The Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL) is an academic
library consortium of Ontario's 21 university libraries located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.[1][2] Formed in 1967, OCUL member institutions work together to maximize the expertise and resources of their institutions through shared services and projects.[3] OCUL works together in a number of key areas of importance for library services, including collective content purchasing, shared digital infrastructure, external partnerships, and professional development initiatives.[4][5]
OCUL is governed by the library directors of the member institutions and supported by an executive committee, made up of five officers elected from the library directors. OCUL members form working groups, committees, and communities of practice to accomplish specific tasks or projects.[6] OCUL is an affiliate of the
Council of Ontario Universities (COU).[7]
History
OCUL was founded in 1967 as the Ontario Council of University Librarians, working with the Council of Graduate Studies to ensure that graduate students and faculty members across the province had equitable access to the advanced library materials needed to support their research.[8] The first chair of the council was
Doris E Lewis.[9] OCUL changed its name to the Ontario Council of University Libraries in 1971.
Some of OCUL's initiatives have included:
the Inter-University Transit System (IUTS), created by OCUL in 1967 to facilitate interlibrary loans[10]
the Canadian University Reciprocal Borrowing Agreement (CURBA), allowing students and faculty to borrow from other Canadian universities at no cost[11]
the OCUL Map Group, which has been collaborating since 1973 on access to map and geospatial collections[12]
the Collaborative Futures Project, to facilitate collaborative management of library collections using the
Ex Libris Alma platform[13]
making nationally significant polling data from
Ipsos available freely available online[14]
Scholars Portal
Scholars Portal is the technology service arm of OCUL. Founded in 2002, they provide a variety of services for OCUL members, including e-book and journal platforms, a repository of accessible texts for university students with print disabilities,[15] and software hosting services.[5][16][17] In 2012, Scholars Portal won the
Ontario Library Association's OLITA Project Award for the Scholars GeoPortal.[18] In 2013, Scholars Portal was accredited as the first
Trustworthy Repository in Canada.[19][20][21]
^Beckman, Margaret; Dahms, Moshie; Bruce, Lorne (2006-02-07).
"Libraries | The Canadian Encyclopedia". The Canadian Encyclopedia.
Archived from the original on 2019-06-07. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
^Monahan, Edward J. (Edward Joseph), 1928- (2004). Collective autonomy : a history of the Council of Ontario Universities 1962-2000. Waterloo, Ont.: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
ISBN9780889204430.
OCLC244764313.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link)