 |
 |
|
Of possible interest........ Date:
June 2, 2011 FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE The
National Academies Press Makes All PDF Books Free to
Download; More
Than 4,000 Titles Now Available Free to All
Readers
WASHINGTON ―
As of today all PDF versions of books published by the National Academies
Press will be downloadable to anyone free of charge. This includes a
current catalog of more than 4,000 books plus future reports produced by
the Press. The mission of the National Academies Press (NAP) --
publisher for the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of
Engineering, Institute of Medicine , and National Research Council -- is
to disseminate the institutions' content as widely as possible while
maintaining financial sustainability. To that end, NAP began
offering free content online in 1994. Before today’s announcement,
all PDFs were free to download in developing countries, and 65 percent of
them were available for free to any user. "Our business
model has evolved so that it is now financially viable to put this content
out to the entire world for free," said Barbara Kline Pope, executive
director for the National Academies Press. "This is a wonderful
opportunity to make a positive impact by more effectively sharing our
knowledge and analyses." Based on the
performance of NAP’s current free PDFs, projections suggest that this
change will enhance dissemination of PDF reports from about 700,000
downloads per year to more than 3 million by 2013.
Printed books
will continue to be available for purchase through the NAP website and
traditional channels. The free PDFs are available exclusively from
the NAP’s website, http://www.nap.edu, and remain subject to
copyright laws. PDF versions exist for the vast majority of NAP
books. Exceptions include some books that were published before the
advent of PDFs; books from the Joseph Henry Press imprint; and in cases
where contractually prohibited, such as reference books in the Nutrient
Requirements of Domestic Animals series.
Contacts:
Lorin Hancock,
Media Relations Associate Shaquanna
Shields, Media Relations Assistant Office of News
and Public Information 202-334-2138;
e-mail [log in to unmask]"
target=_blank
moz-do-not-send="true">[log in to unmask] Additional
resources: Free PDF FAQ
[http://www.nap.edu/about/about_pdf.html] NAP Customer
Service
888-624-8373;
e-mail [log in to unmask] |