Greetings all - this info regarding Faxon [Divine Library SErvices] came across my email

Sonja


-------------------------------------------
Sonja Staum-Kuniej
Director of Content Development 
and Collaborations
IHC Smart Desktop Initiative
Indiana Humanities Council
1500 N. Delaware
Indianapolis, IN 46202
Phone: 317.638.1500
Email: [log in to unmask]
http://www.ihc4u.org


-----Original Message-----
From: Harmon, Joseph C. 
Sent: Monday, January 06, 2003 7:15 AM
To: IN-ULIB-ULFO
Subject: Further info on Faxon failure from Amer. Libs online


-----Original Message-----
From: George Eberhart [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, January 03, 2003 5:31 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [AL_NEWS:204] Breaking News, January 6 American Libraries
Online


Breaking News, January 6 American Libraries Online
<http://www.ala.org/alonline/index.html>


> Divine Failure Leaves 
 Library Subscriptions Hanging

> Library of Congress 
 Booted Out of the Capitol

> Pew Study Finds 
 Internet Expectations High

> Russian Prosecutor: 
 Harry Potter Isn't Satanic
 


Divine Failure Leaves 
Library Subscriptions Hanging

 Divine Library Services, one of the largest subscription
 agencies in the United States, has stopped processing orders in
 the wake of an apparent financial failure. The century-old
 agency - known as Faxon until 1999, then as RoweCom until
 it was acquired in November 2001 by software-and-services
 vendor Divine - recommended in a December 20
 announcement that its clients find "alternative sources for your
 materials" because it has "not been able to place or make
 payments for the substantial majority" of its 2003 orders. 

 Information Today reported December 20 that prepayments
 to the agency could be stuck in financial limbo for months, with
 some customers losing both funds and orders. However, the
 company announced that three publishers - Elsevier, John
 Wiley, and Blackwell - have agreed to distribute journals
 through January to DLS subscribers. 

 Meanwhile, the Birmingham, Alabama-based Ebsco Industries
 has signed a letter of intent to acquire the DLS European
 operation, and Divine announced it is "in active negotiations
 with Swets Blackwell" for the sale of some or all of its
 subscription operations worldwide. 

 Some executives at DLS have left, including Senior Vice
 President Jim Krzywicki, who was former chief operations
 officer at RoweCom. Information Today said that the main
 office in Westwood, Massachusetts, was down to no more
 than 100 employees, while the Canadian and London offices
 have been closed. 

 Divine has established an ad hoc committee of publishers and
 customers to search for solutions. Libraries interested in
 participating can contact the committee at
 [log in to unmask] 



Library of Congress 
Booted Out of the Capitol

 A shortage of office space has resulted in the closing of the
 only branch of the Library of Congress located in the U.S.
 Capitol. When the new Congress goes into session this month,
 interns of Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D- Calif.) will move into the tiny,
 two-room basement facility, which was shut December 31. 

 Although a December 27 New York Post article (headlined
 "Pelosi Closes the Books") blamed the move on the new
 House Democratic leader, LC spokesperson Helen Dalrymple
 told American Libraries that the decision to convert the
 library into much-needed office space was made before it was
 assigned to Pelosi, who is losing several rooms from her office
 suite because of construction on an adjacent visitor center set
 for completion in 2005. 

 "It's really too bad this is closing," Sen Charles Schumer
 (D-N.Y.), a member of the Joint Committee on the Library,
 told the Post. "It would have been nice if they could have
 found a way to keep it open." 

 The facility offered a small reference collection with a couple of
 terminals, magazines, and newspapers, said Dalrymple. Its two
 employees will be assigned elsewhere within LC's Collection,
 Access, Loan, and Management division. 



Pew Study Finds 
Internet Expectations High

 A survey conducted in September and October 2002 by the
 Pew Research Center shows that at least 80% of Internet users
 expect to find reliable news, health-care resources, and
 government information on the Web. News hounds were the
 most optimistic, with 85% of users expecting to find reliable,
 up-to-date news on the Web, and 41% reporting that they
 always find the news they are looking for. 

 Expectations were nearly as high for commercial sites, with
 79% of users counting on finding information about products
 they are considering for purchase. "With the passage of time,
 people are gaining more experience and comfort with the
 Internet and what it offers," survey author John Horrigan said in
 a December 30 Reuters report. But only 35% expected to find
 reliable information about persons online. 

 "The fact that the Web is becoming more mundane for people
 is a double-edged sword," Internet marketing consultant and
 Columbia University Professor Ruth Stevens said in the
 December 30 E-Commerce Times. "At the same time
 consumers are more sophisticated, they are also more likely to
 trust a Web site with their private information. The more times
 they do that, the more vulnerable they are." 

 Survey results are available on the Pew Research Center Web
 site. 



Russian Prosecutor: 
Harry Potter Isn't Satanic

 Russian schoolchildren will still be able to read the adventures
 of wizard-in-training Harry Potter now that an attempt to ban
 the series was thwarted. The Moscow City Prosecutor's
 Office declined December 31 to bring criminal hate-crime
 charges against Rosman Publishing for making available a
 Russian-language version of Harry Potter and the Chamber
 of Secrets. 

 The investigation began December 16 after an unidentified
 Moscow-area woman from the Tarusa chapter of the
 International Foundation for Slavic Writing and Culture filed
 charges that the book "instilled religious extremism and
 prompted students to join religious organizations of Satanist
 followers," Svetlana Petrenko, a spokesperson for the
 prosecutor's office, stated. "The probe revealed that there
 were no grounds for a criminal case," she added. 

 "Claims of Satanism are absolute nonsense," Rosman
 spokeswoman Natalya Dolgova said in the December 24
 Moscow Times. However, the alternative online publication
 PrimaNews theorized December 25 that the charges were a bit
 too reminiscent of the tactics of "Soviet times," in which
 "works of art which happened to cause displeasure of the
 authorities . . . were immediately confiscated and banned 'at
 request of outraged working people'" from bookstores and
 library circulation. 

 The article went on to note that the depiction of house-spirit
 Dobby in the film version closely resembles the main character
 of the Russian cartoon Kukly, which was unsuccessfully
 challenged in 1995 for "insulting the head of state," Vladimir
 Putin. 


Do you have a comment to make about anything appearing in American
Libraries? The editors encourage signed e-mail letters on recent 
content or matters of general interest to the library profession 
in the Reader Forum section. Send 250 words or less to
[log in to unmask]

__________________________________________________________________
Mail submissions to [log in to unmask]
For information about joining ARLIS/NA see:
        http://www.arlisna.org//membership.html
Send administrative matters (file requests, subscription requests, etc)
        to [log in to unmask]
ARLIS-L Archives and subscription maintenance:
       http://lsv.uky.edu/archives/arlis-l.html
Questions may be addressed to list owner (Kerri Scannell) at: [log in to unmask]