International Coalition of Library Consortia

Health Knowledge Network
HKN
Website: http://www.hkn.ca

Brief description

The Health Knowledge Network [HKN] is a collaborative venture between the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta. Established in 1994, we are Alberta’s leader in licensing quality published health information resources to post-secondary, health, government and research organizations and institutions for both Alberta and Saskatchewan. Our role is to negotiate fair and equitable pricing with international publishers and vendors on behalf of our subscribers. Through our affiliation with the two universities we draw on the experience and expertise of the highly trained health information professionals to provide complementary services such as training, technical support, and document delivery. We operate at full cost-recovery through an appropriate cost-sharing strategy. Future directions for HKN are based on meeting the needs of the two Universities and being responsive to the needs of external users. HKN is an opt-in/opt out multi-type library consortium.

Legal structure

University-supported (formal);

Primary functions

• Electronic content licensing

Number and type of member libraries

35+, Academic Special Multi Other Gov. Research. Hospital