Oxford University Press/Regional Library Networks Agreement

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

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

PRESS RELEASE

Oxford University Press
Regional Networks
Contact: See list at end of this release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS AND REGIONAL NETWORKS ANNOUNCE STRATEGIC ALLIANCE

Groundbreaking alliance will provide nationwide online access to the
Oxford English Dictionary and American National Biography.

New York, New York-July 20, 1999

Oxford University Press, Inc. (OUP) and the Regional Networks today
announced a landmark agreement to join forces in the marketing and sale of
online access to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) and American National
Biography (ANB) publications.  Under the alliance, the Regional Networks,
serving thousands of libraries, schools and other institutions across the
United States, will offer cost-saving subscriptions to the online versions
of the OED and ANB.

"Subscribing institutions will obtain significant savings through the
national aggregation made possible through this arrangement with Oxford
University Press," said James Rush, Executive Director, PALINET.  
"Although institutions can subscribe directly to OUP, they will not be
eligible for the cost savings available through the national
subscription."

The Regional Networks will provide OUP with centralized ordering and
billing, as well as the infrastructure to implement an equitable pricing
model at the time of publication.  The fees for subscriptions, based on a
national aggregate of weighted users to the OED and ANB online
publications, will be finalized in the coming months.

To support an expected user population of seven to ten million in the 
United States, OUP will maintain a stable publication environment for the 
quarterly updates to both OED and ANB, as well as adhere to the 
guidelines of the International Consortium of Library Consortia (ICOLC) 
concerning statistics, technical issues, and the purchase of e-information 
resources. 

Arnold Hirshon, Executive Director of NELINET, noted that while there has
been at least one other national consortial aggregation and purchasing
arrangement in the past, this agreement is ground breaking in several
respects:  "This is an alliance between the most-highly respected non-
profit scholarly publisher in the world, Oxford University Press, and the
most well-established national consortium network in the United States.  
The also arrangement provides a coordinated regional approach that will
aggregate and benefit the entire user population.  Most importantly, the
alliance will make two essential reference publications-OED and ANB-
affordable to nearly every academic and public library."

"Our alliance with the Networks ensures that Oxford's flagship
publications will be available to a substantial population upon launch,"
said Edward W.  Barry, President, Oxford University Press, Inc.  "It also
allows OUP to focus resources on content quality and editorial
presentation for our online publications, ensuring that users will enjoy
the same high standards with OUP online as they have come to expect of our
trademark print publications."

Mary-Alice Lynch, Executive Director of Nylink, concurs: "This is a
win-win solution for Oxford, the Regional Networks, participating
institutions, and the researchers, instructors, students and general users
who rely on the OED and ANB.  We expect that this will be the first of
many national offerings through the Regional Networks."

Oxford University Press, the world's largest university press, is best
known as the publisher of the OED.  The Press has recently committed $55
million dollars to the first complete revision of the OED, the most
ambitious humanities research endeavor in history, subsidizing the
history-making project through its other publishing operations. More than
300 lexicographers, technical staff, readers, and consultants-the largest
dictionary team ever assembled-are now reviewing each entry, revising
etymologies, rewriting definitions, adding new words and documentary
evidence, as well as designing the most elegant interactive dictionary
project on the Internet.

Published in print in January 1999, The American National Biography, a
collaborative venture with the American Council of Learned Societies
(ACLS), is the most comprehensive, authoritative reference source of its
kind. The ANB reflects the diversity of the men and women whose stories
shaped this nation's history.  OUP and ACLS have established a Center for
American Biography to assure that revisions of and additions to this
important source of information and understanding are ongoing.

The Regional Networks are a group of sixteen independent non-profit
organizations serving public and private secondary schools, colleges, and
universities, public and state libraries, and non-profit and commercial
organizations throughout the United States.  The Networks' efforts allow
participating institutions to purchase and subscribe to an array of
services at greatly reduced prices. North American institutions outside
the geographic region of a Network will be able to participate through
special arrangements.

Further details and developments will be announced in Fall 1999.  

ABOUT THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY

The Oxford English Dictionary-the standard in lexicographic excellence for
over one hundred years-is undergoing major revision.  The OED
lexicographers, the largest dictionary team and humanities research
project in the world, are reviewing each entry.  New words and usages will
be added, and every word and sense in the Dictionary will be reviewed by
the editorial staff, resulting typically in revised etymologies, rewritten
and expanded definitions, and additional documentary evidence from both
earlier and later time periods to those currently cited.

Both the OED revision program, and accompanying program for new words, are
funded by Oxford University Press.  The Press has committed $55 million
dollars to this endeavor which is expected to culminate in a complete new
edition in 2010.  Additional details about the Oxford English Dictionary
are available at http://www.oed.com

ABOUT THE AMERICAN NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY/CENTER FOR 
AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY

Winner of the 1999 Dartmouth Medal, awarded by the American Library
Association for the best reference work of the year, the American National
Biography provides an unrivaled portrait of America's history, reflecting
the diversity of the men and women whose lives have shaped the nation.  
Published under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies
(ACLS), the ANB is the first American biographical dictionary of such
scope to be published in more than sixty years.  Comprised of 17,450
biographies written by 6,100 distinguished scholars and writers, the 24
volume, 20 million word, 23,000 page print ANB was published in January
1999 with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the National
Endowment for the Humanities, and the Rockefeller Foundation.  OUP and
ACLS have established a Center for American Biography which will keep the
ANB up to date with ongoing revisions and additions.  Additional details
about the American National Biography are available at http://www.anb.org

