Media Contact:
Nicholas Berg
Marketing Manager
Gale, part of Cengage Learning
+44 (0)7879 448777
nicholas.berg@cengage.com
French National Agreement delivers Eighteenth Century Collections
Online (ECCO) to the desktops of scholars
Andover, Hampshire UK, June 28, 2012 — Gale, part of Cengage Learning and a leading publisher of
research and reference resources for libraries, schools and businesses, and the Bibliographic Agency for
Higher Education (ABES) in France have signed a new national license agreement that will enable all
research and educational institutions throughout France and French territories to access Gale’s Eighteenth
Century Collections Online (ECCO). The agreement, funded by France’s Ministry of Higher Education and
Research and in consultation with the national consortium Couperin, provides researchers with digital access
to more than 180,000 titles and 33 million pages published in the United Kingdom between the years 1701
and 1800.
“Eighteenth Century Collections Online has transformed the world of scholarship by bringing the print culture
of an entire century to libraries and researchers around the world. Gale is delighted to partner with ABES to
bring this essential collection of research materials to researchers and libraries throughout France,” said Jim
Draper, Vice President and Publisher, Gale.
Based upon the English Short Title Catalogue bibliography, ECCO offers French scholars full-text searchable
access to the world’s most extensive online library of 18th century titles ranging from books and directories, to
Bibles, sheet music and sermons. While the majority of works in ECCO are in the English language,
scholars will also discover a wealth of rare content in non-English languages including French, Dutch,
German, Spanish, Latin and Italian, making it a truly international resource. ECCO brings to light an
enormous gallery of writers from across the 18th century world, both celebrated and obscure, including littleknown women writers, chroniclers of the French Revolution and the intellectual and literary ‘giants’ of the age
including Voltaire, Diderot and Rousseau.
ECCO’s powerful search interface promises to open up new lines of enquiry and increase the speed and
effectiveness of research by providing scholars with search paths and limiters that generate highly targeted
lists of results. ECCO also lessens the need for French scholars to travel overseas to source libraries by
serving up collections from over 2,000 libraries worldwide and making them available in the one online
environment. ECCO’s search architecture recognizes the importance of cross-disciplinary research,
arranging the titles into seven subject areas that meet the variety of research needs across departments.
These subject areas include: History and Geography; Social Science; Fine Arts, Music, Art & Architecture;
Medicine, Science and Technology; Literature and Language; Religion and Philosophy; Law; and General
Reference.
In response to the needs of researchers working across periods, ECCO is cross-searchable with Early
English Books Online (EEBO) from ProQuest, a digital collection which is also available to French research
and educational institutions. With access to both ECCO and EEBO, French scholars and students can now
extend their searches across centuries' of publications from the first book published in English through to the
folios of Shakespeare and the classics of Defoe.
For more information on the French national license agreement for ECCO visit
www.gale.cengage.co.uk/licencenationaleECCO/ or contact Nicholas Berg at nicholas.berg@cengage.com
About Cengage Learning and Gale
Cengage Learning is a leading provider of innovative teaching, learning and research solutions for the academic,
professional and library markets worldwide. Gale, part of Cengage Learning, serves the world's information and
education needs through its vast and dynamic content pools, which are used by students and consumers in their
libraries, schools and on the Internet. It is best known for the accuracy, breadth and convenience of its data, addressing
all types of information needs – from homework help to health questions to business profiles – in a variety of formats. For
more information, visit http://www.cengage.co.uk/ or www.gale.cengage.co.uk.
About ABES
ABES was created in 1994 to design and manage documentation IT systems and applications. It implemented the Sudoc
(union catalog of libraries in higher education), Calames (Online catalog of archives and manuscripts in higher education)
and most recently, Thèses.fr, the search engine of French PhD theses. Since 2002 it has diversified its activities in
several areas, including the mutualisation of electronic resource purchases, for which it works closely with the consortium
Couperin (University consortium of digital publications).
ABES has been commissioned by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research in France to negotiate and acquire
resources in the form of national licenses. Its aim is to provide access to an unparalleled body of information resources
that can be acquired through a voluntary program of purchases, providing the research community with higher education
and research services with high added value.
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