Schools face increased cost for Ontario’s virtual library program
Posted May 22, 2011 05:11:41 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Ottawa School Boards will be forced to pay more than 300 per cent more to access Knowledge Ontario, an online virtual library.
Speaking to the Citizen, Tom D’Amico, of the Ottawa Catholic School Board, said that staff and students have benefited from the service. He said he was disappointed Ontario would not be funding the program.
The provincial government turned down a request for funding from Knowledge Ontario for $2.1-million.
The move may force the schools to revert to a fee-for-service payment option, allowing schools to opt in or out of the service; however, costs for the service will increase significantly from what was paid previously.
Knowledge Ontario is accessed 20,000 times a day during the school year and serves 85 per cent of Ontario’s publicly funded school boards.
Last year, the Ottawa Carleton School Boards used the service paying between $25,000 and $45,000 for access to the service.
Knowledge Ontario says that the new pay-per-use fee structure would cost the boards any where from $150,000 and up.
