Milestones in Our History

Milestones in Our History

2016

ITHAKA announces new strategic alliance with Artstor

Fellow not-for-profit Artstor comes under the ITHAKA umbrella to expand the impact of its digital image library and community hosting platform and offering new ways to the scholarship on JSTOR.

2015

Ithaka S+R announces new program in Educational Transformation

Several major reports and books kick off this area focused on addressing the key challenges facing higher education in the United States.

2014

JSTOR Daily launches, reaching nearly a million readers

“Where news meets its scholarly match” is the mantra for this new online magazine that brings academic research into the mainstream.

 

JSTOR Labs goes live

New team – the model for JSTOR in the future – tests ideas for driving research and teaching forward in partnership with libraries, publishers, teachers, students, and scholars. Early projects include Understanding Shakespeare, Classroom Readings, and JSTOR Snap.

2013

JSTOR Global Plants launches

Global Plants is launched as a community-contributed database where worldwide herbaria share resources and expertise. The first in a new series of JSTOR resources, at launch, Global Plants contains more than 2 million plant type specimens, paintings, drawings, correspondences, and supporting materials.

 

Portico partners with national libraries

The British Library is the first national library to tap Portico as its partner to meet legal deposit requirements for the preservation of academic journals published in their country.

 

25 million articles preserved in Portico

A major milestone is reached in meeting the challenge of digital preservation.

 

Issue Briefs Series takes off

Ithaka S+R’s new monthly series launches with influential leaders contributing their latest thinking on everything from driving innovation at public universities to creating smarter spaces on campuses.

2012

JSTOR access expands for individuals

Register & Read, a free, online-reading access plan launches, allowing users outside of JSTOR participating institutions to read up to three articles every two weeks. This is followed by the launch of a paid service, JPASS, the following year.

 

Portico Reaches 150,000 E-Books

Portico expands preservation efforts to support libraries’ rapid expansion in purchasing e-books to support research and teaching.

2011

Books come to JSTOR

JSTOR announces Books at JSTOR, a program that will bring more than tens of thousands of books online, developed out of a year-long investigation into the needs of publishers, libraries, and researchers.

2010

JSTOR grows to include current journals

JSTOR announces the Current Scholarship Program, making current and archival journals available on a single, integrated platform for librarians and end-users.

 

Portico certified as Trusted Digital Repository

Portico is the first major digital preservation service to receive certification as a trusted repository by the Center for Research Libraries.

2009

Ithaka and JSTOR merge

ITHAKA, the new combined not-for-profit organization, unites three services focused on the shared mission of helping the academic community effectively use digital technologies to improve education: JSTOR, Portico, and Ithaka S+R.

2008

ITHAKA partners with industry leaders

Sustainability and Revenue Models for Online Academic Resources” marks Ithaka’s first commissioned study by a funder, the Strategic Content Alliance in the UK. 

 

JSTOR takes the lead in text and data-mining services

Data for Research is developed to support research and teaching using digital collections at scale.

 

Portico partners with Elsevier to launch e-book preservation service

The next wave in digital preservation is taken up, with Portico leading the way.

2007

Ithaka research gains momentum

Ithaka releases “University Publishing in a Digital Age,” a landmark report arguing that a renewed commitment to publishing can enable universities to realize the global impact of academic programs, enhance the reputations of their institutions, maintain a strong voice in determining important scholarship, and, in some cases, reduce costs.

2006

JSTOR is made free in Africa

The JSTOR library is made freely available to all educational and other non-profit organizations throughout Africa. This initiative is expanded to 40 developing countries beyond Africa in 2008.

2005

Large-scale digital preservation service launches

Portico - born from the Electronic-Archiving Initiative - is launched as a long-term, third-party digital preservation solution funded by publishers and libraries.

2003

Ithaka is created

Ithaka is founded by Kevin Guthrie, then president of JSTOR.  JSTOR focuses on providing a growing shared online library and access expansion, while Ithaka focuses on research and new service development in support of JSTOR’s founding mission. The Electronic Archiving Initiative is moved from JSTOR to Ithaka.

2002

Digital preservation emerges as critical problem to solve

Preservation needs take center stage as libraries move from print to digital journal collections, JSTOR launches the Electronic-Archiving Initiative with a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to develop a solution. This initiative lays the foundation for a new service, Portico.

1997

JSTOR library goes live

JSTOR launches a pioneering, shared online library of digitized journal back issues in partnership with academic libraries and publishers. This helps institutions save costs associated with preserving and storing library materials, and improves access to scholarship.

 

JSTOR and UK Higher Education Funding Council commit to 25 year agreement

The UK government invests in major transformation of its university infrastructure, working with JSTOR as a primary partner in preserving and expanding access to research.

1995

JSTOR is founded

JSTOR is founded as an independent not-for-profit organization with start-up funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Its broad mission is to help the academic community take advantage of advances in new technologies.