Press Release - Swets Blackwell and Manchester Computing to continue as NESLI Managing Agent (Sarah Kellman) ERCELAA@ctrvax.Vanderbilt.Edu 11 Jul 2001 16:00 UTC
Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 09:03:03 +0200 From: Sarah Kellman <skellman@SWETS.NL> Subject: Swets Blackwell and Manchester Computing to continue as NESLI Man aging Agent Abingdon, UK and Lisse, the Netherlands July 2001 Swets Blackwell and Manchester Computing to continue as NESLI Managing Agent Swets Blackwell is pleased to announce that they, in partnership with Manchester Computing, will continue in the role of Managing Agent for NESLI (National Electronic Site Licence Initiative) through 2002. They were confirmed in this role by the JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee), the official body that promotes the innovative application and use of information systems and information technology in Higher and Further education across the UK. The contract with the Managing Agent for NESLI began in May 1998 with the aim to promote the widespread delivery and use of electronic journals in the UK higher education and research community. A total of 19 publishers currently participate in the initiative, with plans and discussions under way for 2002 contract renewals. The Managing Agent also aims to introduce several new publishers' offers for 2002. Further information about NESLI can be found at www.nesli.ac.uk Paul Harwood, Swets Blackwell's Regional Director for UK and Ireland, said: "We are delighted to be continuing our role as Managing Agent for a further year. Our objectives are clear and we look forward to working with the new Journals Working Group and MIMAS in realizing them. NESLI has made a significant contribution to the take-up and usage of electronic journals in UK Higher Education (HE), and it is our intention to progress this further during the coming year." Reg Carr, Chair of the JISC's Committee on Electronic Information said: "Securing electronic access to the breadth and depth of scholarly journals is of key strategic importance to UK academia. The year extension will ensure that existing annual access arrangements are renewed." Julia Chruszcz, Director of National Data Services at Manchester Computing said: "This extension will enable us to carry forward and consolidate the work done through the NESLI Managing Agent over last three years. It is most rewarding to be part of an initiative that has addressed new challenges in bringing about the increased of use of electronic journals in UK HE. MIMAS looks forward to the continuing close collaboration with Swets Blackwell and developments emerging through the Journals Working Group." Joint Information Systems Committee The JISC is a joint committee of the UK further and higher education funding councils, and is responsible for stimulating the innovative use of computers to support learning, teaching, and research. It is best known for providing the SuperJANET network and a portfolio of high-quality resources through the DNER. Information about the JISC, its services and programs can be found at www.jisc.ac.uk The DNER is the JISC's managed program to create a national information landscape for the UK's Higher Education and research communities. More information is available at www.jisc.ac.uk/dner Information about the Journals Working Group, and especially its draft selection criteria for e-journal agreements, is available online at www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/journals Manchester Computing Manchester Computing provides local computing services for the University of Manchester and national services including specialist dataset services via MIMAS to the UK Higher Education community. MIMAS is a JISC-designated national datacentre hosting more than 40 strategic datasets including the BL zetoc, ISI Web of Science, UK Census, JSTOR, COPAC (Consortium of University Research Libraries OPAC), Beilstein CrossFire, and satellite data. Further details can be found at www.mimas.ac.uk About Swets Blackwell Swets Blackwell is one of the largest providers of subscription and information management solutions in the world. They have an annual turnover in excess of US$1 billion and maintain 23 offices in 19 countries across 6 continents. Swets Blackwell works in partnership with 65,000 publishers, and offers complete solutions for the needs of their 60,000 corporate, academic, R & D, medical, and government library and information center clients worldwide. Find out more by visiting www.swetsblackwell.com For more information please contact:: Paul Harwood Regional Director, UK & Ireland Swets Blackwell 32 Blacklands Way Abingdon Business Park Abingdon Oxfordshire OX14 1SX UK Tel: +44 1235 857 511 Fax: +44 1235 857 501 Email: pharwood@uk.swetsblackwell.com Sarah Kellman Communication Executive Swets Blackwell P.O.Box 830 2160 SZ Lisse The Netherlands Tel: +31 252 435 584 Fax: +31 252 415 888 Email: press@nl.swetsblackwell.com