Responding to the complexity of consortia negotiations, EBSCO has proven its role as facilitator evidenced by its recent agreements benefiting the California Digital Library, the Brazilian academic consortium CAPES, and KESLI, a group of Korean academic institutions. These deals represent publishers both large and small.

Collective purchasing groups value EBSCO's detailed invoicing, payment processing, ILS integration and e-journal gateways. Now, in addition, EBSCO systematically collects member information for publishers and addresses license issues and common questions from consortia members while meeting the objectives of both parties.

"These consortia successes demonstrate EBSCO's commitment to extend its service role to all aspects of the evolving subscription business, from guiding the consortia negotiation process to providing integrated tools for using electronic and print resources," said EBSCO International Vice President and General Manager Sid McNeal Jr., who oversees the EBSCO regional offices involved in both South America and South Korea. "In 2003, we will build on the experience we have gained in helping consortia and publishers increase access and create sustainable business," he added.

Among the publishers with whom EBSCO has recently worked is the Association for Computing Machinery. "EBSCO's experience in consortia sales helped to turn a huge, complex negotiation into a smooth, painless deal in a very short period of time," said Tim Bennett, digital library sales coordinator for the Association for Computing Machinery. "We were very pleased."

About ACM
The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is a major force in advancing the skills of information technology professionals and students. ACM serves its global membership by delivering cutting edge technical information and transferring ideas from theory to practice. ACM hosts the computing industry's leading Portal to Computing Literature. With its journals and magazines, conferences, workshops, electronic forums, Career Resource Centre and Professional Development Centre, ACM is a primary resource to the information technology field. For more information, www.acm.org.

Release Date: January 24, 2003