GEORGE TOWN, Oct 17 — Universiti Sains Malaysia will now subscribe to the full package of the Science Direct database, the world’s leading source for scientific, technical and medical full text research.

The statement was issued to The Malay Mail following its front-page report yesterday on USM stopping the subscription after its library’s budget was trimmed by 38 per cent.

“The university takes a serious view of the issue arising from the decision to cancel the subscription of Science Direct,” said USM acting vice-chancellor Prof Dr Adnan Hussein in a statement.

“We also would like to reassure both parents and students that we will try our best to resubscribe the database, which at the moment is only on a pay-per-view basis.”

Meanwhile, students affected by the cancellation of the subscription welcomed the decision, saying it would be of great help to them.

“I am glad the issue was highlighted by The Malay Mail which led to the swift response from the university,” said one of the students who declined to be named.

The parent who alerted the paper regarding the issue also expressed gratitude to USM for looking into resubscribing the popular database, which offers a myriad of good reference materials for research work.