From: "Hamaker, Charles" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 04:05:12 +0000

I will have to agree with Joe. This will never result in lower prices
to libraries. In addition in my personal opinion it is culturally
likely to result in shell shock for the employees of the two companies
in terms of cultural and every day expectations of what each values. I
can't speak highly enough of the quality of Springer book decision
making while I detest their sales model.

On Springer journals end, they don't measure for the most part up to
Nature's stable in terms of quality. But all springer journals
together do not cost much different than Nature's smaller list of
elite titles. Derk Haank  is a bit of a magician but I suspect the
culture clash will take more than 3 years to remediate

Chuck



-------- Original message --------
From: Joseph Esposito <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 21:04:22 -0500

Does anyone really believe that this merger will result in LOWER costs
to libraries????

And as for the notion that the two companies will continue to operate
autonomously, I would be astounded if that proved to be true.  The
point of a merger is to merge.

Joe Esposito


On Mon, Jan 19, 2015 at 8:55 PM, LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> From: Colin Steele <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Mon, Jan 19, 2015 at 4:42 PM
>
> http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/springer-nature-deal-sign-of-times/story-e6frgcjx-1227187481600?nk=4c5503e7bb13693a21dbc4cfbf6b1104
>
> by: ANDREW TROUNSON
> From: The Australian
> January 19, 2015 12:00AM
>
> Andrew Trounson
> Higher Education Reporter
> Melbourne
>
> THE merger of scholarly publishing giant Springer with the publisher
> of leading academic journal Nature, is the latest sign of the
> disruption facing scholarly publishing in the face of online
> technology and the growing pressure for journals to provide free
> access to research papers.
>
> The incorporation of the Nature suite of journals will give Springer a
> big boost in prestige compared with rival giants such as Elsevier,
> Wiley and Taylor & Francis. Macmillan Science and Education, which
> owns Nature and is proposing to merge with Springer, only produces
> about 160 scientific journals, well behind sector leader Elsevier with
> 3,057. But in Nature it has arguably the biggest single journal brand.
> Springer has 2,987 titles, putting it second behind Elsevier, but if
> the merger goes through it will be the biggest, just.
>
> The proposed merger still needs clearance from European competition
> regulators and academic libraries have been quick to voice concerns
> that they could be squeezed by the reduction in competition. But there
> is also optimism that the merger will bring efficiencies that can be
> passed on to libraries in the form of lower subscription costs.
>
> “We are continually becoming more efficient and are expect the
> publishers to also take some of the hard yards they need to rather
> than expect us to simply keep paying more,” said Philip Kent, the
> University of Melbourne’s library head. Mr Kent is also chairman of
> the Council of Australian University Librarian’s journal purchasing
> consortium. He noted that the weak Australian dollar, which has
> declined steeply since September, is significantly increasing costs
> for university libraries.
>
> Mr Kent welcomed the fact that both Springer and Macmillan were
> quality publishers, suggesting there was no reason to worry that
> quality could be put at risk from the merger. “They are both quality
> publishers and we have had good dealings with both of them,” he said.
>
> Aidan Byrne, chief executive of the Australian Research Council, said
> the proposed merger continues a long trend of publishers seeking to
> get bigger through mergers. He said a key question will be whether
> they may be some centralisation of how the often autonomous journals
> in the enlarged stable are run. “My guess is that they will stay
> fairly autonomous.”
>
> In a stock market research note Exane BNP Paribas said “the players
> are two of the largest scientific publishers and in our view the
> merger will create significant cost synergies and make their journal
> collection more ‘must have’ for university libraries.”
>
> “Nature’s smaller, very high quality journal portfolio will complement
> Springer’s wider, lower impact factor portfolio,” it said.
>
>  [SNIP]
>
> Selective belt tightening: Journal publisher Springer’s merger with
> Nature publisher Macmillan looks to be a defensive move, securing the
> high profile journal when the future of academIc publishing is looking
> decidedly shaky. But will the merger deliver economies of scale that
> can be passed on to the libraries? As Melbourne University library
> head Phillip Kent points out, there’s been a lot of belt tightening in
> recent times and it would be nice to see the journal publishing giants
> cutting back on costs and passing them on. Given the merger is the
> first step to an ultimate plan to sell the business on a stock market,
> HW suspects Mr Kent is dreaming.
>
> ---------------------------------------------
>
> Colin Steele
> Emeritus Fellow
> ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences
> The Australian National University
> Acton, ACT, 2601
> Australia
> E: [log in to unmask]