Category Killers and Fractional Buyers: the changing nature of publisher-library relationships

1. Category Killers and Fractional Buyers: the changing nature of publisher-library relationships Paul Harwood Content Complete Ltd 5 October 2005

2. Agenda • Brief introduction to Content Complete • Who or what are Category Killers and Fractional Buyers and what do they have to do with us? • What are the major issues challenging publishers and academic libraries today? • How do these issues impact on the way they do business with each other? • What will be on the agenda when they meet in the future? • Who or what might spoil the party? • Questions

3. Prima di tutto..non dimentichiamoci perche abbiamo ancora bisogno dei bibliotecari… “Pronto, parlo con il bibliotecario? Sono il Dr Jones. Mi sembra di non ruiscire a trovare un articolo di James Ettall nel catologo. Sono certo che l’abbiamo. L’ho gia consultato in precedenza. L’ho cercato tutto il pomeriggio, ma non riesco a trovare niente sotto quel cognome”

4. “Pronto Dr Jones. Mi dispiace che non riesca a trovare quello che cerca. Potrebbe dettarmi la parola pronunciando una lettera alla volta?”

5. “Certo. Ecco, e: e-t-a-l Pou servire?”

6. “Si Dr Jones. Serve moltissimo. Potrebbe darsi che l’articolo che cerca e di un certo Mr James e colleghi (James et al) Glielo cerco io e le faccio sapere”

7. Content Complete Ltd • Established in June 2003 • An independent company jointly owned and managed by Albert Prior and Paul Harwood • Both owners trained and worked as librarians and held senior positions with Swets and Zeitlinger for many years

8. What do we do? • Negotiate online content agreements with publishers on behalf of consortia and multi-sited organisations who: • Don’t have the resources • Don’t have the expertise or knowledge • Don’t have the time …to do it themselves

9. What we’re not…. Marketing or sales agent for publishers Subscription Agent Information industry consultants for either publishers or librarians

10. Some of our clients: • NESLi2 • IReL (Irish Research electronic Libraries) • GlaxoSmithKline • Cancer Research UK • Learned Societies of London Group

11. So what are Category Killers?

12. Elsevier is a good example of a Category Killer in STM publishing • Critical mass of over 1,800 STM journals including many key titles (acquisition of AP and Cell Press) • Secondary databases: EMBASE, EI Village, Crossfire • Scientific search engine: Scirus • Navigation Tool: Scopus • Library Management System: Endeavour • Customer service and e-commerce

13. ..and so are most publishers in some respect or other…… • Publishers are seeking to own the ‘must have’ titles in their field • So we see plenty of buying and selling • Blackwell Publishing has become a Category Killer in the area of society publishing (over 500 societies) • The Big Deal is an example of Category Killer behaviour

14. What about Fractional Buyers? • No Wikipedia definition yet! • The idea is about shared ownership of services or possessions either to achieve cost-saving or best use of time • Typical examples are: property, private jets, boats • Generally, wealthy or busy people (often both) make use of this concept

15. Publishers are also Fractional Buyers.. • Participation in jointly run and financed services: • Crossref/Crossref Search • HighWire • LOCKSS • COUNTER • Aggregator services (PQ, EBSCO etc) • Smaller publishers participating in ALPSP Learned Journals Collection • Save internal costs, make use of shared services and facilities

16. What about academic institutions? • Increasingly showing signs of Category Killer behaviour: • Joint ventures and take-overs of other institutions • Overseas expansion (Nottingham University and China) • Football-style transfers of leading academics • Oxford University (£100m upgrade to library services) • Having the best research and attracting the best academics and students • Recent ASA Conference: “institutions as competitors”

17. Institution’s Libraries have been highly effective Fractional Buyers • Local, regional and national consortia for the purchase of: • Online content • Library Management Systems …along with international interest groups to facilitate discussion and share information (ICOLC, IFLA Serials Section)

18. In summary…. • Publishers and academic institutions increasingly display similar behaviour, driven by: • Increasing competition • The need to capture new territory • The need to maintain their league position (Impact Factors and Research Assessment Ratings) • The need to generate a surplus

19. “What’s occupying you?” (Libraries) • SCONUL ‘top concerns’ survey (Oct 2004) • “Licensing electronic resources to those not clearly defined as members of the institution” • “Copyright: ensuring staff and students keep within guidelines, particularly in relation to electronic resources and VLEs” • “Escalating costs, procurement and value for money of e-resources”

20. “What’s occupying you?” (Libraries) cont… • “Lack of time to evaluate e-deals” • “Procuring e-books” • “Dealing with the challenge of user behaviour (Google versus library services)” • “VLEs and the impact of e-learning on the library” • “Institutional Repositories; raising awareness and associated issues”

21. “What’s occupying you?” (Publishers) • No formal survey but based on CCL meetings with publishers during 2005: • How to respond to, and engage with, the Open Access movement • Understanding of, and compliance with, Repository requirements (NIH, RC-UK policies) • Experimentation with new business models (pressure for change from the corporate sector) • Acquiring new titles • Outsourcing more activities (recent Springer announcement)

22. “What’s occupying you?” (Publishers) • How to respond to Google? • Digitising backfiles • Declining advertising revenues from cancelled print journals (Cell Press initiative, AAAS dilemma) • A policy for the secure archiving and perpetual access requirements of libraries • Participation in collaborative ventures: LOCKSS, COUNTER, Shibboleth • Policy with regard to subscription agents • Adjusting to being a service provider

23. Let me briefly take you back to 1985: • Discussion between publishers and libraries was almost wholly dominated by discussions about the price of journals

25. …along with these other ‘hot topics’ of the day • Exchange rates • Early notification of new year’s prices (ARL, CURL initiative) • Claim windows • EDI • Title and frequency changes • Serials Management Systems • Much of this discussion mediated by the subscription agent

26. Today, the agenda is very different… • New business models and sustainability of the Big Deal • Perpetual access • Titles changing hands • “What can I do with your content?” • Definition of Authorised Users in the light of partner institutions • Usage statistics

27. Today’s agenda cont… • Sustainability of Open Access publishing • Levels of service • Negotiation, mostly directly between publisher and library without involvement of the subscription agent

28. And tomorrow…. • Working with, or reminiscing about Google? • Fewer, bigger players on both sides • …yet with an expanded ‘supporting cast’ • Agreeing standards on what constitutes the definitive version of an article? • Licence clauses to cover text mining • Technical advances keeping ahead of what the majority can cope with • Negotiating author fees • Virtual publishers and Virtual Libraries • Cross-sector and cross-border consortia

29. Future direction? • Very much in the balance for both publishers and libraries • Will depend to a great extent on two things: • Whether the Web’s great Category Killer, Google, decides to stick around • Whether Open Access publishing or IR’s are able to co-exist with and ultimately topple, the traditional subscription model

30. Thank you for your attention pharwood@contentcomplete.com www.contentcomplete.com