EDITOR'S NOTE
Buying Power
by Brandi Scardilli
When you’re thinking about all of the mergers and acquisitions that have occurred in the information and library technology spaces, Computers in Libraries columnist Marshall Breeding’s Library Technology Guides chart is an indispensable tool: librarytechnology.org/mergers. It’s been fascinating to see the chart grow over the years as he updates it, and the most recent big acquisition—OverDrive buying Kanopy—is the subject of our lead feature this issue, by Jessica Hilburn (page 16). She looks at what this news means for library budgets and access and, along with Amazon’s ebook partnership with DPLA, how “[g]rowing digital monopolies in library spaces are both an opportunity and an ethical conundrum.”
Speaking of conundrums, how much should you trust the medical information being presented to you from a presumably expert source? On page 19, Anthony Aycock details his recent health scare and shares how info pros can be advocates for their customers’ health information journeys. For the Insights on Content feature (page 30), Amy Affelt also talks about health consequences—namely, what COVID-19 has done to the global supply chain and how info pros can find, analyze, and share the relevant data.
Happy reading,  |
