News Release: IDEAL Charter Brings Digital Information to Senegal

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

Of possible interest.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2001 18:06:31 -0700
From: ddecooman@acad.com
Subject: News Release:  IDEAL Charter Brings Digital Information to Senegal

Please freely distribute the following. Apologies for any cross-posting.


IDEAL CHARTER FOR LOW-INCOME COUNTRIES BRINGS DIGITAL INFORMATION TO
SENEGAL

San Diego, June 28, 2001 - The Universit� Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar in the
West African nation of Senegal has signed the first licensing agreement
delivered through the IDEAL Charter for Low-Income Countries, Harcourt's
philanthropic initiative making electronic journals affordable to very poor
nations.

Through this license, universities, research centers, and teaching
hospitals across Senegal may access the over 300 journals in science,
technology and medicine on IDEAL - at <http://www.idealibrary.com>.

Along with the Universit� Cheikh Anta Diop, Universit� Gaston Berger de
Saint-Louis in Senegal is initially participating in the first charter
license. As connectivity becomes more widespread in Senegal, a nation of
about 10 million, more institutions will take advantage of this licensing
agreement.

The IDEAL Charter offers nationwide licenses, meaning that once a license
is purchased in a country, any technologically ready and eligible
institution there may access IDEAL journals without paying any additional
licensing fee. Further details about the charter initiative appear at
<http://www.academicpress.com/www/ideal/charter.htm>.

The Universit� Cheikh Anta Diop is funding Senegal's IDEAL charter license
out of the acquisitions budget of the university's library, directed by Dr.
Henri Sene.

Dr. Sene commented: "We are glad and very proud to be the first nation to
subscribe to IDEAL through the Charter for Low-Income Countries. And we
look forward to additional Senegalese institutes coming aboard this
license, and so benefiting from the research advantages provided by IDEAL."

Scientific associations currently endorsing the IDEAL Charter include
IASTMP (International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical
Publishers), INASP (International Network for the Availability of
Scientific Publications), and TWAS (Third World Academy of Sciences).

TWAS Executive Director Mohamed H.A. Hassan said: "Your efforts to close
the digital divide through making online journals affordable for low-income
countries certainly form a worthy goal, one which carries important
implications for science and technology across the South."

Researchers in poor nations are voicing support for publisher-led
initiatives such as the charter.

According to Dr. Bruce Dahlman, with Moi University in Eldoret, Kenya: "The
need for current, accessible medical information has never been greater in
certain African countries. At Moi University's Faculty of Health Sciences,
we are developing a family-practice education program in rural areas. This
requires ongoing access to authoritative medical information.

"Thus, we enthusiastically welcome Harcourt's generosity in creating the
IDEAL Charter. Resources like IDEAL could tremendously strengthen our
ability to gain funding for teaching centres and health clinics. And
greater electronic access to scientific findings could indeed transform how
we teach and practice medicine in nations facing the most dire need."

The charter initiative continues Harcourt's tradition of innovation. In
1995, Academic Press - a Harcourt company - helped revolutionize the
publishing industry by launching IDEAL, an Internet-based resource library
for STM researchers.

Academic Press is also a founding member of CrossRef - a collaborative
linking effort which allows researchers to move with unprecedented freedom
and speed through most online literature across a wide range of fields.
Today, 71 publishers are participating in CrossRef, and IDEAL journals
contain a large number of CrossRef links - immediately taking researchers
from reference citations to cited articles throughout the Web.

The online library of the Harcourt Worldwide STM Group, IDEAL is licensed
in 33 countries by approximately 2,200 academic institutions and industrial
and pharmaceutical companies and is accessible to over 10 million
authorized users.

IDEAL contains 143 journals from Harcourt Health Sciences and 177 from
Academic Press, and offers IDEALReferenceWorks encyclopedias and access to
SciVision's informatics products.

Academic Press is a Harcourt Science and Technology Company and part of
Harcourt's Worldwide Scientific, Technical and Medical Group. Academic
Press is an international multiple-media publisher of high-quality
journals, book serials, major reference works, databases, textbooks and
monographs.

Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Harcourt, Inc., Harcourt General
(NYSE: H) is a leading global multiple-media publisher, providing
educational, training and assessment products and services to classroom,
corporate, professional, research, medical and consumer markets.

IDEAL is a registered trademark of Harcourt, Inc. More information about
IDEAL and the charter initiative is available at
<http://www.idealibrary.com>.
# # #

Contact: Daria DeCooman
Academic Press
(619) 699-6283
ddecooman@acad.com

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