Librarians - Purchasing Options

The HINARI program, set up by WHO together with major publishers, enables developing countries to gain access to one of the world's largest collections of biomedical and health literature. Over 3000 journal titles are now available to health institutions in 113 countries, benefiting many thousands of health workers and researchers, and in turn, contributing to improved world health.

The AGORA program, set up by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) together with major publishers, enables developing countries to gain access to an outstanding digital library collection in the fields of food, agriculture, environmental science and related social sciences. AGORA provides a collection of 1278 journals to institutions in 107 countries. AGORA is designed to enhance the scholarship of the many thousands of students, faculty and researchers in agriculture and life sciences in the developing world.

Online Access to Research in the Environment (OARE), an international public-private consortium coordinated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Yale University, and leading science and technology publishers, enables developing countries to gain access to one of the world's largest collections of environmental science research. Over 1,300 peer reviewed titles owned and published by over 340 prestigious publishing houses and scholarly societies are now available in more than 100 low income countries.

INASP was established in 1992 by the International Council for Science (ICSU) to improve access to information and knowledge through a commitment to capacity building in emerging and developing countries. Initially based within the International African Institute, the organization moved to its own premises in Oxford UK in June 1996.

The Faculty of the New School University in New York launched The Journal Donation Project in 1990. The principal objective of the Project is to assist in rebuilding major research and teaching libraries in countries that have fallen victim to political or economic deprivation through the provision of current subscriptions and back volume sets of English language scholarly, professional and current events journals.

The Association of Commonwealth Universities has devised a scheme to help universities in Commonwealth developing countries secure access to high quality journals at a price they can afford, whilst still offering some return to publishers. The scheme started as a pilot in 2002 for a selection of ACU member universities in Sub-Saharan Africa and is currently expanding to other regions, as the need for international journals remains strong for libraries throughout the developing world.

Book Aid International works in 18 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Palestine , providing over half a million books and journals each year to libraries, hospitals, refugee camps and schools. The majority of BookAid’s support goes to rural and urban libraries which are free and accessible to everyone. Book Aid International works with library partners to develop their pivotal role in the community.

The eIFL Foundation supports the wide availability of electronic resources for library users in developing countries by helping to negotiate the creation of library consortia across multiple countries. SAGE currently has deals with Palestinian Territories, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Serbia, Slovenia and Macedonia through this program.