Serialists -

Although I'm familiar with the "free" e-subscriptions to individuals (but
not free to libraries), I'm surprised to discover that the problem is
sometimes vendor-related.  Here at Ohio State University, I've often had to
advise the end-user that the supposed freebie subscription is not what it
appears.  To rememdy this, we sometimes set up one "B" level IP address at
at library site, other times we pay more to acquire campus-wide access.
However, I've never experienced problems with payment through a vendor.  Can
you elaborate on that?  It would be helpful to know more about the
publisher(s) giving this information.

In general, serial vendor/aggregators seem to be able to provide both paper
and electronic formats.  I know several publishers that are making their
electronic journals available, often free with print subscription.  For
instance, Blackwell's EJN system claims that the more than over 400 titles
available can be ordered through Blackwell's or another vendor, as well as
direct from publishers.  Dawson's IQ, EBSCO and SwetsNet all claim the same.
Maybe there are certain problematic publishers out there who haven't caught
on yet?  If so, we (librarians and vendors) need to educate them!

-- Trisha Davis

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Trisha L. Davis
Head, Continuation Acquisition Division
The Ohio State University Libraries
1858 Neil Avenue Mall, 040N
Columbus  OH 43210-1286
Phone:  (614) 292-6314
Fax:    (614) 292-2015
Email:  davis.115@osu.edu

>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Mitch Turitz [SMTP:turitz@SFSU.EDU]
>>Sent: Sunday, August 17, 1997 7:35 PM
>>Subject:      Internet journal access (fwd)
>>
>>Serials folks:
>>  I am forwarding the attached message to get input from others suffering
>>from the same problem we are.  In a nutshell: journal publishers who are
>>offering online access to their publications for people who subscribe are
>>NOT allowing access to institutons (such as us) who subscribe through a
>>vendor.
>>  How are others dealing with this as your patrons demand online
>>access?
>>-- Mitch
>>  _^_                                                 _^_
>>( ___ )-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-( ___ )
>> |   |                                               |   |
>> |   |     Mitch Turitz, Serials Librarian           |   |
>> |   |     San Francisco State University Library    |   |
>> |   |     Internet: turitz@sfsu.edu                 |   |
>> |   |     http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~turitz           |   |
>> |   |                                               |   |
>>( ___ )-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-==-( ___ )
>>   V                                                   V
>>      "I want to die in my sleep like my grandfather ...
>> ... Not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car."
>>
>>
>>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>Date: Sun, 17 Aug 1997 17:16:44 -0700 (PDT)
>>From: "C. Stuart Hall" <cshall@sfsu.edu>
>>Subject: Internet journal access
>>
>>Finally the explanation for our bafflement has emerged.  I don't like it
>>much and I expect you won't either, but what I've learned is that the
>>journal publishers who are offering free electronic access to their
>>journals for anyone who subscribes are making the offer for
>>*individual*
>>subscribers.  Some of them want a single IP address--which we can't offer,
>>since our IP addresses are too diverse, and if we truncate sufficiently to
>>include them all, we're also including non-campus people.  Some of them
>>want a subscriber number.  But the piece I just learned is that they won't
>>accept a vendor's subscriber number.  Since almost all our subscriptions
>>are ordered through a vendor, we don't have the number they require for
>>access.  We can't switch those subscriptions from vendor to
>>publisher-direct without (a) increasing workload and (b) reducing
>>discounts.
>>
>>If I hear of or figure out any way of getting access to these sources,
>>you'll certainly hear from me.  Meanwhile, the library's full-text access
>>is growing a bit (through AP Ideal, EbscoHost, and Project Muse), and the
>>CARL SUMO project allows ordering full-text for next-day delivery--not
>>like online access, but at least better than anything we had a couple of
>>years ago.
>>
>>                                        --Stuart
>>
>>        C. Stuart Hall
>>        San Francisco State University
>>        (415)338-6394
>>        cshall@sfsu.edu