[DMCA-Activists] Libraries Talking to DOJ re Publisher Mergers

[Seth Johnson]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Libraries communicate with DOJ re publisher mergers
Date: Sun, 01 Jun 2003 08:58:59 -0700 (PDT)
From: address@hidden
Reply-To: address@hidden
To: "ACRL Scholarly Communication T.F." <address@hidden>

For Immediate Release-May 30, 2003

For more information, contact:
Dawn Boeckermann, Metropolitan Group
(503) 223-3299 or address@hidden
Please excuse duplicate postings.

ACRL has been working with several other library organizations to
create a document that suggests that journal publishing cannot be
regarded in the same light as other industries when the Department of
Justice examines the impacts of mergers and acquisitions.  The white
paper has been sent to Justice; what follows is the press release
describing the effort that is under way.

You will be kept informed of other related developments as they occur.
 Please let me or Ray English (chair of the ACRL Scholarly
Communications Committee) know if you have a particular interest in
this topic or any further insights.

Sue Martin
Visiting Program Officer for Scholarly Communication
Association of College and Research Libraries

##########
LIBRARIES URGE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TO BLOCK CINVEN AND CANDOVER
PURCHASE OF BERTELSMANNSPRINGER

Publisher Mergers Threaten Access to Crucial Research

Washington, D.C. - The Information Access Alliance, a group of six
library organizations, is urging the U.S. Department of Justice to
block Cinven and Candover's proposed purchase of BertelsmannSpringer.
The Alliance is concerned that this transaction will bring about a
reduction in access to critical research information.

Cinven and Candover, a partnership of UK-based private equity firms,
has announced its intent to acquire BertelsmannSpringer, the academic 
publishing arm of Bertelsmann AG. The partnership also announced its
intent to merge BertelsmannSpringer with Kluwer Academic Publishers,
which Cinven and Candover acquired in January, to form the second
largest publisher of scientific journals in the world, trailing only
Elsevier Science.

The Information Access Alliance, comprised of the American Association
of Law Libraries, American Library Association, Association of College
and Research Libraries, Association of Research Libraries, Medical
Library Association, and SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic
Resources Coalition), was created because of a shared concern about
the effects of mergers among publishers of science journals and legal
serial publications.

"Because of the anti-competitive impact we believe will result from
the combining of Springer and Kluwer Academic Publishing, the
Information Access Alliance is urging the Department of Justice to
stop this merger," said Mary M. Case, Association of Research
Libraries and spokesperson for the Alliance.

"History shows that when journal publishers merge, consumers suffer,"
said James G. Neal, Vice President for Information Services and
University Librarian at Columbia University. "The increased market
power resulting from recent mergers has allowed publishers to boost
prices. This has led to subscription cancellations, which deprive
scientists of access to basic tools they need to conduct research."

According to David Shulenburger, Provost at the University of Kansas,
"the scientific research that journals support and document is a key
contributor to the quality of life in and economic well-being of our
nation. The erosion of access to research not only poses a risk to
tomorrow's discoveries, but because the U.S. government spends $100
billion annually on research, it reduces the American taxpayers'
return on investment.  It is a situation that urgently needs to be
addressed."

Libraries are the main market for science journals, according to the 
Alliance. Over the past 20 years, the prices libraries pay for
journals 
have risen at three times the rate of inflation. Analysis by the
Alliance suggests that merger activity has been a significant factor
in this inflation. For example, Harcourt's purchase of
Churchill-Livingston and Mosby in 1997 and 1998, as well as Wolters
Kluwer's purchase of Plenum Publishing, Thomson Science, and Waverly
in 1998, resulted in average prices for the journals in each of the
two new combined portfolios that were well above their pre-merger
levels.

"Reduced access is particularly problematic in the medical arena,"
said the Medical Library Association 's Executive Director Carla J.
Funk. "Physicians all over the country depend on access to journals to
help them with the diagnosis and treatment of patients. And
researchers' access to earlier works has led to such notable advances
as the development of penicillin and the unraveling of the mysteries
of DNA and the human genome and is essential for the prevention of
medical errors in the treatment of patients."

The emergence of electronic publishing and the Internet, rather than 
solving the problem, may actually be contributing to the concentration
of market power in the hands of a few large publishers, according to
the Alliance. "The large science publishers are now offering
electronic 
versions of their journals to libraries primarily as large bundles of 
titles, and these bundles increase in price each year at several times 
inflation," according to Ross Atkinson, Associate University Librarian
for Collections at Cornell University. "If one refuses to buy the whole
bundle, and opts instead for individual journals, the prices of those
single journal titles are greatly increased by the publisher-so that a
library is left with the choice of either buying the whole bundle or
being able to afford only a limited number of journal titles from that
publisher.  Buying the whole bundle also places enormous strain on
library budgets, leaving little funding left over to purchase the
equally important journals of smaller, often not-for-profit
publishers. Allowing another huge for-profit science publisher to
emerge, which will likely employ similar bundling methods, will
certainly further exacerbate this situation."

BertelsmannSpringer is a publishing company specializing in the
science and business-to-business sectors. It publishes approximately
700 science journals. Cinven and Candover already own Kluwer Academic
Publishers, which publishes approximately 700 science journal titles.
The two companies combined would control approximately 20 percent of
the science market (as measured by the number of commercial titles
included in the Institute for Scientific Information citation
database).

News reports indicate that BertelsmannSpringer is being sold for more
than 10 times its current pre-tax profit. Cinven and Candover have
stated their intention to increase the new combined entity's profit 
margin to 38 percent, in line with Elsevier Science. While operating
efficiencies will likely contribute part of the rise, experience
following other mergers in the industry shows that returns are likely
to be driven by price increases, as well.

# # #

Information Access Alliance member organizations

The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) is a nonprofit
educational organization dedicated to providing leadership and
advocacy in the field of legal information and information policy. Our
more than 5,000 members respond to the legal information needs of
legislators, judges and other public officials, corporations and small
businesses, law professors and students, attorneys, and members of the
general public.

The American Library Association (ALA), the oldest and largest library 
association in the world, is a nonprofit organization of over 64,000 
librarians, library trustees, and other friends of libraries dedicated
to the development, promotion, and improvement of library and
information services to enhance learning and ensure access to
information for all.

The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a division
of the American Library Association, is a professional association of
academic librarians and other interested individuals. ACRL currently
has a membership of approximately 12,400, accounting for nearly 20% of
the total ALA membership. ACRL provides a broad range of professional
services and programs for a diverse membership.

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit
organization of 124 research libraries in North America. ARL programs
and services promote equitable access to and effective use of recorded
knowledge in support of teaching, research, scholarship, and community
service.

The Medical Library Association (MLA) is a nonprofit, educational 
organization of more than 900 institutions and 3,800 individual
members in the health sciences information field, committed to
educating health information professionals, supporting health
information research, promoting access to the world's health sciences
information, and working to ensure that the best health information is
available to all.

SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) is an 
initiative of universities, research libraries, and library
organizations that supports increased competition in scholarly
publishing. SPARC publishing partnerships and educational activities
encourage expanded dissemination of research and reduced financial
pressure on libraries.  Its worldwide membership currently includes
277 institutions and organizations, with 188 members in the United
States.