Volume 22, Number 2 | June 2024

Pitt Meadows, British Columbia. Photo by James Wheeler from Pexels.

We Want to Hear from YOU!
BC ELN wants to know what kind of
connection, learning, and knowledgesharing experiences our community
would benefit from. Any staff member
working in a BC ELN partner library is
welcome to fill out this 10-minute
survey.
Complete it by July 3rd to be entered
in a prize draw for a book of your choice
($30 limit) from Iron Dog Books. Three
chances to win. Shipping is on us!

Meeting Undergraduate Research Needs with Affordable Resources
This spring, BC ELN launched the Undergraduate Resource Bundle (URB), a 3-year
package that combines Academic Search Complete and Business Source Complete, with
88% of BC ELN partner libraries signing on. By targeting generalized resources that
support undergraduate studies, BC ELN secures consortial discounts that benefit a wide
range of partner libraries. This approach allows libraries to allocate savings to other
specialized resources. Notable achievements in transitioning from the all-in Common Suite
to the opt-in URB have been BC ELN's ability to maintain low prices despite fewer
participating sites, and successfully negotiated minimal annual price increases. The only
question remaining: is URB pronounced "erb" or "you-are-bee"?

Actions & Achievements Reports
Discover the highlights of BC ELN's key service areas with our Actions & Achievements
reports. Packed with infographics, key stats, user quotes, and annual financials, these
reports are a must-read. Help us showcase the power of collaboration: Share with your
colleagues and administrators!

Download Arca Actions &
Achievements 2023 Report
(accessible version).

Read the AskAway Actions
& Achievements 2023
Report (accessible version).

Read the WriteAway Actions
& Achievements 2023
Report (accessible version).

Showing ILL some LOVE!
What would we do without interlibrary loan?
Quietly operating in the background, ILL
connects patrons to a world of knowledge
beyond their local library's collection.
In BC, over 100 post-secondary and public
libraries cooperate to make their collections
available via the Illume union database. In 2023,
82,000 ILL requests were fulfilled through
Illume... that's a lot of happy patrons.
Read the Illume Actions & Achievements 2023
report (accessible version) to learn more about
this important collaborative service.

BC ELN Staff Attend ICOLC North American
Meeting in Anaheim
In April, a trio from BC ELN – Reba Ouimet, Licensing
Coordinator; Sunni Nishimura, Executive Director; and
Leah Hopton, Communications Manager – traveled to
Anaheim California to attend the International Coalition
of Library Consortia (ICOLC) North American Meeting.
This annual event brings together library consortia
professionals from across the continent (and beyond!)
to discuss the latest developments and innovations.
During the meeting, Sunni presented updates on eHLbc
and BC ELN initiatives and achievements. Leah took
the opportunity to share the impactful work of the
ICOLC Consortial Awareness Group, in addition to
facilitating a session on metrics, where consortial
colleagues shared best practices for measuring consortial value. Reba helped organize a
session where ConsortiaManager vendors responded to questions from consortial staff.
A key aspect of the trip was the chance to
connect with Canadian consortial colleagues,
whom the BC ELN team frequently collaborates
with online but rarely meets in person. These
face-to-face interactions helped strengthen
relationships and foster new opportunities for

collaboration.
The meeting sessions covered a range of timely
topics, including Open Access and Open
Publishing Models, Artificial Intelligence, and
Resource Sharing. BC ELN staff returned from
Anaheim with a wealth of new ideas and fresh
perspectives, ready to apply their insights to
enhance the services and support provided to BC
ELN partner libraries.

Photo, top right: Sunni prepares to speak at the ICOLC meeting. Photo, bottom left: Canadian consortial
colleagues enjoy a meal together.

Student Librarianship at BC ELN: Growing Future Library Professionals
Current MLIS/MAS student Laura Moberg and former
MLIS student Sydney Brogden recently shared their
experiences learning — and growing — with BC ELN at
the BC Library Conference.
Their poster presentation highlights the valuable skills
and understandings they gained while working at BC
ELN, such as:
Gaining a unique perspective on BC’s postsecondary library landscape
Having opportunities to apply course learning
Getting hands-on experience with project
management and governance support
Interestingly - not much is said about library consortia in
professional competencies or LIS curriculum guidelines...
something for us to work on!

A New Crew
This Spring BC ELN and eHLbc welcomed two new student
librarians: Sameena Sheriff and Casey Wagner. Both are MLIS
students at the UBC iSchool, and will be providing project and
service support until December 2024. Learn more about
Sameena and Casey.

Visit the BC ELN Website

British Columbia Electronic Library Network | W.A.C. Bennett Library, Room 7600 Simon Fraser
University 8888 University Drive | Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6 CA
Unsubscribe | Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice