E-Archiving Agreement/Royal Dutch Library & Elsevier Science

[Ann Okerson <ann.okerson@yale.edu>]

PRESS RELEASE

National Library of the Netherlands and Elsevier Science make digital 
preservation history
Permanent digital archive assures perpetual accessibility of scientific 
heritage

Glasgow, August 20th - Today, at the Conference of the International
Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) in Glasgow,
Elsevier Science and the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, the National Library of
the Netherlands, announce a groundbreaking new agreement in relations
between publishers and libraries world-wide in the area of electronic
archiving. The Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB) will become the first official
digital archive for Elsevier Science journals. This means the library will
receive digital copies of all Elsevier journals made available on its web
platform, ScienceDirect, which are approximately 1,500 journals covering
all areas of science, technology and medicine, and exceeding 7 TB of data.  
For everybody involved in research and the communication of research
results - authors, researchers, librarians and publishers alike - this is
a decisive step forward in keeping digital archives available in
perpetuity.

The need to provide for permanent digital archiving has been evident to
libraries and to Elsevier for several years. Elsevier has been a leader in
advocating publisher responsibility in this area. In 1999 Elsevier Science
made a public commitment to ensure digital archiving with a trusted
repository and made this part of its license with library customers. The
KB was the natural partner, as it is a clear leader world-wide in the
experimentation with and investment in digital preservation.

Karen Hunter, Senior Vice President, Strategy at Elsevier and responsible
for this digital archiving initiative, explains the relevance of this
agreement: "It is essential that we will be able to guarantee both authors
and researchers using the journals that the electronic files will be
permanently available. Journals have been called 'the minutes of science'.  
As we move toward journals being available only in electronic form and
being held centrally on publishers' computers, the public has the right to
be assured that, should a publisher go out of business, these files will
not be lost. This agreement provides that assurance for Elsevier Science
titles, which constitute an essential part of the core scientific
literature currently published."

In 1994, the KB decided to include electronic publications into its
deposit collection. Since then, research and development on long-term
digital archiving has been top priority in the KB. "Ensuring permanent
availability of information and knowledge, is at the heart of the KB's
mission," says Wim van Drimmelen, Director General of the KB. Digital
archiving is a logical extension of the role we always had and will have
in the area of printed material, the modern version of a traditional task.  
In this era of electronic publishing new arrangements are needed globally
in order to preserve our intellectual heritage. The KB wants to take an
active part in these evolving new arrangements. It's an exciting challenge
to find ways of coping with the fast pace of change in platforms and
formats. From the start we committed ourselves strongly to this challenge.  
We take pride in this groundbreaking agreement with Elsevier and see it as
a recognition of our achievements so far and a milestone on the way to our
strategic goals."

Elsevier Science is particularly pleased to enter into this arrangement
with the KB. As the largest publisher of scientific, technical and medical
research information, Elsevier is fortunate to have such an advanced
partner in its home country. Elsevier Science Chairman Derk Haank adds:  
"As the largest publisher of STM journals, it is important that Elsevier
shows responsibility in all areas and we are very pleased with this
agreement. The permanent e-preservation of these journals is an essential
part of the joint mission of libraries and publishers. We applaud the
leadership and commitment of Dr. van Drimmelen and his staff, the KB as an
institution and the Dutch Ministry of Education in understanding the
significance of digital archiving and taking the necessary steps to make
it happen. We believe our competitors should act now to make similar
commitments to the scientific research and library communities."

Under this historic agreement, the KB will receive digital copies of all
Elsevier journals made available on its web platform, ScienceDirect. This
is approximately 1,500 journals covering all areas of science, technology
and medicine, currently published by Elsevier Science. Should new journals
be added to the Elsevier list, these will also be included in the archive.  
In addition, Elsevier is in the process of digitising the older years of
these journals, going back whenever possible to volume 1, no. 1, and all
of these digitised backfiles will also be deposited with the KB. It is
estimated that the starting collection, when all backfile digitisation is
completed in the next two years, will exceed 7 TB of data.

The journals are currently made available to customers of ScienceDirect in
two formats: Adobe Acrobat's PDF format (which mimics the printed page)  
and a tagged, structured text format that permits different on-screen
viewing, faster network delivery and sophisticated search, retrieval and
linking. Both formats will be sent to the KB. "It is anticipated that
these formats, associated retrieval techniques and storage media may
change over time," says Johan Steenbakkers, Director Information
Technology of the KB. "As part of our commitment to being the official
archive, we will take responsibility for migrating the content and
associated software as technologies change. Together with IBM, we are
developing a new electronic deposit system that can meet large scale and
high quality storage requirements and supports digital preservation
functionality. The library and IBM jointly have studied and tested long
term preservation issues. This fall, the new E-Deposit system will be
handed over to the KB and the Elsevier journals will be placed into it.  
Elsevier will work closely with us to ensure permanent availability."

