Springer extends free access for digital library project in Haiti

Heidelberg / New York, 16 July 2012 As Haiti continues to rebuild in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake, Springer Science+Business Media announced that it will extend the period of free access to its online platform www.springerlink.com , through 2015 to 15,000 students and researchers in the devastated country. This donation– initially set to expire in 2013 – will provide scientific content from approximately 2,000 research-level scientific journals, including French-language editions, and the state-of-the-art book series Lecture Notes in Computer Science and Lecture Notes in Mathematics.

The digital library project in Haiti is being set up by Bibliothèques sans Frontières (BSF) in partnership with the State University of Haiti. In total, 23 international publishing partners support this initiative to provide immediate and easy access to electronic information resources.

This innovative library project comes in response to the destruction of nine of Haiti’s 11 state university libraries. Students and researchers will be given free access to a vast range of content covering the latest research findings in science, technology, medicine, information technology, humanities and behavioral and social sciences.

"In spite of all the achievements made last year such as building, the installation of hardware and professional training, issues with internet access hampered the library’s ability to deliver content,” said Marine Louvigny, Programme Coordinator of Bibliothèques Sans Frontières. ”While proper internet connectivity continues to slow down our progress, these last remaining problems should be resolved over the next few weeks and we are delighted that Springer has extended its commitment to this project in light of these obstacles."

“At Springer we want to see Haiti recover from this monumental catastrophe. We are proud to be doing our part to help by extending free access to Springer content through 31-12-2015, which dovetails with the UN Millennium goals. BSF should be highly commended for establishing this ‘pantheon’ of science in Haiti, which will be invaluable to thousands of Haitian students, teachers, doctors, researchers and other academics,” said Alan Harris, Licensing Manager Developing Country Initiatives at Springer.

Bibliothèques sans Frontières is a non-profit-making association created at the end of 2006 in Paris, on the initiative of the French historian Patrick Weil. There are today 771 million illiterate adults and 103 million children not attending school. Bibliothèques Sans Frontières works across the world for access to knowledge by setting up libraries, professionalizing the book chain, promoting the endowment of books and supporting the development of new technologies (computerization and digital libraries).

Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) is a leading global scientific publisher, providing researchers in academia, scientific institutions and corporate R&D departments with quality content via innovative information products and services. Springer is also a trusted local-language publisher in Europe – especially in Germany and the Netherlands – primarily for physicians and professionals working in the automotive, transport and healthcare sectors. Roughly 2,000 journals and more than 7,000 new books are published by Springer each year, and the group is home to the world’s largest STM eBook collection, as well as the most comprehensive portfolio of open access journals. Springer employs nearly 6,200 individuals across the globe.