The following message was distributed to the press earlier today by Swets and the ALPSP. I thought it may be of interest to some list members.

 

Yours,


Damian

 

 

 ALPSP Learned Journals Collection signs major deal with the Southern European Library Link (SELL) consortia

 

The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers, in partnership with Swets, is pleased to announce the signing of the first cross-country consortia agreement for its ALPSP Learned Journals Collection. The agreement brings together members of the Anatolian University Libraries Consortium (ANKOS) in Turkey, Hellenic Academic Libraries Link (Heal-Link) in Greece, Consorcio de Bibliotecas Universitarias de Catalunya (CBUC), and other institutions in Italy, Portugal and Spain under the umbrella of the Southern European Library Link (SELL).

 

SELL is a unique library forum where library consortia from participating countries debate the challenges and opportunities associated with the management of e-consortia. This is the first time that this collaboration has extended beyond the forum, providing an agreement that equally benefits members of different consortia across Southern Europe, demonstrating SELL's commitment to providing quality content to its many users.

 

Lluís Anglada and Núria Comellas from the CBUC were instrumental in arranging the agreement. "The ability to coordinate people from so many different libraries and countries was possible thanks to the confidence we have built in the SELL meetings and relations," said Mr. Anglada.

 

Claudine Xenidou-Dervou, Coordinator of the Steering Committee at HEAL-LINK and Bülent Karasözen, Chairman of ANKOS, commented on behalf of SELL: "For a number of years we wished to have access to full-text journals from many of the publishers involved in ALJC, but negotiating with every publisher separately seemed like an impossible task. The ALJC solved this by placing content from a wide range of publishers under a single license with a simplified pricing model--it is indeed a great initiative and we hope that more publishers will join. Moreover, we are very pleased that the ALJC is our first common agreement for the members of SELL. We believe that all members of the individual consortia (ANKOS, HEAL-Link, CBUC) participating in SELL will benefit greatly from this agreement.

 

Arie Jongejan, CEO of Swets, adds: "We are delighted to welcome SELL to our expanding list of ALJC customers. Swets firmly believes in the importance of creating products and service solutions that adapt to the varying needs of our customers. Our unique and exclusive partnership with ALPSP allows us to help a significant number of consortia customers gain access to a substantial collection of valuable electronic journals that they would be unable to subscribe to otherwise."

 

 

About the ALJC

The ALJC (www.alpsp-collection.org) is an initiative in which smaller member publishers of the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) work together, through Swets, to sell a combined package of their journals to consortia and other large customers. Now entering its fourth year in the market, the ALJC provides a unique and straightforward way for libraries and consortia to acquire content from 48 highly regarded publishers from a single source. With a total of 627 titles making up the full set and the availability of nine new subject-specific collections, the 2007 ALJC offers a wealth of high quality electronic content in an affordable, direct and flexible manner.

 

About Swets

Swets is the world's leading subscription services company. We build on more than 100 years of experience to maximize the return on investments in time and money for clients and publishers in today's complex information marketplace. With clients in over 160 countries and more than twenty offices around the world, Swets is a true "long tail" power that provides the most comprehensive and sophisticated e-commerce platform currently available in its field.

Swets has been included in E-Content Magazine's "100 companies that matter most in the Digital Content Industry" for the past two years and appeared at number 95 in FEM Business' "Top 500 Companies in The Netherlands" in 2006. We are the only subscription services company that is ISO 9001:2000 certified on a global basis--a testament to our stringent operation and client service procedures.

Swets has been the exclusive sales partner of the ALJC since winning the tender to represent the collection in 2003.

 

About SELL

The SELL consortium (http://www.heal-link.gr/SELL/) was created in an effort to bring together libraries from Southern European Countries. Its main purpose is to serve as a forum for the discussion of issues related to electronic publishing and consortia. It also aims to promote the special requirements of its members to information aggregators, to draw common policies towards information acquirement and provision, and to support other fields of collaboration.

 

About ALPSP

The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) was formed in 1972 - today it is the only international trade association representing all types of non-profit publishers, as well as the largest trade association for scholarly and professional publishers. Its members publish approximately 10,000 journals worldwide, as well as books, databases and other products and services. ALPSP's mission is to play an active part in shaping the future of academic and professional communication. The ALPSP Learned Journals Collection (ALJC) is the most important of ALPSP's range of collaborative initiatives for members.

 

 

Media Contacts

Damian Leslie
Swets Information Services B.V.
P.O. Box 830
2160 SZ Lisse, The Netherlands
T: +31 (0)252 435 189
F: +31 (0)252 415 888
E: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
www.swets.com
<http://www.whitingbirch.co.uk%20/>

 

Nick Evans

Chief Operating Officer

Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP)

T: +44 (0)208 789 2394

C: +44 (0)7793 559992

F: +44 (0)87 0051 1921

www.alpsp.org