Despite its lazy title, this article (from the latest issue of University Business) appears to be an intelligent survey of the companies seeking to sell digital content to academic libraries:
If there is one institution on a college campus that has never faced outside competition, it is the library. Cafeterias and snack bars lose customers to local pizza joints, and the bookstore continually fights various off-campus and online rivals. Even the classroom has commercial competitors. But the great book depository in the center of campus has always rested easy. When students needed to research and write term papers—or when faculty members planned reading lists and put books on reserve—the library was the only game in town. Until now. A half-dozen companies would like to undermine the library\’s monopoly. Styling themselves as digital libraries, course-pack providers, content aggregators, and research guides, they offer a variety of products aimed at students at all levels. None intend to replace the library, of course, but the firms are positioning themselves as purveyors of supplemental services of digital content that libraries do not provide.
There is also an interesting sidebar on the African Digital Library
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