To solve the problems of digital preservation and long term access, the KB
has always looked for strategic partners. Steenbakkers explains: "We have
been quite successful in finding excellent partners and in building good
working relationship with them. Such partners are IBM and RAND, but also
other, advanced national libraries like the NEDLIB partners, the Library
of Congress, the National Library of Australia and the British Library. A
second crucial factor for our success, is the close co?operation, right
from the start, with some major publishers that has provided the KB with
real?life content, first to experiment with and later on to develop the
infrastructure and skills needed for handling and maintaining electronic
publications. The very first publisher the KB teamed?up with was Elsevier
Science."

The KB will provide access to the journals on a current basis to all who
come to the library and are permitted access to the library's collections.  
In addition, should there be a catastrophic disaster such that the
ScienceDirect system is inoperable for a long period of time, the KB would
be part of the interim service system. Finally, should Elsevier or a
successor interest cease to make these journals available on a commercial
basis, as an official archive the KB could open access to all on a remote
basis (in addition to walk-in).

About Elsevier Science

Elsevier Science is the world's largest scientific, technical and medical
information provider and publishes over 1,600 journals, 1,200 books per
year, as well as secondary databases. Elsevier Science key brands include:  
Academic Press; Butterworth-Heinemann; Cell Press; Churchill-Livingstone;  
Engineering Information; Excerpta Medica; The Lancet; MD consult; MDL;  
Mosby; North-Holland; Pergamon; ScienceDirect and WB Saunders.

Elsevier Science (www.elsevier.com) is headquartered in Amsterdam, The
Netherlands. It is a member of the Reed Elsevier plc group
(www.reed-elsevier.com), a world-leading publisher and information
provider. Operating in the scientific, legal and business-to-business
sectors, Reed Elsevier provides high-quality and flexible information
solutions to users, with increasing emphasis on the Internet as means of
delivery. Reed Elsevier's ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL
(London stock exchange), RUK and ENL (New York stock exchange).

About ScienceDirect (www.info.sciencedirect.com)

ScienceDirect is an open platform offering its subscribers desktop access
to more than 2.5 million full-text articles. Coverage includes over 1,500
journals published by Elsevier Science and dynamic linking to journals
from around 120 leading STM publishers through CrossRef. An expanding
suite of scientific full text and abstract databases in a rich linking
environment provides subscribers with increasingly flexible and extensive
access to the world's published STM literature. ScienceDirect is a
division of Elsevier Science and part of the Reed Elsevier plc group.

About the Koninklijke Bibliotheek

The Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB) is the National Library of the
Netherlands. The Library was founded in 1798. The KB is an autonomous
administrative body financed by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture &
Science. The KB's mission statement is to provide universal access to the
knowledge and culture of the past and present by providing high-quality
services for research, study and cultural enrichment.

Major tasks are:
�	Preservation, management, documentation and accessibility of the 
	national cultural heritage in written, printed and electronic form.
�	Deposit library for Dutch printed and electronic publications and 
	National Bibliography.
�	Research library aimed at Dutch history, language and culture in a 
	wide international context.
�	Rare and special collections like medieval manuscripts and early 
	printed books. 
�	Exhibitions and publications.
�	Knowledge centre for digitisation, preservation and restoration. 
	Support for co-operation between libraries.

Holdings: 3,3 million items = more than 67 km of library materials. The
deposit collection grows by an average of 45,000 books and electronic
publications annually. The research collection grows by an average of
24,000 items annually.
 
Derk Haank (l), chairman of Elsevier Science and Wim van Drimmelen (r), 
Director General of The National Library of the Netherlands sign the 
contract..

Derk Haank (l), chairman of Elsevier Science and Wim van Drimmelen (r), 
Director General of The National Library of the Netherlands shake hands to 
confirm the agreement. 

These photos can be downloaded from 
http://www.hillandknowlton.nl/elsevierscience_kb and can be freely used 
for press purposes. On the website you can also find this press release 
and backgrounders on Elsevier Science, Koninklijke Bibliotheek and IBM.

For further information please contact:

Elsevier Science
Karen Hunter
Senior Vice President Strategy
Tel:		+1 212 633 3787
Fax: 		+1 212 633 3764
E-mail:		k.hunter@elsevier.com