Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 09:03:03 +0200
From: Sarah Kellman <skellman@SWETS.NL>
Subject: Swets Blackwell and Manchester Computing to continue as NESLI Man
 aging Agent

Abingdon, UK and Lisse, the Netherlands
July 2001

Swets Blackwell and Manchester Computing to continue as NESLI Managing Agent

Swets Blackwell is pleased to announce that they, in partnership with
Manchester Computing, will continue in the role of Managing Agent for
NESLI (National Electronic Site Licence Initiative) through 2002. They
were confirmed in this role by the JISC (Joint Information Systems
Committee), the official body that promotes the innovative application and
use of information systems and information technology in Higher and
Further education across the UK. The contract with the Managing Agent for
NESLI began in May 1998 with the aim to promote the widespread delivery
and use of electronic journals in the UK higher education and research
community.

A total of 19 publishers currently participate in the initiative, with
plans and discussions under way for 2002 contract renewals. The Managing
Agent also aims to introduce several new publishers' offers for 2002.
Further information about NESLI can be found at www.nesli.ac.uk

Paul Harwood, Swets Blackwell's Regional Director for UK and Ireland,
said: "We are delighted to be continuing our role as Managing Agent for a
further year. Our objectives are clear and we look forward to working with
the new Journals Working Group and MIMAS in realizing them. NESLI has made
a significant contribution to the take-up and usage of electronic journals
in UK Higher Education (HE), and it is our intention to progress this
further during the coming year."

Reg Carr, Chair of the JISC's Committee on Electronic Information said:
"Securing electronic access to the breadth and depth of scholarly journals
is of key strategic importance to UK academia. The year extension will
ensure that existing annual access arrangements are renewed."

Julia Chruszcz, Director of National Data Services at Manchester Computing
said: "This extension will enable us to carry forward and consolidate the
work done through the NESLI Managing Agent over last three years. It is
most rewarding to be part of an initiative that has addressed new
challenges in bringing about the increased of use of electronic journals
in UK HE. MIMAS looks forward to the continuing close collaboration with
Swets Blackwell and developments emerging through the Journals Working
Group."

Joint Information Systems Committee
The JISC is a joint committee of the UK further and higher education funding
councils, and is responsible for stimulating the innovative use of computers
to support learning, teaching, and research.  It is best known for providing
the SuperJANET network and a portfolio of high-quality resources through the
DNER.  Information about the JISC, its services and programs can be found at
www.jisc.ac.uk

The DNER is the JISC's managed program to create a national information
landscape for the UK's Higher Education and research communities. More
information is available at www.jisc.ac.uk/dner

Information about the Journals Working Group, and especially its draft
selection criteria for e-journal agreements, is available online at
www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/journals

Manchester Computing
Manchester Computing provides local computing services for the University of
Manchester and national services including specialist dataset services via
MIMAS to the UK Higher Education community. MIMAS is a JISC-designated
national datacentre hosting more than 40 strategic datasets including the BL
zetoc, ISI Web of Science, UK Census, JSTOR, COPAC (Consortium of University
Research Libraries OPAC), Beilstein CrossFire, and satellite data. Further
details can be found at www.mimas.ac.uk

About Swets Blackwell
Swets Blackwell is one of the largest providers of subscription and
information management solutions in the world. They have an annual turnover
in excess of US$1 billion and maintain 23 offices in 19 countries across 6
continents. Swets Blackwell works in partnership with 65,000 publishers, and
offers complete solutions for the needs of their 60,000 corporate, academic,
R & D, medical, and government library and information center clients
worldwide. Find out more by visiting www.swetsblackwell.com

For more information please contact::

Paul Harwood
Regional Director, UK & Ireland
Swets Blackwell
32 Blacklands Way
Abingdon Business Park
Abingdon Oxfordshire OX14 1SX
UK
Tel: +44 1235 857 511
Fax: +44 1235 857 501
Email: pharwood@uk.swetsblackwell.com

Sarah Kellman
Communication Executive
Swets Blackwell
P.O.Box 830
2160 SZ Lisse
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 252 435 584
Fax: +31 252 415 888
Email: press@nl.swetsblackwell.com