November 19, 1998
Dallas - Renaissance North Hotel - AMIGOS Fall Conference

** AMIGOS Bibliographic Council, Inc. first U.S. Consortium to sign
'EmeraldPlus' license agreement **

At the conclusion of its semi-annual conference, AMIGOS announced a
three-year agreement with MCB University Press which will allow all
participating member libraries Internet access to the full text of 117
academic journals published by MCB University Press, mainly in the fields of
business science & industrial relations, finance and economics, education,
engineering and library and information sciences.

As AMIGOS' A-plus Services Manager, Jeff Downing stated in a press release,
"AMIGOS is very pleased to be the first U.S. consortium to sign the
EmeraldPlus agreement. This agreement will provide our participating member
libraries a significant increase in electronic access to MCB's titles
without an additional access fee. It will also help our member institutions
to keep print subscription costs in line."

Commenting on the agreement, Bev Bruce, Director of Electronic Publishing
for MCB University Press, said, "I am delighted that AMIGOS and its member
libraries have recognized the substantial tailored benefits of our
EmeraldPlus license including 1998 pricing for 1999 print subscriptions, no
additional access fee, a capped price increase for print subscriptions in
the years 2000 and 2001, the electronic transfer of articles for use in
interlibrary loan and electronic reserve, and a 70% discount on additional
print subscriptions. We look forward to working with members of AMIGOS to
provide a value-added service for librarians and end users alike."

Member libraries see EmeraldPlus as a valuable combination of flexibility
and fair pricing. "This agreement is fair and reasonable. Arizona State
worked cooperatively with MCB to fine- tune some of the language in the
license agreement. We ended up with something that will work well for the
library, our students, faculty and the interests of MCB" Jeanne Richardson,
Arizona State University's Team Leader, Collection Development remarked.
Leila Payne of Texas A & M University agreed saying, "The price and value of
this agreement made it a good deal for us. We can contain print costs while
increasing our electronic access at the same time."

TARGETED ACCESS TO QUALITY INFORMATION IN THE ELECTRONIC AGE
In an ever-changing publishing environment, where information resources
continue to emerge in electronic format, academic libraries working in
conjunction with each other on a collective basis, are seeking to increase
electronic access for their patrons. As Thomas R. Mirkovich, of the
University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Libraries commented, "UNLV is excited about
this agreement. It will provide the kind of electronic access our students
and faculty have been requesting. It contains electronic access to over 100
journals at a substantial savings over paper subscriptions."
This EmeraldPlus initiative has developed a licensing agreement that meets
the needs of both library and publisher, on the basis of fair use and
partnership. It provides fulltext access to an advanced database of over 20,
000 top quality management articles. It also addresses the evolving needs of
library purchasing groups through cost effective and high value electronic
information.

PROBLEMS SOLVED
The EmeraldPlus agreement addresses the principle issues concerning the
effective and efficient provision of information resources in library
settings, including:

* the increased demands now placed upon the academic library community;

* the need to develop stable pricing models, aimed at reducing the unit cost
of information, and with continuing access to print journals if required;

* the need to maintain the concept of fair use established in the print
environment;

* that access to electronic resources should be unrestricted, location
independent, and that libraries wishing to host information locally will be
allowed to do so;

* that the degree of permanence provided by the acquisition of print journal
collections, should be replicated, in so far as possible, in the electronic
environment;

* that systems are developed to monitor the use and effectiveness of
publications;

* that the mechanisms employed for the authentication of users offers a
flexible number of solutions tailored to meet the needs of the individual
library.

MCB University Press is currently in active discussions with library
purchasing groups world-wide.

Anyone interested in further information should visit the MCB web site
http://www.mcb.co.uk, or contact:

Claire Ginn
Consortia Manager
MCB University Press
875 Massachusetts Avenue Suite 82
Tel: (617) 497-2175
Fax: (617) 354 6875
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Copyright MCB University Press

# # #

MCB University Press is a privately owned company, founded in 1967 by a
group of senior business school academics who were dissatisfied with the
international publishing outlets available for authors. Its continuing
mission is to remain an independent niche publisher of high quality academic
research and applied titles.

MCB University Press is in the business of providing the best and latest
information and intelligence on behalf of its global customers. MCB
University Press now publishes over 140 titles, in both print and electronic
formats, predominantly within the subject areas of management science and
applied engineering, with all products and services being sold on an annual
subscription basis.

###

AMIGOS Bibliographic Council, Inc is dedicated to serving libraries. A
nonprofit organization, AMIGOS is one of the nation's largest library
resource sharing networks and a leader in providing information technology
to libraries. The AMIGOS Membership consists of over 600 libraries located
primarily in the southwestern United States who utilize AMIGOS'
comprehensive line of services, including cataloging, reference, resource
sharing, preservation, consulting and training.

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