Re: Online access to e-journals: EBSCO "service" Gaele Gillespie 09 Dec 1998 22:17 UTC
One of the processes that has not been mentioned yet in the SERIALST messages I've read about the topic, EBSCO'S E-JOURNALS "SERVICE", is that many e-journals require a license agreement that usually must be negotiated directly with the publisher, anyway (and we take license agreements seriously here, even the "click-here" type). It has been our experience that "free" e-journal access is only free for a limited amount of time, and then access is cut off without notice, or the notice comes in the form of an invoice to "renew". While we are subscribing to services such as JSTOR, PROJECT MUSE, and other (usually subject-related) packages, we continue to approach formal access to individual e-journal titles very cautiously and judiciously due in part to what the publisher definition of "access" may or may not mean, what "free access" may or may not mean, and the sheer time involved with negotiating license agreements. We are getting a steady stream of notices directly from the publishers and from our vendors (as part of regular current-awareness services they already provide and via e-mail messages); we used to try to put the information in a non-displaying holdings note for the print title, but with the increase in such notices, we can no longer justify doing that. -- Gaele E. Gaele Gillespie / Serials Librarian Serials - Retrieval Services Dept. 210 Watson University of Kansas Libraries Lawrence, KS 66045-2800 e-mail: ggillespie@ukans.edu Voice: 785-864-3051 Fax: 785-864-3855 (if busy use: 4-5311) >>> Sharon Quinn Fitzgerald <SharonQuinn_Fitzgerald@UMIT.MAINE.EDU> wrote >>> Hi folks, Our experience with EBSCO's online access to e-journals here at the University of Maine mirrors that of Villanova. We were sent hundreds of these notices for individual titles with a cover letter that suggested that by providing EBSCO with certain data, IP list and contact information, that free online access would be pursued on our behalf. We were thrilled at the prospect of a new service for the e-journal medium to mirror the service we currently get from EBSCO for our paper subscriptions. Unfortunately, on pursuing further with our customer rep we were informed this is a letter service ONLY and we would still be required to deal directly with publishers to set up access. Providing the information for EBSCO on individual titles only adds another step of work to an already difficult, time consuming task as each publisher has a different approach to registration for online access. I urged our EBSCO rep to consider fleshing out this "service" and would encourage all interested to do the same. Sharon Quinn Fitzgerald Head, Serials University of Maine <SharonQuinn_Fitzgerald@UMIT.MAINE.EDU> -- Sharon Quinn Fitzgerald Interim Campus Web Manager University of Maine