Greetings colleagues,
I am reluctant to raise this question for fear of opening the
floodgates, but ....
several of us in Washtington have been working on a paper to go to the
Department of Justice urging a different standard of review for mergers
in the publishing industry, one that more realistically takes into
account the ways in which libraries make purchasing decisions and one
that more realistically scrutinizes a proposed merger for its
anti-competitive effects.
As we are finishing up the paper, it has been suggested that it would be
useful to include a few anecdotes concerning the impact of the
West-Thomson merger on law libraries. These anecdotes might include:
Issues related to price increases and resulting cancellations;
Issues related to increased concentration and less competition in the
industry;
Issues related to quality of service;
Issues related to users who couldn't get information because the library
no longer had the item; etc.
These and other similar issues are the kinds of things that would be
interesting to include in the paper.
Even as I make this request, I really do not want it to be an occasion
for publisher-bashing or for flame wars. Still, it would be helpful to
have a few anecdotes. If you have such an anecdote, I would appreciate
it if you would respond to me privately. The paper should be available
for distribution sometime in the next few weeks.
Thanks for your help,
Bob
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