NA Publishing, Image Data Conversion, Announce Bankruptcy.

Saline, Michigan’s NA Publishing, Inc. and its parent company, Image Data Conversion, LLC, have announced they are bankrupt.  Posted to their website and distributed to some circles of the library community in late May was this statement:

NA Publishing, along with its parent company Image Data Conversion, has ceased operations and is working with its bank to resolve its outstanding obligations. NA Publishing is seeking to find buyers for its digital collections, including: Music Magazine Archives, and Leftist/Marxist Newspapers. In the mean time, NA Publishing will continue to provide access to these collections until a buyer(s) has been found. NA Publishing is in the process of transitioning the Publishers Weekly Digital Archive directly to Publishers Weekly who has agreed to maintain access for all libraries that have previously purchased this collection.

For outstanding serials in microfilm orders, NA Publishing has been seeking an agent to fulfill outstanding orders but has not secured one as of this date. Efforts to secure a viable solution for fulfilling these will continue.

Numerous customers have had longstanding business relations for purchases of microformed periodicals and other products with NA Publishing in its current and previous incarnations. There was a routine to it, which included paying in advance for the products. Substantial time could elapse before the product arrived, which could be a year or two, but the routine of the relationship masked red flags that otherwise would have gone up had it been different.  Not until early Spring did people start noticing that routine communication with NA Publishing had ceased. A March The Flash blog post did provide some reassurance that things were okay.

Shortly thereafter I learned that a community college library had smelled something was wrong and had contacted their administration about the concern. The resulting check on the building by the police department found a For Sale sign planted in front of their former headquarters, 6564 S. State Rd., which then prompted me to locate its availability on Loopnet.com. It also prompted me to do some digging on the history and nature of the company.

I could write a couple paragraphs about what I unearthed, but with ALA Annual coming up soon I think it would be useful to know a few things. An entry for Image Data Conversion, LLC, on the Center For Research Libraries describes IDC as the parent organization for three companies: NA Publishing, Inc., eBeam Film, LLC; and Reveal Digital. Links to the other two businesses show a May 31 website expiration. I also discovered that Reveal Digital had recently cancelled an editorial board meeting scheduled for June 24 at ALA Annual.

What ties most of this together is one name, Jeff Moyer.  While I have not discovered his role in the eBeam Film business, as President of Image Data Conversion, President of NA Publishing, and Founder and co-Program Director of Reveal Digital it would make sense that an explanation of sorts ought to be shared as well as what will be done for reimbursement of funds should efforts to resolve its obligations fail.

Representatives from Center For Research Libraries, LYRASIS, and a large number of universities are on Reveal Digital’s executive committee and editorial board. Going forward those institutions should feel a substantial degree of trepidation with regards to their involvement.