Last week I reported that Frank Menchaca, Senior Vice President for Global Product Management at Cengage, will speak about Gale and its future in two conference calls for representatives of CRL libraries, on June 3 and June 7.  We have had a very strong response to that announcement and registration is nearly at capacity.  If you or a representative of your library would like to register you still may be able to at the registration site.   We wish that we could to accommodate all CRL libraries at this event, but will give you our take on the Cengage-Gale situation after the fact.    

Meanwhile, as background for our calls, we produced a profile of Cengage Learning, with financial and governance information on both Gale and Cengage.  Many of those who registered for the event posed questions they would like to have answered during the calls.  Most of the questions relate to the impact of a Cengage bankruptcy, sale or dismemberment on the availability and cost of Gale databases.  We forwarded those questions along to Mr. Menchaca so that he will be prepared to address them.

I think the conference calls will shed useful light on the current Cengage financial situation and its potential impact on electronic resources for CRL libraries.  The conference calls are part of the CRL Global Resources Forum, a program of activities and resources that support informed, strategic library investment in digital collections and services.