Switzerland pledges support to Open Knowledge Maps on a national level
We are delighted to announce that on behalf of nine member institutions, the Consortium of Swiss Academic Libraries (CSAL) has signed a membership for Open Knowledge Maps. CSAL is the first academic consortium to pledge their support, bringing AI-driven visual discovery to researchers and research institutions across Switzerland.
Dr. Wilfried Lochbühler, President of the Steering Committee of the CSAL, says: “This is one opportunity for us to support that greater access to Swiss research is accompanied by an increased visibility and discoverability of scholarly findings.”
The partnership is further enhanced by the Swiss Library Service Platform (SLSP), the operator of Switzerland’s national library platform, swisscovery. The inclusion of SLSP and swisscovery connects Open Knowledge Maps visualisations to over 500 libraries.
“The integration of Open Knowledge Maps provides a new dynamic to the SLSP portfolio”, says Andreas Kirstein, CEO of SLSP. “It brings the opportunity to provide further innovative services to research communities across Switzerland, leveraging artificial intelligence and visualisation techniques.”
This widespread support from the Swiss research community will strengthen Open Knowledge Maps’ technical platform and contribute to our continued financial sustainability.
“We are delighted to partner with CSAL and SLSP to support the Swiss national transition to open science”, says Peter Kraker, founder and chairman of Open Knowledge Maps. “This pioneering partnership is paving the way for Open Knowledge Maps integrations on a national scale.”
The Swiss membership encompasses the Swiss Library Service Platform (SLSP) and nine Consortium institutions. Six of these had already pledged their support: the University of Bern, ETH Zurich, the University of Lausanne, the University of St. Gallen, the University of Neuchâtel, and the University of Basel. These have been joined by the University of Zurich, the University of Luzern, the Swiss Federal University for Vocational Education and Training (SFUVET) – the first vocational training organisation to become a member – and SLSP.
Membership institutions benefit from discounted membership fees, centralised invoicing and coordinated participation in the decision-making process of Open Knowledge Maps through representation on the Board of Supporters. New institutions can join the consortium at any time.
About CSAL
The consortium organises and coordinates the joint licensing of electronic information resources for Swiss university libraries and offers various services for its members and customers. It also plays an important role in the implementation of Switzerland's national Open Access strategy. The operational tasks of the office are set out in the service contract with SLSP AG.
About Open Knowledge Maps
Open Knowledge Maps (OKMaps) is a charitable non-profit organisation dedicated to dramatically increasing the visibility of scientific knowledge for science and society alike. As part of its mission, OKMaps operates the world’s largest AI-driven discovery platform for research.
Learn more about the membership
