meeting that would allow Library and Archives Canada (LAC), Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) and Toronto Public Library (TPL) to qualify as CRKN institutional members.
The merger allows CRKN and Canadiana coordinated representation as part of the Canadian National Heritage Digitization Strategy, which outlines a way for Canadian memory institutions to work together to digitize, preserve and make accessible Canada’s documentary heritage.
The merger allows for CRKN and Canadiana to pursue activities that further the preservation, digitization, access, and discoverability of content, as well as goals in the development of open access to Canadian content.