Evaluation

Evaluation of large consortial digital information programs is an emerging field. Evaluation is an ongoing, multi-faceted process, and is undertaken to demonstrate value as well as to improve performance.

Led by the CRKN Evaluation Committee, the organization undertook a series of evaluation reports that documented the impact of its pilot phase initiatives on Canadian university researchers and librarians. Pilot phase activities from 2000-2003 took place through the Canadian National Site Licensing Project (CNSLP), with funding totaling $50 million from 75 funding partners, including the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), provincial and regional government sources, and 64 universities.

The project's aim was to strengthen the research and innovation capacity of Canada's universities by expanding the range of research information for Canada's academic research community. Under the project, content from more than 2200 scholarly publications and research databases was made available online to over 650,000 researchers and students at Canadian universities coast-to-coast.

The evaluation reports presented compelling evidence that CNSLP fostered research and innovation by making more and better scholarly research publications available to research through networked means. The summary report is entitled: "Impact of the Canadian National Site Licensing Project: A Report to Partners and Stakeholders". The university community welcomes the evaluation reports as a foundation for expanding the initiative through the Canadian Research Knowledge Network.