ProQuest

ProQuest is adding 24 primary sources to its offering through the Jisc Digital archival collections group purchasing pilot, following the adoption of its databases by 20 universities. The Jisc program’s goal is to lower customer cost, leveraging the collective purchasing power of UK higher education institutions (HEI) to enable wider adoption of digital archives. The program will now run through July 2018.

This extension of the Pilot provides an efficient, coordinated and transparent approach to the acquisition of digital archival primary source collections. Resources have been selected to meet the research and teaching needs of the UK HEI community – including librarians, faculty, and students.

'We’re pleased that the Digital archival collections group purchasing pilot has been extended,' said Karen Colbron, digital content manager at Jisc.

'We’ve had some great feedback from Institutions, who welcomed the transparency of pricing and the use of the Jisc model license in phase one. The expanded timeframe and titles on offer in phase two of the group purchasing pilot presents an exciting opportunity for institutions to strategically plan purchasing of digital archival collections throughout the academic year.'

ProQuest resources available to institutions through Jisc also include databases from Alexander Street and are grouped into five core research themes: British History, International Relations, Fashion and Design, Literature & Arts and Early Modern History.

'The success of the initial pilot shows how important access to primary source resources are to the UK higher education community,' said Susan Bokern, ProQuest vice president for product management. 'We are delighted to extend our partnership with Jisc on this innovative approach to reducing costs and increasing access to key digital archives used in research, teaching and learning.'