Weighing In on the Catalog Co-op Databases '06

The American List Exchange Association (ALEXA)

While not a cooperative database in the traditional sense, ALEXA gives catalogers the ability to contribute names in their databases to a central repository while still controlling other catalogers' access to those names.

Further, ALEXA doesn't provide models of these names; rather, the company "houses client-specific data files and is meant to facilitate a greater number of exchanges between existing, affinity-based exchange partners," says Jim Harkins, president of catalog consultancy JJH Direct Marketing, who's assisting in ALEXA's launch.