Online library resources to become available to all from anywhere
KNOWLEDGE ONTARIO SUCCESSFUL IN ACQUIRING PROVINCE WIDE LICENCES FOR A CORE SUITE OF DIGITAL RESOURCES
The Ministry of Culture and the Management Group of Knowledge Ontario are pleased to announce that negotiations have been successfully completed to supply all publicly funded libraries in the Province of Ontario with a core suite of digital products.
The resources contained in these databases will provide access to information that is needed everyday by individual Ontarians and students of all ages. The resources and materials go well beyond what is available on the Internet offering full text of newspapers, magazines and books.
Access to these databases will be available from wherever people are in Ontario; at home, work, or school. The variety of information to be found in the databases will satisfy the youngest school child, the researcher in a University lab, in fact any citizen of Ontario.
The databases roll out across the province beginning in January.
Users authenticated on a library system through the web will have access to the astonishing range of information to be found in the databases. To preview the databases which will be available through Knowledge Ontario go to http://access.gale.com/ontario/ to find a core list of databases to be supplied by Thomson Gale. In addition to all the databases listed at this site, Knowledge Ontario has also licensed Canadian Reference Centre from Ebsco.
Training sessions on using the databases will take place in regional centres throughout the province over the next three months and will be held at OLA Super Conference 2007. Marketing materials, press releases, in-house training webcams and other materials to aid individual libraries in launching this new service will be made available so that libraries will be ready before the databases go live on January 1, 2007.
We will undertake to keep you informed about where training sessions are being held and on what to expect through this listserv. Stay posted. Depending on what sector you belong to a letter to the Minister of Culture, the Minister of Education or the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities stating how important these resources will be to your institution would also be in order.
For more information please contact your sector representative on the Knowledge Ontario Management Group who will put you in touch with your sector representative on the Digital Information Resources Committee.
A list of the members of the Knowledge Ontario Management Group follows:
Public Libraries – Ken Roberts – kroberts@hpl.ca
School Libraries – Liz Kerr – liz_kerr@kprdsb.ca
College Libraries – Janice Hayes – Janice.hayes@bibliocentre.ca
University Libraries – Gwen Ebbert – gebbett@uwindsor.ca
Government Libraries – Vicki Whitmell – Vicki_whitmell@ontla.ola.org
Peter Rogers – Chairman of the Management Group – rogerscottage@homail.com
Gerda Molson – Interim CEO, Knowledge Ontario Project – molson430@yahoo.com
______________________________
Larry Moore, AMLS, Executive Director,
Ontario Library Association
50 Wellington St. East, Suite 201,
Toronto, ON M5E 1C8
416-363-3388 or 1-866-873-9867 ext 24
FAX 416-941-9581 or 1-800-387-1181
lmoore@accessola.com