The State of Law Library eBooks 2017-18 (LLRX)

November 6, 2017 by Leave a Comment

Ellyssa Kroski, the Director of Information Technology at the New York Law Institute, has recently undertaken a three-part article series at LLRX, designed to cover what law libraries should consider when evaluating and getting involved with eBooks. The first two parts have already been posted, with the third part on the way.

Read more:
Part One: The Landscape
Part One is designed to “describe the current landscape of eBooks relevant to the law library field, the benefits and challenges of offering eBooks in law libraries, the different ways to purchase law-related eBooks, and how to get started choosing a solution.”

Part Two: Brass Tacks
Part Two is designed to “discuss the different pricing models that are currently available and the pros and cons to each; subscription-based, patron-driven acquisitions, short term loans, access-to-own, etc. as well as strategies for controlling costs, and questions to ask before choosing an eBook solution.”

Part Three: What Law Libraries are Doing (forthcoming) [Update – now available]
Part Three “will delve into what we’ve chosen to do for our eBooks program at NYLI and how that has evolved over the past five years to a hybrid model, as well as what other law libraries have chosen as their solutions.”

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ProQuest acquiring Coutts and MyiLibrary, partnering with Ingram.

April 30, 2015 by Leave a Comment

ProQuest announced today that it is acquiring Coutts and MyiLibrary from Ingram Content Group. It is also “entering into a strategic partnership” with Ingram for print distribution.

The press release can be read on the ProQuest website (the same release can also be read on the Ingram website).

More info on these changes from ProQuest is available here. A PDF of FAQs is available as well.

Without knowing how long this has been in the works, the easiest interpretation of this move is that it is a response to EBSCO’s purchase of YBP (see earlier coverage of that development here). ProQuest is selling this acquisition as a further expansion of its ebook content (adding MyiLibrary titles to the Ebrary and EBL titles already available from ProQuest). At the same time, these statements say that nothing will change immediately for current MyiLibrary customers. ProQuest also promises this will not delay the ongoing integration of the Ebrary and EBL platforms.

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Effects of Swets Bankruptcy Still Reverberating

April 20, 2015 by Leave a Comment

My library only subscribed to a handful of Swets subscriptions when we got the news of its bankruptcy last fall, so the “fallout” for us consisted of finding another vendor to continue the subscriptions. We were comparatively lucky.

Coverage continues of the libraries likely to lose significant amounts of money due to credits with, or prepayments to, Swets. The assumption is that, despite filing claims, the libraries will not recover much of these amounts in bankruptcy proceedings. Potential losses by academic libraries mentioned in the article range from $850,000 to $3,000,000.

Back when the bankruptcy was first announced, Duke librarian Kevin L. Smith suggested alternative arrangements to protect libraries in the future. He mentioned holding prepayments in a type of escrow account, an idea from conversations he had with SAGE CEO Blaise Simqu.

Competing vendors may simply respond to this bankruptcy by welcoming the new business and ensuring libraries they’re on much more solid financial footing.

More Library Journal coverage of developments in the Swets bankruptcy is available here.

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About EBSCO Buying YBP

March 3, 2015 by Leave a Comment

It’s been ten days since the announcement that EBSCO bought YBP from Baker &Taylor, but the benefit of being late to comment is that we can corral much of what’s already been said.

Here is the original press release from EBSCO that it is buying YBP (including its GOBI platform) from Baker & Taylor.

Here is a PDF of FAQs for current customers.

Both of these documents promise minimal disruption in the near future.

Notably, within an hour of receiving the EBSCO press release over email, I received ProQuest’s press release assuring customers that its ongoing relationship with YBP would not change. ProQuest elaborated on this here, promising that its ebrary and EBL ebooks would continue to be available through GOBI. ProQuest is often seen as EBSCO’s big rival in academic ebooks and online journal databases, and both EBSCO’s and ProQuest’s ebook platforms have been playing reasonably nice with YBP’s GOBI platform.

Here is Baker & Taylor’s press release about the sale of YBP to EBSCO.

Meredith Schwartz at Library Journal did a write-up, with her same-day article containing quotes from three EBSCO executives, as well as an academic librarian from EBSCO’s advisory board.

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