Bayerische Staatsbibliothek purchases NetLibrary eBooks to offer to academic libraries throughout Germany
Financial support from Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft to improve nation-wide access to electronic resources

DUBLIN, Ohio, USA 6 June, 2006— NetLibrary, a division of OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc., and a leading platform for eContent to libraries worldwide, will provide eBook titles to Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Bavaria's state library, under an agreement for an initial purchase of 1,000 eBook titles. The purchase is part of a plan by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Germany's research funding organisation, to improve access to electronic content throughout the country.

The eBooks will be available to academic libraries throughout Germany, such as Berlin State Library, Goettingen State and University Library, Technical Information Library Hanover or State and University Library of Dresden. The agreement covers English language titles, in the subject areas of business, social sciences, engineering and arts.

In addition to accessing titles through Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, participating institutions will be able to augment the collection by purchasing unique NetLibrary content of their own.

"We conducted an exhaustive review of available eBook service providers, and found that NetLibrary offered a broad range of titles covering many disciplines and an option for multiple, simultaneous access for users, which the DFG evaluation group approved of," said Dr. Hildegard Schaeffler, Head of Serials and Electronic Media, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. "We are thrilled to be able to offer eBooks as an electronic resource to Germany."

"This is a first of its kind agreement that will provide students, faculty and researchers with 24/7 access to a rich collection of eBooks," said Rich Rosy, Vice President of Content Management, OCLC. "We are delighted to be among the first to introduce eBooks to German academic libraries and are already working with Bayerische Staatsbibliothek to add new titles to their collection."

For more information about eBooks from NetLibrary, visit www.oclc.org/netlibrary.

About Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation) is the central, self-governing research funding organisation that promotes research at universities and other publicly financed research institutions in Germany. The DFG serves all branches of science and the humanities by funding research projects and facilitating cooperation among researchers.

About Bayerische Staatsbibliothek

Bayerische Staatsbibliothek is located in Munich, Germany and is the second largest academic library in German-speaking countries with a collection of just under 9 million books, 85,000 manuscripts and more than 44,000 printed and electronic journals.

About OCLC

Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, OCLC Online Computer Library Center is a nonprofit organization that has provided computer-based cataloging, reference, resource sharing and preservation services to 54,000 libraries in 109 countries and territories. For more information, visit www.oclc.org.

The NetLibrary division of OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. <www.netlibrary.org> helps academic, public, corporate and special libraries create a richer, more productive learning environment for their users. By combining the time-honored traditions of the library system with electronic publishing, NetLibrary offers an easy-to-use information retrieval system for accessing the full text of reference, scholarly and professional books, journals, audiobooks and other eContent.

OCLC and NetLibrary are trademarks and/or service marks of OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc.

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