June 6, 2006
Newton, MA
Ex Libris™ (USA) Inc. is pleased to announce that it has agreed to contribute the latest version of its award-winning SFX® link resolver to the Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative (HINARI) and its sister programs, Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture (AGORA) and Online Access to Research in the Environment (OARE). The server will be hosted at Yale University.
We are very pleased with the contribution of the SFX link resolver, says Kimberly Parker, Head of Electronic Collections at Yale University Library. Scientists, researchers, policy makers, and practitioners working in developing country institutions have historically suffered from a lack of access to advanced and up-to-date peer-reviewed research essential to strengthening local teaching and research.
To answer this call, publishers of the worlds scientific and medical literature have joined forces with international agencies, non-governmental organizations, and other partners to provide affordable online access to academic and professional peer-reviewed journals in the worlds poorest countries. Network connections in these countries can be slow, erratic, and expensive. Up until now, SFX was the missing link in quickly connecting researchers to the information they so desperately need. Now with SFX, researchers can connect to material efficiently to conserve their scarce network time.
The SFX link server will offer HINARI a proven solution for linking its diverse, ever increasing set of electronic resources, explains Dan Trajman, President of Ex Libris (USA) Inc. SFX provides the robustness, flexibility, and independence required for defining links to help researchers find the resources and services they need. If this contribution is able to assist HINARI and its sister programs, in even the smallest degree, we will feel immensely rewarded.
About HINARI:
Sponsored by the UNs World Health Organization in partnership with over 60 publishers, HINARI provides access to more than 3000 journals in medicine, nursing, and related health and social sciences in public institutions in 100+ developing countries. Countries with an annual per capita GNP of less than $1000 can gain free access while those with a GNP of $1000-$3000 gain access for a nominal fee that is then invested in local training initiatives.
The journals can be searched through a special version of PubMed (Medline) and other subject databases. Access is available through www.who.int/hinari
About Ex Libris:
Ex Libris is a leading worldwide developer and provider of high-performance applications for libraries, information centers, and researchers, with installations in 62 countries. ALEPH®, the Ex Libris integrated library solution, has been installed at over 1700 sites worldwide. MetaLib®, the information portal for library collections, and SFX, the context-sensitive linking solution for heterogeneous electronic resources in the scholarly information environment, have collectively been purchased by over 950 institutions in 40 countries. DigiTool®, a solution for the construction of digital collections, and Verde®, the electronic resource management (ERM) system, complete the Ex Libris product suite.
