Elsevier Announces Agreement With Portico

AMSTERDAM, June 26 /PRNewswire/ --

- Ensures Continued Access to eBooks on ScienceDirect

    Elsevier, a leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical (STM)
information, today announced an agreement with Portico, a not-for-profit
digital preservation service, to aid ScienceDirect, Elsevier's online STM
platform, in addressing the challenges of eBook preservation. This agreement
will ensure that eBooks on ScienceDirect content is protected for the future.



    The burgeoning growth of digital content of all types has created
questions and concerns about the lifespan of archived materials, and the
realization that information that is available today, may at some point
deteriorate or otherwise become inaccessible.



    Portico specializes in digital preservation of electronic scholarly
resources that allows archived files to remain usable and complete as
technology and file formats evolve. The agreement will allow ScienceDirect to
implement a safeguard plan that ensures technological preservation for its
entire collection of eBooks on ScienceDirect, and is designed to meet the
research demands of ScienceDirect's customers.



    "This relationship represents yet another example of our commitment to
preserve scholarly content," said Rafael Sidi, Director, ScienceDirect.
"Users can feel secure knowing that eBooks on ScienceDirect will be 
available
for perpetuity."



    ScienceDirect users will now have further assurance of permanent access
to all archived materials taken from Elsevier's rich scientific research
platform. Portico is the only archive that holds both the eBooks on
ScienceDirect and the entire journal Backfiles collection.



    "Preservation of electronic scholarly resources, including e-books, is
now critical as library expenditures on digital resources continue to expand
significantly," said Eileen Fenton, Portico's Executive Director. "We are
pleased to work with Elsevier to ensure that these materials and the
scholarly record are robustly preserved for use by future generations."



    There are currently over 4,400 eBooks on ScienceDirect. The archiving of
the books will begin in Q3 2008. For more information on ScienceDirect, the
partnership, and about eBooks on ScienceDirect please visit
http://www.info.sciencedirect.com.



About ScienceDirect

    Over a quarter of the world's full-text scientific, technical and medical
(STM) 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. Almost nine million articles
are available online, including Articles in Press which offer rapid access to
recently accepted manuscripts. The critical mass of 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 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. Working in partnership with the 
global science and health communities, Elsevier's 7,000 employees in over 70 
offices worldwide publish more than 2,000 journals and 1,900 new books per 
year, in addition to offering a suite of innovative electronic products, such 
as ScienceDirect (http://www.sciencedirect.com/), MD Consult (
http://www.mdconsult.com/), Scopus (http://www.info.scopus.com/),
bibliographic databases, and online reference works.



    Elsevier (http://www.elsevier.com/) is a global business headquartered in
Amsterdam, The Netherlands and has offices worldwide. Elsevier is part of
Reed Elsevier Group plc (http://www.reedelsevier.com/), a world-leading
publisher and information provider. Operating in the science and medical,
legal, education and business-to-business sectors, Reed Elsevier provides
high-quality and flexible information solutions to users, with increasing
emphasis on the Internet as a means of delivery. Reed Elsevier's ticker
symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and
ENL (New York Stock Exchange).


    
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