The art of conjuring E-content: content disappears, companies solidify their primary businesses, technology connects and expands databases. (Database marketplace 2003)

ANY MAGICIAN WOULD be proud of the database industry. Disappearing acts, metamorphoses, and even a bit of pure trickery characterized this "magical" year. The dirtiest trick award goes to the divine/RoweCom/Faxon debacle. This show unfolded over several months and continues, as both RoweCom and parent company divine have filed for bankruptcy. EBSCO having recently acquired what's left of RoweCom's subscription businesses worldwide and is working with publishers to strike a deal that will help libraries pull their undelivered serials out of the bankruptcy hat. But divine is also the parent company of NorthernLight. This highly touted web search engine has already discontinued its article sales service, Special Collection. Factiva has offered Special Collection's corporate customers a subset of Factiva's content to replace the lost service.