Acadia to benefit from $47 million investment

Acadia University will gain laptop access to an extensive body of national and international social sciences and humanities material thanks to a joint $47-million investment by the Canadian Fountain for Innovation (CFI), eight provinces, and 67 universities.

Acadia will be one of 67 universities in Canada that will be able to access, search, sort, and consult a rich digital collection of scholarly content, ranging from books, letters and historical documents to music scores, maps, artworks, and visual materials. Many of these were not previously accessible to Canadians, or were offered with only limited access to print versions.

The investment is the work of the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN), a consortium of universities dedicated to expanding digital content in support of the academic research enterprise in Canada.

“Acadia University librarians have been instrumental players in this acquisition on many levels, and over a period of many years,” says Dr. Tom Herman, Acadia’s President and Vice-Chancellor. “By virtue of its national reach, this collaborative project will be transformative to Acadia’s collections and will help foster excellence and innovation through our student and faculty researchers.”

“The Canadian Foundation for Innovation recognizes the critical contribution that researchers in the social sciences and humanities make to Canada and the world,” says Dr. Elliot Phillipson, President and CEO of the foundation. “These world-class knowledge management tools provide a partnership that is essential to Canada’s ongoing success in the knowledge-based economy, enabling institutions and researchers to conduct the leading-edge research that will benefit all Canadians.”

The new content will be available at Acadia University by fall 2008.