Swets Blackwell orchestrates e-access consortium for Belgium (fwd)

[Ann Okerson <aokerson@pantheon.yale.edu>]

Of possible interest. The Moderators.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 10:13:39 +0100
From: Sarah Kellman <skellman@swets.nl>
To: 'Editors' <press@nl.swetsblackwell.com>
Subject: Swets Blackwell orchestrates e-access consortium for Belgium

PRESS RELEASE

Lisse, the Netherlands and Sint-Niklaas, Belgium
February 12, 2002

Swets Blackwell orchestrates e-access consortium for Belgium

Swets Blackwell announced today the successful conclusion to negotiations
mediated between Elsevier Science and the Biblioth�que Interuniversitaire
de la Communaut� fran�aise de Belgique (BICfB). Under the terms of the
agreement, the BICfB will have a three-year license for access to all
1,200 Elsevier Science journals available online in ScienceDirect.

Swets Blackwell was already the journal and information provider for seven
of the nine universities that comprise the BICfB when that body approached
them about the consortium in 2000. The francophone academic community in
Belgium had collectively identified licensing access to key STM electronic
journals as their top priority for 2001.

Wim Agsteribbe, Director of Swets Blackwell Belgium, commented: "This
contract is a landmark in Belgian academic history. Never before have
students and researchers been able to access such an enormous number of
scientific articles with a single click. We are very proud that the BICfB
consortium chose Swets Blackwell to accomplish this with Elsevier Science,
and see this achievement as industry recognition of the fact that we have
successfully transitioned into the electronic and consortia era."

Prof. Jean-Pierre Devroey, President of the BICfB, added: "The consortium
benefits from the valuable financial support made possible by Fran�oise
Dupuis, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, as well as
the Government of the French-speaking community of Belgium. Their
financial contributions during the period covering 2001-2003 amounts to
250,000 euros annually, which will significantly help stimulate the joint
development of new electronic resources among the country's nine
French-speaking universities."

The BICfB is the consortium of the nine universities of the French
Community in Belgium. The consortium was established in June 2000 under
the patronage of the CreF (Conseil des Recteurs des universit�s
francophones de Belgique). Its main objective is to facilitate and expand
access to electronic information for its member universities and their
users, whose numbers include professors, researchers and students.

Swets Blackwell, one of the world's largest providers of subscription and
information management solutions, offers complete solutions for the needs
of its 60,000 corporate, academic, R&D, medical, and government library
and information center clients worldwide, 30% of whom rank among the
Fortune 500 companies. They work in partnership with 65,000 major
publishers and suppliers of professional information. Swets Blackwell has
annual revenue in excess of US$1 billion and a staff of nearly 1,000
employees worldwide. Their headquarters office is located in Lisse, the
Netherlands, and they maintain 23 offices in 20 countries across six
continents. Find out more by visiting www.swetsblackwell.com
<http://www.swetsblackwell.com>

# # #
For more information please contact:
Sarah Kellman
Swets Blackwell
Tel: + 31 252 435 584
Email: press@nl.swetsblackwell.com <mailto:press@swets.nl>