FAQ

The PBUQ is a formal partnership between the libraries of Quebec’s 18 universities and the head office of the Université du Québec (UQ), launched in October 2019. Since September 2023, it has fully assumed its organizational autonomy to better serve its mission: To mobilize the collective intelligence of university libraries to circulate knowledge and strengthen the ties between universities, libraries, and society, in support of a more open and widely shared science.

The PBUQ makes interuniversity collaboration a driver of professional development, innovation, and visibility. It goes beyond pooling resources: It connects expertise, aligns visions, and strengthens the social value of libraries. Its added value lies on several levels:

• Strategic: It structures a shared vision for the future of university libraries, aligning efforts around concrete, meaningful, and sustainable projects.
• Professional: It supports a vibrant community of librarians, technicians, coordinators, and analysts who learn from one another, share tools and practices, and evolve their roles.
• Technological: It provides access to advanced infrastructures (Borealis, Sofia, Géoindex and Géophoto, etc.) that few institutions could deploy on their own, and that are essential to the implementation of open science.
• Societal: It contributes to circulating knowledge beyond the university sector, by showcasing Quebec’s intellectual output and making it more accessible to society.

The PBUQ plays a strong role in driving innovation in information services by supporting the development of platforms that broaden access to knowledge, facilitate its management, and strengthen its discoverability – whether through funding or by providing services and expertise around these platforms.

• Sofia: A bilingual search interface that gives the university community and its members access to more than 20 million documents, while enabling users to locate, reserve, and borrow items through a single account across the province.
• Borealis: A collaborative platform for managing and sharing research data which, through an agreement between the PBUQ and the University of Toronto, allows Quebec researchers to deposit, document, and disseminate their data while respecting FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles, thereby improving discoverability and reuse.
• Scholaris: Developed by the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL), the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL), and the University of Toronto Libraries, Scholaris is a national shared repository service that allows branded institutional repositories to benefit from a shared technical infrastructure hosted and managed by Scholars Portal. This service is developed in collaboration with regional consortia, including the PBUQ.
• Géoindex and Géophoto: Developed by Université Laval Library in partnership with the PBUQ, this platform provides expanded access to geospatial data and aerial photographs. Géoindex and its Géophoto module support research, teaching, and the showcasing of open data in Quebec.
• Répertoire de vedettes-matière (RVM): A francophone-controlled vocabulary maintained by Université Laval Library, the RVM is a central tool for consistent document indexing. It contributes to the discoverability of academic content across the network’s catalogues and platforms.

The PBUQ — a key to universal access to knowledge, a driver of transformation and influence, serving student success and open science.

Committed to strengthening the strategic role of university libraries, the PBUQ helps position them as essential partners in student success, research excellence, the promotion of open education, and the advancement of open science. At the crossroads of North America and Europe, it stands out for its collaborative capacity and the expertise of its teams, acting as an agent of transformation to make knowledge accessible in all its forms.

Commitment: 
We demonstrate our commitment through openness to the diversity of ideas, needs, and realities. By showing solidarity in our collective actions and carrying out ambitious projects for the common good, we ensure long-term benefits for our institutions.

Creativity:
We foster creativity by seeking innovative solutions to transform our services in order to address the complex challenges faced by our societies, as well as the evolving needs of our communities’ members.

Relevance:
We value and prioritize relevance by maintaining a constant focus on the needs of today and tomorrow, with and for our users—supported by our strong leadership, the expertise, efficiency, and innovative capacity of our teams.

Diversity:
We celebrate and integrate diversity into our practices by encouraging the expression of differing opinions and perspectives, drawing strength from the richness of our differences.

• We value sustainable institutional commitments.
• We collaborate to go beyond.
• We place users at the heart of every decision.
• We reconcile institutional priorities with the collective good.

Any institution wishing to become a member of the partnership must be a Quebec university, apply to the Board of Directors, outline its availability and areas of interest in relation to the partnership’s objectives, and commit to respecting its governance rules. The institution must also designate a representative who will take part in the PBUQ’s activities and governance. It is also possible to become an observer member.

The Board of Directors, made up of the library directors of Quebec’s 18 universities and the head office of the Université du Québec, oversees strategic planning and budgeting, ensures objectives are met, and manages the proper functioning and development of the Partnership. The Board appoints three leaders from among its members (Chair, Incoming Chair, and Outgoing Chair) for a three-year term.

The Assembly of Members, composed of the vice-rector (or equivalent) responsible for the library at each member institution, is responsible for approving the strategic plan, the financial statements, and the budget forecasts.

The Operations Management Committee, working in collaboration with the PBUQ’s executive director, ensures the implementation of Board decisions and the ongoing operation of activities and services. It is responsible for approving certain expenditures, preparing meetings and files for the Board of Directors and the Assembly of Members, and approving the composition, reports, and work plans of committees and working groups. Members of the Operations Management Committee serve two-year terms, renewable once. Its overall composition must include at least one person from a large institution, one from a small institution (fewer than 10,000 FTE students), one from an anglophone institution, and one from the Université du Québec network.

Finally, the PBUQ’s executive director, appointed by the Board of Directors, plays a strategic role in carrying out the mission and achieving the objectives of the PBUQ.
 

The PBUQ’s budget covers staff expenses, the services of its mandatary institution, and the operating costs related to the partnership’s activities, products, and services, as well as its development. Funding comes from member contributions associated with the shared services offering. This amount is determined through a cost-sharing formula updated annually by the Office of Interuniversity Cooperation (Bureau de coopération interuniversitaire – BCI) or by any other formula established by the Board of Directors.

The PBUQ unites Quebec’s university libraries, bringing together the ideas and people behind them to make knowledge a collective force. Its impact is far-reaching and includes:

• Interinstitutional synergy that strengthens libraries’ capacity for action
• Shared services and processes that optimize resources and generate collective value
• Innovative solutions driven by library expertise that serve the entire university community
• Broader development opportunities that make it easier to anticipate future needs
• Advanced technological infrastructures that transform the management, preservation, and dissemination of knowledge and support the implementation of open science