8 messages, 248 lines:
(1)--------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1999 09:17:06 -0600
From: "Melissa H. Fayad" <FayadM@MISSOURI.EDU>
Subject: Re: Subscription renewals
Dear Dr. Picerno,
We get the expiration notices constantly. Our vender has instructed us to
send them the invoices. Since we pay them for the service, they should
contact the publishers to keep the subscriptions going straight and to keep
us from getting duplicate subscriptions.
Melissa Hassien Fayad
Serials Assistant
University of Missouri-Columbia
Law Library
224 Hulston Hall
Columbia, MO 65211-4190
(573) 884-4455
<FayadM@MISSOURI.EDU>
(2)---------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1999 09:22:54 -0600
From: Jill M Hillebregt <Jill.Hillebregt@RELIASTAR.COM>
Organization: ReliaStar Financial
Subject: Re: Subscription renewals
OOOOHHHH Peter, the expiration/renewal/subscription vendors are about 90% on
computers and their systems all automatically send out these notices. It is a
real pain since I maintain over 300 titles in our Corp. Library. The only way
that I can keep track of this mess is by calling the vendor and figuring
everything out and then keeping detailed notes so that when you get another
renewal/subscription notice you know whether to discard it or not! It may take
some time depending on how many periodicals you get but it will get easier.
Also keep in mind that when you renew something it will take the vendor 4-6
weeks-no earlier-to process your request and in the meantime, they have sent
you 15 notices again. Its really a waste of trees in the world and your time
unfortunately. But you will get used to it. Also watch the addresses on the
notices since they are usually all a little bit different. Its the vendors
trying to get you to pay for more issues of their periodicals. I could keep
going with hints but I too have to go through my renewal/subscription notices.
Good Luck!!!
Jill Hillebregt, Library Technician
Reliastar Financial Corp.
Corporate Library
Minneapolis, Mn
p.612-342-3517
Remember: "Candy is dandy, but Liquor is quicker!" -Odgen Nash
(3)----------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1999 09:40:34 -0600
From: Kaye Talley <Kayet@mail.uca.edu>
Organization: University of Central Arkansas
Subject: Re: Subscription renewals
Peter,
We get tons of renewal notices and I regularly throw them away
because I do not have time to look at each one. However,
sometimes I do open some that just seem to catch my attention. I
can't really explain what is likely to catch my attention that way, it
just seems to come from many years of receiving them I guess! I
have to admit that I have missed a few things that have ended up
being problems but, overall, there haven't been many of those.
Our service charge is remaining the same for 2000. For about 9 or
10 years now, we have been inviting agents to bid on our account
every 3 years. We have stayed with the same vendor throughout
that time but we have very seriously compared the quotes and
services offered by the other vendors. We just went through a
really rough time of cancelling approximately 500 titles at the same
time we were going through the vendor evaluation process! Frankly
I am surprised I still have my sanity :-) !
This is more than you asked for but hopefully something will be of
help.
Kaye
Kaye M. Talley
Coordinator of Technical Services
Torreyson Library
University of Central Arkansas
201 Donaghey
Conway, Arkansas 72035
kayet@mail.uca.edu
501-450-5225 501-450-5208(fax)
(4)----------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1999 09:52:43 -0600
From: Karen Chobot <chobot@PLAINS.NODAK.EDU>
Subject: Re: Subscription renewals
Peter - Yes, we regularly get all the renewal notices from the companies,
many many many at this time of year. It seems that whatever agencies are
mailing out the notices do not pull out orders that are handled by
subscription agencies, so we get all the same stuff that the other
subscribers do. It is my theory that they do this in the hope of getting
paid twice by mistake. In any case, expect them all year long. (plus
mailings for christmas presents to friends, all sorts of ads, and whatever
else they can think of to use your address for.)
I get them in the mail and pass them on quickly to my assistant who keeps
track of these things. I have her check them for correct address and
expiration date every time, since these have a way of mysteriously
changing. Any time she catches a mistake, she forwards them to Ebsco so
this can be repaired before too much time elapses.
If there are any publishers out there lurking, perhaps they could explain
why it is impossible to sort out the addresses of libraries and others who
use subscription agencies so we don't get all these tons of extra mail. It
is time consuming for us to deal with, and therefore expensive to us. And I
would think that reducing the mailings by this much would save them
something. Ebsco does a great job of keeping us informed about due
subscriptions, we don't need these reminders as well. And our computer
catalog also keeps us informed of the status of our subscriptions.
