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Re: Serials Vendor Use vs. Direct Buying Edwards, Mary 06 Jul 2006 15:10 UTC

Pamela,

We've been taking care, in house, of over 300 subscriptions.  That is
the way it was when I arrived here.  If you can stay with the vendor, do
so.

While it can be said that you save money by going direct to the
publisher and getting multiyear renewal deals, it is a righteous pain to
have to track all the individual subscriptions, with different renewal
dates, deal with the endless "fishing" renewals that the publishers feel
compelled to send out all the time (not to mention all of the other
"magazine subscription services" who fish for your renewal to the same
publications too), claim missing issues individually, keep track of how
soon you need to claim what, and the beat goes on...  and on... and
on...

As soon as I have the money to move to a vendor -- which unfortunately
will mean dropping some subscriptions over time -- I am doing it.

IMHO, stay with a vendor, unless the staff member who is advocating the
change wants to take over the serials completely.

Kindest regards,

Mary Edwards
Director of Library Services
Art Institute of California - Los Angeles
Argosy University - Santa Monica
2900 31st Street
Santa Monica, CA  90405
310-314-6154
meedwards@edmc.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
[mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Pamela Haley
Sent: Thursday, July 06, 2006 5:49 AM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [SERIALST] Serials Vendor Use vs. Direct Buying

Hi,

I am interested in knowing if there is anyone out there who, having
used a serials vendor, has gone back to in-house
purchasing/processing and why.  I am trying to justify keeping our
serials vendor.  I have a staff member who is philosophically opposed
to vendors and has succeeded in convincing the Head Librarian that
bringing this work back in-house is the best way to go.

Thanks for any and all help.

Pamela Haley, BA (Hons), MLS, MPA
Associate Librarian
William R. Lederman Law Library,Queen's University
Kingston, Ont.  Canada   K7L 3N6
613 - 533 - 2918 ; 613 - 533 - 2594 (fax)
"A mind is like a parachute:  it only functions when it's open."

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