Hello!

We are a small academic library with approximately 300 magazine
subscriptions.  Since we're an art/design/culinary school (primarily,
although we'll be adding other non-art programs through a sister
school), our subscriptions range from popular, to business, to
art/culinary/video specific.  As expected, some of our subscriptions are
from overseas or from smaller independent publishers.  We have never
used a subscription service and I would like to start using one to help
streamline the whole thing.

My questions for you Ebsco (or other vendor) users are:

            How easy was the "normalization" process of expiration dates
when moving from in-house to subscription?  We have a variety of
expiration dates, based on each publication and how they were renewed
(single or multi-year).  I'm sure we can phase this in over time, but
that leads to the next question.

            Over time, did the cost of your overall subscriptions start
to balloon because of the differences you found in what your service
charges for each subscription vs. going directly to the publisher?  I've
noticed that the differences in cost, in some cases, are pretty
substantial.

How did the service charge you for those publications that are not in
their catalog?  There are several we get that I don't see in Ebsco's
catalog.

            Were there publications (e.g., free trade magazines or
newspapers) that you didn't have the subscription service handle?  If
so, was that problematic to staff in check-in or claiming?

            Did you have any problems with your service that were
"righteous pains" to resolve?  I know this can vary regionally, so if
any Southern California users want to weigh in on this one, I'm all ears
(all eyes??)!

I would love to simplify my life by starting up with a service, but want
to call on the collective wisdom to prepare for the "gotchas"!

Many thanks!

Mary Edwards

Librarian

Art Institute of California - Los Angeles

2900 31st Street

Santa Monica, CA  90405

310-314-6154

meedwards@edmc.edu