FollowWhere would publishing pipeline go if there weren’t book distributers like Ingram? I must say the company is impressive. Who knew that they were an umbrella company for Lightning Source, Coutts, Spring Arbor, and MyiLibrary among many others? I sure didn’t know that until Ingram’s presentation.
MyiLibrary and Coutts were two Ingram services that I found particularly interesting. The presentation touched on both a bit, but I wanted to know a little more. MyiLibrary is an e-content platform for libraries of all types. It has about 250,000 e-books currently and is growing rapidly. I am excited to see where this service will be in the next year or so particularly since Ingram works with McGraw-Hill, one of the big textbook publishers. I think it would be nice to have my textbooks in an e-book format. No more buying highlighters, no more coffee rings, no more illegible notes on the sides, and no more weighty bag. With any luck, distributers like Ingram can help push textbook publishers into publishing more e-textbooks. Personally, I’m excited to begin working with MyiLibrary. I bet it makes updating a library’s collection simpler.
Coutts was formed in 2000 from the combining of the United States’ John Coutts Library Services and the United Kingdom’s Business and Medical Book Company. Coutts provides a similar service as MyiLibrary, but it is a little bit different. Coutts focuses more on academic libraries and their collection development through OASIS, the Online Acquisition and Selection Information System. I think one of the best things I liked about Coutts however was that they offer their publishers opportunities to promote their products. I honestly didn’t expect that. Of course I can’t say that I was entirely surprised either. Book packagers don’t simply package a book, so why expect a distributing company like Ingram with Coutts to simply distribute content? I think it’s great that Coutts offers to help publishers promote their products. I am definitely looking forward to working with Coutts.
