Good Afternoon,

Below the --- and attached is the response from our Creativebug rep Meghan. 

Regardless of the below/attached, TLN advises libraries to proceed with caution when it comes to any vendor that is operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Some of us who are of a certain age may recall the late 2002 into 2003 fiasco with the library subscription jobber named Faxon, aka RoweCom, aka divine. Libraries lost in excess of $100 million when that vendor went belly up, and when the smoke cleared ultimately recovered only pennies on the dollar, not to mention the disruption it caused to patron services when never ordered by Faxon/RoweCom/divine but paid for upfront by libraries, print subscriptions ceased. TLN used Faxon/RoweCom/divine in those years, too and had a (big $$$) check in the safe ready to be mailed to that entity. A TLN staff person, possibly the same one who composed this too long message, read about the upcoming bankruptcy filing of that vendor on a listserv, where the library community had been tipped off to it by a library friendly sales rep, and the check stayed in the safe.

Again, proceed with caution.

Jim
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Good afternoon, Jim, 

Thank you for touching base. 

Here is the official press release from this morning, as well as a link to the current information we have available: https://www.joannforward.com/

We have been told that the process will take 4-6 weeks, and in the meantime, it will be business as usual.  What this means for libraries who are currently Creativebug subscribers is that they should not expect any service interruptions, and all the existing contracts will remain in place unchanged.  

Please reach out if I can provide any further assistance.  I may not have answers to all the questions, but we are compiling a list of questions and can get them addressed as soon as possible. 

Please also feel free to use the link in my signature to schedule time on my calendar, if you'd prefer to have a discussion. 


 
 

 
 

Meghan Haddad-Null 
Senior Library Account Manager 

Creativebug Library Program 
she/her/hers 
779.220.0454 | meghan.haddad-null@creativebug.com




Jim Flury
Technical Services Manager
The Library Network
41365 Vincenti Court
Novi, MI 48375
248-536-3100, ext 133
Note New Fax Number: 248-716-5584
Note New Email Address:jflury@tln.org

From: "Jim Flury" <jflury@tln.org>
To: "all-tln" <all-tln@lists.tln.org>, "directors" <directors@lists.tln.org>, "partnerscda" <partnerscda@lists.tln.org>, "michlib-l" <michlib-l@mcls.org>
Sent: Monday, March 18, 2024 1:51:44 PM
Subject: Joann Bankruptcy: Creativebug

All,

I wanted to call to your attention today's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by Joann https://www.mlive.com/news/2024/03/crafts-retailer-joann-files-for-bankruptcy.html which in the public library world means Creativebug https://www.creativebug.com/libraries Sharing this article because so many public libraries subscribe to the Creativebug service.

The article indicates that Joann will continue to pay its vendors, that the bankruptcy process could be complete by as early as April, and that Joann will emerge as a non-publicly traded company.

I reached out to our Creativebug contact and asked her for a statement. I will share her response with the lists when received.

Jim

Jim Flury
Technical Services Manager
The Library Network
41365 Vincenti Court
Novi, MI 48375
248-536-3100, ext 133
Note New Fax Number: 248-716-5584
Note New Email Address:jflury@tln.org