ABOUT OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

The world's largest university press with offices in fifty countries,
Oxford University Press is a global publisher of over 4,000 titles
annually worldwide in medicine, science, humanities, social sciences,
music, bibles, English and bilingual dictionaries.  Oxford University
Press is a department of the University of Oxford, and is governed by the
Delegates of the Press who are appointed from the academic staff of the
University.  Through its publishing programs, OUP furthers the
University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and
education.  Additional details about Oxford University Press are available
at http://www.oup.com

ABOUT THE REGIONAL NETWORKS

The Regional Networks are sixteen independent organizations serving
thousands of institutions including public and private high schools,
public and state libraries, academic colleges and universities, non-profit
organizations and commercial companies across the United States.  The
Networks' efforts allow participating institutions to purchase and
subscribe to an array of products and services at greatly reduced prices.  
Best known for their OCLC cataloging services, the Networks participated
in a national subscription through SOLINET to the CIS Academic Universe
service.

CONTACTS

For the Regional Networks

Arnold Hirshon
Executive Director
NELINET
(617) 969-0400
ahirshon@nelinet.net

Mary-Alice Lynch
Executive Director
Nylink
(518) 443-5444
lynchma@nylink.suny.edu

James Rush
Executive Director
PALINET
(215) 382-7031
rush@palinet.org

For Oxford University Press

Russell Perreault
Publicity Director
Oxford University Press
(212) 726-6032
rap@oup-usa.org

Royalynn O'Connor 
Online Product Director 
Oxford University Press 
(212) 726-6069 
royalynn@oup-usa.org

Susanna Lob
Marketing Manager-Online Products
Oxford University Press
+44 (0) 1865 267229
lobs@oup.co.uk

THE REGIONAL NETWORKS

Amigos Library Services, Inc.
14400 Midway Road
Dallas, TX 75244-3509
Bonnie Juergens-Executive Director 
+1-972-851-8000
http://www.amigos.org 
Serving: AZ, NM, OK, TX, AR

Bibliographical Center for  Research (BCR) 
14394 East Evans Avenue
Aurora, CO 80014-1478
David Brunell-Executive Director
+1-303-751-6277
http://www.bcr.org 
Serving: CO, NV, ID, MT, WY, IA, KS, UT

CAPCON Library Network 
1990 M Street, N.W., Suite 200
Washington, DC 20036-3430
Robert Drescher-Executive Director
+1-202-331-5771
http://www.capcon.net  
Serving: DC, MD, VA

Federal Library and Information Center Committee (FEDLINK) 
Library of Congress
Washington, DC 20540-4930
Susan M. Tarr-Executive Director
+1-202-707-4800
http://lcweb.loc.gov/flicc
Serving: All Federal Libraries

Illinois State Library (ILLINET/OCLC Services) 
Illinois State Library
300 South Second Street
Springfield, IL 62701-1796
Patricia Norris-Acting Director
1-800-665-5576 (IL only)
+1-217-785-1532
http://www.library.sos.state.il.us./isl/oclc/oclc.htm
Serving: IL

Indiana Cooperative Library Services Authority (INCOLSA) 
6202 Morenci Trail
Indianapolis, IN 46268-2536
Millard Johnson-Executive Director
+1-317-298-6570
http://incolsa.palni.edu 
Serving: IN

Michigan Library Consortium (MLC)  
6810 South Cedar Street , Suite 8
Lansing, MI 48911
Randy Dykhuis-Executive Director
+1-517-694-4242
http://www.mlc.lib.mi.us 
Serving: MI

MINITEX Library Information Network 
S-33 Wilson Library
University of Minnesota
309 19th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55455-0414
Bill DeJohn-Executive Director 
+1-612-624-4002
http://othello.lib.umn.edu 
Serving: MN,  SD, ND

Missouri Library Network Corporation (MLNC) 
8045 Big Bend Blvd., Suite 202
St. Louis, MO 63119
Susan Singleton-Executive Director
+1-314-918-7222
http://www.mlnc.org 
Serving: MO

Nebraska Library Commission (NEBASE) 
The Atrium
1200 N Street, Suite 120
Lincoln, NE 68508-2023
Jo Budler-Director of Network Services
+1-402-471-2045)
http://www.nlc.state.ne.us/netserv/nebase/nebserv.html 
Serving: NE

NELINET, Inc. 
Two Newton Executive Park
Newton, MA 02462-1495
Arnold Hirshon-Executive Director
+1-617-969-0400
http://www.nelinet.net
Serving: CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT

Nylink
State University of New York
SUNY Plaza
Albany, NY 12246
Mary-Alice Lynch-Executive Director
+1-518-443-5444
http://nylink.suny.edu 
Serving: NY

OHIONET 
1500 West Lane Avenue
Columbus, OH 43221-3975
Michael Butler-Executive Director
+1-614-486-2966
http://ohionet.org
Serving: OH, MI, PA, WV

PALINET Headquarters 
3401 Market Street-Suite 262
Philadelphia, PA 19104-3374
James Rush-Executive Director
+1-215-382-7031
http://www.palinet.org 
Serving: DC, DE, NJ, MD, PA, WV

Southeastern Library Network, Inc. (SOLINET)  
1438 West Peachtree Street, N.W., Suite 200
Atlanta, GA 30309-2955
Catherine F. Nevins-Executive Director 
+1-404-892-0943
http://www.solinet.net
Serving: FL, GA, SC, NC, VA, MS, LA, KY, TN, AL

Wisconsin InterLibrary Services (WILS)  
728 State Street, Room 464
Madison, WI 53706-1494
Kathy Schneider-Executive Director
+1-608-263-5051
http://www.wils.wisc.edu 
Serving: WI