Questia Update

[Donald A. Barclay]

I know that Questia has been discussed on this list in the past, so I
thought list members might be interested to know about an article that
appeared in the <<Houston Chronicle>> last week. The article reported that
after spending some 110 million in venture capital, Houston-based Questia
has 1,000 paying subscribers.

The rabidly pro-Houston, pro-business <<Houston Chronicle>> tried to put a
good spin on things by reporting that Questia has put most of its money into
its product and is only now beginning to seriously market Questia to the
college crowd, but I doubt any sane person would run out and invest in
Questia after reading this article.

The article reported that one of Questia's marketing strategies is to give
undergrads at four mega-universities free access to Questia. Of course
undergrads at mega-universities already have free access to more e-resources
than they know what to do with, so I question the wisdom of this ploy.

But who knows? Maybe Questia will become the McDonalds and Coca Cola of
online information and will be sitting in the amen corner when they bury the
last academic library?

Donald A. Barclay
Houston Academy of Medicine-
Texas Medical Center Library
Houston, Texas 77030-2809
713.799.7120

always the beautiful answer
who asks a more beautiful question
   --e.e. cummings