Working with librarians, researchers, administrators, funders, and publishers, CRKN undertakes large scale content acquisition and licensing initiatives in order to build knowledge infrastructure and research capacity in Canada’s universities.
CRKN negotiates and manages over 54 licenses (members only) on behalf of its member libraries.
The License Information section provides information on the licenses negotiated and managed by CRKN. Please note that the majority of license content is available to CRKN members only. If you are a member, please login.
- The Upcoming License Renewals page provides a list of licenses up for renewal in the next year or so.
- The Current License Renewal Offers page (members only) provides information for license related material and offer documents (where available) currently under renewal.
- The Active Licenses page (members only) lists currently active licenses.
- Due to the current economic uncertainty, CRKN is working with our vendor partners to provide relief on price increases for 2021. More information is located on the following page: CRKN Requests Financial Relief from Publishers.
- The Archived Licenses page (members only) is a collection of licenses that have been renewed and are now superseded by a new agreement or new amendment.
License Renewal Process
Timelines for each renewal are planned to ensure sufficient time for member consultation, as well as engagement by the Content Strategy Committee (CSC), and review from the Board of Directors.
| Activity | Timeline |
| CSC identifies license renewal issues | January |
| Member teleconferences to discuss issues and negotiation objectives | February |
| Distribution of product surveys for member feedback | March |
| Product surveys submission deadline | March |
| Product survey results posted | March |
| CSC develops negotiation objectives | March |
| Board of Directors meeting to approve CSC objectives | March |
| Staff work in conjunction with a CSC sub-group to undertake negotiations | April - September |
| Staff work in conjunction with a CSC sub-group to organize member teleconferences and other communications on negotiations progress and results | June - November |
| Offers distributed to members | September - November |
This timeline is based on calendar year renewals. For licenses with varying expiry dates (i.e. not December 31), the timing may differ.