Germany agrees national e-book licence with Springer

The German National Library of Science and Technology (TIB) and the German National Library of Medicine (ZB MED) have signed an extensive agreement for access to Springer eBooks on SpringerLink. According to the publisher, the agreement represents the largest e-book deal ever signed in Germany.

The national licence covers all English-language chemistry, materials science and medicine titles of the copyright years 2005 – 2008. Researchers, students and staff at all publicly-funded universities, technical colleges and research institutions will have access to the content included in the deal. The agreement was made possible by support from the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Uwe Rosemann, TIB director and chairman of the steering group, Leibniz Library Network for Research Information (Goportis), said: 'We at TIB are delighted to be able to offer a wide-ranging national licence package of Springer content, now extended by e-books, to German institutions.'