Administration

License Negotiation

When a resource is selected for a BC ELN consortial license, partner libraries will suspend any individual negotiations with vendors until the process is concluded. BC ELN partner libraries will be kept informed of the progress of specific licensing negotiations with regular postings on the BC ELN Collections Development Resource Team listserv.

Signing Authority

All of the electronic resources acquired by BC ELN require that a license agreement be reviewed and signed by someone with signatory authority. In most instances, the Executive Director of BC ELN signs license agreements on behalf of BC ELN partner libraries. There are a few exceptions where each participating library may be required to sign the license document, depending upon the requirements of the licensor. BC ELN maintains copies of all signed license agreements on file and posts copies to the BC ELN web site. 

Documentation and Training

BC ELN coordinates training provided by the vendor. Participating libraries are responsible for travel expenses.

Other Consortia Activities

Partner libraries are frequently members of a number of consortia. For example, BC ELN partners may license products through the Canadian Research Knowledge Network or the Council of Prairie and Pacific University Libraries (COPPUL). BC ELN maintains effective communication with other consortia in order to ensure that consortia do not compete against each other and to coordinate licensing efforts whenever possible. With joint BC ELN / COPPUL offers, typically BC ELN partner libraries with COPPUL membership respond to BC ELN. 

Payment and Invoicing

For each BC ELN license, the vendor issues one invoice to BC ELN covering the cost of all BC ELN partner library participation. BC ELN then charges each participating library with their individual cost. Costs are accumulated and invoices are issued to partner libraries approximately 6 times each fiscal year.

Invoices are in Canadian dollars. Foreign currency exchange is calculated according to the SFU Finance department exchange rate in effect on the invoice date. For the latest SFU US exchange rate notice, please see https://www.sfu.ca/finance/departments/treasury/us-exchange-rate.html (the rate under "ON US$ EXPENDITURES" is the applicable exchange rate).

BC ELN FTE Statistics

Enrollment statistics of BC ELN partner libraries are based on funded FTEs from institutional budget letters supplied by the Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills. Statistics are gathered once a year for all sites except Acsenda School of Management, Alexander College, Columbia Bible College, Columbia College, Coquitlam College, Trinity Western University, University Canada West, Vancouver Premier College, and Yukon University, where figures are supplied by the institutions themselves. See the annual funded FTE figures. These are in effect for the term April 1 to March 31.