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