Announcement of eIFL CEO

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

Of possible interest.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 9 Aug 2002 13:30:04 +0200
From: Anna Maria Balogh <abalogh@OSI.HU>
Reply-To: All national coordinators and resource persons of the eIFL       
project
Subject: Announcement of eIFL CEO

TO ALL NATIONAL EIFL COORDINATORS AND EIFL RESOURCE PERSONS

The Open Society Institute is pleased to announce the appointment of
Dr.Frances Pinter as acting Chief Executive Officer of EIFL (Electronic
Information for Libraries). This extremely successful undertaking has been
in operation since 1999, providing access to over 5000 electronic
journals, primarily in the Social Sciences, Humanities and Medical
spheres, at affordable prices to over 2500 libraries in more than 40
transition and developing countries. A major focus of the project is the
empowerment of libraries through the building of consortia which have the
capacity for negotiation, marketing and training related to electronic
content. This model ensures the sustainability of access by identifying
stable funding sources.

Currently EIFL is expanding its range of subject areas to include Science
and Technology journals as well as making the program available to more
countries. Future activities will include support of local content in
languages other than English, and partnering with national and
international agencies to bridge the digital divide for libraries and
their users in these countries.

EIFL has to date been a major project of the Open Society Institute, but
with its broader remit it will soon be established as an independent
foundation, registered in the Netherlands. It will, however, continue to
receive financial and technical support from the Open Society Institute.

Dr. Pinter was the founder of Pinter Publishers. In 1994 she left UK
publishing and joined the Soros Foundations Network as Publishing
Director. EIFL was founded under her direction at the Center for
Publishing Development in Budapest. For the last two years she has been a
visiting fellow at the London School of Economics. She is also chair of
the Board of Trustees of International House, one of the world's leading
language schools with an affiliated network of 120 schools in 35
countries. She can be contacted at frances@pinter.org.uk.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT EIFL ACTIVITIES CAN BE FOUND AT WWW.EIFL.NET