Thanks to a grant from the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, and the Vancouver Public Library, a beta of the BC Books Online project was launched in 2010 in 12 libraries across the province.
Publishers and authors have donated 650 titles to the collection for one-year. The beta will allow the consortium to identify technical challenges before further implementation throughout the province. It will also give the public a chance to view a version of the larger collection.
The beta will also allow the consortium to look at funding models that will ensure all BC libraries will have access to the collection in 2011. The financing of the project will flow through the BC Library Association, a registered charitable organization capable of providing auditing and charitable receipts.