Have you ever noticed how law libraries and legal publishers are a lot like baseball teams and cable companies? No? Well, in truth, I never really noticed either, but then I happened to be listening to a news story about the dispute between the New York Yankees and the cable company that distributes the Yankees' television broadcasts in the New York City area. Without going into any detail (you can listen to the report at: http://www.marketplace.org/shows/2002/04/10_mpp.html) the basic dispute revolves around who controls the content (the baseball game) and who controls the distribution (how the broadcast gets into your home). Beginning to sound familiar?

A few days after hearing the broadcast I received a letter from the Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. (BNA) announcing that they were restructuring how law schools access BNA products on Westlaw and Lexis. BNA databases that had previously been available via Westlaw and Lexis, are no longer going to be included as part of a law school's contract with the two vendors. Instead, schools will have to start paying BNA directly, for access to the data. In announcing the policy change, BNA Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, Gregory C. McCaffery pointed out that BNA received "no revenue or royalty" under their old arrangements with the two online services. To learn more about the details of the new academic program, see the BNA web site: http://www.bna.com/lawschool/.

Discussion on several listservs suggests that many librarians were caught off guard by the BNA decision, or were at least surprised by the suddenness of the announcement. Given that the BNA decision falls on the heels of many other information producers (most noticeably many metropolitan city newspapers) removing their data from larger database systems, it really should not surprise any of us. More and more, companies that once paid other businesses to distribute their products (whether the product is electronic data or a physical object) have learned that today's technologies can allow them to cut the middleman and distribute their products directly. And while this is a relatively new phenomenon, it is a potential that publishers have recognized for years. In fact BNA has been talking about this since at least 1994. It was in 1994 when I happened to interview, then BNA President, William A Beltz. The interview (see, "The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.: The CRIV Sheet Interview." 17 The CRIV Sheet no.1-2, pp.9-11; 13-15.) came on the heels of another controversial BNA announcement - their decision to stop publishing state laws and regulations in the paper edition of their Environment Reporter and instead publish them in a new CD-ROM product. As I was ending the interview, I asked Beltz to speculate on the future of the Internet, as it pertained to legal publishing. Quite succinctly he responded that, "It [the Internet] is a delivery system," and "it is in our interest that our products be delivered efficiently and cost-effectively."

Law Librarians may disagree with these distribution decisions, or at least want some input before the decision is made, but we should not criticize them simply if our complaint is that they create an inconvenience to us - and believe me, in this particular case, the decision has become an inconvenience in our library. Yet, while I truly believe that the BNA decision will create more work for our library, cause us to pay more money for less information, and will require our patrons have to learn yet another information retrieval system, I understand why BNA made the decision and I support their right to distribute their own products.

While the BNA decision didn't surprise me, I admit I was not as prepared as I should have been. I also understand that BNA is not going to be the last publisher to start its own electronic distribution system, nor will these decisions only affect the academic market. Thus, in retrospect, here are a few quick suggestions on how Acquisitions Librarians can be better prepared for e-distribution changes:

1. Know what databases your patrons are using - talk to your reference people if you don't have direct access with patrons or the data. If you learn what your patrons use, you can make better decisions about what is the best way to obtain it.
2. Learn what type of electronic access works best for your library. Does your library prefer/require IP range access versus password-protected access? Similarly, learn the basic technical configuration and statistics of your systems so that you'll have a better understanding of how it will work with any new system being offered by vendors. In other words, know what your library can and can't handle in terms of accessing electronic distribution. Again, talk with the appropriate people in your organization who can educate you on these matters.
3. Consider how a decision, similar to the BNA decision, is going to affect your departmental workflow. Now that you are going to pay the publisher directly, will you have to create new payment accounts? What type of billing system will the new distributor offer you and how will it interact with your system? How will their decision affect your budget?
4. Keep abreast of what is going on the legal publishing industry. In addition to publications like The CRIV Sheet (and its corresponding website: http://www.aallnet.org/committee/criv/), check out publications like Information Today, Fulltext Sources Online, and Net.Journal Directory. These publications can help you stay aware of what alternatives are been offered. Similarly, visit the major publisher websites to see what they are offering. Most companies will offer you free trial subscriptions to their online services, so if you think there is a chance that a new service is going to become your only source for particular information, go ahead and start investigating the system.
5. Talk, Talk, Talk. Talk to the publishers/distributors who will be the ones who ultimately make the decisions; let them know, in advance, how these types of decisions affect their library customers. Talk to your colleagues at similar libraries; find out how others handle these types of changes. Talk to your colleagues and patrons at your library; these decisions affect all aspects of the library. Get as much input as you can.