OUP Inks National Agreement in Germany; Layoffs at Greenwood after ABC-CLIO deal; Springer launches 'MyCopy'; Ebook Program

-- Library Journal, 10/09/2008

With publishers gearing up for the Frankfurt Book Fair, Oxford University Press this week made a splash of its own in Frankfurt—but with its journals. Officials at Oxford Journals announced this week it has signed a sweeping national agreement to provide “higher education, government and publicly funded research institutions, state and regional libraries, and universities” in Germany with online access to both the Oxford Journals Collection and Archive.

The deal was signed by on behalf of the German consortia by the University Library of Frankfurt, one of the German National Libraries of Humanities and Arts, funded by the German Research Foundation, as part of its national licensing project. It will replace all existing consortia agreements in Germany, giving some 2.5 million academics, researchers, and students throughout the country online access to the Oxford Journals Collection and the Oxford Journals Archive…

Some fallout from the recent acquisition of Greenwood Publishing by ABC-CLIO will be felt in Westport, CT. According to local reports, Greenwood’s offices in Westport will be closed in December and “about 150 employees will be terminated,” beginning the first week of that month, the source said. ABC-CLIO CEO Ron Boehm has said that the Santa-Barbara, CA, based publisher will need some 90 positions in other cities, and will be giving Greenwood employees a chance to interview for those positions… 

In yet another program hinting at a future of where print and ebooks combine to serve readers, Springer, one of the world’s most aggressive boosters of the ebook, unveiled a program called MyCopy, which allows a library’s registered patrons to order print on demand (PoD) paperback copies, for their personal use, of Springer eBooks the library has purchased—for $24.95, which include shipping and handling.

The program is yet another sign that PoD services will increasingly be a valuable part of the ebook market. Recently, the University of Michigan installed an espresso book machine in its library, which can print titles in the library’s public domain digital collections for four about $10 a copy—and in minutes.  MyCopy will offer more than 11,000 electronic Springer books published since 2005. The books will feature color covers, and black-and-white content.

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