From: Karin Wikoff <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tue, 8 Dec 2015 13:00:44 +0000

I don't really have time to study up regularly and consistently on the
corporate positioning of the companies with whom my library does
business.  If I did, perhaps I could see some of these mergers and
acquisitions coming.  Once in a while, something big will be
happening, and you can sort of feel a change coming, but mostly not.
Mostly it's figuring it out after the fact, as Ann says.  There must
be sources for this kind of information out there: people who act as
filters, people with a business or economics background who read all
the news and watch the markets and put the pieces together for those
of us who don't have that kind of concentrated time for in-depth
study.  For my information of this sort, the update that Rob Karen of
WALDO gives once a year is the best source.  It seems to be part of
his job to watch the industry, think about what it all means, and
share that with library folks who attend their annual regional
meetings around New York State,, but it's only once a year.  I'd be
interested to hear if other readers of this forum have similar
sources.

Good question.

Karin

--
Karin Wikoff
Electronic and Technical Services Librarian
Ithaca College Library
Ithaca, NY 14850
Email: [log in to unmask]

-----Original Message-----
From: Ann Shumelda Okerson <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Mon, 7 Dec 2015 21:23:20 -0500

These are fascinating replies -- thank you for them and any to come.

But, lest there be a misunderstanding:  while I (and many others no
doubt) can explain after the fact why XX acquired (or merged with) YY,
what I mean to say is that the initial announcement more often than
not comes as a surprise.  However, usually after giving it a little
(and often not very much) thought, we can understand the underlying
strategy.  After the fact.  So maybe my real question here is, why
don't librarians see most of these acquisitions coming, for I doubt we
do.  I mean, which of us pondered and figured out back at the time,
that Elsevier's next acquisition would be Mendeley?  (sorry for
picking on Elsevier, but I trust they don't mind).  Anyone?  Really?

(Perhaps investment analysts and consultants do, though.)

And who do we librarians think could be eyeing whom, next?  Ilkay Holt
was brave enough to venture a shot at this question in her posting
yesterday, but she may be the only one.

Or maybe these questions just wrong.  Perhaps Joe Esposito will write
up this discussion in Scholarly Kitchen and we will be enlightened!!

Best regards, Ann Okerson



On Mon, Dec 7, 2015 at 7:59 PM, LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> From: Ian Gibson <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Mon, 7 Dec 2015 15:32:46 +0000
>
> Agree with all of you vis. Elsevier/Mendeley and ProQuest Ex Libris
> (in fact given that PQ have been promising an Alma competitor for
> years and had yet to deliver this move made very good sense to me).
>
> The move that didn't make sense to me was ProQuest buying Coutts. I
> understand the need to be in every space that Ebsco is in but to me
> (as a former Coutts customer) the move didn’t make sense from a
> momentum stand point. YBP is the clear market leader in that business
> and everyone else are also-rans at best. Coutts' Oasis platform is old
> and awkward to use, they were consistently behind in providing
> services (e.g. offering ebooks other than MyiLibrary; managing DDA;
> managing DDA across multiple vendors) and their customer base seemed
> to me to be shrinking. The only possible way this makes sense to me is
> if PQ uses Coutts as a way of getting better data on library ebook
> preferences by monitoring what their customers are buying instead of
> PQ ebooks and then uses that info to make PQ ebooks the dominant
> player in that market.
>
> What I really want is for Elsevier to buy PLOS - yes, yes it's nigh on
> impossible but just think of the comedy value... Failing that I would
> settle for one of the big societies like IEEE or ACS handing over
> their publishing ops to one of the big commercial publishers.
>
> Ian
>
> Ian Gibson, MISt
> Collections Librarian
> Brock University | James A. Gibson Library Niagara Region St.
> Catharines, Ontario  L2S 3A1 E [log in to unmask]