NJ's Knowledge Initiative Closes

New Jersey's Knowledge Initiative (NJKI), featured in a profile of Library Journal's 2008 Librarian of the Year, NJ State Librarian Norma Blake, ended service on February 28. NJKI funded access to 12 databases that were used by the state's businesses and schools. Legislators last year cut NJKI's budget from $3 million to $2 million, which funded the program through February. The earliest that service could be restored, if funded, is June 2008. NJKI was founded in 2005.

The Star-Ledger called it “a blow to biotechs and other small businesses” that relied on the service's access to scholarly texts. BioNJ, a trade group for the state's biotech industry, is lobbying to restore funding.