The Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) recently announced that the Canadiana collections will soon be available as open access collections. They will be removing the subscription paywall for Canadiana content as of January 1, 2019. This will allow researchers, students, faculty, and all users in Canada and around the world to access this unique historical content at no charge. In a letter to CRKN members, Executive Director Clare Appavoo stated, “We hope that you share in our excitement as we take this step in meeting our commitment of making Canadiana collections available as open access.”
Next steps include collapsing the separate access portals of Early Canadiana Online (ECO), Héritage, and Canadiana Online. From there, CRKN will work to update the access platform and alter the metadata to reflect the rights statement of Canadiana items, at which point an open access license can be applied. CRKN will keep us updated as these plans move ahead.