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Re: Why EBSCO? -- John Lucas SERIALST Moderator 27 Aug 2003 23:05 UTC

Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2003 17:50:17 -0500
From: "John Lucas" <jlucas@rowland.umsmed.edu>
Subject: Re: Why EBSCO? -- Cynthia Hsieh

Hello Cynthia:

I think I probably responded before but here goes.

As a medical library, we are using a number of subscription agents.  I
always felt Faxon was the best.  (in my opinion it was the owner [
divine ] that did them in.

There are still a few smaller agents out there.  We have been using for
at least a decade Faxon, Ebsco, and Swets/Blackwell and Matthews for
continuation type titles  Over the last five years we have added
Harrassowitz (out of Germany) but they have an office here and are
trying hard to earn our respect and business.

With the Faxon debacle, we are going to try Basch for a small number of
titles to see how they work.  (we want to try and balance our exposure
on any one agent.

For the biggies, each has some good and not so good points.

(MY OPINION for aspects I deal with)

1. Claims. Ebsco, S/B and Harrassowitz Matthews as well, can accept
electronic claims from the major ILS systems.  (Faxon was the first one)
 Basch is supposed to have as well.  I have not yet set it up yet.

2. Service. All provide good service in terms of having an initial
contact person for your account.  Harrassowitz forwards your phone and
e-mail requests to their Germany Headquarters.  Their philosophy is a
little different.  Their people are assigned publishers who work with
just those publs.  This is good for European  publications they are
close.    The Ebsco and Swets (and Faxon) are having an individual
(team) assigned to you the customer.  They then contact whatever
publisher is needed.

3.  Claims responses.  All send you some sort of printed response to
your claim.  Harrassowitz sends a single piece of paper for EACH title
so you can file  alphabetically and keep track of(?)  It is also larger
then 8.5X11 but not quite legal size.    S/B and ebsco have multi titles
on each page.  Right now, I prefer the S/B version which is clearer.
The Ebsco one for me looks "like a photocopy of a mimeographed form"  I
really feel they need to improve this.  If they can integrate the Faxon
forms into their system for invoice, claims, etc, I think they would be
GREATLY IMPROVED ! ! (Remember this is only MY OPINION)

4.  Journal discounts and early payment/renewals.  In the recent past,
we have had some difficulty with receiving these payments back from the
agencies (E and S/B) but this seems to have been resolved.  We try to
take advantage of any early renewal and prepayments.  We use the money
we get back for whatever database, journal, etc. that it is needed for.

5.  Journal Renewals:   All can provide timely quotes.  Example.  In
May 2003, we request from all the agencies, a quote for 2004 based on
the final 2003 price (which they should have from the publishers by this
time) and add X % inflation factor for '04.  For Harrassowitz, they
provide the quote as an electronic e-mail attachment.  It will look
exactly like the Invoice. (their account is a little smaller than the
others and does not take as much time)  The others still get theirs
quickly.

6. Moving titles/Claim numbers.  Both Harrassowitz and S/B have smaller
number strings that are unique to a title TO YOUR Account. If a
publication changes title, that number is transferred to the new title.
 Ebsco has a larger alphanumeric string that first identifies your
instution and account and then uses the title number as the last 9
digits.  If a publication changes title, that claim number will change,
Usually the last 3 or 4 digits of the 9.  For these, I usually call in
and get the new title # which I change while I am on the phone with my
customer service person.  Also if there is a change such as the journal
now offering e-access as a bundled price or something different, the
number will also change.  For this, Ebsco sends an e-attachment of the
old title/new title with all the information about the change in
electronic status.  I just change the title number and all is good to
go.

If you are moving titles to another agency or are adding alot of
titles, check with the customer service person.  They can provide you
with a printed list of the title and the "claim ID Numbers in a barcoded
format which in our case ( and probably most) be compatable for you to
wand in the appropriate field in your ILS.

Enough, I am tired and want to go home.

In a nutshell, If you can, try and balance out between agents and see
which one works for you the best.  If not, get quotes from those you
think you want to go with, give them the title list, AND GO WITH THE ONE
THAT WILL GIVE YOU THE BIGGEST DISCOUNT ! ! !

John Lucas

Serials Librarian
University of Mississippi Medical Center
2500 North State St
Jackson, MS 39216-4505

(PH) (601) 984-1277
(FAX)  ( 601) 984-1262
JLUCAS@ROWLAND.UMSMED.EDU

----- Original message -----
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2003 14:37:05 -0700
From: "Cynthia Hsieh" <chsieh@uop.edu>
Subject: Why EBSCO?

Hi,

I am new in serials and have seen quite a few former Faxon customers chose
EBSCO as an alternative.  Just curious to find out if it is because EBSCO is
an excellent subscription agent or because there just aren't that many
choices out there?

Can libraries using EBSCO share the reasons why they chose EBSCO as
their
agent?

Thanks!

Cynthia Hsieh
Head of Technical Services/Assistant Professor
University Library
University of the Pacific
3601 Pacific Ave.
Stockton, CA 95211
Tel: 209-946-2571
Fax: 209-946-2810