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See below for BC ELN's latest news and updates.

BC ELN also produces online newsletters for the overall organization and for individual service areas (e.g. AskAway, Arca, etc.). See the menu at right to explore past issues.

You can subscribe to have any or all of our newsletters delivered straight to your email inbox by visiting our Newsletter Subscription Page.


Open access logo of an open lock overlaid on a photo of a city skyline.

It’s Open Access Week! In celebration, we highlight a report by the Strategies for Open Collaboration in Library Consortia (SOCLC) Task Force called Strategies for Collaboration: Opportunities and Challenges to Build the Future We Need.

BC ELN is hiring a WriteAway Writing Services Coordinator. This is a permanent part-time position.

Earlier this year, the provincial collaborative writing support service WriteAway received funding from the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Training to support service participants in meeting increased student need.
One of the ways that this funding will provide support is by enabling the WriteAway Administrative Centre to hire a part-time WriteAway service tutor to help bridge the gaps in staffing hours over the weekend and reduce the demand for auxiliary hours during peak submission periods.

Great news from our sister consortium the Council of Prairie and Pacific University Libraries (COPPUL)!

COPPUL has partnered with Indspire to offer an Indigenous Student award to aspiring Indigenous librarians and archivists.

The British Columbia History Digitization Program (BCHDP) and BC ELN are seeking early notice from small organisations intending to apply for a 2023/2024 BCHDP grant who are also interested in additional support with their applications.

All four covers of BC ELN Actions & Achievements reports

Looking for up-to-date, interesting, visually appealing documents that succinctly capture the amazing collaborative work libraries are doing in BC and the Yukon?

We’ve got you covered! BC ELN has just completed the last of its four Actions & Achievements 2021 reports for the following services:

Cover of the Innovation & Success 2021 report

Through a clear plexiglass window, a student staff member waves a welcoming ‘hello’ to UBC Library patrons entering the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. The student’s shining, friendly eyes make it abundantly clear that behind their mask is a big smile.

Sign that reads "Time for Change". Coloured lights are in the background.

Change is coming! BC ELN partner libraries will soon have a new tool at their disposal to manage electronic resource licenses.

This Spring, the consortium will transition to ConsortiaManager, a platform designed specifically for managing Library Consortia workflows. Once operational, staff at partner libraries will be able to log into their ConsortiaManager dashboard and have the ability to track and renew licensed resources, view offers and invoices, and receive relevant messages.

We’ve got a vision of where we want to go. Now how do we get there?

This is the question that BC ELN stakeholders (partner library directors, steering committee members, BC ELN staff) will aim to answer in the final two parts of the consortium’s Strategic Planning process, slated for this week and next.

One page explainer called "The Library Consortium"

Tell people you work for a library consortium and you often get a polite nod and after a couple beats - “what… is that exactly?”

Admittedly, the word “consortium” doesn’t necessarily conjure up a clear image. It has a dusty, academic sound to it, as most Latin words do...

Three logos: Indigitization Program, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre UBC Library, and BC ELN

Communities participating in the Indigitization Program now have a robust, shared platform to preserve, manage, and share their digitized materials­­­

We are a week out from the annual BC ELN All Partner Meeting, and excitement is building (at least it is around the BC ELN Office!)

In the olden days (pre-pandemic) the All Partner Meeting meant bringing together all our 33 partner library directors and Steering Committee members to meet for a full-day of topical discussions and networking. We’d make the event a sparkly affair, with treats, engaging activities, and of course (this is BC ELN remember) - a delicious lunch.

How do you envision strategic planning?

Catch up on AskAway news with the Chat Box Fall 2021:

  • Happy Canadian Library Workers' Day
  • Supporting the return to campus
  • Meet the AskAway Advisory Committee
  • On the horizon

Read this Issue

Image of a woman posing in front of a hydroelectric dam.

A new partnership between the BC Electronic Library Network (BC ELN) and the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre (IKBLC) at the University of British Columbia Library will offer vital support to prospective BC History Digitization Program (BCHDP) grant applicants seeking to bring their unique collections online.

BC ELN wishes a fond farewell to long-time BC ELN WriteAway Coordinator, Megan Robertson. For the past seven years, Megan has nurtured the provincial WriteAway service, seeing it grow from 5 to 19 participating institutions. She has provided valuable feedback and support to coordinators, tutors, and countless students.

Four report covers

BC ELN has released a suite of Actions & Achievements 2020 reports for our four core service areas: Arca Digital Repository, AskAway Chat Reference, Illume Interlibrary Resource Sharing, and WriteAway Online Tutoring.

Cover of the Innovation & Success 2020 report

BC ELN has released Innovation & Success 2020, its annual report. Innovation & Success 2020 highlights the power that collaboration has in times of challenge and uncertainty. Libraries and library staff were able to lean on BC ELN services as well as each other in 2020 to offer ongoing support to students, educators, and researchers through unprecedented circumstances.

In collaboration with Consortia Canada, BC ELN have contacted all vendors of BC ELN, eHLbc, and ConCan licenses to learn whether they and their products are impacted by the December and January security breaches at SolarWinds. Details on the breaches can be found here: https://www.solarwinds.com/securityadvisory

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