4.04.2005 ET

(CSRwire) AMSTERDAM - Elsevier, a world leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical publications, announced today that it will donate books to 10 university libraries in the developing world in celebration of the House of Elzevir's 425th anniversary and the 125th anniversary of the modern Elsevier company.

In celebration of its rich history, Elsevier has launched the global book donation program entitled A Book in Your Name. As part of this program, each of the 6,700 Elsevier employees worldwide has been invited to select one of 10 libraries in developing countries to receive a book donated by Elsevier. Elsevier employees designed every aspect of the program; from selecting the beneficiary libraries, with the input of an advisory panel of distinguished librarians, to developing the core gift collection of the company's most important and widely used scientific, technical and medical (STM) publications.

Through A Book in Your Name, the 10 libraries will receive approximately 700 books at a retail value of approximately 1 million US dollars.

Tony McSean, Director of Library Relations at Elsevier, said: "Many of our textbooks and reference works form the bedrock of science, technology and medical teaching. So inviting all our people to choose a recipient library is a wonderful way to get everyone personally engaged in our common commitment to the science, technology and medical communities in the countries with greatest need. The program also vividly makes the point that good books are a key element in capacity building: they have tremendous value for future scientists, engineers and healthcare professionals. In practical terms the program will make a transformational difference to some very under-resourced libraries."

Professor Lenny Rhine, of the University of Florida Health Sciences Libraries, one of the experts advising Elsevier on the choice of libraries, said of the program, "This donation will represent a huge addition to the individual collections of these libraries. It is good to know that these books will be working very hard indeed as soon as they touch the shelves - the faculty and students will quickly begin to utilize these new resources."

The 10 beneficiary libraries are located in Africa, South America and Asia. They include the Library of the Sciences of the University of Sierra Leone; the library of the Muhimbili University College of Health Sciences of the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; the library of the College of Medicine of the University of Malawi; and the libraries of the University of Zambia, Universite? du Mali, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Mozambique; Makerere University, Uganda; Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador; Universidad Francisco Marroquin, Guatemala; and the National Centre for Scientific and Technological Information (NACESTI), Vietnam.

"For some time our university has been facing a shortage of reading and reference materials," said Dr. Alli Mcharazo, Head Librarian at the Muhimbili University College of Health Sciences (MUCHS), University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. "I am overjoyed that Elsevier is donating medical and health books to our library."

Each recipient library will receive a core collection of books representing essential Elsevier titles. The titles, among the best-known and most influential currently published by Elsevier, include essential textbooks and reference books in disciplines from medicine, nursing, allied health fields, life sciences, earth sciences, agriculture and more. Specific examples include Gray's Anatomy, Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary, Essential Medical Physiology, Cecil Essentials of Medicine, Mosby's Medical, Nursing and Allied Health Dictionary, The Vaccine Book, Fundamentals of Neuroscience, and Myles' Textbook for Midwives, among many others.

Elsevier has made other significant contributions to ensuring that universities in emerging countries have access to peer-reviewed research. Through HINARI (Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative), a program of the World Health Organization of the United Nations, Elsevier provides institutions in developing countries free access to key health research journals. Similarly, with AGORA (Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture), offered by the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization, Elsevier gives students, researchers, and academics in developing countries access to scientific information for free.

Read more about Elsevier, its anniversary, and A Book in Your Name program at www.elsevier.com/425-125.

About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. Working in partnership with the global science and health communities, Elsevier's 7,000 employees in 74 offices worldwide publish more than 1,800 journals and 2,200 new books per year, in addition to offering a suite of innovative electronic products, such as ScienceDirect,MD Consult,Scopus, bibliographic databases, and online reference works.

Elsevier is a global business headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and has offices worldwide. Elsevier is part of Reed Elsevier Group plc, a world-leading publisher and information provider. Operating in the science and medical, legal, education and business-to-business sectors, Reed Elsevier provides high-quality and flexible information solutions to users, with increasing emphasis on the Internet as a means of delivery. Reed Elsevier's ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange). As one of the world's largest media companies, Reed Elsevier believes in setting values and standards throughout our operations and measuring our peformance against them. Visit www.reedelsevier.com/ to learn more about our Corporate Social Responsibility agenda.

For more information please contact: