Hello,

As we are moving more of our subscriptions away from print to online
only, I am trying to be proactive about identifying problems before a
patron or reference librarian tells us that we have lost access.

It hasn't been easy!

Where we have some sort of administrative account with the publisher,
I go in and check to see if the publisher has activated our
renewal.  There is no standard in how they report this, so it does
require some work on my part to find the informaton and figure it
out.   If there is no administrative account, I do check actual
articles in issues (preferably the current year) to see if I can get
the full-text.  I have sent numerous emails out to publishers and
vendors so far this year in order to get problems fixed and I am
still checking.

I do keep a manual log of what publishers I have checked and what
needs to be rechecked.  I'm hoping that I can identify problem
publishers and trends, but the trend seems to be that almost all
publishers are a problem.

Diane Johnson

16 PM 2/20/2007, you wrote:
>Hello Colleagues,
>
>Every beginning of the year (about January-March) our library loses access to
>several online journals of which we actively subscribe.  We work through a
>serials vendor, and they contact the publisher whenever we lose access.  The
>reason for lost access may be a  payment discrepancy, license signing need,
>IP address question or some kind of incorrect information in the publisher's
>record for our subscription.
>
>I know this problem of early-year lost access occurs with many libraries. I
>would like to hear your ideas or best practices on how to avoid losing online
>access.
>
>Some ideas that I have considered:
>--Requesting a letter from each publisher in December verifying that we have
>paid for the subscription and that we will have access (we would have our
>agent do this, but it is still time-consuming)
>--Requesting a refund for each day that we do not have access
>
>Please share your ideas.  I will summarize for the list.
>
>Patty Wood
>Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
  Diane Johnson                    Head, Serials Dept.
  Phone:  (585) 245-5597
  Fax: (585) 245-5997              Milne Library SUNY Geneseo, NY   14454
  e-mail: johnsonD@geneseo.edu