12 September 2018
SAGE Publishing has acquired technology start-up Lean Library and its associated products.
The Lean Library browser extension provides seamless, one-click access to all licensed library resources, both on and off campus, and offers legal routes to discover open access full text. At the same time, the service enables libraries to promote their services when and where they are needed by delivering targeted messages directly into users' workflows.
Founded by Johan Tilstra and Jan Thij Bakker in late 2016, the library technology company delivers library services, building upon first hand experience of working within university libraries. In just over 18 months almost fifty partnerships with libraries in Australia, the United States, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and beyond have been established.
Lean Library currently offers three products:
- Library Access, which provides a browser extension that allows users to browse the internet as normal and seamlessly access library content
- Library Assist, which enables the library to send tailored messages to their users, in context, on the platform
- Library Alternatives, which presents the reader with alternative routes to full text, should an article not be accessible at the website the user currently is visiting
Lean Library will complement the SAGE Technologies for Learning and Research. On completion of the acquisition, the Lean Library team will continue to operate from their head offices in Delft. Lean Library will become a part of the SAGE Group.