Springer gives $1 million in free ebooks to New Orleans universities

Scott Carlson, Publisher Gives 10,000 E-Books to 7 New Orleans Colleges Hit by Katrina, Chronicle of Higher Education, June 27, 2006. Excerpt:

Perhaps people living in flood zones have a kinship that defies traditional rivalries and animus. At least that's the perspective of Robert E. Skinner, the university librarian at Xavier University of Louisiana, after his library and six others in the state were given more than $1-million in e-books by Springer, a publishing company founded in part in the flood-prone Netherlands.

Librarians and publishers are usually at opposite ends of negotiating tables and frequently squabble in public over the rising prices of online journal subscriptions. With the gift from Springer, the seven Louisiana libraries will get free, permanent access to more than 10,000 electronic books, mainly in the sciences, technology, and medicine.

The announcement of the gift was made at this year's American Library Association conference, held in New Orleans, still devastated in areas 10 months after Hurricane Katrina made landfall. At the event, "one of their reps mentioned in the presentation that Holland is 50 percent below sea level," Mr. Skinner said. With this gift, "I think they are saying that there but by the grace of God and technology go us."...