OCUL 1967-2017
The Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL) is celebrating 50 years of collaboration in 2017.
On February 22, 1967 the constitution of the then “Ontario Council of University Librarians” was adopted, following an initial meeting at McMaster University of founding members on January 19 the same year. Since then Ontario’s university libraries have worked together to enhance information services in the province and beyond through collaborative planning, advocacy, assessment, research partnerships, collective purchasing and most recently the development of a shared digital information infrastructure.
Over the years OCUL initiatives have included the adoption of a province-wide Inter-Library Loan (ILL) agreement in 1970, collective purchasing of electronic resources in the 1990s and in 2002 the development of Scholars Portal, OCUL’s technological services arm staffed and supported by the University of Toronto. Each of these, and the range of other OCUL initiatives, have sought to directly benefit Ontario’s students, faculty and researchers by enabling access to a wider range of materials and removing barriers to those materials.
“OCUL’s success, present, past and future, is driven by the contributions of all our member libraries, and our partnership with colleagues across Ontario and Canada” explains Vivian Lewis, OCUL Chair and University Librarian at McMaster University. “On behalf of OCUL, I would like to thank all those who have lent their knowledge, expertise, and energy to OCUL initiatives over the last 50 years; the group of University Librarians who met here at McMaster in 1967 and to all those who are involved in OCUL communities, committees and groups today. We look forward to seeing where this collaborative spirit will take us in the next 50.”
OCUL will be celebrating the milestones of our key services and initiatives of the past 50 years throughout the year.
Further information about OCUL and Scholars Portal visit ocul.on.ca or follow us on Twitter (@scholarsportal) #ocul50.