Just out on Libllicense. Says Ann Okerson: "This is a pretty major announcement -- 2,800 libraries combining their buying clout.... " --
Citing economies of scale that will improve service and reduce
costs, the Michigan Library Consortium (MLC) and INCOLSA (Indiana Cooperative Library Services Authority) will combine their e-resources group licensing services. Beginning in October 2008, INCOLSA members will gain access to the e-resources collection of MLC, including several hundred databases and eBooks from more than 55 publishers and suppliers, ejournals from all the major publishers, and products such as SerialsSolutions, Aeon, Ares, and SFX. Better discounts, increasing the number of participants, and reducing overhead for purchasing agents are just some of the benefits of this arrangement. INCOLSA and MLC will launch this cooperative venture at the end of September. MLC will manage for INCOLSA member libraries all renewals, new subscriptions and invoicing for e-resources beginning in October. INCOLSA serves 768 member institutions, representing more than 2,200 libraries throughout Indiana. MLC is a non-profit membership organization providing over 600 Michigan libraries of all types.
http://www.incolsa.net
http://www.mlcnet.org

Hooray! The Conference 2008 Program has just been posted on the Conference Website (URL below). We have tried to place the papers into categories called "Threads" and will be posting a list by Threads shortly as well.
http://www.katina.info/conference/program.php

Just learned that Nature Publishing Group (NPG) will launch a new primary research journal, Nature Climate Change, in October 2009. Climate change is a key issue and there is a need to bring together scientific observation and models with an understanding of how human society affects climate change, and vice versa. A first for a Nature-branded journal, Nature Climate Change will extend into socio-economic research as well as the natural sciences, with the aim of putting the research it publishes into a wider scientific, economic and political context. Nature Climate Change will be the newest journal in the portfolio of physical sciences titles launched by NPG over the past five years. NPG is currently recruiting for a Chief Editor for Nature Climate Change and is expected to announce further information about the journal before the end of the year.
http://www.nature.com/

I have just posted a FORUM called THE CHARLESTON OBSERVATORY -- A POSITION PAPER. This is an idea about creating an ongoing research component of the Charleston Conference and we would appreciate your input. This will be a topic of a concurrent session in November. Please reply with your input/ideas/whatever. Thanks! Katina Strauch

Talk about a tangled web! Cengage Learning, the publisher of the eminent Arden Shakespeare collection has terminated the contract of the senior researcher, Patricia Parker, a professor at Stanford University, who was charged with editing a new edition of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" for the Arden series. At least 180 supporters have a signed a petition on Ms. Parker's behalf. The publisher, Ronald G. Dunn of Cengage, has said only that this is a "confidential contract matter." Is the "sinister hand of commercialism" to blame? -- See Chronicle of Higher Education, Friday, August 15, 2008, "Firing of Arden Editor Causes Tempest in Shakespeare Studies," by Jennifer Howard.
http://chronicle.com/daily/2008/08/4252n.htm?utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en

As part of its author services program, Taylor & Francis will deposit to PubMed Central (PMC) author manuscripts on behalf of Taylor & Francis, Routledge and Psychology Press authors reporting NIH- funded research. This service is offered as part of Taylor & Francis' new 2008 deposit agreement with the NIH. This service will help authors to comply with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) revised "Public Access Policy", which came into force on April 7, 2008. The NIH's revised policy mandates NIH-funded authors to submit to PubMed Central (PMC), or have submitted on their behalf, at the point of acceptance, their peer-reviewed author manuscripts, to appear on PMC no later than 12 months after final publication.
Taylor & Francis, Routledge, and Psychology Press are part of Informa plc.
www.informaworld.com/
Contact: Jennifer.McMillan@tandf.co.uk for further information.

The Greenwood Publishing Group has entered into an agreement with Blackwell (Library Services Division), in which Blackwell will act as its non-exclusive agent for the sale of Greenwood’s online databases in the United States. Libraries interested in the Greenwood databases may contact Blackwell’s staff, who will work closely with Greenwood to facilitate orders and inquiries-- including the gathering of licensing information, trial availability, and follow-up on orders placed on any titles.
http://www.greenwood.com

Big change. "With the Oct. 30 issue, which will go on sale Oct. 17, Rolling Stone, published by Wenner Media, will adopt the standard size used by all but a few magazines." Other changes will include a heavier, glossy paper, the magazine will be glued to creat a flat spine to give it a "more professional, more grown-up look. ... "But," says Jann Winner, founder, editor, and publisher, "the core tradition, the mission, remains the same.” Coming soon to a mailbox/newstand near you!
See New York Times, August 11, 2008, "The Classic Rock Magazine Is Switching to a Smaller, Rack-Friendly Size," by Richard Perez-Pena.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/business/media/11mag.html?ref=business...

Amazon has acquired ABEBooks, the used-book dealer out of Vancouver. Abebooks has been around since 1996 (used to be Advanced Book Exchange). The company will continue to operate as a standalone business.
See "Amazon to Acquire AbeBooks, and with it a Stake in LibraryThing," by Michael Arrington,
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/01/amazon-to-acquire-abebooks/

Ex Libris™ Group has just announced that Leeds Equity Partners, has completed the acquisition of the Ex Libris Group. Leeds Equity Partners, LLC, the New York-based private equity firm, manages the largest private equity fund in the United States focused on investments in the education, training and related business services and information industries (“Knowledge Industries”). The Firm was founded in 1993 by Jeffrey T. Leeds and Robert A. Bernstein. The Board of Advisors of Leeds Equity Partners includes, among others, Dr. Rod Paige, former Secretary of Education under President George W. Bush; Richard Riley, former Secretary of Education under President Clinton and two-term Governor of South Carolina; Tim Fitzpatrick, the former CEO of Sallie Mae Corporation; and Timothy Shriver, Chairman of the Board of Special Olympics.
http://www.leedsequity.com/.
http://www.exlibrisgroup.com/.