June 10, 2014

Dear Project MUSE Library Customers,

We hope this finds you well and enjoying the summer. We’re writing to update you on the status of Project MUSE’s platform development and technology roadmap.

HighWire informed us a few months ago that Stanford University was planning to sell its majority ownership stake in HighWire to Accel-KKR, a private equity firm. The sale officially closed recently and a public announcement went out Friday, May 30th. 

We’ve worked closely with our HighWire colleagues over the past year in building a new Project MUSE platform for our library customers and participating publishers. We’ve learned a great deal together in the process and now believe that it is in our best interest to part ways. The collaboration between the Johns Hopkins University Press and HighWire has ended.

We wish the HighWire team every success in their future endeavors as an industry-leading platform provider. Both organizations will continue to serve the scholarly publishing enterprise well and evolve to meet the changing needs of our customers.

Project MUSE remains committed to working with our library partners to enhance our industry-leading platform and to maximizing the discovery of journal, book and reference content.  The MUSE technology staff under the direction of Deputy Director Wendy Queen has been actively engaged in upgrading our platform and introducing new features based on your feedback such as a new advanced search option.  

We’ve created a long-term developmental roadmap designed to meet the evolving needs of our library partners.  Highlights include the introduction of a subject-based taxonomy to create a new platform-wide discovery tool, the launch of a reference work, and the development of more granular business models for the sale of ebooks and the expansion of our current single title ebook purchasing program. And in May we introduced a beta social network—the Project MUSE Commons—designed to foster discussion and debate among all MUSE stakeholders (publishers, librarians, and end users).

Our investment in technology is ongoing and most importantly, we will continue to provide a high level of performance and customer service to you. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely,

Dean Smith
Director, Project MUSE

Melanie Schaffner
Director, Sales & Marketing, Project MUSE

Ann Snoeyenbos
Manager, International Sales and Special Markets, Project MUSE