Session 3
09.30 – 10.15 Plenary Session 3
"The Digital Information Supply Chain : Impacts, Effects, Opportunities and Challenges of the Rapidly Changing Landscape in E-Content Delivery"
James Gray – Ingram Digita
James Gray is Chief Strategy Officer for the Ingram Content companies within Ingram Industries. In his role, Mr. Gray brings his high level of industry knowledge and business development experience to bear to identify new opportunities in all of Ingram’s content areas, including physical distribution, print on demand, and digital content distribution.
Mr. Gray has long been at the forefront of the digital publishing industry as a business leader and frequent contributor to the ongoing discussion on the evolution of publishing. He is a regular speaker at industry and professional association events in the UK, Europe and North America. In 1992, he was appointed CEO of Coutts Information Services. As CEO of Coutts, he grew the company to its current position as one of the top global library supply organizations. In 2004, Mr. Gray created MyiLibrary, the industry leading aggregated e-book platform for academic, medical, professional and corporate libraries around the world. After the sale of MyiLibrary and Coutts to Ingram he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Ingram Digital, the digital division of Ingram Industries Inc.
In 2006, Ingram Industries purchased both Coutts Information Services and MyiLibrary, the latter becoming part of the newly formed Ingram Digital Group. Immediately following the acquisition, Mr. Gray was appointed President & CEO of Ingram Digital.
Outline:
With the continuing growth in the development and use of e-content within the information world and especially the legal information markets, what are the drivers for the delivery of e-content and how can this be aligned to the actual needs of the professional end user? What technology platforms are available to access e-content and what licensing options are available to serve up digital content? What research tools and detailed subject and publisher search and retrieval mechanisms are available? What about information archives? How are these tools and technologies currently being used to aid other markets? What is the future of printed books and subscription products in the ever-changing digital world?
These are just some of the questions that this presentation seeks to address. Other issues to be covered include:
Law publishing: The market dominance of the two major legal publishers has largely dictated the content availability, platform use and licensing models available for accessing legal digital content to date. From a professional legal information user’s perspective, however, an integrated information resource with archival and cross-searching capabilities that allows cost-effective access to premium content from multiple publishers provides arguably the ideal search and retrieval tool. The availability of organisational or individual content-licensing models providing "always on" 24/7 access to key works or key collections from any location, would offer significant advantage to the professional end user.
The issue of archive: What happens if you decide you no longer want or can afford the database platforms you subscribe to today? What are some of the models that have been adopted by major academic institutions around the world?
Licensing models: The perceived value of information. What models are in use in the legal market and in other allied markets around the world? What are the options for the knowledge professional in a library setting and the end user setting?
Publishing output and simultaneous e-content publishing: For many major publishers, editorial and process changes have taken place such that new titles are published simultaneously in both digital and print format. What changes can be made to help legal publishers?
E-book technology platforms: A rapidly changing world for accessing, searching and retrieval of e-content means a revolution in technology platforms. An update of the various platform and search options available today for library and end user communities.
