B-on funding is not at risk

B-on funding is not at risk

The budget for B-on, Biblioteca do Conhecimento Online, remains the same, with the financing of the platform being guaranteed, assured the president of the Foundation for National Scientific Computing (FCCN).

Speaking to TSF, the official came, inter alia, to settle the authors of an ongoing petition against the «suspension of the service along the lines that have hitherto existed, transferring their payment to the institutions», allegedly «recommended by the Government», Pedro Veiga said that nothing will change in terms of payment for the service, that the budget remains the same and that the payment continues to be centralized because the signed contracts are valid for three years.

«Over the past year we have run international public tenders, we have signed contracts with publishers that are valid for three years and in the contacts we have had with the ministry regarding our budget for next year we have always been guaranteed that we will receive the funding» , guaranteed the president of FCCN, responsible for B-on.

According to the institution’s representative, the approximately 18 thousand publications in electronic format made available by the online library will «continue to be guaranteed for our entire higher education system» which «is filed for this year 2010 and for both next years».

The fears of the signatories of the petition had already been explained to the radio by Ana Lobo, professor of Chemistry at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, who argued that if each institution had to bear the costs of the B-on service, that would be unbearable.