The Database Marketplace 2002: The Database Universe

After acquiring the UnCover document delivery service in 2000, Ingenta developed a new Library Gateway service for document delivery. Users search one of two databases. One contains online full-text articles from 5400+ titles. The other database, for traditional document delivery, has citations from 20,000+ periodical titles, with articles supplied by the British Library Document Supply Centre and the Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information

The art of conjuring E-content: content disappears, companies solidify their primary businesses, technology connects and expands databases. (Database marketplace 2003)

ANY MAGICIAN WOULD be proud of the database industry. Disappearing acts, metamorphoses, and even a bit of pure trickery characterized this magical year. The dirtiest trick award goes to the divine/RoweCom/Faxon debacle. This show unfolded over several months and continues, as both RoweCom and parent company divine have filed for bankruptcy. EBSCO having recently acquired what\u27s left of RoweCom\u27s subscription businesses worldwide and is working with publishers to strike a deal that will help libraries pull their undelivered serials out of the bankruptcy hat. But divine is also the parent company of NorthernLight. This highly touted web search engine has already discontinued its article sales service, Special Collection. Factiva has offered Special Collection\u27s corporate customers a subset of Factiva\u27s content to replace the lost service

The Database Marketplace 2001: Racing at Full Speed

In both car racing and in the information industry, large multinational companies are major players. Though we don\u27t yet wear the names of information companies like Thomson and Reed Elsevier on our T-shirts, their brands are on many of our products. In the last seven years, Thomson purchased Findlaw, Dialog, and Information Access Company, to add to holdings that already included Gale Group, ISI, and Westlaw

Shopping for information: industry behemoths, niche sellers, and boutique shops compete for library dollars

Both librarians and end users have more shopping options than ever when it comes to finding information. From small boutiques with specialized products to the one-stop shopping of megastores, the database marketplace of 2005 resembles retail shopping. But some worry that the information marketplace will be subject to the same uncertain market conditions of the retail world, where it\u27s difficult for small stores to compete when megachains come to town

Back to the scriptorium: amid budget woes, vendors and librarians find a common purpose

Picture medieval monks hunched over their desks in the scriptorium as they labor to copy manuscripts. A 21st-century version of this activity is being repeated daily in the world\u27s libraries and publishing houses as major digitization projects seek to preserve millions of printed books and documents. The work of medieval scribes ensured that the classics were available when the invention of movable type and the printing press made books accessible to the masses, transforming the world. Today\u27s laborers are hunched over digitization equipment, but their goal is the same: copying and preserving resources so they are available now and into the future

Not your family farm: the information industry added value with unique content and custom tools as large search engines entered the market

The information industry continues to consolidate, just as agribusiness has consolidated and now dominates farming. Both the family farm and the small information company still exist but are becoming rarer in an age of mergers, acquisitions, and increased economies of scale. Small companies distinguish themselves by high quality, special themes, or useful tools to keep and build their customer base. The database marketplace this year was dominated by the news of several large acquisitions. Wiley\u27s purchase of Blackwell Publishing Ltd. drew concerns from members of the Information Access Alliance (IAA), made up of representatives from SLA, the American Library Association, Association of Research Libraries, and other library groups. The IAA is particularly concerned with continued market consolidation among commercial scholarly publishers. Other acquisitions occurred in the database and secondary publisher fields. In March 2007, Elsevier, a publisher that has raised IAA\u27s concerns in the past, announced its acquisition of the Beilstein Database, the well-known organic chemistry fact book and database. Elsevier had been involved with the Beilstein-Institut in the database\u27s production and marketing since 1998 before acquiring it outright in 2007. Cambridge Information Group (CIG) acquired ProQuest and formed ProQuest CSA, which extended both its indexing and abstracting services and full-text articles. OCLC purchased RLG to create a single mega-shared cataloging company in a world that once had several competitors (remember WLN?). OCLC\u27s new WorldCat.org service included several features from RLG\u27s discontinued RedLightGreen union catalog

Information with a twist: vendors keep the party going with Web 2.0

Social networking and other Web 2.0 technologies led the social whirl of the information industry. Publishers and librarians tried to keep their products and services relevant by mixing authoritative content with user involvement, but that wasn\u27t enough. Enhancing interfaces, adding new forms of content, and making strategic acquisitions--all are necessary to ensure that the information industry party continues

Feast and famine: more and better choices, but belt-tightening forces libraries to cut subscriptions

With fancy new software developments and growth in both the richness of content and delivery options for information resources, the Database Marketplace 2010 is a feast for buyers. Unfortunately, institutional budget cuts may force more of a famine mentality--with belt-tightening for most, and only purchases that are life-sustaining being served in many libraries

Renovating this old house

When we turn on the faucet we expect water to flow. When we flip the power switch, we expect light. We want a house to work and to look good. This old house of online databases is getting a new look and, in some cases, a new foundation to make it more attractive and robust for 2006. Much of the value of a renovation lies in respecting history while reinforcing the foundation to keep the house intact. Information providers are using state-of-the-art technologies to create digital historical back files and collections