This is a library for a generation that understands knowledge, values and ethics are the basis for the development of a more inclusive society
Teresa e Alexandre Soares dos Santos
The Biblioteca do Conhecimento Online – b-on (Online Knowledge Library) makes unlimited and permanent access available, within the research and higher education institutions, to full texts from over 16,750 scientific international publications from 16 publishers, through subscriptions negotiated on a national basis with these publishers.
This library started to be planned in 1999, at a time when it was referred to as the “Biblioteca Nacional de C&T em Rede” (National Scientific and Technological Online Library Network) within the Community Support Framework programme. In 2000, OCT – The Science and Technology Observatory carried out an exhaustive analysis of the subscriptions to scientific journals from all the Portuguese institutions in order to prepare for negotiations with the publishers. In 2001 the important scientific bibliography tool Web of Knowledge, of the Institute for Scientific Information in Philadelphia, was made available, which made it possible to access titles, summaries and citation information and impacts of around 8,500 journals, including records going back to 1945. Also in 2001, the OCT began negotiating with the main publishers.
The full texts from the first 3,500 publications, from 6 publishers, were made available in March 2004.