AFRO-NETS> IDEAL Charter Brings Digital Information to Senegal

[Daria DeCooman <ddecooman@acad.com>]

IDEAL Charter Brings Digital Information to Senegal
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Ideal charter for low-income countries brings digital information to
Senegal

San Diego, June 28, 2001 - The Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar 
in the West African nation of Senegal has signed the first licensing 
agreement delivered through the IDEAL Charter for Low-Income Coun-
tries, Harcourt's philanthropic initiative making electronic journals 
affordable to very poor nations.

Through this license, universities, research centers, and teaching 
hospitals across Senegal may access the over 300 journals in science, 
technology and medicine on IDEAL - at:
http://www.idealibrary.com

Along with the Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Université Gaston Berger 
de Saint-Louis in Senegal is initially participating in the first 
charter license. As connectivity becomes more widespread in Senegal, 
a nation of about 10 million, more institutions will take advantage 
of this licensing agreement.

The IDEAL Charter offers nationwide licenses, meaning that once a li-
cense is purchased in a country, any technologically ready and eligi-
ble institution there may access IDEAL journals without paying any 
additional licensing fee. Further details about the charter initia-
tive appear at:
http://www.academicpress.com/www/ideal/charter.htm

The Université Cheikh Anta Diop is funding Senegal's IDEAL charter 
license out of the acquisitions budget of the university's library, 
directed by Dr. Henri Sene.

Dr. Sene commented: "We are glad and very proud to be the first na-
tion to subscribe to IDEAL through the Charter for Low-Income Coun-
tries. And we look forward to additional Senegalese institutes coming 
aboard this license, and so benefiting from the research advantages 
provided by IDEAL."

Scientific associations currently endorsing the IDEAL Charter include 
IASTMP (International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medi-
cal Publishers), INASP (International Network for the Availability of 
Scientific Publications), and TWAS (Third World Academy of Sciences).

TWAS Executive Director Mohamed H.A. Hassan said: "Your efforts to 
close the digital divide through making online journals affordable 
for low-income countries certainly form a worthy goal, one which car-
ries important implications for science and technology across the 
South."

Researchers in poor nations are voicing support for publisher-led 
initiatives such as the charter.

According to Dr. Bruce Dahlman, with Moi University in Eldoret, 
Kenya: "The need for current, accessible medical information has 
never been greater in certain African countries. At Moi University's 
Faculty of Health Sciences, we are developing a family-practice edu-
cation program in rural areas. This requires ongoing access to au-
thoritative medical information.

"Thus, we enthusiastically welcome Harcourt's generosity in creating 
the IDEAL Charter. Resources like IDEAL could tremendously strengthen 
our ability to gain funding for teaching centres and health clinics. 
And greater electronic access to scientific findings could indeed 
transform how we teach and practice medicine in nations facing the 
most dire need."

The charter initiative continues Harcourt's tradition of innovation. 
In 1995, Academic Press - a Harcourt company - helped revolutionize 
the publishing industry by launching IDEAL, an Internet-based re-
source library for STM researchers.

Academic Press is also a founding member of CrossRef - a collabora-
tive linking effort which allows researchers to move with unprece-
dented freedom and speed through most online literature across a wide 
range of fields. Today, 71 publishers are participating in CrossRef, 
and IDEAL journals contain a large number of CrossRef links - immedi-
ately taking researchers from reference citations to cited articles 
throughout the Web.

The online library of the Harcourt Worldwide STM Group, IDEAL is li-
censed in 33 countries by approximately 2,200 academic institutions 
and industrial and pharmaceutical companies and is accessible to over 
10 million authorized users.

IDEAL contains 143 journals from Harcourt Health Sciences and 177 
from Academic Press, and offers IDEALReferenceWorks encyclopedias and 
access to SciVision's informatics products.

Academic Press is a Harcourt Science and Technology Company and part 
of Harcourt's Worldwide Scientific, Technical and Medical Group. Aca-
demic Press is an international multiple-media publisher of high-
quality journals, book serials, major reference works, databases, 
textbooks and monographs.

Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Harcourt, Inc., Harcourt General 
(NYSE: H) is a leading global multiple-media publisher, providing 
educational, training and assessment products and services to class-
room, corporate, professional, research, medical and consumer mar-
kets.

IDEAL is a registered trademark of Harcourt, Inc. More information 
about IDEAL and the charter initiative is available at:
http://www.idealibrary.com

For more information contact: 
Daria DeCooman 
Academic Press 
Tel: +1-619-699-6283 
mailto:ddecooman@acad.com

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