12.22.2006 - 09:00am ET

(CSRwire) Chicago – December 22, 2006 - The Medical Library Association (MLA) is pleased to announce that it has been awarded an $80,000 grant from one of its corporate partners, Elsevier, a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical books and journals, to train librarians in the African, Asian, and Latin American continents. This is a joint program co-sponsored by Librarians Without Borders ™: a global initiative of the Medical Library Association and Elsevier.

The Elsevier grant is earmarked for 2007 HINARI/AGORA/OARE (HOA) related training workshops. The grant will be used to fund 8 on-site workshops, one distance education course and the development of new training modules. This e-library training initiative will be based upon HINARI (Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative) training materials. The HINARI program, a collaboration between the World Health Organization (WHO) and major publishers, enables developing countries to gain access to one of the world's largest collections of biomedical and health literature. It is one of the principal projects designed to bridge the health information gap between developing and industrialized countries.

"Local training has proven to increase usage of the research and I am confident that this program in conjunction with MLA will provide better access to HINARI/AGORA/OARE for the researchers and students in developing countries" commented Tony McSean, Elsevier’s Director of Library Relations.

MLA established the Librarians Without Borders ™ program to strengthen its role and commitment to global health information. The Librarians Without Borders ™ Website, which will feature MLA’s international policy, programs, and activities, will debut on MLANET in the coming months.

About the Medical Library Association

MLA is a nonprofit, educational organization with more than 4,500 health sciences information professional members worldwide. Founded in 1898, MLA provides lifelong educational opportunities, supports a knowledgebase of health information research, and works with a global network of partners to promote the importance of quality information for improved health to the health care community and the public.

About HINARI

HINARI (Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative), is a UN-based initiative providing online access to the major journals of the biomedical and related social science fields, without charge, to public institutions in developing countries.

About AGORA

AGORA (Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture), established by the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization provides researchers, policy makers, educators, technical workers and extension specialists with access to high quality information in agriculture and related fields.

About OARE

OARE (Online Access to Research in the Environment), is managed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Yale University in association with the International Association of Science, Technical and Medical Publishers (STM), 35 leading science and technology publishers and 100 of the world’s most prestigious scientific societies, associations, and foundations.

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 over 70 offices worldwide publish more than 2,000 journals and 1,900 new books per year, in addition to offering a suite of innovative electronic products, such as ScienceDirect (http://www.sciencedirect.com), MD Consult (http://www.mdconsult.com), Scopus (http://www.info.scopus.com), bibliographic databases, and online reference works.

Elsevier (http://www.elsevier.com) is a global business headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and has offices worldwide. Elsevier is part of Reed Elsevier Group plc (http://www.reedelsevier.com), 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).

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