information services founded 2006 headquarters 50 wellington street east suite 201 toronto canada website knowledgeontario.ca knowledge ontario was a non profit organization supporting a number of related province wide initiatives in ontario canada providing library and information resources learning experiences and related services to people across all ages locations education levels and cultural institutions . knowledge ontario currently comprises five projects ask ontario or askon connect ontario learn ontario our ontario and resource ontario as well as the eresources portal which was launched in 2010 . knowledge ontario has ceased operations effective december 31 2012 . 1 2 contents 1 history 1.1 awards 2 projects and services 2.1 ask ontario 2.2 connect ontario 2.3 learn ontario 2.4 our ontario 2.5 resource ontario 2.6 eresources portal 3 partners and funders 4 board of directors 4.1 public libraries 4.2 college libraries 4.3 university libraries 4.4 school libraries 4.5 at large members 5 the newman report third generation public libraries 6 cessation 7 references 8 external links history edit knowledge ontario formerly known as the ontario digital library was first conceptualized in the early 2000s during consultations between the ontario library association ola and provincial stakeholders representing ontario s public libraries colleges universities public schools and government ministries . in 2003 ola and the knowledge network for learning oknl submitted a business plan for the proposed organization to the government of ontario 3 and in 2004 the ontario ministry of culture provided the organization with an initial grant of 750 000 to further develop project plans . knowledge ontario remained an entity under ola until its incorporation in 2006 . 4 in the same year the organization received 8 million in provincial funding from the ministry of culture and launched its first three services our ontario ask ontario and resource ontario . since then knowledge ontario has also launched connect ontario learn ontario and the eresources portal . awards edit 2008 ontario library association president s award for exceptional achievement 4 2008 olita award for technology innovation in libraries for the our ontario portal 5 2010 canadian library association information today award for innovative technology 6 2010 information technology hero award finalist 7 2011 osla award for special achievement for david thornley knowledge ontario s executive director and peter rogers board chair 8 projects and services edit ask ontario edit also known as askon and ondemande ask ontario was launched in 2008 as ontario s first collaborative chat based virtual reference service . through the service ontarians can chat in real time with an information specialist who can help them find research and other web based information materials . 9 10 as of 2011 there are over sixty public and post secondary libraries from across the province participating in the project . each partner contributes staff time towards a collaborative schedule . 11 connect ontario edit connect ontario is currently partnered with bibliocommons and bc libraries to create and promote its next generation online public access catalogue . 12 the service is unique in that it merges search catalogue capabilities with easy to use social media tools . 13 oakville public library the first institution to pilot the catalogue went live with bibliocommons in july 2008 . since then more than a dozen ontario public libraries have rolled out the bibliocommons catalogue . 12 bibliocommons is attempting to transform online library catalogues into social discovery environments said the globe and mail s jennifer hollet in 2009 . think amazon.com for libraries . the bibliocommons technology is able to decorate catalogues with member comments ratings lists suggested similar titles and quotes . 14 learn ontario edit learn ontario http learnontario.ca provides online tech tutorials for a wide range of software applications and social media tool sets . the service was officially launched in 2010 and is currently partnered with atomic learning . 15 our ontario edit our ontario is a collective undertaking that aims to centralize access to the historic collections that are part of the province s libraries archives museums and other cultural institutions . the project s online portal http ourontario.ca officially launched in 2007 as an access point to digitized documents images and objects from ontario s past . since then the portal has grown to include historic newspapers and government documents and now features more than 1.4 million records . 16 17 the back end of the portal is managed by vita a web based software tool developed by knowledge ontario to provide cultural organizations with the means to create and manage data digital objects and collections . 18 our ontario also works in collaboration with the southern ontario library service sols and ontario library service north ols n to digitize objects at the local level . sols currently funds the digitization project through a 15 million grant from the ontario government . 19 resource ontario edit resource ontario licenses a selection of e resources on behalf of ontario s school boards colleges and universities . the current list of content includes more than 50 academic and general interest databases from career cruising ebsco rosen publishing and the gale group . 20 the sector representatives that sit on resource ontario s steering committee conduct surveys and work with partnering organizations to ensure that the content licensed by knowledge ontario reflects a balance among the disciplines . 21 eresources portal edit launched august 2010 the eresources portal http eresources.knowledgeontario.ca makes the e resources available through resource ontario freely accessible to all ontarians . 22 partners and funders edit libraries and other educational and cultural institutions 6500 organizations 23 including publicly funded public school university college and government libraries cultural institutions such as museums archives and historical societies ontario municipalities professional associations ontario library association public library federations federation of ontario public libraries southern ontario library service ontario library services north academic library federations ontario council of university libraries heads of libraries and learning resources of ontario school library associations council of ontario directors of education ontario school libraries association the association of library coordinators and consultants of ontario vendors atomic learning bibliocommons career cruising ebsco gale cengage rosen publishing board of directors edit knowledge ontario is governed by a 13 member board of directors . eight of these members are appointed by and are intended to reflect the interests of lead stakeholder groups public libraries university and college library systems and school libraries school boards . the remaining five members of the board include the executive director of the ontario library association a representative of the broader cultural sector and three other members designed to reflect additional strategic considerations as they change over time . 24 the current board of directors members are public libraries edit sam coghlan ceo stratford public library college libraries edit gladys watson director learning resource centres centennial college janice beatty vice president human resources and student services sault college university libraries edit ken hernden chief librarian algoma university sharon brown chief librarian wilfrid laurier university school libraries edit john stadnyk director of education huron superior catholic district school board philip jeffrey manager of library & information service hamilton wentworth catholic district school board at large members edit shelagh paterson executive director ontario library association peter rogers chair person former chair of management group michael bator ceo catholic curriculum corporation jessica kamphorst director of advancement canadian institute for advanced research the newman report third generation public libraries edit in 2008 wendy newman a senior fellow and lecturer at the university of toronto s ischool 25 released a report commissioned by the ontario ministry of culture titled third generation public libraries . in the study she concludes that knowledge ontario is one of the keys to advancing the province s knowledge based economy . from the report the opportunity posed by knowledge ontario is not just provision of information and content services equitably across ontario but the platform for collaboration within a sector public school post secondary that encompasses formal and informal learning in an ontario economy that must become ever more knowledge based . it is also the natural foundation for private sector partnership e.g. in software development . knowledge ontario began with one time funding . it will require a stable financial foundation and a policy commitment to additional partnerships with education and post secondary ministries with which it shares a community of interest to reach its full potential . 26 cessation edit knowledge ontario has ceased operations effective december 31 2012 . references edit eresources portal launched in both languages . latest news . knowledge ontario . september 2 2010 . retrieved march 22 2011 . bedard diane november 2010 . ko eresources portal bringing it all together pdf . the teaching librarian . ontario library association . 18 1 19 . retrieved march 22 2011 . larry moore distinguished service award michael ridley pdf . access ola . ontario library association . 14 3 17 . spring 2008 . retrieved march 22 2011 . a b ola president s award for exceptional achievement knowledge ontario pdf . access ola . ontario library association . 14 3 18 . spring 2008 . retrieved march 22 2011 . olita award for technological innovation 2008 . ontario library and information technology association . olita . 2008 . retrieved march 21 2011 . the canadian library association announces winner of the cla information today award for innovative technology . canadian library association . cla . may 7 2010 . retrieved march 21 2011 . featuring the community it hero award finalists . information technology association of canada . itac . august 2010 . retrieved march 21 2011 . award for special achievement . ontario school library association . ola . retrieved march 21 2011 . full speed ahead at ko pdf . access ola . ontario library association . 14 3 47 48 . spring 2008 . retrieved march 22 2011 . ask ontario . knowledge ontario . retrieved march 22 2011 . panjwani radhika january 11 2011 . when in doubt askon . brampton guardian . brampton ontario metroland . retrieved march 22 2011 . a b oder norman july 19 2008 . bibliocommons emerges revolutionary ; social discovery system for libraries . library journal . media source inc. retrieved march 24 2011 . hutchinson alex october 2009 . biblio tech the public library takes browsing back from chapters . the walrus . the walrus foundation . retrieved march 24 2011 . hollett jennifer july 8 2008 . turning the page on books . globe and mail . phillip crawley . retrieved march 22 2011 . bedard diane november 2010 . introducing learnontario.ca pdf . the teaching librarian . ontario library association . 18 1 18 19 . retrieved march 22 2011 . our ontario about . knowledge ontario . retrieved march 22 2011 . tallyn lisa january 24 2011 . libraries launch digital newspaper archive . inside halton . halton ontario metroland . retrieved march 22 2011 . our ontario toolkit services . knowledge ontario . retrieved march 24 2011 . ballingal alex march 12 2011 . ontario s history goes digital project allows libraries to upload people s memorabillia . ottawa citizen . ottawa canada postmedia network . retrieved march 17 2011 . browne lois june 2011 . digital research just got a lot easier in ontario . professionally speaking . the ontario college of teachers . retrieved june 13 2011 . resource ontario about . knowledge ontario . retrieved march 22 2011 . eresources portal about . knowledge ontario . retrieved march 22 2011 . funders & partners . knowledge ontario . retrieved march 21 2011 . knowledge ontario board of directors . knowledge ontario . retrieved march 21 2011 . wendy newman . university of toronto faculty of information . retrieved march 22 2011 . newman wendy 2008 . the newman report third generation public libraries pdf report . ontario ministry of culture . retrieved march 22 2011 . external links edit askon english portal bibliocommons knowledge ontario learn ontario knowledge ontario eresources