Re: Canceling fiche -- Pat Meyer Stephen Clark 17 Apr 2002 16:38 UTC
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: Canceling fiche Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2002 09:28:31 -0700 From: Pat Meyer <pmeyer@NU.EDU> Susan, UMI does offer backfiles which you can purchase at anytime. We have frequently picked up backfiles to fill gaps, replace some of our more pesky paper holdings (you know, the ones that require lots of shelf maintenance, etc.), or extend holdings further back. Often backfiles are cheaper than the current year. It's a pretty simple process. I've ordered online, by phone and by e-mail. A good place to start is researching availablity and pricing for your specific titles at: http://wwwlib.umi.com/sim/gateway Another aspect you might want to consider: At NU, we seem to be headed toward using microforms for our "archives", because so many titles are only available fulltext online for limited periods (e.g. the current and last 4 years, which drop the oldest year when a new one is added). However the online indexing and abstracts are still available for the older issues and hundreds of additional titles that are not offered in fulltext. I suspect you are getting Academic Search Elite through EBSCO. Here's a snippet from their database description at their website: http://www.epnet.com/database.html#af full text for nearly 1,560 journals with many dating back to 1990 abstracts and indexing for nearly 2,750 scholarly journals with many dating back to 1984 You might want to review a sampling of your titles to see if this is a concern for your library. Good Luck! This is an evolving issue for almost all of us. Pat Meyer Serials Specialist National University Library 9393 Lightwave Avenue San Diego, CA 92123-1447 pmeyer@nu.edu voice (858) 541-7917 toll free (866) NU-ACCESS ext.7917 fax (858) 541-7997 -------- Original Message -------- Subject: canceling fiche Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2002 10:07:14 -0500 From: Susan C Shelly <susancs@GOSHEN.EDU> Does anyone know the inner workings of microforms producers who could advise me on the wisdom of canceling our titles that are full-text on Academic Search Elite (ASE), with the thinking that if ASE drops the title (or if we drop ASE), we could request the missing or back issues formerly covered by ASE, on microfiche? We are suggesting that our departments cancel fiche subscriptions to titles now available FT on-line not just in JSTOR and Project MUSE but also in databases such as Academic Search Elite (ASE). This is a calculated risk, since titles can come and go from ASE but the titles involved are heavily used, such as Scientific American. Further, we are telling ourselves that if we decide we need the fiche format later, we can order it up from UMI. Thus my question: How hard is it to get past issues on microform if you need to re-subscribe and want to fill in gaps? I am guessing that UMI, or whatever they call themselves this week, would be able to whip out past issues of a title to do this, but I have a vague recollection of someone saying it isn't that easy--microforms sources don't necessarily do that, especially just for one request, etc. Sue S. ******************************* Susan C. Shelly Librarian, Serials and Services Good Library GOSHEN COLLEGE 1700 South Main Street Goshen, Indiana 46526 574.535.7637