Amsterdam, December 13, 2006 – Elsevier today announced that Scirus, its free science-specific search engine, is further developing its repository search service in Asia-Pacific by partnering with Hong Kong University (HKU) to index its repository, called Hong Kong University Theses Online (HKUTO).

Earlier this year, Scirus successfully partnered with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). Partnering with the leading Hong Kong University (HKU) means further expansion of Scirus' presence in the Asian-Pacific region. With over 300 million scientifically relevant pages to date, the addition of the HKUTO emphasizes Scirus' mission to remain the most comprehensive source of science-focused content on the Web. Scirus is also helping to power the search capability on the HKU repository site, which contains more than 12,000 online full-text records.

David Palmer, Head of Library Systems, HKU Library commented about this: "We chose Scirus to index and power the search of HKUTO because of the great offer we received from Elsevier. They generously gave their time and expertise to add some very important features to the HKUTO repository. Previously impossible, the full-text of theses held in HKUTO is now searchable. Searches on HKUTO can be broadened to include theses held in hundreds of other libraries around the world, and then broadened again to search all of Scirus. This could not have been done without Scirus' technology."

"We are happy to partner with the HKU for several reasons," added Saskia van Acker, Content Manager of Scirus. "First of all, in our pursuit to collaborate with institutional partners from all over the world we are keen on welcoming another prominent institutional repository from the Asian-Pacific region. Secondly, the HKUTO database is interesting because of its size and content: it contains over 12,000 full-text online theses and dissertations. We consider this very valuable content for our users."

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About Hong Kong University (HKU)
The University of Hong Kong, founded in 1911, is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. It has grown with and helped shape the city from which it takes its name. Today, HKU, as it is fondly called, is a dynamic, comprehensive, university of world-class standing. With ten faculties and numerous research centres, its reputation as a centre of intellectual excellence is recognised around the world. HKU will continue to build on its strengths with innovative research and teaching, producing well-rounded graduates with outstanding leadership qualities.

About the Hong Kong University Theses Online (HKUTO)
The Hong Kong University Theses Collection holds almost 15,000 titles of theses and dissertations submitted for higher degrees to the University of Hong Kong since 1941. HKUTO now includes over 12,000 full-text electronic theses. The first recorded thesis was dated 1928, though all theses prior to 1941 were lost during the occupation of WWII. HKUTO includes works in the arts, humanities, education and the social, medical and natural sciences. Many of them deal entirely with or focus on subjects relating to Hong Kong. The collection is primarily in English, with some in English and Chinese, and others in Chinese only. Almost all HKU theses are included in HKUTO. Missing ones might be located in HKU departmental libraries.

About Scirus
Scirus is the most comprehensive science-focused search engine available on the Internet, supporting over one million researchers, scientists and students worldwide.  Scirus offers users a unique combination of free Web information and journal content, clearly branding search results from proprietary sources, assuring users the validity of the content. Web sources searched by Scirus include research institutes, governments, scientific organizations, conferences, scientists' homepages and company homepages worldwide. Optimized for science-related queries, Scirus uses a dictionary with over 1.6 million scientific terms, unique pattern recognition tools and linguistic analysis, to classify the content type and recognize the 300 million scientifically relevant pages. Scirus offers users unique search functionalities such as the ability to search on bibliographical information and specific content types.  Scirus is the recipient of numerous International awards, including the Search Engine Watch award for Best Specialty Search Engine and the WebAward for Best Search Engine or Directory.

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, 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).

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