Big 12 Plus Enters E-Publishing Partnership

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

Of possible interest to our readers.  

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 08:38:54 -0500
From: Adrian Alexander <alexandera@lhl.lib.mo.us>


For Immediate Release					
June 21, 1999

For more information, contact:
Alison Buckholtz, 202-296-2296 or 
alison@arl.org
<http://www.arl.org/sparc>

Public-Private Collaboration Develops BioOne,
Providing Online, Full-text Access to Aggregated Database of 
Bioscience Research Journals

Web-based Forum Provides Unique, Cost-Effective Access to Cross-Linked
Scientific Publications Previously Available Only in Print

Washington, DC - A public-private collaboration of five organizations,
including the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS), SPARC (the
Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition), the Big 12 Plus
Libraries Consortium, the University of Kansas and Allen Press, announced
today the development of BioOne.  BioOne is an electronic aggregation of
the full texts of dozens of leading research journals in the biological,
ecological and environmental sciences.

BioOne will provide Internet access, for the first time, to a common
database of leading journals in their fields - at prices and under usage
terms sensitive to the interests of both society publishers and
institutional subscribers.  The project will be launched with a broad
selection of the journals and bulletins published by the 55 AIBS member
societies. Back issues are expected to be included.  Additional publishers
and journals will be added over time. Ultimately, the BioOne aggregation
could include nearly 200 science titles, including those from non-AIBS
members.

Despite their significance in their respective fields, few of the
AIBS-affiliated journals are currently available electronically.  Online
access to an aggregated database of these publications represents a major
advancement in information dissemination for critical fields of
scholarship and research.  The Internet delivery system will provide
state-of-the-art functionality based on an archival SGML database and will
offer cross-journal searches and inter-journal linking from references.

"The wide-ranging collaboration behind BioOne can serve as a model among
the scientific and university library communities with respect to service,
design, features, cost, and terms of use," said Richard O'Grady, AIBS
Executive Director. "AIBS looks forward to working with its member
societies on this project," said Gregory Anderson of the University of
Connecticut, President of AIBS.

"Without BioOne, few of these publications would have the opportunity to
meet the electronic marketplace's demands while maintaining independence
in today's fast-changing environment," said Rick Johnson, SPARC Enterprise
Director.  "BioOne allows a group of undercapitalized scientific societies
a low-risk means of moving decisively into electronic dissemination of
research, while expanding their service to science."

"The Big 12 Plus believes that scholarly societies can help provide
high-impact, lower cost alternatives to commercially published journals,
and BioOne is the kind of solution research libraries are looking for,"
said Adrian Alexander, Executive Director of the Big 12 Plus Libraries
Consortium.

"The University of Kansas' role as a center for learning and scholarship
translates into our active technical support for and commitment to
BioOne," said Marilu Goodyear, Vice Chancellor for Information Services at
the University of Kansas.  Robert Kidd, Director of Development at Allen
Press, noted that "BioOne is a natural extension of Allen Press' close
work with scientific societies, and we are committed to helping these
journals stay viable and competitive on the Web."

BioOne is scheduled for beta release in early 2001 and expects to be
operational soon thereafter.  Its financing model will enable libraries
and societies to fashion a mutually beneficial relationship in which
customers have an opportunity to influence service features and moderate
the pricing of information resources.

Each of the collaborating organizations has been deeply involved in
various aspects of the scientific communications process. AIBS, publisher
of the journal BioScience, is a federation of scientific societies that
facilitates the exchange and dissemination of scientific information among
its members and with the public at large.  SPARC is a coalition of
libraries that promotes and facilitates expanded competition in the
scientific journals market.  The Big 12 Plus Libraries Consortium
represents 23 major research libraries with common objectives related to
scholarly communications.  The University of Kansas is a major
comprehensive research and teaching university committed to research as a
means of mutually reinforcing the scholarly inquiry underlying and
informing the educational experience.  Allen Press is one of the nation's
leading producers of scientific, academic and medical journals and has
been providing its clients with SGML-based Web delivery of journals since
1997.

************************************************
Adrian W. Alexander, Executive Director	
Big 12 Plus Libraries Consortium	              
Linda Hall Library
5109 Cherry St. 
Kansas City MO  64110-2498
VOICE:	816-926-8765   
FAX:	816-926-8790 
EMAIL:	AlexanderA@lhl.lib.mo.us 

http://www.library.okstate.edu/big12/
"In library cooperation, as in politics, success is based on the art of the 
possible." - James Skipper
*************************************************