This document discusses a website called www.eduserv.org.uk that was created in 1988 and now has over 80 agreements. It provides a link to www.eduserv.org.uk/chest and lists an email contact of jenny.carroll@eduserv.org.uk.
1988 was the year that the first Chest Agreement to licence software to universities was negotiated. It was an immediate success with 98 universities signing up.
The Computer Board of HEFCE (a forerunner to JISC which was formed in 1993, JISC Collections started in 2006) thought that there would be economies of scale in collaborative purchase of software.
The Chest Team was born at the University of Bath – the Combined Higher Education Software Team
Within 2 years FE was included and another 2 and data or online resources were added so the acronym no longer applied. However, the value and the licence t & cs associated with Chest Agreements set a benchmark for licensing for education institutions that still apply today.
Nearly 30 years later, Eduserv is a thriving not-for-profit IT service provider for public organisations. It exited the UoB in 1999 when it became a registered charity.
It included Chest, NISS information services and Athens or now OpenAthens. These are the foundation of the business you see today
There are more than 80 Chest Agreements with publishers/service providers for online resources as well as for software such as Adobe, Microsoft and other academic software.
We estimate that these agreements save the community nearly £60 million per year.
80+ is not precise because there are always others in the pipeline
Check out our website for the very latest information and talk to me about the latest news or pick up a copy of our 2016 catalogue at our stand
If you would like to 2017 version then let me know.
If there are resources that you would like us to consider for a Chest Agreement then send me the details.
Thank you for listening