National Library of the Netherlands and Kluwer Academic Publishers Agree on Long-Term Digital Archiving

THE HAGUE, Netherlands--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 19, 2003--

Permanent Accessibility of Kluwer Online Publications Assured by National Library's e-Deposit

Peter Hendriks, CEO of Kluwer Academic Publishers, and Wim van Drimmelen, Director General of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB), the National Library of the Netherlands, today signed an agreement on long-term digital archiving of the electronic publications of Kluwer Online. Under the terms of this agreement, Koninklijke Bibliotheek will receive digital copies of all Kluwer journals and books made available on its web platform, Kluwer Online. The web platform now contains 235.000 articles from 670 journals and more than 600 e-Books covering the areas of science, technology and medicine. In 2003 alone more than 70.000 articles and 400 e-Books will be added.

In 1994, the KB decided to include electronic publications into its deposit collection. Since then, research and development on long-term digital archiving has been top priority in the National Library of the Netherlands. In close collaboration with IBM the KB developed the E-deposit system, which was implemented in December 2002. The Koninklijke Bibliotheek was the first national library in the world to own an operational system for the deposit and long-term preservation of digital publications.

For everybody involved in research and the communication of research results - authors, researchers, librarians and publishers alike - the agreement between the KB and Kluwer this is yet another step forward in keeping digital archives available in perpetuity. The KB tries to enter into similar agreements with all major scientific publishers.

The KB will provide on site access to the journals on a current basis to all who come to the library and are permitted access to the library's collections. The agreement covers new publications as well as digitized backfiles. In addition, should there be a catastrophic disaster such that the Kluwer Online system is inoperable for a long period of time, the KB would be part of the interim service system. Finally, should Kluwer or a successor cease interest to make these journals available on a commercial basis, as an official archive the KB could open access to all on a remote (in addition to walk-in) basis. With this agreement Kluwer is able to provide its customers with a solid and secure long-time archiving solution for electronic publications.

About Kluwer Academic Publishers

Kluwer Academic Publishers is a leading publisher of scientific information, specializing in numerous fields within Science, Technology and Medicine. Located in Dordrecht, Boston, New York and London, Kluwer provides high quality online products and services, journals and books, featuring leading authors and researchers from around the world. For more information on Kluwer, visit http://www.wkap.nl.

About Kluwer Online

The Kluwer Online gateway (http://www.kluweronline.com) reaches millions of researchers, scientists and professionals in more than 50 countries with journals, e-Books, Custom Books, and Online Reference works.

About the Koninklijke Bibliotheek

The Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB) (http://www.kb.nl) is the National Library of the Netherlands. The Library was founded in 1798. The KB is an autonomous administrative body financed by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture & Science. The KB's mission statement is to provide universal access to the knowledge and culture of the past and present by providing high-quality services for research, study and cultural enrichment.

Major tasks are:

- Preservation, management, documentation and accessibility of the national cultural heritage in written, printed and electronic form. Deposit library for Dutch publications and National Bibliography.

- Research library aimed at Dutch history, language and culture in a wide international context.

- Rare and special collections like medieval manuscripts and early printed books.

- Exhibitions and publications.

- Knowledge centre for digitisation, preservation and restoration.

- Support for co-operation between libraries, musea and archives. Co-ordinator of national preservation and digitisation programs Metamorphose and Memory of the Netherlands.