Posts tagged with library.
uToronto starts collecting library fee from other schools
To the dismay of graduate students and faculty across Canada, the University of Toronto announced in September that all non-uToronto users of their library collections must pay an annual fee of $200.
The University of Toronto claims it cannot afford to provide open access to its library collection, the largest in Canada.
UToronto enjoys a substantially higher amount of government capital and research funding than any other Canadian university, even when calculated on a per-student basis. This makes sense: There are many advantages to having a large-scale university in the middle of the nation's largest city and, naturally, location and size are a magnet for funding.
The library collection of uToronto may legally belong to the university; but it is truly a public trust built by the people of Canada.
UToronto benefits from government and private support to build its library collection. I doubt the government or philanthropists gave with closed access in mind.
This week, universities started announcing agreements with uToronto to allow access for their students; only after the universities agreed to transfer funds to uToronto.
This is a concerning development as institutions will be looking to recoup the cost of paying uToronto. The last thing Canada needs is more universities erecting financial barriers to the exchange of information.
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JOEY COLEMAN