|
Integration between system vendors and publishers - for long a case of purely technical co-operation - has taken on a commercial reality now with
the purchase of Endeavor by Elsevier. Vendors have been striving to bridge the gap between system management and content providers as the two technologies converge ever faster. Up until now this has been
with partnerships as between Innovative and netLibrary.com. Certainly the combination of content provision and system supply is an effective one - witness Sirs Mandarin in the schools market.
The interesting part of this alliance is to ponder the implications for libraries, librarians, users and other vendors.
Endeavor is certainly the star performer in the 1990s.
Since its foundation in 1994 as a new venture from the smoking remains of NOTIS after its acquisition by Ameritech, it has a stunning track record with over 500 sites including the Library of Congress and major university and research clients around the world. To become part of the Elsevier group makes a certain amount of commercial and technical sense. Elsevier's sales were about $320 in 1999 compared to Endeavor's $28.4 (estimated) and both companies are operating in an increasingly convergent marketplace.
So, with a more secure financial platform for development Voyager should be able to plan confidently for the future. A reassurance for
customers and staff alike. But what about the technical implications for a close development ties between a major content provider and system supplier?
It will be easier for Voyager to create all kinds of direct links with Elsevier systems but will this impose barriers for other system vendors as they strive to provide open linking with a multitude of vendors?
Progress in linking library systems has been spectacular recently and it has been a product of open systems - the Internet built on TCP/IP, the
World Wide Web built on HTTP, Z39.50 providing global virtual catalogues and ISO10160/61 opening up interlending.
The industry needs more interworking standards between publishers and library systems - for authentication, licensing, copyright clearance, XML based e-trading and many more functions. Let us hope that this marriage produces some strong products and clear standards for the whole industry.
The experience of library system vendors being a part of a larger group has not always been a happy one.
Indeed CLSI was owned by the TBG group which had mixed publishing and systems interests, for a not entirely happy period from 1985 until bought by Geac in the 1990s. But publishers are now completely different animals. Their future relies almost entirely on their success in the global electronic future which Endeavor is determinedly shaping. We wish them well together.
|
