Today, @IthakaSR is publishing a new report from @OyaRieger, @LiamMerrill, and me assessing the sustainability of the digital curation and preservation landscape. We are grateful for the support from @US_IMLS @ashley247 @rldale that enabled this work. sr.ithaka.org/publications/t… Specifically, we examined the third-party preservation platforms utilized by individual heritage organizations to provide curation, discovery, and long-term management of their institutional digital content and collections. sr.ithaka.org/publications/t…

In opposing the @clarivate acquisition of @ProQuest, @SPARC_NA asserts three major claims. (1) An "effective monopoly" on library systems raises concerns about anti-competitive practices; [PDF: sparcopen.org/wp-content/upl… ] (2) "By acquiring ProQuest, Clarivate neutralizes it as an emerging maverick positioned to compete with its core analytics business"; and [PDF: sparcopen.org/wp-content/upl… ]

I'm sitting in on the conference call discussing the Clarivate acquisition of ProQuest. CEOs of both companies as well as several others are participating. I will tweet any notable items threaded to this tweet. "An historic day for both organizations that will create a global leader...The combination will enrich our value chain across the research lifecycle." -- Jerre Stead, CEO of Clarivate

This afternoon, I am attending a panel discussion on national movements for racial justice and academic library leadership with @tadawes @Kaetrena @pmhswe @JenKFrederick @cwolffeisenberg and will be tweeting a bit in this thread. #LibJusticePanel

https://twitter.com/IthakaSR/status/1381991673320898561

To kick things off, @JenKFrederick is speaking about selected findings from the @IthakaSR Library Survey. The second report, focused on movements for racial justice and their implications on academic libraries, is available here: sr.ithaka.org/publications/n…

This evening I am attending the @MellonFdn's "Storytelling for Justice: How Libraries & Archives Hold History to Account," featuring Elizabeth Alexander (@ProfessorEA), Jarrett Martin Drake (@jmddrake), Carla Hayden (@LibnOfCongress) & Kelly Lytle Hernández (@klytlehernandez) In the opening talk, @ProfessorEA describes some of the Mellon's support of work to advance "the sacred and urgent mission of increasing equity in archival work."

Wiley buys Hindawi -- a $298 million acquisition for GBP 25 million in annual APC revenues -- in bid to expand open-access platforms @pbasken timeshighereducation.com/news/wiley-buy… I'm really fascinated by several things about this acquisition. 1. One could posit that APC business models in structural decline as they are replaced by transformative agreements. Will Hindawi titles be folded into Wiley TA's or offered as a separate "pure publish" model?

Now, we will have a debate about preprints between @jessicapolka and @kanderson. I hope we will have less of a formal debate seeking a "winner" and more of an opportunity to learn about the array of issues. @_IanMoss is moderating. #STMAnnualUS Polka shares "tremendous growth" of preprints, including new services some associated with incumbent publishers. #STMAnnualUS

I've spoken with several dozen academic library directors from across every 4-year institutional type over the past week. Circumstances vary widely, but almost everyone anticipates cutbacks to some degree, if they haven't already begun to make cuts. Two emergent reflections: 1) Few libraries have any precise sense of the degree of cutbacks that will be required for the upcoming fiscal year, which starts within a matter of weeks. Recognizing that ideally they should make cuts strategically, some are beginning planning based on different scenarios.

Elsevier's new CEO Kumsal Bayazit starting her opening plenary address at #ChsConf2019 Bayazit: "My hope and ambition for Elsevier is to work constructively with all the stakeholders in the system of research...and to evolve our services for the future." @chsconf2019

@lisalibrarian @paul_abrahams @bc_butler @acochran12733 @CharlesOppenh Friends, I am not replying to any specific tweet here, just the latest in this long thread. I'm not familiar with the specific measure of market concentration that Paul points to. But perhaps I can offer some perspective to this conversation. 1/ @lisalibrarian @paul_abrahams @bc_butler @acochran12733 @CharlesOppenh A key to why a library focused analysis makes it appear that there must be an overly concentrated market are the journal bundles. Bundling is an important tactic for pricing and selling information goods. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_b… 2/

Now, ITHAKA president Kevin Guthrie interviews Elsevier chair YS Chi. #ithakatnw18 Guthrie: How do you square revenue with purpose in a commercial setting? Chi: You have to balance the two or you cannot persist. Sometimes it is a matter of timeline. Shareholders demand short term; Leaders must ensure longer term perspective. #ithakatnw18

At 11 AM EST today, I am facilitating The Place of Manuscript Management Systems in a Consolidating Marketplace, featuring @clarivate, @CokoFoundation, @ElsevierConnect, @lisalibrarian, @dworlock. Program is here: nfais.org/index.php?opti… Join for the webinar or follow #nfais. Gregg Gordon is now speaking about SSRN, Aries, and Elsevier's directions with both. #nfais

Last week, the prospectus for Springer Nature's upcoming IPO was published. Some high level coverage appeared here for example. ft.com/content/1d43d9… I'm scanning the underlying document this afternoon and will post a few key excerpts. "...cooperation with partners includes our long-standing business relationship with Digital Science...with respect to software for the simplification and streamlining of the research process." [page 57]