Thursday, May 10, 2001

Digital-Library Company Lays Off Half Its Staff and Slows Conversion Effort By SARAH CARR Officials at the digital-library company Questia this week sliced their staff in half, laying off 139 of 283 employees. "We can't see spending money at the rate that we were when it is so difficult to raise money," said Troy Williams, Questia's founder and chief executive officer. "Once it becomes easier to raise money, we will start spending money at the same rate again." Mr. Williams said a "significant majority" of the employees who lost their jobs were involved in digitizing the books that make up the online library. The company plans to cut costs by slowing the rate at which books are put online in the coming months. Questia, which is based in Houston, currently has a database of about 35,000 books and journal articles. The company is privately held. "We will continue to digitize," Mr. Williams said. "But it will be a lot slower than it was." Questia's service -- which is aimed at college students -- is sold in week-, month-, and year-long subscriptions. A student pays $19.95 for complete access to the site for a month, for instance. Recently the company has been trying to interest colleges in buying institutional subscriptions, but its success has been mixed. Although Mr. Williams refused to disclose the number of paying subscribers, he said the number has grown "five-fold" in the past two weeks. The Associated Press, quoting the Houston Chronicle, reported Wednesday that Questia had more than 5,000 paying subscribers. Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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