Announced in mid-February, the Clarivate press release touted its "transformative subscription-based access strategy for academia" for ebooks and primary digital collections. It noted shifts in academic library purchasing behaviours towards sustainable affordability and in the discovery of library resources via AI-powered chatbots. Bar Veinstein, President, Academia & Government, is quoted as saying, "Through this transformative approach, we’re helping institutions connect end users with academic AI tools grounded in comprehensive curated content, reinforcing libraries’ essential role in upholding academic integrity and excellence." It added that titles already purchased by libraries would stay accessible under the terms existing at the time of purchase.
A Proquest blog post on the same day as the press release was issued, concentrated on content from ProQuest Ebooks and its Digital Collection. It highlighted how the curation of titles was front and centre for ProQuest. ProQuest Ebooks offers over 700,000 high-quality, multidisciplinary scholarly ebooks and now offers an AI assistant. The Digital Collections offer over 160 million primary sources from scholarly journals, videos, and audio tracks.
It also commented on how students interact with content: "From the student perspective, having instant access has become the norm, with streaming platforms and digital media services promising unlimited access to a breadth of content."
The company's share price, which has been in the doldrums, did not improve on the news, if that is what the company was hoping for. This could signify that Clarivate wants to get out of the book market entirely since it's very low margin.
Reactions to the announcement
Libraries were quick to respond and were not happy with the "transformation". On the LSE blog, Kevin O'Donovan expertly analysed the situation with ebook pricing and concluded "How this decision from Clarivate adding another large subscription package to Library budgets will be viewed by the global customer base remains to be seen; but given the previous turmoil over Ebook pricing in the marketplace, it is unlikely to be welcomed with open arms.
On the UKSG blog, Siobhan Haimé, Birkbeck, called it a "seismic announcement" and provided a timeline as to when the shift to subscription-only access will occur. She added, "More than anything, this ‘transformation’ – presented under the rhetoric of modernisation and AI-readiness – represents a troubling shift in the power dynamics between academic libraries and commercial providers, especially those who hold (near) monopolies."
She added, " Furthermore, the transition to subscription-only access represents more than a change in purchasing models—it fundamentally undermines the ability of academic libraries to build collections that serve their specific institutional needs. It is likely to impede our ability to maintain comprehensive research—let alone teaching—collections."
On behalf of the UK academic and research library community, SCONUL sent a letter with seven signatories on 27 February to Clarivate's CEO, Matti Shem Tov, expressing the dismay at the decision and asking Clarivate to reverse the decision to discontinue the option for perpetual purchase of academic resources. They wrote "Perpetual access to scholarly content—in both physical and electronic forms—is a cornerstone of libraries' mission to provide long-term, reliable access to knowledge.".
EBSCO and other companies offering ebooks saw the Clarivate announcement and subsequent reactions by the library community as an opportunity and rushed to confirm that they had no plans to change their business models or pricing plans regarding ebooks.
Update: On 4 March Clarivate sent an email to customers about the ebook purchasing and perpetual access issue. In it, Matti Shem Tov, CEO, and Bar Veinstein, President, Academic and Government, reacted to librarians' concerns by extending the deadline to make perpetual purchases of print books and ebooks through 30 June 2026. Additionally, they wrote that they wished to clarify their intentions moving forward as:
"We remain unequivocally committed to preserving perpetual access to previously purchased Ebook Central titles.
We are committed to increased investment in Rialto as an ebook marketplace, enabling title-by-title ebook purchasing from publishers and other vendors.
We will work with vendors, such as EBSCO, to integrate with their book and purchasing platforms, to maximize choice and workflow efficiency for customers.
We will expand benchmark and collection development tools in Rialto, providing you with insights to more efficiently make book selection, purchase and access decisions."
They then added:
"We will extend the ability for customers to make perpetual purchases for both print and ebooks on all platforms, including Ebook Central, OASIS, Rialto and GOBI through June 30, 2026.
We reaffirm our commitment to always facilitate title-by-title perpetual access purchasing through the Rialto marketplace of ebooks from publishers and aggregators.
We will work with you and your vendors of choice to create migration toolkits, to make transitioning your workflows and profiles as efficient and seamless as possible.
We will provide the data and analytics you need, as well as regular updates and close communication with your local team."
Finally, they promised to communicate and consult with their customers, in a better fashion.
