Information Industry–divine
Source: Information Today NewsBreaks
divine Library Services Shuts Down, Customers Left in Limbo
In a co-authored article Barbara Quint and Paula Hane write, “One of the nation�s largest subscription agents, divine Library Services, has apparently suffered financial failure. The Massachusetts-based subsidiary of divine, inc. is also referred to by many as RoweCom or Faxon, its former names. As divine began shutting down access to incoming orders, an official notice appeared on one access point (http://www.kstore.com) that echoed e-mail announcements sent to selected customers.” The Info Today article offers suggestions for customers how to proceed and gives a bit of background on the company. Quint and Hane write, “Started in 1999, divine, inc. rapidly acquired a large number of software houses and services to assemble technologies and build a customer base�Northern Light, Open Market, Eprise, Synchrony Communications, etc. Acquired in November 2001, RoweCom, Inc. has been a wholly owned subsidiary of divine�s, operating under the name divine Library Services. RoweCom had acquired Faxon in 1999. The century-old Faxon had faced bankruptcy in 1998-99, but managed to work out relationships with librarians and publisher and recover by 2000. Repeated calls to divine headquarters in Chicago for comment on the situation were not returned. As we [Info Today] went to press, divine finally issued a press release announcing that it was reorganizing and streamlining the company into three �solutions areas� and that it intended �to divest the content subscription business delivered through its RoweCom, Inc. subsidiary and focus on digital content delivery.� At this time, divine’s web search and pay-per-view article service Northern Light is still operational.
See Also: The 7/2001 Announcement of divine’s Acquisition of RoweCom
See Also: Learn More About divine’s Many Acquisitions over the Past Few Years Via Their News Release Archive (They Sure Were Busy)
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UPDATE (1/11/03) You Can Find Updated Material and Additional Resources Posted in The ResourceShelf in Early January
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UPDATE (12/23/02) Library Journal Asks, Is divine Going Bankrupt?

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