The Committee on Institutional Cooperation Signs Agreement to Purchase Major eBooks Collection on ScienceDirect Platform

AMSTERDAM, January 26 - Elsevier announced today that the Committee on Institutional Cooperation
(CIC) has agreed to acquire the complete ScienceDirect eBooks collections for
2008, 2009, and 2010. As a result, libraries and patrons in CIC member
institutions will be able to access over 1,300 titles across 18 science,
technical and medical subject areas.

CIC member institutions include Indiana University, Michigan State
University, Northwestern University, Pennsylvania State University, Purdue
University, University of Illinois, University of Iowa, University of
Michigan, University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

By providing access to the ScienceDirect eBooks collection, member
patrons will have access in the library or remotely, any time, as well as a
powerful search and browse capability. Users will also be able to access
instant links to relevant journal articles and innovative knowledge discovery
features such as the NextBio Ontology-based semantic search tool.

Member libraries will have a cost-effective alternative to acquiring and
owning printed books. They will also be able to maximize book collection
discoverability and support multi-user access to the ebook titles.

Wendy Shelburne, Electronic Resources Librarian at University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign, member institution of the CIC, commented on the
significance of this ebooks collection investment: "We are finding that these
publisher collections are used heavily at research universities, and we're
seeing user demand across disciplines to make major publisher works
available."

CIC chose to acquire the eBooks collections based on evidence gathered
from increasing patron adoption of retrospective content from the HathiTrust
Digital Archive as well as robust uptake of current publisher content from a
variety of sources. A careful analysis of current ebook usage among
consortium member institutions was conducted last year, and participating
schools found "that when they worked together to make a critical mass of
content accessible, it was immediately noticed and used by faculty and
students," said Kim Armstrong, Assistant Director, CIC Center for Library
Initiatives.

Elsevier's Vice President of Online Sales, Science & Technology Books,
Jonathan Bunkell commented, "We are excited by CIC's acquisition of this
significant collection of Scientific, Technical & Medical eBooks on
ScienceDirect. We believe that the groundwork now exists for future
transactions of this type for the benefit of the CIC member institutions, as
well as other academic institutions who are realizing efficiency gains and
increased patron satisfaction through actively migrating from print to
electronic delivery of books."

Later this year, ScienceDirect will partner with selected libraries from
CIC to conduct joint usage studies to better understand the value of these
ebooks in driving world-class research, teaching and learning. Findings from
this study will be shared with the global library and research community.

About The Committee on Institutional Cooperation

Headquartered in the Midwest in the United States, the Committee on
Institutional Cooperation (CIC) is a consortium of the Big Ten universities
plus the University of Chicago. For half a century, these 12 world-class
research institutions have advanced their academic missions, generated unique
opportunities for students and faculty, and served the common good by sharing
expertise, leveraging campus resources, and collaborating on innovative
programs. Governed and funded by the Provosts of the member universities, CIC
mandates are coordinated by a staff from its Champaign, Illinois
headquarters.

About ScienceDirect

Over a quarter of the world\'s full text scientific, technical and
medical (STM) peer-reviewed articles - managed by renowned editors, written
by respected authors and read by researchers from around the globe - are
available in one place: ScienceDirect.

Elsevier's extensive and unique full-text collection covers authoritative
titles from the core scientific literature including high impact factor
titles such as THE LANCET, Cell and Tetrahedron. Over nine million articles
are available online, including Articles in Press which offer online access
to recently accepted manuscripts. The critical mass of trusted information
available on ScienceDirect is unsurpassed. Coverage includes over 2,500
journals published by Elsevier and dynamic linking to journals from
approximately 2,000 STM publishers through CrossRef. An expanding program of
online major reference works, handbooks, book series and over 4,400 eBooks in
all fields of science seamlessly interlinks with primary research referenced
in journal articles.

About Elsevier

Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and
medical information products and services. The company works in partnership
with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000
journals, including The Lancet (www.thelancet.com) and Cell
(www.cell.com), and close to 20,000 book titles, including major
reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include
ScienceDirect (www.sciencedirect.com), Scopus (www.scopus.com),
Reaxys (www.reaxys.com), MD Consult (www.mdconsult.com) and
Nursing Consult (www.nursingconsult.com), which enhance the
productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite
(www.scival.com) and MEDai's Pinpoint Review (www.medai.com),
which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more
cost-effectively.

A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier (
www.elsevier.com) employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part
of Reed Elsevier Group PLC (www.reedelsevier.com), a world-leading
publisher and information provider, which is jointly owned by Reed Elsevier
PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam),
REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).

    Contact:

    Deanna Decker/Jessica Disch
    Padilla Speer Beardsley
    +1-212-752-8338
    mbernheim@psbpr.com/jdisch@psbpr.com

Contact: Deanna Decker/Jessica Disch, Padilla Speer Beardsley, +1-212-752-8338, mbernheim at psbpr.com/jdisch at psbpr.com