ALPSP strikes platform deal with MyiLibrary

E-books from society publishers will soon be available through an ALPSP-branded platform in Ingram Digital Group’s MyiLibrary.

The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) is inviting members to contribute titles to a range of e-book collections, and will offer them through MyiLibrary content distribution partners, including Swets, provider of the ALPSP learned journals collection.

Access to the ALPSP e-book collection will be offered free to ALPSP members on a shared revenue basis.

The deal is intended to allow ALPSP publishers to compete in selling multi-title collections, usually the preserve of the larger commercial publishers.

Nick Evans, chief operating officer at ALPSP, said: “We considered two sorts of suppliers: people able to build a platform and aggregators who could host collections. We went for the latter as there was the problem of financing a new platform from scratch.

“There was also concern among librarians that there were too many platforms and too many business models and another would cause problems.”

Members who already have content on MyiLibrary may opt to include titles in the ALPSP e-book collection. New participants will also be able to upload books via Ingram’s partnership with Microsoft, which will give members free access to scanning and digitisation services as part of the Microsoft Live Search Books programme.

ALPSP has also negotiated data warehousing and print-on-demand facilities through MyiLibrary.

According to Evans, a recent survey of members revealed keen interest in providing e-books through ALPSP.

ALPSP plans to make the platform available in September. “There will be subject-specific collections and pick-and-mix options for libraries, but we have to get the content before we decide how to deliver it, so we will be talking to our members over the next couple of months and pushing ahead quickly,” said Evan s.