CIG Acquires Minority Stake in LibraryThing; Bowker to Distribute to Libraries

Josh Hadro -- Library Journal, 1/22/2009

• LibraryThing for Libraries added to Syndetics Solutions line
• Minority stakes in LibraryThing for CIG and Amazon
• Tim Spalding remains majority stakeholder

The Cambridge Information Group (CIG) announced early today that it has acquired a minority stake in the social book cataloging company LibraryThing. As part of the deal, Bowker, wholly owned by CIG, will become the exclusive distributor of the LibraryThing for Libraries catalog enhancement packages, taking over all sales and marketing efforts. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Through the Bowker arrangement, the LibraryThing for Libraries packages will be marketed and distributed along with the other catalog enhancements offered by Syndetic Solutions, including book covers and published reviews, primarily aimed at public libraries.

LibraryThing for Libraries is a set of add-ons that introduce user-friendly and interactive elements to a library’s OPAC. The Catalog Enhancements package includes tags, recommendations, and information on related editions, while the Reviews Enhancement package (debuted in October 2008) lets patrons see and add reviews from item records or search results pages.

Good fit all around
The deal seems to open up a number of opportunities for both companies. While LibraryThing for Libraries has already been installed in more than 100 library catalogs, the new arrangement provides a far more established outlet thanks to the market penetration commanded by Bowker and Syndetics. Indeed, while lauding the marketing efforts of his team to date, LibraryThing founder and president Tim Spalding told LJ that the new arrangement would be “a sea change in scale and professionalism.”

Also, as Spalding wrote on his LibraryThing blog, the company stands to benefit from the injection of capital as well: “LibraryThing has been profitable for a while, but we didn't have much of a cushion…. The CIG deal frees us from worry and gives us room to grow.”

At the same time, the deal gives Bowker an already mature user-centric product that dovetails with its existing product line. Speaking about the fit between LibraryThing for Libraries and the products Syndetics already offers, Angela D'Agostino, senior vice president of business development for Bowker, said, “It’s a terrific combination for libraries who wish to create an innovative 2.0 OPAC without spending tons of money.”

Moreover, LibraryThing for Libraries is already fully supported by AquaBrowser, an enhanced catalog interface owned by Bowker and distributed by ProQuest subsidiary Serials Solutions (which just this week announced Summon, its own discovery layer for library catalogs).

Cover service synergy
LibraryThing will continue to make available the user-supplied free book covers it offers via its API service, though Bowker will also have access to these as well. As D'Agostino said, "Any covers that [LibraryThing] has that we don’t have will be made available through Syndetics, so libraries who subscribe to our cover service will get the best of both worlds by getting the vast majority of current material as well as some of the older more obscure works" added by the LibraryThing userbase. Or, as Spalding put it to LJ, "LibraryThing has some of the 'tail,' but not much of the 'head.'"

In addition to owning Bowker and ProQuest, CIG also acquired in June 2008 research database Dialog from Thomson Reuters to complement ProQuest’s existing database offerings. CIG is an investment firm “primarily focused on education, research and information services companies,” according to the management company’s site.

CIG isn’t the only company with a minority stake in LibraryThing: Amazon, through its August 2008 acquisition of online bookseller AbeBooks, also has a 40% minority stake in the company. Though the financial terms of the CIG deal were not disclosed, Spalding said in his blog post that he will retain majority ownership, chart development of the company, and that it will "stay small, quirky, and in Maine."