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NetLibrary Adopts Open eBook Specification Standards
Strategic decision positions the company to deliver eBooks faster, more efficiently
BOULDER, COLO - April 26, 2001 - NetLibrary™, the leading provider of eBooks and Internet-based
content/collection management services, today announced the adoption of industry standards for
NetLibrary eBooks. NetLibrary has been a member of the Open eBook Forum, and has actively
supported the development of industry standards for the past two years. As a leader in the
development of the institutional library eBook market, this strategic move positions NetLibrary
to significantly accelerate the adoption and use of eBooks by its library customers while
continuing to support a quality eBook experience and maintain core functionality. Adoption
of OeBF standards will result in lower cost and faster conversion processes which will
facilitate the availability of more front-list titles from the world's leading publishers,
many of whom are already working with NetLibrary.
Going forward, NetLibrary will accept electronic files meeting OeBF standards directly
from publishers or, at the publisher's request, manage the conversion process on behalf
of the publisher. Doing so will result in the re-allocation of conversion work to
outsource vendors, changing the scope of conversion processes handled in-house.
"This move will enhance our ability to provide our library customers
with the quality, current content they desire, while responding to publisher
requests encouraging us to align with OeBF standards," said Rob Kaufman,
President and CEO of NetLibrary. "After careful study, we determined this
change will benefit our more than 5,000 institutional library customers as
well as our 300 internationally known publishers. In addition, it will create
efficiencies that will strengthen our business model and allow us to focus
more of our resources directly on supporting the publishers and libraries
we work with daily," Kaufman continued.
Conversion processing for the company's MetaText Division will remain
unchanged. Several steps in the MetaText conversion process are already
being outsourced. Other activities, such as the creation of sample pages
and MTML, are too new to outsource at this time and will continue to
be performed at NetLibrary. This shift in NetLibrary eBook conversion
processes to outsourcing vendors will result in a restructuring that
reduces the company's headcount by approximately 90 positions. The
remaining employee base will be focused more directly on customer and
publisher support programs.
About NetLibrary
NetLibrary is the leading provider of eBooks and Internet-based content
management services. Hundreds of publishers of academic, professional, and
scholarly books have adopted NetLibrary's digital rights management
infrastructure. NetLibrary develops, archives, hosts, and securely distributes
eBooks through a variety of channels, including academic, corporate, public,
and school libraries. NetLibrary eBooks are full-text searchable and available
for use on personal computers in online and offline formats.
Contact:
Marge Gammon
NetLibrary
(303) 381-8799
mgammon@netlibrary.com
Jim McDougald
GCI Group
(303) 381-2585
jmcdougald@gcigroup.com
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