The Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) has become the 78th institutional member of the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN).
In an announcement released yesterday, CRKN said BAnQ will support the development of the Canadiana platform and contribute to fostering a deeper engagement with the Québécois and Francophone library, archive, and research community in Canada.
“Ensuring public access to heritage content is an example of how the work of BAnQ and CRKN converges,” said Jean-Louis Roy, chief executive officer of BAnQ. “BAnQ is proud to contribute to sharing knowledge and showcasing Québécois and Canadian heritage. By joining CRKN, we will have the opportunity to advance mutual goals and share what we have learned with other members.”
Earlier in 2019, BAnQ, along with CRKN members, contributed to making the Canadiana collections available at no charge to users.
BAnQ recently launched its own initiative to make more than 100,000 public-domain digital heritage items available free of charge on BAnQ numérique, the institution’s digital platform.
Clare Appavoo, CRKN’s executive director said, “As we expand our membership to include public libraries and Canadian heritage institutions, BAnQ plays a significant role in bringing these aspects of our shared work together. The insight and expertise of BAnQ will bring a valuable perspective to our organization and we look forward to our collaboration.”
BAnQ joins CRKN following CRKN’s merger with Canadiana.org in April 2018. As part of the merger, CRKN’s By-laws were updated to include the possibility of institutional membership for BAnQ, as well as Library and Archives Canada and Toronto Public Library, as founding members of Canadiana.org.