I am looking forward to what others have to say about service charges.
They do go up, but I think of them as additional staff time to keep track
of things, and they don't seem so bad. I would not want to hire someone
(and can't probably get the authorization anyway) to take care of all this
ordering and getting back to publishers. Vendors do a great service that way.
Karen M. Chobot, MS, MLS
Reference/Serials Librarian
Mildred Johnson Library
North Dakota State College of Science
800 N. 6th St.
Wahpeton ND 58076
701/671-2385
"I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love of all that is bizarre and
outside the conventions and humdrum routine of daily life." Sherlock
Holmes, in "The Red-Headed League."
(5)---------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1999 07:54:06 -0800
From: Shirley Graves <sgraves@UNIV.LLU.EDU>
Organization: Del E. Webb Memorial Library, Loma Linda University
Subject: Re: Subscription renewals
Peter, use the notices to verify the following:
--format/correctness of your address (publishers love to scramble this)
--expiration date
--price
If a notice says your subscription has expired, fax it to your vendor with the
request to confirm renewal.
Try to negotiate with your vendor representative for a fixed service charge for
"x" number of years.
Shirley Graves
Loma Linda Univ. Library
Serials Dept.
Loma Linda, CA 92350
909 824-4300 x47516
FAX: 909 824-4919
<sgraves@dwebb.llu.edu>
(6)----------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1999 09:54:11 -0600
From: "Sheila Hufeld" <Sheila@EXCHANGE1.MLB.ILSTU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Subscription renewals
In reference to Dr. Picerno's problem with expiration/renewal/subscription
notices from publishers:
I have worked in periodicals control for 15 years. Despite the fact that 95%
of my library's 5800 active titles are handled through vendors, I have
always received a barrage of renewal notices from the publishers at this
time of the year. And yes, the vendors have paid for our subscriptions. I
always go through the letters to make sure that I find the 5% that should be
paid and then I toss the rest. I have even received renewals from
publishers for subscriptions that have been cancelled via the vendors. It
seems that the publishers' computer systems do not always reflect your
instructions to the vendors. You just learn to evolve some way of dealing
with the amount of mail you will receive.
Sheila M. Hufeld
Library Technical Assistant II
Milner Library /Illinois State University
Normal, IL 61761
sheila@exchange1.mlb.ilst.edu
(7)---------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1999 11:05:22 -0600
From: "Jeanette Skwor" <skworj@UWGB.EDU>
Subject: Re: Subscription renewals
***Oh yes, I'm the Junk Mail Queen :)
***I have a student go through the renewal notices checking vendor
information. Most of our subscriptions are through Faxon, and any renewal
forms we get that say our subs has not yet been paid gets put in a large
brown envelope and sent to Faxon sporadically--every couple of weeks or so.
Jeanette Skwor Cofrin Library Serials Dept.
University of WI-Green Bay
Phone: (920) 465-2670 Fax: (920) 465-2783
<skworj@UWGB.EDU>
(8)---------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1999 11:23:56 -0600
From: "Sandra A. Cressman" <Sandra.A.Cressman-1@TC.UMN.EDU>
Subject: Re: Subscription renewals
It is common procedure for publishers to send out renewal notices to every
subscriber whether the subscription is through a vendor or not. The
notices are usually machine generated. If we get a journal through a
vendor, we just toss the renewal notices that come from a publisher.
Sandra Cressman
University of Minnesota
160 Wilson Library mailto:s-cres@tc.umn.edu
309 19th Ave. South PHONE: (612) 625-2320
Minneapolis, MN 55455-0414
Peter Picerno wrote:
> Folks:
> I have a potentially dumb question, but do you regularly get
> expiration/renewal/subscription notices from the publishers of your
> journals? I've had a barrage of such stuff this fall (some major
> restructuring in our serials department means that all mail comes directly
> to me now whereas in the past it did not) and wonder, for example, when I
> get a notice saying a subscription is about to expire, whether our
> subscription agency has or has not processed our renewal or paid its bills.
> Incidentally, what are people's service charges like? Ours went up .5%
> between last year and this year, but we have had the same vendor for quite
> some time, so I have no basis for comparison.
> Thanks, in advance, for your help.
>
> Peter Picerno
>
> Dr. Peter V. Picerno
> Collection Development Team Leader
> Dean B. Ellis Library
> Arkansas State University
> State University, AR 72467
> (870) 972-3078
> Fax: (870) 972-3199
> <ppicerno@CHOCTAW.ASTATE.EDU>
