The Digital Reader

Please note that the following represents the viewpoint of the company suing OCLC. It may not be the full story. I myself am going to wait until I can see the court documents.

From the press release:

In a move that could have far-reaching implications for competition in the library software and technology services industry, SkyRiver Technology Solutions, LLC has filed suit in federal court in San Francisco against OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc.  The suit alleges that OCLC, a purported non-profit with a membership of 72,000 libraries worldwide, is unlawfully monopolizing the markets for cataloging services, interlibrary lending, and bibliographic data, and attempting to monopolize the market for integrated library systems, by anticompetitive and exclusionary practices.

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SkyRiver was launched in October 2009 to provide a high quality, low cost alternative to OCLC cataloging, potentially allowing customers to achieve savings of up to 40%.  The complaint details how public sector SkyRiver customers, like Michigan State University and California State University, Long Beach, turned to SkyRiver to achieve cost savings, only to have OCLC quote them a price increase of over 1100% to upload their holdings to OCLC’s WorldCat database for the benefit of other interlibrary loan (ILL) users. Straus concludes, “If allowed to continue unabated, OCLC’s actions can have the effect of eliminating competition and taking away choice for libraries.  They will not succeed.”

For more information about the SkyRiver’s lawsuit and the issue of choice for libraries in the marketplace for library software and services, visit www.choiceforlibraries.com. Twitter users are encouraged to use hashtag #skyoclc.