Association of Research Libraries

In December 2006, the Information Access Alliance (IAA)—representing the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the American Library Association, the Association of College and Research Libraries, the American Association of Law Libraries, the Medical Library Association, SPARC, and the Special Libraries Association—submitted comments for the ongoing Joint Hearings on Single-Firm Conduct and Antitrust Law being held by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The hearings are exploring this area of law and soliciting input from interested stakeholders. The comments, prepared for the IAA by Thomas M. Susman of Ropes & Gray, LLP, discuss journal bundling and other issues regarding anticompetitive single-firm conduct in the scholarly journal market. In the comments, the IAA urges the DOJ and FTC to review and analyze the problem of journal bundling and to explore the application of appropriate remedies.

The comments are now available on the IAA Web site at http://www.informationaccess.org/.

Information on the hearings is available at http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/public/hearings/single_firm/sfchearing.htm.

For more information, contact Karla Hahn, Director, Office of Scholarly Communication, Association of Research Libraries, karla@arl.org.