LJ Buyout: What's in It for You, and Us
Media Source, a library company, is a good fit for LJ
Francine Fialkoff -- Library Journal, 03/02/2010
At Library Journal, we're pleased, and relieved, at the turn of events that has aligned us with a library company, Media Source, headed by CEO Randy Asmo. Soon we will move to new digs in New York City (location TBD), along with our sister publication School Library Journal, and will continue to be led by publisher Ron Shank.We join two prestigious and long-established entities in the library field, The Horn Book, which has reviewed the high end of children's book output since 1924, and Junior Library Guild, less familiar to LJ but not to our SLJ colleagues, a book-subscription program that has been supplying school and public libraries with hand-selected titles, many of which have gone on to be award winners, since 1929. Both companies have prospered under Media Sources's new management.
The sale is bittersweet, however. Our sibling publication Publishers Weekly is not part of it. We have been integrally tied to PW ever since our founding in 1876 by Melvil Dewey and R.R. Bowker, three years after Bowker launched PW for the book trade. Many of us have worked together for years, sharing expertise, gossip, and leads. We refer back and forth to each others' publications. I have no doubt that they will survive without us, but it will still seem strange to go forward without them.
There is one thing we may not miss. Our previous ownership by Reed Elsevier raised valid concerns among many readers, though we've put Reed through the same editorial lens as other companies in the library market, and it has never interfered with our editorial content. Still, there may be some bloggers and other writers who preferred not to be affiliated with Reed and who now may have a welcome change of heart.
Though we'll remain an independent brand, we're looking forward to finding synergies with our new colleagues and to drawing on their expertise to upgrade our own sites and blogs. We'll continue doing what we do: casting a wide net in the library world—through our magazine and print supplements, web site, enewsletters, webinars, Design Institutes, and other events—both on libraries and librarians and the vendors and products that support them.—Francine Fialkoff, Editor-in-Chief, LJ
