Local collections

    Complementarity with the common collection (public school network only): Click here
    Rollout calendar for local collections: Click here
    Purchasing licenses for local collections: Click here
    The 22-23  licenses terms of use for local collections: Click here

    Complementarity with the common collection

    Like the books in paper format that are found in the premises of school libraries, different e-book collections can be offered in the digital library.

    For the public network, students and school staff have immediate access to the common collection offered by the Ministère de l’Éducation du Québec (MEQ). In addition to this basic collection, school service centers (SSC) and school boards (SB) can also, if they wish, develop a local e-book collection which will be accessible to all SSC or SB establishments.

    For the 2021-2022 school year, private educational institutions do not have access to the common collection. Initially, the Biblius platform is therefore empty for them. If they want to offer the loan of digital works via the Biblius platform, they must develop their own local collection

    Rollout calendar for local collections

    Licenses purchases for local collections can begin as soon as the platform is linked to the school portal.

    For the public school network, as of January 2022, it is available for almost every school services centers (SSC) and school boards (SB). However, certain features such as setting aside full licenses for a teacher and alerts in the administrator interface will not be available until later in the school year. SSC and SB who make purchases by then will of course have access to the new licenses, but the functionalities in the platform will be the same as in the spring of 2021.

    For the private educational institutions and First Nations and Inuit schools outside SSC and SB, details regarding the deployment will be shared as soon as possible.

    Purchasing licenses for local collections

    Unlike in the case of print books, when an electronic publication is purchased for the purpose of school library loans, it is not the document or file that is purchased. Rather, the institution purchases a licence governing use of the e-book. This is the principle of a loan; the rights to use the work are purchased subject to the limitations of a contract.

    All digital files made available on the Biblius platform are governed by a licence negotiated by Québec publishers, the ministère de l’Éducation du Québec (MEQ) and Bibliopresto.

    To kow more:
    • Detailed licenses terms of use for local collections: click here. 
    • General informations about licences: click here. 
    • How to purchase e-book licenses: click here.
    • Online market place linked to Biblius (consultation link only: to purchase licenses, it is necessary to have a Biblius administrator account): click here.

    The 2022–2023 licenses terms of use for local collections

    Each school board (SB), school service center (SSC) or private educational institution can develop its own collection of ebooks and make it available to its staff and students via the Biblius platform. It is up to each community to determine the budgets and criteria governing the development of its local digital collection.

    At the time of acquisition, school librarians or other responsible persons will have the choice between 2 different licenses, for each of the works offered on the virtual bookstore associated with Biblius:

     

    Licence with simultanous loans

    Licence with successive loans

    Total number of loans allowed

    40

    Once the 40 loans have passed, we must buy another license if we want to continue to offer the loan of this title.

    55

    Once the 55 loans have passed, we must buy another license if we want to continue to offer the loan of this title.

    Type of loans

    Loans can run out simultaneously, which means there can be up to 40 people reading the book at the same time.

    Loans can only be disposed of sequentially, which means that there can only be one person borrowing the book at a time. As with a paper book, when the person returns the digital book, it becomes available again to other users.

    Licence’s cost

    Each publisher is free to set the selling price of his digital works for the license offering simultaneous lending.

    General public prize for ebooks, for example: see here.

     

    Licence expiration

    In either case, there is no expiration date. Licenses end when all permitted loans have expired, regardless of the time required.

    Terms of use

    The terms of use are the same for all types of license. For detail: see here.

    Examples of contexts where each type of license may be relevant:

     

    Licence with simultaneous loans :

    • Mandatory reading for every student of a class or a level.

    • Popular ebook for which we want to allow several people from different schools in the SB or SSC to borrow it at the same time.

    Licence with successive loans :

    • Offering access to the digital format of a work for an students with handicaps, social
      maladjustments or learning difficulties, while the other students in the group use the paper version.

    • Offering ebook loans for personnal reading.