[Michlib-l] Swets Bankruptcy Filing

[Jim Flury]

The Dutch company Swets & Zeitlinger Group B.V., which provides subscription management and other services to a significant number of academic and special library customers in the United States and internationally, is insolvent and has filed for bankruptcy protection. I don't know any details other than what is outlined in the below link, but I do know that a scenario such as this can be a library  subscription manager's worst nightmare, in that if the magazine jobber has taken in library money and not paid the publishers, not only will service end, the library will likely see little if any of its money when all is said and done. We speak from experience here. Almost exactly 12 years ago I started hearing/reading rumors that TLN's long-time serials jobber Faxon (aka RoweCom and aka divine) was experiencing financial difficulty. TLN had a check for a rather substantial amount of money for our Fall subscription renewals made out to Faxon, sitting in our safe and ready to go out in the mail. Our sober second thought was that in light of said rumors it would be a good idea to keep the check in the safe. At the end of the day this was the wise course of action. Faxon/RoweCom/divine was indeed insolvent. The company imploded, libraries all over the U.S. and the world didn't receive their magazines on account publishers had not been paid, and the libraries that had paid Faxon received only a token amount of their money back once the dissolution and distribution of assets of the insolvent company was complete. TLN was fortunate in that while our libraries did miss some magazine issues during the interim period while we contracted with a new jobber, we did not lose any money. 

Many companies that do business primarily or exclusively with libraries are privately held, which can make it difficult to obtain financial information about them. The Swets bankruptcy filing and the possible resulting nightmare scenario for its academic and special library customers worldwide should serve as a reminder and wake up call to our business. When issuing an rfp, make sure to include a provision that requires the responder to provide financial information. If you do not understand the financial information the responding company provides, ask your business office or your governing authority to review same. Do everything in your power to avoid having your institution become the next victim! 

http://www.infodocket.com/2014/09/22/netherlands-swets-files-for-bankruptcy/

Jim

Jim Flury
Technical Services Manager
The Library Network
41365 Vincenti Court 
Novi, MI 48375
248-536-3100 x133 
Fax 248-536-3098 
jflury at tln.lib.mi.us