Four Bridges

What the scholars published

Peer-reviewed and institute research on who runs library systems. Dated from the papers themselves.

1. 2016Nick Srnicek publishes Platform Capitalism (Polity). The link to later library scholarship is an interpretation, not a finding in the book.Public source
2. 2023NYU's Engelberg Center publishes The Anti-Ownership Ebook Economy, which explains how ebook licenses differ from ownership. The report says OverDrive claims to serve at least 90% of U.S. and Canadian public libraries; that is not an independent market measurement.Public source
3. 2023Shim & Jhaver publish a 15-librarian study of digital-content distributors. It reports weak library control over curation and other governance problems.Public source
4. 2026Mike Olson publishes "Operating the franchise" in Information Research. The article argues that vendor control can limit librarians' professional autonomy; the exact HHI figure and federal-threshold comparison need a public calculation before this page can repeat them.Partly checked

What the filings say

Corporate and nonprofit records, two registries, one date line.

1. 2016-03-07A Utah nonprofit, entity 9699080, is incorporated as Parents Empowered in Education Resources and Support. Sole incorporator: Audrey Sill.Source to add
2. 2021-09-01Francisco Partners acquires Follett School Solutions, Follett's K–12 software and content business.Public source
3. 2021-10-26Entity 9699080 renames itself Empowered Parents by unanimous board vote.Source to add
4. 2023-10-30KKR completes its acquisition of Simon & Schuster for $1.62 billion.Public source
5. 2025-05-16RatedBooks.org files Utah Articles of Incorporation, entity 14574510.Source to add
6. 2025-08-01The IRS grants RatedBooks.org 501(c)(3) status, EIN 39-2728966.Source to add
7. 2025-09Follett Content Solutions begins gathering feedback from public libraries as Baker & Taylor begins its wind-down.Source to add

What the boards voted

Statute and school-board minutes, as passed and as published.

1. 2022-02-11Utah HB374 is publicly distributed. Sponsor Rep. Ken Ivory; floor sponsor Sen. Todd Weiler.Public source
2. 2022-03-24HB374 is signed into law, defining "sensitive material" for Utah school libraries.Public source
3. 2022-08-02Davis School District's board passes a complete rewrite of its library policy on first reading.Source to add
4. 2024-03-19The Davis board approves a Sensitive Materials Appeal Committee recommendation.Source to add
5. 2025-07-15Escambia County (FL) School Board removes 410 titles in a single action.Source to add
6. 2026-07-08Book Riot reports that 9 of Utah's 42 school districts account for every statewide HB29 ban, and that Davis School District appears in 35 of 36 cases.Secondary source

What the software does

Product announcements, catalog access, and the shipping product, as observed.

1. 2025-10RatedBooks announces BookLens, a barcode-scanner tool aggregating three rating databases into one lookup.Source to add
2. 2025-12-01A Tooele County (UT) curriculum director directs staff by email to pull four reviewed titles from the library and district Follett system.Source to add
3. 2026-02-20The book-rating operator, one of three parent volunteers, is given about 90 minutes of librarian-level access to Davis School District's Follett Destiny catalog at an elementary school.Source to add
4. 2026-02-24A Davis library supervisor sends a district-wide staff memo about rating systems and volunteer access.Source to add
5. 2026-04-14Two product videos show lists sorted using a Davis School District catalog export for a named high school.Public video
6. 2026-07-01In a public interview, the operator describes a paid integration of RatedBooks ratings into a library catalog, priced by library size. This is the operator's account, not proof of a completed integration.Self-report
7. 2026-08-17The site offered a policy-flag option described in the public interview.Source to add

Where the dates sit together

Each card holds rows from two different records above. Nothing is added.