Edinburgh University Press (SHEDL)
Framework Description
Edinburgh University Press (SHEDL) is an agreement let by Jisc and made available to APUC member institutions. It gives members of the Scottish Higher Education Digital Library (SHEDL) consortium access to content from Edinburgh University Press. As with other SHEDL deals, the licence is negotiated once on behalf of all member libraries. The agreement expires at the end of 2026 and there is no option to extend it.
Context & Use Case
University libraries in the SHEDL consortium use it so that students and researchers can read Edinburgh University Press publications under one collectively negotiated licence. Library acquisitions teams rely on consortium deals like this to secure access across Scottish institutions at terms they could not achieve individually. It is a single-publisher agreement, so there are no further competitions.
Scope of Services
Access to Edinburgh University Press academic journals Scholarly books and monographs E-books
Lots
See framework link
Who Can Apply
This agreement is with one publisher, so no other supplier can join it. It is mainly of interest to academic publishers and agents considering consortium licences for Scottish university libraries, which Jisc negotiates. The agreement ends on 31 December 2026; check whether Jisc and the publisher are renewing it.
Buyer Benefits
Libraries want reliable access for their users at a predictable cost. A consortium licence for all SHEDL members spreads that cost fairly across institutions, saves each library a separate negotiation and gives smaller institutions access to content they might not afford alone.
Next Steps
Renewal is for Edinburgh University Press and Jisc to agree before 31 December 2026. Other publishers looking for routes into Scottish university libraries should study Jisc's licensing programme and APUC's library agreements, and prepare usage and pricing data for consortium discussions.
How Athena Can Help
As a single-publisher licence, this agreement is not open to competition. Athena can still help academic and content suppliers win library work elsewhere. Our tender go/no-go advice separates realistic library and content tenders from poor fits, before you spend time on a bid.
Our route-to-market planning then identifies frameworks open to your content, and when you bid, our bid writing consultants write responses to the evaluation criteria and edit and proofread them before submission.
