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NEWS


Customers act after shock decision to change model


SOME librarians are weighing their options while others have already taken action to reduce the impact of Clarivate’s shock decision to change its business model. In February the company, which sells content produced by over 10,000 pub- lishers to libraries across the world, said it was terminating the supply of physical books and changing its business model from selling eBooks to renting them.


Uncertainty remains The library sector voiced grave concerns about the announcement. SCONUL for example said: “These proposals have been introduced at very short notice creating­


institutions at operational level, includ- ing­with­work­flows­and­staffing.” Clarivate apologised and relaxed the deadlines saying: “We recognise that the absence of community consulta- tion created frustration, during already challenging times for libraries and higher education. We sincerely apol- ogise for this and are committed to learning from this moment and doing better.”


Andrew Barker, Library Director at Lancaster University said Clarivate had not even engaged its own advisory board (of which he is a member) to dis- cuss the changes in advance. He said: “I think there remains uncertainty as they have­ revisited­what­ first­was­ said­and­ changed the dates – there is uncertainty as to whether there might be more changes as this fundamental shift was announced without warning – if it can be done once, it can be done again – and that­is­a­loss­of­trust­which­is­very­diffi- cult,­if­not­impossible,­to­­regain.”


Money and work


In line with many others in the sector Andrew said that more annual subscrip- tion payments were not welcome but said the immediate practical implica- tions were huge: “The move away from print books, demand driven acquisition (DDA)­ and­ associated­ workflows­ of­ these will have the greatest impact, as


8 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL


well as needing to ensure we can repur- pose­ workflows­ for­ another­ vendor.­ In­ essence­the­removing­of­our­flexibility­at­ a time when we are needing to increase flexibility­­–­­because­of­a­need­to­reduce­ expenditure – will have a massive and detrimental impact. The whole point of using one vendor for everything was to simplify – tools were sold on that basis, so it is deeply unsettling to have that now undermined.” He added that Lancaster uses Clarivate’s


­ very­ significant­ problems­ for­


Library Management System Alma – as does 60 per cent of the HE sector – but now has “one less reason to remain an Alma­customer­in­the­long-term”. Matt Cox, head of content delivery and discovery at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) and a committee member of the National Acquisitions Group, said ARU had circa 80 per cent of all book acqui- sitions via Clarivate products but had shifted completely to two alternative sup- pliers. “It was frustrating having to make these changes... I lost the trust, which is why­I­moved­immediately­to­shift­away.”­ (https://tinyurl.com/clarivatebypass)


House of Commons Other­sectors­are­also­affected.­The­House­ of Commons Library uses Clarivate and Martin Reid, Director of Library Services, Research & Information, said: “Ebooks are an important resource for us and we were­ planning­ to­ ­significantly­ develop­ our­ offering­ using­DDA­and­ as­ well­ as­ exploring access to own as an approach. But the changes Clarivate have an- nounced mean we will have to reevaluate that strategy. As with other libraries, our key considerations are content and cost and how best to provide the titles our user want within the budget we have. So we will be looking at other suppliers and models­before­deciding­how­to­proceed.”


Counterparty risk


Pricing and license complexity com- mands much librarian attention (see p.12) and the risk posed by dependence on platforms can be overlooked. But over-stretched librarians need to mon- itor changes in supplier circumstances


– like Clarivate’s share price falling from $33 to $3 – and their potential impli- cations.


Gavin Philips, Category Manager, at SUPC, said: “Yes, librarians should keep an eye­on­financial­stability­of­suppliers­but­if­ all librarians or procurement profes- sionals did this it would duplicate huge amounts­ of­ effort­across­the­ sector,­ in- cluding for suppliers, potentially adding cost­or­putting­off­smaller­suppliers…­I­ monitor­financial­stability­of­framework­ suppliers all the time. If I see potential risk­ or­ just­ a­ significant­ change­ then­ I­ follow up to establish the actual context and decide if members need to be aware (I­don’t­want­to­scaremonger!)”­He­said­ SUPC’s new book and ebook framework will include a tool that provides mem- bers with some support on this issue.


Clarivate response


Clarivate said it had engaged with cus- tomers and users and acted on their feedback saying: “We have entered into an agreement (https://tinyurl.com/Ebookcentrala- greement) with Portico to provide third-party preservation for the books available to academic libraries through Ebook Cen- tral, and we are launching a librarian engagement group to provide strategic guidance into the development of our sub- scriptions,­ helping­ ensure­ they­ reflect­ wide-ranging academic needs. We are committed to continuing to work with our­partners­for­the­future­of­libraries.”


‘‘


... a loss of trust which is very difficult, if not impossible, to regain. – Andrew Barker


Summer 2025


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