The Committee on Institutional Cooperation Signs Agreement to Purchase Major eBooks Collection on ScienceDirect Platform

AMSTERDAM, January 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Elsevier announced today that the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) has agreed to acquire the complete ScienceDirect eBooks collections for 2008, 2009, and 2010. As a result, libraries and patrons in CIC member institutions will be able to access over 1,300 titles across 18 science, technical and medical subject areas.

CIC member institutions include Indiana University, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, Pennsylvania State University, Purdue University, University of Illinois, University of Iowa, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

By providing access to the ScienceDirect eBooks collection, member patrons will have access in the library or remotely, any time, as well as a powerful search and browse capability. Users will also be able to access instant links to relevant journal articles and innovative knowledge discovery features such as the NextBio Ontology-based semantic search tool.

Member libraries will have a cost-effective alternative to acquiring and owning printed books. They will also be able to maximize book collection discoverability and support multi-user access to the ebook titles.

Wendy Shelburne, Electronic Resources Librarian at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, member institution of the CIC, commented on the significance of this ebooks collection investment: "We are finding that these publisher collections are used heavily at research universities, and we're seeing user demand across disciplines to make major publisher works available."

CIC chose to acquire the eBooks collections based on evidence gathered from increasing patron adoption of retrospective content from the HathiTrust Digital Archive as well as robust uptake of current publisher content from a variety of sources. A careful analysis of current ebook usage among consortium member institutions was conducted last year, and participating schools found "that when they worked together to make a critical mass of content accessible, it was immediately noticed and used by faculty and students," said Kim Armstrong, Assistant Director, CIC Center for Library Initiatives.

Elsevier's Vice President of Online Sales, Science & Technology Books, Jonathan Bunkell commented, "We are excited by CIC's acquisition of this significant collection of Scientific, Technical & Medical eBooks on ScienceDirect. We believe that the groundwork now exists for future transactions of this type for the benefit of the CIC member institutions, as well as other academic institutions who are realizing efficiency gains and increased patron satisfaction through actively migrating from print to electronic delivery of books."

Later this year, ScienceDirect will partner with selected libraries from CIC to conduct joint usage studies to better understand the value of these ebooks in driving world-class research, teaching and learning. Findings from this study will be shared with the global library and research community.

About The Committee on Institutional Cooperation

Headquartered in the Midwest in the United States, the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) is a consortium of the Big Ten universities plus the University of Chicago. For half a century, these 12 world-class research institutions have advanced their academic missions, generated unique opportunities for students and faculty, and served the common good by sharing expertise, leveraging campus resources, and collaborating on innovative programs. Governed and funded by the Provosts of the member universities, CIC mandates are coordinated by a staff from its Champaign, Illinois headquarters.

About ScienceDirect

Over a quarter of the world\'s full text scientific, technical and medical (STM) peer-reviewed articles - managed by renowned editors, written by respected authors and read by researchers from around the globe - are available in one place: ScienceDirect.

Elsevier's extensive and unique full-text collection covers authoritative titles from the core scientific literature including high impact factor titles such as THE LANCET, Cell and Tetrahedron. Over nine million articles are available online, including Articles in Press which offer online access to recently accepted manuscripts. The critical mass of trusted information available on ScienceDirect is unsurpassed. Coverage includes over 2,500 journals published by Elsevier and dynamic linking to journals from approximately 2,000 STM publishers through CrossRef. An expanding program of online major reference works, handbooks, book series and over 4,400 eBooks in all fields of science seamlessly interlinks with primary research referenced in journal articles.

About Elsevier

Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including The Lancet (http://www.thelancet.com) and Cell (http://www.cell.com), and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include ScienceDirect (http://www.sciencedirect.com), Scopus (http://www.scopus.com), Reaxys (http://www.reaxys.com), MD Consult (http://www.mdconsult.com) and Nursing Consult (http://www.nursingconsult.com), which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite (http://www.scival.com) and MEDai's Pinpoint Review (http://www.medai.com), which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.

A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier ( http://www.elsevier.com) employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC (http://www.reedelsevier.com), a world-leading publisher and information provider, which is jointly owned by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).

    Contact:

    Deanna Decker/Jessica Disch
    Padilla Speer Beardsley
    +1-212-752-8338
    [email protected]/[email protected]

SOURCE Elsevier