Amsterdam, 26 June 2008 – 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 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).