From: "Matheson, Scott" <[log in to unmask]> Date: Fri, 4 Dec 2015 14:17:31 +0000 I had the same thoughts - immediately - as Brian about Proquest/Ex Libris. I also said that I'd like to double-down on Ebsco buying Innovative (both ILS vendors were/are owned by private equity, have large installed bases in customer libraries and face sharp competition from OCLC and vendor-supported open-source solutions as well as a perception of declining value in the age of "discovery layers" and university efforts to consolidate business systems; e-resource integration with library catalog is a perpetual pain-point for collection managers; leading "discovery layers" are provided by Proquest and Ebsco). I will say I was initially surprised by the Mendeley acquisition. In addition to Brian's notes on data acquisition, I'd add this in retrospect: Publishers have been unable to (unmotivated to?) provide all content on a single platform for users (who don't care who publishes something they want). We know from EndNote, Zotero, etc. that researchers in many disciplines need or want to have everything in one place regardless of journal or publisher source (see also photocopies a few decades ago - this is not new behavior). Mendeley was initially marketed - or at least explained, elevator pitch-wise, as "iTunes for journal articles" in a time when other citation mangers didn't store full text or allow simple collaboration. So... if Elsevier can't get researchers to use *only* ScienceDirect, then maybe they can get them to use a more publisher-agnostic platform that they control. And if the iTunes for articles thing happens - even in a few disciplines - the acquisition is a smart hedge. What would EMI and Sony have paid for iTunes 10 years ago knowing what they know now? On publisher + service: in US law we're seeing publishers give up on claiming advantage with primary source coverage (copyright-free, value-added indexing no longer viewed as much of a value) and move on to "practice management solutions" that combine workflow software with publisher editorial content and local document/knowledge management. A) sound like E+Mendeley? and B) view of things to come if/as OA content grows? Scott ____________ Scott Matheson, Associate Librarian for Technical Services Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School 203-432-1603 | Box 208326, New Haven, CT 06520-8326 > On Dec 3, 2015, at 9:26 PM, LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > 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 > Phone: (216) 368-8685 > Fax: (216) 368-3669 > > 2015-16 ALAO President: http://alaoweb.org/