The Limits of Due Diligence

Abstract

Best practices endorse using “due diligence” scrutiny of a company to establish the viability of the corporation prior to releasing large sums of money in a buy–sell transaction. Theoretically libraries should be able to utilize this approach to ensure protection against bankruptcy such as seen in the recent Swets failure and the earlier RoweCom/divine collapse. Using the Swets company as a case study, the steps needed to be taken to complete the due diligence process are enumerated and critiqued. The conclusion is drawn that a comprehensive financial appraisal in the current serials acquisitions framework requires expertise, effort, and investment that are outside the bounds of what many would consider to be reasonable.