Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 14:28:56 -0500 (EST)
From: "Tagler, John" <j.tagler@SMTPHOST.ELSEVIER.COM>
Subject: Elsevier Electronic Subscriptions (EES)

         PRESS RELEASE
         FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

         Date:  February 23,1995    Contact:  Roland D.J. Dietz
                                               Senior Vice President
                                               Telephone (212)633-3945
                                               Fax (212)633-3935

         ELSEVIER ANNOUNCES: ELECTRONIC SUBSCRIPTIONS, THE NEXT STEP
         AFTER TULIP

         NEW YORK, NY -- Elsevier Science announces the introduction
         of Elsevier Electronic Subscriptions (EES), an electronic
         version of its traditional research journals.  This new
         service, to be available initially on a pilot basis, will
         offer libraries complete electronic editions either in
         addition to or in lieu of paper journals.

         EES are available for all of the more than 1100 Elsevier
         Science journals, published under the imprints of Elsevier,
         Pergamon, North-Holland and Butterworth-Heinemann.

         The electronic subscriptions will be provided in
         cover-to-cover bitmapped page images (black/white single-page
         TIFF files, resolution 300 dots per inch, compressed using
         CCITT Fax Group IV).  Bibliographic header information,
         including the abstract and keywords (when present), will be
         provided in structured SGML-tagged text.  The full text will
         be provided as an unedited and unstructured ASCII file.
         This format is similar to the one used in TULIP, an
         experiment in full-text electronic subscriptions undertaken
         by Elsevier Science and nine major research universities
         which started in 1991.

         EES files are intended to be implemented with either the
         library's own software or third party software, making use of
         open standards available now.  This will enable libraries to
         build their electronic journal infrastructure on the basis of
         this service and to extend and modify flexibly in the future.

         To enable proper installation and support of third party
         software for the use of the journal information, Elsevier
         Science is setting up non-exclusive marketing agreements
         with these third party suppliers.

         In the coming weeks, Elsevier Science will be contacting
         various institutions to invite participation in the initial
         phase.  Elsevier Science will work with these institutions
         and determine whether they have the technical and
         organizational infrastructure needed to support a successful
         implementation.  During the pilot phase, expected to last
         through 1995, Elsevier Science will work with libraries to
         refine the technical standards and service requirements to
         respond effectively to users' needs.

         "Elsevier wants to be with its clients at the forefront of
         electronic publishing by starting now to develop an open
         electronic journal infrastructure," said Roland Dietz, Senior
         Vice President of Elsevier Science, New York.  "EES will give
         all participants valuable insight into the ways in which
         electronic subscriptions can be used, and in the process we
         will be able to deliver to the readers a product that has
         important increased functionalities.  As such, the EES
         service is a logical next step after the experimental CAPCAS
         and TULIP programs, and it shows the commitment Elsevier
         Science is making to work with clients in developing the
         electronic information infrastructure."

         Delivery and use of these electronic versions of Elsevier
         Science journals will be governed by an electronic
         subscription license.

         This generic approach, Elsevier Electronic Subscriptions,
         towards making journals available for electronic
         infrastructures at customers is complementary to other
         initiatives which Elsevier Science will announce and launch
         over the coming months.  These initiatives will be geared
         more towards specific scientific disciplines and markets.

         Elsevier Science, the world's leading publisher of
         scientific, technical and medical publications, has offices
         in New York, Amsterdam, Oxford, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro,
         Lausanne and Shannon.

                      A Member of the Reed Elsevier group.