From: "Elizabeth E. Kirk" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Mon, 7 Dec 2015 14:16:27 +0000

I think that the Elsevier acquisition of Mendeley makes a great deal
of sense, especially given Elsevier’s robust defense of IP rights.
However, I do join Ann in finding the PQ acquisition of Ex Libris as
curious. Not because it makes sense in light of a perhaps struggling
In Tota product, but because I’m not sure that a librarian would ever
think that buying an ILS business was a great idea. Is there a library
out there that loves its commercial ILS? They’re all for sale,
announced or otherwise, but they all seem to have the appeal of a
medical procedure. You know that you need one, but the current options
don’t seem to offer any excitement. And no one expects that ILS
businesses will be bought with a goal of improving them.

If the goal is for Ebsco and PQ to create end-to-end library
solutions, then the acquisitions of ILS vendors and the acquisitions
of YBP and Coutts make sense, but maybe twenty years ago, not today.
From a librarian point of view, there seem to be a growing number of
non-librarycentric options for cobbling together a homegrown ILS and
hungry small book vendors and a voracious Amazon to supply monographs.
From this angle, these acquisitions look more like a private equity
firm buying Swets.

Happy holidays and may your stocking not be filled with a patron database,
Eliz

Elizabeth E. Kirk
Associate Librarian for Information Services
Dartmouth College
6025 Baker Library
Hanover, NH 03755


From: Scott A Warren <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, 4 Dec 2015 13:56:04 +0000

I strongly agree with Brian's reasoning. None of the deals surprised
me either. In fact were I in any of the publisher's shoes, I would
have pursued similar M&A activities. I would turn it around Ann and
ask why you found them suprising. The notion of 'core' might be worth
unpacking a bit. Otherwise, I think these are all savvy moves to shore
up existing positions and explore additional markets without having to
create things from scratch. It's outsourcing R&D to some extent and
hedging bets on horses already in the race.

Scott

Scott Warren | Associate Dean for Research and Scholarship
Syracuse University Libraries
Syracuse, NY 13244
e [log in to unmask]
w library.syr.edu


-----Original Message-----

From: "Brian C. Gray" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thu, 3 Dec 2015 20:56:59 -0500

I have not seen any of the acquisitions as a surprise.  Even the 2 Ann
mentions seem to make strong business sense. With Mendeley, Elsevier
gets even more data on information users overall which includes data
of competitor titles and how they are used. It also provides another
tool libraries can justify purchases.  PQ is developing a new
integrated library system, so with Ex Libris they gain an immediate
customer base, intellectual property in this area, and a team of
software developers and other experts in this realm.

Brian

Brian C. Gray
Team Leader, Research Services
Librarian: Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Macromolecular
Science & Engineering
Email: [log in to unmask]
Kelvin Smith Library 201-K
Research Guides & Profile: http://researchguides.case.edu/briangray

Case Western Reserve University
Kelvin Smith Library
11055 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44106-7151
2015-16 ALAO President: http://alaoweb.org/


On Thu, Dec 3, 2015 at 8:34 PM, LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote:


From: Ann Shumelda Okerson <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thu, 3 Dec 2015 20:31:47 -0500

I too don't quite want to let this thread go.  Joe asks librarians to
name some of the publisher M&A deals that they've found puzzling -
dead silence.  This is either because we're shy, or else very able to
understand publisher strategies (tho' I'm not).

Also -- the M&A deals that have surprised me somewhat haven't been
publisher + publisher, but rather publisher + a service of some kind.
Of course, once the deal is made and announced, it's easier to
retro-guess the underlying strategies.  But the reaction in the first
seconds is … what makes these core?  So, just for a couple of
examples: I wondered why Elsevier had acquired Mendeley; or ProQuest
acquired Ex Libris.  Comments?  More surprises among my tribe?

Ann Okerson