FEATURE Subscription Agents
A changing role in a changing market
Subscription agents are facing a challenge but can still play an important role in the scholarly publishing industry, writes David Stuart
W
hen Swets filed for bankruptcy in 2014, the 113-year old company clearly illustrated the difficulties faced by traditional intermediaries in a rapidly
changing information ecosystem. The web has revolutionised many-to-many transactions and all intermediaries – whether library, publisher or subscription agent – have needed to transform the nature of their services. Failure to transform successfully will inevitably lead to the failure of individual companies, but the failure of such a high-profile subscription agent raised fundamental questions about the future of the industry itself: How could this have happened? How can it be stopped from happening again? And, most importantly, is there a long-term future for subscription agents? The demise of Swets was not without precedent, but the information environment has changed considerably since RoweCom filed for bankruptcy in 2003, in what many at the time dubbed ‘the Enron of the library world’. Although there were similar comments made at the time – that it should not be allowed to happen again – since then the market has become a lot more challenging for subscription agents, rather than easier. Now, as the role of the subscription agent is challenged not only by the move from paper to digital, but also from closed to open access, questions are increasingly being
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asked about whether there is a need for such intermediaries at all.
Speaking to a range of industry insiders, over a year on from the demise of Swets, it is clear that there continue to be more questions about the future of subscription agents than answers. There are undoubtedly new opportunities for intermediaries, but whether they will be filled by those who have traditionally had the role of subscription agent remains to be seen.
The disruption of the market place
Subscription agents have traditionally had an important role between publishers and libraries, simplifying the subscription ordering process for journals from thousands of different publishers around the world. Ensuring access to thousands of different titles can be an onerous task, when each title must be ordered individually from different publishers, in different currencies and in different languages.
Alongside a need for a comprehensive database of journals and publishers, there is also a need for procedures for paying for the subscriptions, tracking subscriptions that are coming up for renewal, and inevitably chasing the issues that go missing to ensure unbroken runs.
This all changed, however, with the widespread adoption of the web and electronic
publishing. The web has undoubtedly simplified the whole subscription process, from finding publisher and journal information to making queries and placing orders. Not only has electronic publishing reduced the problem of receiving missing issues, but it has also enabled publishers to bundle digital access to their entire list of academic titles, vastly simplifying a
The market has become a lot more challenging for subscription agents
renewals process that is increasingly negotiated with the big publishers on a library’s behalf by consortia of libraries. Subscription agents have been left with the long tail, the smaller publishers and obscure titles from which it is inevitably harder for subscription agents to make a profit. As one industry insider, who preferred not to be named, put it: ‘Neither publishers nor libraries have nurtured subscription agents as a useful intermediary. The big publishers have
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