Amsterdam, 16 May 2007 – In June 2006 ScienceDirect launched its new Development Partner program. Marking a new stage in collaboration between ScienceDirect (http://www.sciencedirect.com) and the library and research communities, this program emphasises ScienceDirect's commitment to implementing true user-focused design.
The aim of the program is to create a community of ScienceDirect users and customers who will be integral to the continuing development of ScienceDirect by consulting on new ideas and helping conduct user tests of new prototypes. Partners are drawn from the wide base of ScienceDirect customers and currently include a mix of fourteen corporate, academic and government organizations.
Stephen Prowse, Journals Coordinator, from King's College London (http://www.kcl.ac.uk) - one of the founding members of the program - states "It's always great when library staff can get involved in shaping the design, development and philosophy of one of its major resources, be it a library management system or a database like ScienceDirect. And it's always great when a company wants to engage its customers and users in this way. In short, we were made an offer we couldn't refuse. As a partner we get the inside track on what features are being planned and what concepts are being considered. But what was particularly gratifying was seeing a timetable for bringing changes into ScienceDirect arising from our testing."
Engaged in one of the first projects to involve Development Partners, Lisa Janicke Hinchcliffe, Head, Undergraduate Library, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (http://www.uiuc.edu), comments "The Development Partners program offered an intriguing opportunity to be involved with the re-development of an online journal system that is of great importance to our researchers and learners." Her colleague on the program, JoAnn Jacoby, Sociology Subject Specialist, also stated "The process of user-centered design in use brings out user perspectives and needs that are otherwise hidden from librarians and system designers."
"Because the use of information resources evolves so rapidly today, we see the best way of responding to the needs of our users by actually directly working and involving them in our product development." said Joep Verheggen, Director, ScienceDirect. "The Development Partner program is for us a permanent commitment in developing a real dynamic partnership with the research and librarian communities."
About ScienceDirect
Over a quarter of the world's full text scientific, technical and medical (STM) articles - managed by renowned editors, written by respected authors and read by researchers from around the globe - are available in one place: ScienceDirect (http://www.sciencedirect.com).
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 eight million articles are available online, including Articles in Press which offer rapid access to recently accepted manuscripts. The critical mass of information available on ScienceDirect is unsurpassed. Coverage includes over 2,000 journals published by Elsevier and dynamic linking to journals from over 2,000 publishers through CrossRef. An expanding program of online major reference works, handbooks, book series and e-Books in all fields of science seamlessly interlinks with primary research referenced in journal articles.
About King's College London
King's College London (www.kcl.ac.uk) is the fourth oldest university in England with more than 13,700 undergraduates and nearly 5,600 graduate students in nine schools of study based at five London campuses. It is a member of the Russell Group: a coalition of the UK's major research-based universities. The College has had 24 of its subject-areas awarded the highest rating of 5* and 5 for research quality, demonstrating excellence at an international level, and it has recently received an excellent result in its audit by the Quality Assurance Agency.
King's is in the top group of UK universities for research earnings, with income from grants and contracts of more than £100 million, and has an annual turnover of more than £363 million.
About University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Since its founding in 1867, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (www.uiuc.edu) has been committed to excellence in research, teaching, and public engagement. Located in east central Illinois in the twin cities of Urbana and Champaign (combined population 100,000), the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is the state's flagship public university.
The University Library is the largest public university collection in the world, housing more than 22 million items, including 10 million volumes, more than 13 million print and non-print materials, and over 90,000 periodicals and journals in the main library and in more than 40 departmental libraries and divisions. A world leader in supercomputing design and applications, the University is home to the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, developer of the hypermedia browser MosaicTM, which revolutionized the use of the World Wide Web.
The University has a fundamental commitment to undergraduate education. Over 28,000 undergraduate students are enrolled in nine undergraduate divisions, which together offer some 4,000 courses in more than 150 fields of study. The University enrolls over 10,000 graduate and professional students in more than 100 programs. It is among the top five universities in number of earned doctorates awarded annually in the United States.
About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. Working in partnership with the global science and health communities, Elsevier's 7,000 employees in over 70 offices worldwide publish more than 2,000 journals and 1,900 new books per year, in addition to offering a suite of innovative electronic products, such as ScienceDirect (http://www.sciencedirect.com/), MD Consult (http://www.mdconsult.com/), Scopus (http://www.info.scopus.com/), bibliographic databases, and online reference works.
Elsevier (http://www.elsevier.com/) is a global business headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and has offices worldwide. Elsevier is part of Reed Elsevier Group plc (http://www.reedelsevier.com/), a world-leading publisher and information provider. Operating in the science and medical, legal, education and business-to-business sectors, Reed Elsevier provides high-quality and flexible information solutions to users, with increasing emphasis on the Internet as a means of delivery. Reed Elsevier's ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).