15 January 2003
Dear Everybody,
My question for divine would be..."Where's the
money"?
Quite a number of North American libraries have
paid money to divine/Faxon/Rowe since September
and their monies have not been passed on to
publishers...nor has the money been returned to
the libraries...nor have they been able to obtain
an accounting from divine.
Where is that money?
EBSCO seems to be buying the European end of the
business but, while there were meetings yesterday
and will be another later today between the North
American ad hoc committee of creditors and two
"possible" buyers of the North American end,
there is no guarantee that monies already paid
by libraries will indeed be secure.
By the way, the Attorney General of the State
of New York, (New York State's chief legal
officer), has filed suit against divine on
behalf of the Buffalo campus of the State
University of New York (SUNY). SUNY Buffalo's
contract with divine came to $1.3 million USD.
The suit requests that $1.3 million USD, as
well as an additional $50 million USD in
"damages".
The lawsuit for breach of contract is pending,
though divine has offered a $500,000 USD
payment as an interim measure.
New York's Attorney General is the same chap
who is best known in the last year or two for
going most agressively after corporate
miscrants, with what seems to be quite some
considerable success.
I think divine will find Mr. Spitzer a formidable
opponent.
The North American ad hoc committee of creditors
now represents quite a large number of both
libraries and publishers. Right before New Year
there were about 50 subscribers to the divine
creditors list-serv. About 10 days ago, there
were about 125. As of this writing there are 666.
Kind regards,
Grace-Ellen
Grace-Ellen McCrann
Chief, Government Documents Division
The City College of New York
Cohen Library, NAC Building, Room 2/305
138th Street & Convent Avenue
New York, NY 10031
(212) 650 5073
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--- Richard Poynder <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Hi,
I hope to do an interview with an executive from
Divine next week. As such, I would welcome input on
questions you would like to see put to Divine from
anyone on this list, as I understand the
recent closure/sale of the Rowecom subscription
service has raised some issues for librarians.
Please feel free to e-mail suggested
questions/issues you would like to
see covered in the interview to me at the e-mail
address below.
Best wishes,
Richard Poynder
Freelance Journalist
Phone: + 44 (0)191-386-0072
Mobile: 0793-202-4032
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
eb: www.richardpoynder.com
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