Prospera Credit Union and Insurance Agencies is supporting an innovative approach to learning at UCFV.

Prospera has pledged $135,000 to the Gateway to Learning project. This is a major initiative to enhance access to electronic information for students, faculty, and community through UCFV libraries and their online capabilities. The Prospera sponsorship qualified for $75,000 in matching funds from the provincial government. (Prospera is the newly rebranded result of a merger between Fraser Valley and Edelweiss credit unions.)

The sponsorship will be used to subscribe to three academic databases that offer indexes of and electronic access to hundreds of journal articles. The databases focus on business, science, and general academics. The Prospera sponsorship will also purchase state-of-the-art computers for public-access workstations in UCFV's three campus libraries in Abbotsford, Chilliwack, and Mission.

UCFV Library patrons will now be able to enter a topic into the databases and be immediately linked to full-text academic journal articles on that topic. Anyone can use the databases from an onsite UCFV Library computer. UCFV students, faculty, and staff will also be able to log in from remote locations to gain access to the databases.

"Prospera is showing real leadership in a new type of philanthropy -- one that supports ongoing resource costs rather than major capital projects," says UCFV President Skip Bassford. "Students, faculty, and community members will really benefit from the range of additional resources."

"We are very happy to be partnership with the Gateway to Learning Project and working with UCFV. Prospera involvement in this project is really about being connected to the community," says Prospera President and CEO Keith Puiu. "UCFV has campuses in communities that fall within our branch network. We believe as a Valley-based financial institution that we must support what is a major initiative within our community. It also allows us to assist in providing an excellent opportunity for education for our youth.

This innovative and high-tech project is very much in tune with Prospera's philosophy of delivering a blend of both personal service and high-tech banking products to its membership."

UCFV Library Director Kim Isaac notes that electronic journals are the way of the future for academic research, and that access to information that has been verified is vitally important.

"It's a common misconception that you can get all the information you need for free on the web," she says. "Information may be out there, but there's no way of telling how reputable it is. The Prospera sponsorship will help us increase access via web technology to reputable, vetted, authoritative information in academic journals. Access to this information costs money because it is controlled and carefully checked. We're very grateful that the Prospera board has the foresight to support us in this project."

Isaac notes that using the latest technology to provide access to information is part of what libraries have been doing for centuries.

Although Prospera is the lead donor in the Gateway to Learning project, the door is still open for more donors to support this initiative.

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