R.R. Bowker is buying the 75% of PubNet that it does not already own from the Association of American Publishers, the American Booksellers Association and the National Association of College Stores. Bowker and the three associations have owned PubNet in equal shares since 1997. Terms of the deals were not disclosed.
Founded in 1987 by the AAP, PubNet (www.pubnet.org), the e-commerce service that allows booksellers to buy titles electronically from publishers, distributors and wholesalers, has some 3,000 bookseller subscribers and a searchable database of more than 500,000 titles. One of the first EDI networks in the industry, PubNet will be operated as a stand-alone unit of Bowker, and PubNet management will stay in place.
Representatives of the three associations will serve as "special advisers" to Bowker as PubNet grows.
Although the company plans no major changes in the near future, since the "busy season will arrive soon," Bowker president Michael Cairns told PW he has a number of initiatives in mind. Among his plans are to expand the number of booksellers using the system, adding more ABA stores to a base that consists largely of college booksellers. Cairns would also like to increase "the size and breadth of the database," so it is more reflective of Books in Print, and to expand into non—book product areas. In addition, Cairns plans to improve "the functionality of the system," which would include the ability for booksellers to track the progress of orders and see how much of the order has been fulfilled.
As for the timing of the purchase, Cairns said the four owners "realized that to do something special with PubNet, the ownership structure had to change."
