Library Support for Portico Expands Across Europe

Ten institutions from the Netherlands and Switzerland Join

Portico announced today that members of Netherland’s SURFmarket and Switzerland’s Consortium of Swiss Academic Libraries joined Portico. With the addition of these institutions, more than half of Portico’s library participants are now located outside of the United States.

“We knew we needed a digital preservation solution to secure our growing investment in electronic resources,” said Kurt De Belder, university librarian at Leiden University in the Netherlands. “We chose Portico because of its archive size, its robust digital preservation approach, and its track record in providing access to triggered content.” Anja Meyer, librarian at ETH Zürich in Switzerland added, “The uncomplicated process of participating in Portico has definitely been a big plus, and ETH-Bibliothek encourages other libraries and publishers to join Portico.”

The 10 institutions include Leiden University, University of Amsterdam, University of Groningen, and Utrecht University in the Netherlands; and Federal Institute of Technology Zürich (ETH Zürich), University of Basel, University of Fribourg, University of Lausanne, University of St. Gallen, and University of Zürich in Switzerland. They are the first institutions to participate in Portico in their respective countries.

These institutions join nearly 250 European participants from Austria, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. “We believe that digital preservation is a community effort,” stated Kate Wittenberg, Portico managing director. “And I could not be more pleased to see support coming from around the globe.” Bruce Heterick, vice president of Outreach & Participation Services for Portico commented, “It is great to see the way digital preservation support has grown over the years, and our goal is to help more librarians around the world feel secure about their expanding investment in electronic resources.”