Berlin, 20 November 2009 – Elsevier, the world's leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, promotes the new central library of the Humboldt University in Berlin with a generous donation. The publisher announced the contribution on November 19, at the opening ceremony of the Jacob-and-Wilhelm-Grimm Center, in which more than 800 representatives from politics, culture, scientific research centers and libraries participated.
The Humboldt University library, which is named after the two famous German linguists and collectors of fairytales, is leading the way in Europe. The Center embodies the unity of sciences in a unique way. The central library combines twelve humanities, cultural, social, and economics libraries as well as a computer and media service center under one roof. Around 2.5 million media units and 2,400 journals are housed in this remarkable building.
Elsevier supports the new information and communication center of the Humboldt University with a high quality publication that documents the inauguration and unique character of this modern library. The publisher also promotes reading pleasure in Europe's most modern university library. The donation is used to make the reading area more enjoyable and to give readers better access to journals and magazines.
Collaboration of the Humboldt University libraries and Elsevier dates back more than ten years. The Grimm Center subscribes to over 2,000 journals of the publisher.
“We provide scientists, students, and researchers with better access to current and historical articles to promote productivity in sciences”, said Michael Neuroth, Elsevier Country Sales Manager for Germany, Austria and Switzerland with regards to the donation. The world’s leading scientific publisher is producing around 25% of all scientific, technical and medical publications worldwide, including the publications of Nobel Laureates. An agreement with the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) also provides comprehensive journal archives of the Elsevier publisher in electronic format to universities and academic research institutions.
“Academic research institutions and university libraries deserve higher appreciation as important information resources for science”, believes Michael Neuroth. Elsevier considers itself a partner of academic research. The publisher promotes new solutions in knowledge management to increase scientific productivity, amongst others, the new web-based solution SciVal Spotlight which provides an interdisciplinary view on research achievements, and allows research institutions to better evaluate, establish and implement their respective research strategies.
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About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including 
The Lancet and
Cell, and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier’s online solutions include
ScienceDirect,
Scopus,
Reaxys,
MD Consult and
Nursing Consult, which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the
SciVal suite and
MEDai’s Pinpoint Review, which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.
A global business headquartered in Amsterdam,
Elsevier employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of
Reed Elsevier Group PLC, a world-leading publisher and information provider, which is jointly owned by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).
