I have a related question for the list.  We have been mostly very happy with our current subscription agent, but have been heavily courted by one of its competitors.  I have been trying to imagine what would prompt us to actually change subscription agents.  We subscribe to about 2,000 print and/or online journals through this agent, as well as many databases through its related publishing outfit.  We have hundreds of online titles that have been given local holdings adjustments in our SFX link resolver.  It's all inter-related.  Serials and eResources are hard enough to manage as it is.  The thought of converting all of these things to a different agent is just mind boggling to me.  So if any of you in Serialst-land have actually done something like this, I'd be interested to hear about the costs/benefits.

I know that some libraries employ multiple subscription agents, and am also wondering what benefit would come from that.

Kelly A. Smith
Serials and Electronic Resources Librarian
Eastern Kentucky University Libraries
Richmond, KY 40475
kelly.smith2@eku.edu

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Date:    Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:55:41 -0500
From:    Dorota Laska <dlaska@RYERSON.CA>
Subject: Subscription Agency RFP

Hello,

Has anyone submitted a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a serials subscription agency in the last couple of years? We would very much appreciate any sample RFPs or other documentation to guide us through the process of drafting our RFP. Did you specify requirements related to managing electronic serials subscriptions?

Many thanks,
Dorota Laska

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