Partnership between MaRLI and Cairn.info
US consortium acquires over 1,000 SHS books
This partnership with three major research libraries marks a new stage in Cairn.info's development in the United States. It takes the form of a mixed model, combining the acquisition of all the most recent works published on Cairn.info with the purchase of a selection of older titles.
The Manhattan Research Library Initiative (MaRLI) and Cairn.info, a platform founded in 2005 by four Belgian and French academic publishers to provide online access to francophone publications in the humanities and social sciences, have launched a pioneering and strategic partnership that will enable MaRLI member libraries – Columbia University, New York University and The New York Public Library – to select and acquire perpetual access rights to over 1,000 French ebooks on www.cairn.info.
The partnership takes the form of a hybrid acquisition model combining the outright purchase of frontlist titles with evidence-based selections. MaRLI faculty, students and researchers will immediately enjoy unlimited access to Cairn.info’s collection of over 5,300 ebooks; this usage will be the key metric informing the acquisition of additional titles by MaRLI librarians.
Taking into consideration the importance of discovery and print archiving for MaRLI libraries, Cairn.info has partnered with Amalivre (www.amalivre.fr), a company formed by the merger of Aux Amateurs de Livres International and the Librairie internationale Touzot, and a key supplier of French-language print publications to libraries and museums around the world. Amalivre will supply metadata in the form of full bibliographic Marc records for the print and the online version of each title, as well as a print copy of each ebook acquired. This end-to-end service covering both print and online access will provide MaRLI users with the full range of resources to meet their research needs.
“We are delighted to join with our MaRLI colleagues in establishing this strategic partnership between Cairn.info and Amalivre. Bringing together our suppliers of both print and online content serves our users in the best possible way.” William P. Kelly, Andrew W. Mellon Director of the Research Libraries, The New York Public Library.
This partnership with three large research libraries is a milestone in the development of Cairn.info’s presence in the United States. A leading online platform for francophone academic content in social sciences and humanities, Cairn.info is already present in 65 countries. It boasts a customer base of over 25 university libraries in the United States, whose users have access to more than 400 key journals from all major French-language academic publishers.
“One of Cairn.info’s main goals is to increase the international visibility of francophone publications and publishers in social sciences and humanities. Another goal is to meet the various needs of academic libraries. By working with MaRLi, we had the opportunity to create a new ebook acquisition model that will help us fulfil both goals. Indeed, the solution set up by Amalivre and Cairn.info allows both a convenient online access to the ebooks and their preservation thanks to print copies.” Marc Minon, Director, Cairn.info.
Ebooks are a key element of Cairn.info’s strategy and the number of titles on offer has grown exponentially over the last three years. The latest additions include collections from well-known publishers such as Agone, Armand Colin, La Découverte, Dunod, Karthala, Librairie Droz, Presses de Sciences Po, Presses Universitaires de France, Tallandier, etc.
