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TutorialsEbooks & vendors

Before your next vendor question

Who’s behind
the ebook service?

A renewal quote or a patron’s privacy question gives you a reason to look. Find the company behind the app so you know whose terms to read and where to take your questions.

By the end, you can

  • Identify the app’s maker
  • Choose a record to check next
  • Show the source behind your finding
Start with your question
In this tutorial

01 · Choose your question

What do you need to find out?

Start with a question from your work: whose privacy policy should you check, or which company is named in a renewal quote? Write that question down before looking up ownership.

For this example, the app is Libby. Open its official product page to check which company makes it. That connection gives you a starting point for finding the relevant company documents.

Try it

Make three lines in your note: “My question,” “App,” and “Company.” Add your question and the app’s name. Fill in the company when you can point to a source.

02 · Find its maker

Look for who built it.

On the official page, find the section headed Your guide to reading happiness. It identifies OverDrive as Libby’s builder. The page footer names OverDrive, Inc.

From the official Libby page

Brought to you by your local library, and built with 💕 by OverDrive.

Short text excerpt, checked October 25, 2026. Read it on OverDrive’s site

Your library offers the service to its readers. The app has its own maker. Record those roles separately so a familiar library logo doesn’t have to answer a company question.

App
Libby
Maker
OverDrive
Source for the connection
Official Libby product page
Try it

Add OverDrive to your “Company” line. Beside it, record the URL, the section you used, and the date you checked.

03 · Read the deal

Check whether the sale was completed.

Go to the company’s newsroom and look for an acquisition or ownership announcement. For this example, open OverDrive’s June 9, 2020 release. Read its first paragraph and the short paragraph about the investment fund.

The release reports that KKR completed its acquisition of OverDrive from Rakuten. It also distinguishes that event from the agreement announced in December 2019.

Agreement announcedDecember 2019

The June release refers back to the earlier agreement.

Completion announcedJune 9, 2020

This is the dated release confirming the completed acquisition.

What about the investment fund?

The release names KKR America’s XII Fund as the fund making the investment. Keep that wording in your note. A fund name, the investment firm’s name, and a legal subsidiary name describe different things; don’t swap one for another without a source.

The trail so far

  1. AppLibbyMaker identified on its product page
  2. CompanyOverDriveSubject of the acquisition release
  3. Acquirer in the 2020 dealKKRCompletion announced June 9, 2020

A summary of the two sources, with the acquisition date retained.

Try it

Write one dated sentence about the acquisition. Keep the earlier agreement date and the completion announcement date labeled separately.

04 · Check what’s missing

Give each question its own source.

The 2020 release is a record of that acquisition. To say who legally owns the company today, look for a current company statement, filing, or other record that establishes the present structure.

The release also says the acquisition’s financial terms were not announced. A purchase price from another article would need its own source and attribution.

Who made this app?
The official product page identifies the maker.
What happened in the acquisition?
A completion release supplies a dated transaction finding.
Who owns it today?
Find a current ownership record. These two pages alone do not settle that question.
What does my library pay?
Use your library’s contract, quote, or invoice and the access terms it covers.
What happens to patron data?
Read the relevant privacy policy and contract. Ownership alone does not establish a data practice.
Try it

Choose one unanswered question and write down the record you would need. Keep it as a question until that record answers it.

05 · Keep a source note

Save the connection and the date together.

Keep the page title, publisher, URL, useful section, and date checked for each source. If you save a page or PDF, note its filename too. Keep the saved source separate from your summary of it.

A finding supported by these pages

OverDrive identifies itself as Libby’s maker. Its June 9, 2020 release reports that KKR completed the acquisition of OverDrive from Rakuten.

Return to the two official sources

Current legal ownership was not established by these two sources alone. The date checked, October 25, 2026, is separate from the date of the acquisition release.

Keep your own trail

Use the same blank form as the public-records lessons, or compare your note with this completed example.

Download fillable PDF Download text template
Download the completed Libby example
Check your note

Close the company tabs. Use your note to find the maker statement and the acquisition paragraph again. Can you tell which source supports each connection?

Use it at your own library

Follow one other app.

Choose a service your library uses. Start on its official website, identify the maker, and follow one company connection at a time. Write the source beside each connection.

I can’t find an owner

Record what you did find: the app, its maker, the pages you checked, and the date. Look for an About page, newsroom, legal terms, or corporate filing. “I haven’t established current ownership” is a useful result when it accurately describes your search.

Two sources give different company names

Check their dates and the role each name describes. You may be looking at an app publisher, a reseller, a parent company, or a past owner. Keep both source statements and the unresolved difference in your note.

You’ve finished this exercise when…

You can name the app and its maker, show the source for each connection you traced, and explain which questions still need another record.

Check your understanding

What does your trail establish?

1. Which company does the official Libby page identify as its maker?

2. What event does the June 9, 2020 release report?

3. What can you conclude from these two pages?

See the answers

1: OverDrive. 2: Completion of the acquisition, distinguished from the earlier agreement. 3: The maker and a dated acquisition finding. Present ownership, pricing, and data practices each need a source that addresses that question.

The sources

Two pages. Two different jobs.

  1. OverDrive’s official Libby product page. The section about reading happiness identifies the builder; the footer names OverDrive, Inc. Open the product page.
  2. OverDrive Staff, June 9, 2020: KKR Completes Acquisition of OverDrive. Use the first paragraph for the transaction and dates, and the fund paragraph for the investment wording and undisclosed financial terms. This is an OverDrive-issued release. Open the acquisition release.

Both official pages were read online on October 25, 2026. The excerpt and trail are teaching aids, not screenshots or preserved copies of those pages. The completed note retains the URLs and passage locators.

Back to Ebooks & vendors

Bring the company question to the deal.

The next part of the path looks at a price beside its access terms. That lesson is still a draft.

Return to the learning path