To: Board of Supervisors
From: Alison McKee, County Librarian
Report Title: Purchase Order with Newsbank, Inc. for online newspaper subscriptions (Black Life in America, Hispanic Life in America, East Bay Times Collection, Contra Costa News Collection & Access World News Research Collection 2025) through December 31, 2025
?Recommendation of the County Administrator ? Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Rescind Boad Action of November 5, 2024, (C.73), which pertained to authorizing a purchase order with Newsbank, Inc.; and APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the Purchasing Agent to execute, on behalf of the County Librarian, a purchase order with Newsbank, Inc., subject to Newsbank, Inc.'s License Agreement for Subscriptions & Perpetual License Sales, in an amount not to exceed $62,808 for the renewal of online newspaper subscriptions (Black Life in America, Hispanic Life in America, East Bay Times Collection, Contra Costa News Collection Collection & Access World News Research Collection 2025) for the period January 1, 2025, through December 31, 2025.
FISCAL IMPACT:
100% Library Fund
BACKGROUND:
Library Department has and continues to use NewsBank, Inc. to provide patrons with access to a database of online newspapers. NewsBank, Inc. provides the online versions of a large variety of newspapers, including the full-text, image edition of the East Bay Times and San Francisco Chronicle. NewsBank, Inc. covers local and national news of interest to readers in the East Bay region and also covers full-text access to several years of archival content from the Contra Costa Times. NewsBank, Inc. is the sole source provider in the public library market for the full-text electronic edition of the Contra Costa Times, 1995-2016, and the East Bay Times, April 2016-present. In addition to local and regional news, the product provides newspaper coverage for other cities throughout the State and beyond. The majority of NewsBank, Inc.'s information sources are unavailable elsew...
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