Prelude, Tumult, Aftermath: An Academic Library Perspective on the Swets B.V. Bankruptcy

Abstract

This article details the journey of the Colorado State University (CSU) Libraries to sever their ties with the Swets subscription agency. Although the CSU Libraries had not participated in Swets early pre-payment discount program, the CSU account with Swets involved over $1M in subscriptions. As a result of the bankruptcy, the Libraries methodically performed an elaborate number of steps to divest themselves of their former agreement with Swets and to ensure continual delivery of the relevant subscription content from publishers. Recounted are the early stirrings of trouble; the policy legacy of the previous bankruptcy of a major subscription agent more than a decade before (the Rowe.com/Faxon agency collapse); the steps undertaken by the university legal counsel, the library administration and the Acquisitions and Metadata Services Department to disentangle from the Swets agreement and account; the workflow for set-up of new accounts to achieve fairly unbroken subscription service for affected journal titles; and the continued adventure in an aftermath period in which the university was dunned for payments characterized as having an arrearage status by representatives of trustee interests for the bankrupt company.