Re: Starting up with Ebsco Richmond Jr., Larry 06 Apr 2005 21:00 UTC
I can't say enough about EBSCO. I am new to my current position and my customer service rep and other support staff have been phenomenal. However, you should be aware that the $10.00 charge mentioned earlier is known as a "net" title charge. The only way to ascertain whether or not a title is indeed a "net" title is to call your customer service rep. EBSCONET is very capable but will not tell you this information. I am on a campaign to change this! Please email EBSCO if you are in agreement. Regards, Larry Larry D. Richmond, Jr. Serials Acquisitions Librarian Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County 800 Vine Street Cincinnati, OH 45202 Voice: (513) 369-6923 Fax: (513) 369-3167 Email: larry.richmond@CincinnatiLibrary.org -----Original Message----- From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU]On Behalf Of Carol Morse Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2005 12:15 PM To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU Subject: Re: [SERIALST] Starting up with Ebsco We had a pretty good experience with Ebsco. Our customer service rep is excellent and goes to lengths to help us. Of course there are the titles from subscription houses and the Haworth titles that are a pain under any system. They tried to bring all our titles to a Jan. start date right away (or Sept. for school-year publications), unless the publisher didn't allow. So some titles would be invoiced for 13 months, 17 months, etc. They usually charge $10.00 more for a little-known title not listed in their catalog. The last couple of years, we have moved certain popular titles to a Nov. or Oct. start since that's when the fulfillment people start the subscription (when they get the check). They don't stop to look in their database to notice it's a continuation, not a new sub. It seems to go a little more smoothly that way. They issued us a set of barcodes when we first started that we could scan into our system order and checkin records for the Ebsco title nos. As you add new titles, of course you must input them manually. There some titles that we still order directly. Some publishers like Reader's Digest, Guideposts, Prevention, and now Sierra refuse to go through vendors. Hope this helps, Carol Morse ******************************************** Address: Walla Walla College Library Periodicals Dept. 104 S. College Ave. College Place, WA 99324-1159 Carol Morse Serials Librarian morsca@wwc.edu 509) 527-2684; fax 509) 527-2001 ********************************************* >>> meedwards@AII.EDU 4/5/2005 7:32:16 AM >>> Hello! We are a small academic library with approximately 300 magazine subscriptions. Since we're an art/design/culinary school (primarily, although we'll be adding other non-art programs through a sister school), our subscriptions range from popular, to business, to art/culinary/video specific. As expected, some of our subscriptions are from overseas or from smaller independent publishers. We have never used a subscription service and I would like to start using one to help streamline the whole thing. My questions for you Ebsco (or other vendor) users are: How easy was the "normalization" process of expiration dates when moving from in-house to subscription? We have a variety of expiration dates, based on each publication and how they were renewed (single or multi-year). I'm sure we can phase this in over time, but that leads to the next question. Over time, did the cost of your overall subscriptions start to balloon because of the differences you found in what your service charges for each subscription vs. going directly to the publisher? I've noticed that the differences in cost, in some cases, are pretty substantial. How did the service charge you for those publications that are not in their catalog? There are several we get that I don't see in Ebsco's catalog. Were there publications (e.g., free trade magazines or newspapers) that you didn't have the subscription service handle? If so, was that problematic to staff in check-in or claiming? Did you have any problems with your service that were "righteous pains" to resolve? I know this can vary regionally, so if any Southern California users want to weigh in on this one, I'm all ears (all eyes??)! I would love to simplify my life by starting up with a service, but want to call on the collective wisdom to prepare for the "gotchas"! Many thanks! Mary Edwards Librarian Art Institute of California - Los Angeles 2900 31st Street Santa Monica, CA 90405 310-314-6154 meedwards@edmc.edu