Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, the British publisher of the smash Harry Potter series, said Wednesday it has agreed to buy Walker Publishing Co. Inc., which publishes adult non-fiction and children's books.

The cash deal, valued at $6.5 million, is designed to consolidate Bloomsbury's position in the U.S. publishing market. Further potential payments in the deal could add another $500,000 to the final price, the companies said.

Pearson eyes buy-out of remaining IDC unit for 800 Million US $
www.iii.co.uk, December 19

Pearson is considering using the proceeds from last week's sale of its Spanish newspaper assets to take full ownership of its American- listed financial-information subsidiary Interactive Data Corporation, The Sunday Times reported citing sources close to Pearson.

Reading between the lines
Education Guardian, December 16

The British Library is working fast to upgrade its research services in the midst of a world-wide debate over open source publishing. A recent innovation has been to digitise the process of reproduction and delivery through what is called the Secure Electronic Delivery Service (Seds).

Symantec Corp. and VERITAS Software Corp. merge
Press release, December 16

Symantec Corp. and VERITAS Software Corp. announced a definitive agreement to merge in an all-stock transaction. Based on Symantec's stock price of $27.38 at market close on December 15, 2004, the transaction is valued at approximately $13.5 billion.

The leader in storage software and the leader in security software will provide enterprise customers with a more effective way to secure and manage their most valuable asset, their information.

The little book of thin air
The Guardian, December 15

Bestseller lists and seasonal promotions mean that reading is the last thing on the Christmas shopper's mind.

Google to unlock libraries
CNetUK News, December 14

Google is to expand its print search service, and is expected to announce deals with five international libraries to digitise their content and allow access to much of it through the Web.

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Ovid Announces New Service For Medical Societies And Practitioners
Managing Information, December 7

Ovid Technologies, a provider of electronic medical, scientific, and academic research information solutions, has announced the availability of Communities@Ovid, a service designed to allow society and publishing partners to develop specialised portals that support communities of practitioners and researchers in medicine and science.

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IBM in talks to sell its PC business
Times Business. December 4

IBM is in talks to sell its personal computer manufacturing business which, if successful, would mark the end of an era in the brief history of the PC, a machine the company helped to invent.

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Peoples Network (PN) Computers in UK Public Libraries
Submission to Culture, Media and Sport Committee
December 2004

Report submitted by Dr Stephen J Wozniak.

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Be sure to check out our Directory of anti-virus resources which includes a report on the top ten viruses. Recommended software: Norton AntiVirus 2006  Buy now from Amazon

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