LinkedIn Learning Access Ending September 23

Queen's University Library (QUL) is ceasing its subscription to LinkedIn Learning and access will end on September 23, 2023. While we understand that some users will be disappointed in this decision, please know that it was not taken lightly.

Originally funded through eCampus Ontario between 2017 and 2020, QUL took over temporary responsibility for the campus-wide subscription cost when eCampus Ontario funding expired. In doing so, the library committed to assess the subscription and has completed this work. 

Given the finite budget the library manages for licensing and/or purchasing a vast array of research and teaching e-resources for the Queen’s community, assessment of the library’s e-resources is an essential task. In such assessments, the library considers factors such as how the resource contributes to the research and teaching mission of the university, the use of a particular resource in relation to its cost, and the existence of alternatives in the university’s information ecosystem. Based on these factors, among others, the library’s conclusion is that while LinkedIn Learning has valuable content of interest to some members of the Queen’s community, there is no justification for continuing a mass-scaled implementation of the tool across all students, faculty, and staff.   

The cost of providing campus-wide access to LinkedIn Learning last year was approximately $140,000 CAD and this cost increases annually. The library has requested additional funding from the university through the annual budget development cycle to help mitigate this cost and has been unsuccessful.  

The assessment of the LinkedIn Learning subscription for the last four years revealed that: 

• Active use of the resource is low. From a high of 20.1% in 20-21, the percentage of active users declined to 14.4% in 22-23. 
• Of those active users, a small fraction – less that 2% - are recurring monthly users. 
• Most of the use centered around skills related to Microsoft Excel and Python programming, for which the library has alternative resources, in addition to the myriad free options online. Beyond these two skill areas, engagement drops precipitously.  
• Across high-level measures related to use and engagement (total hours of content viewed; course views; course completions; and days logged-in) we are at or below pre-pandemic levels, and the trends are all negative. 

Across the U15, no other university library funds or manages the LinkedIn Learning subscription – if they have one. Just over half provide some level of access, with only about a third providing access to faculty, staff, and students. Of those that provide no access, or no student access, they refer interested users to their local public library (if it maintains a LinkedIn Learning subscription). Anyone with a Kingston
Frontenac Public Library (KFPL) membership may choose to explore if LinkedIn Learning meets their personal learning needs.   

Alternative Resources 

Among the resources available in Queen’s Library, O’Reilly For Higher Education and the Skillsoft - ITPro Collection may be of help to some faculty members. Though not a full replacement, the IT training videos on O'Reilly mirror some of the LinkedIn Learning content such as courses, learning paths, videos and more.  

QUL strives to maintain a comprehensive and abundant selection of electronic resources for the benefit of the communities we serve. Please contact the libary through any of our communication channels if you have questions or feedback. You can also email us at any time: library@queensu.ca.