Michael Lampley
Serials Librarian
Texas Christian University
TCU Box 2984000
2913 West Lowden St.
Fort Worth, TX 76129
Just an opinion--
If they don’t allow IP authentication, treat it as a ceased title, and get something else instead. Passwords or dedicated computers are too much hassle, there are almost always other decent magazines (or web sites) in the same topic area, and the magazine’s content may be in one of your full-text databases.
Many publishers of craft and other sorts of magazines offer essentially the same content as books or on discs. Consider shifting the little bit of money spent on the titles that go online-only into books or DVDs.
I didn’t bother even trying to get patron access from the publisher to the new online-only weekly version of U.S. News & World Report. We rely on an EBSCO database for access to it, and added the new weekly version of the Christian Science Monitor to take its place on the shelf.
Steve Black
Reference, Serials, and Instruction Librarian
Neil Hellman Library
The College of Saint Rose
392 Western Ave.
Albany, NY 12203
(518) 458-5494
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of Dieden, Cynthia
Sent: Tuesday, July 21, 2009 5:50 PM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [SERIALST] Popular magazines going digital advice
Hello-
I work at a public library and with the economic downturn, we've been noticing a lot of magazines (general interest, parenting, crafts etc - the kind public libraries often have) are starting to offer their magazine in digital format only. At one time, the digital only titles tended to be scholarly or highly niche oriented, but now PC Magazine, Disney's Family Fun and others are going that route so we are facing this issue Usually, the publishers will offer one log in per subscription so we are left with some concerns. Do we keep receiving it, do we offer access and, if so, how do we offer access?
I'm wondering how other libraries are handling this or have handled it. No longer offering the magazine? Setting up accounts for popular magazines and having staff interation for passwords and user names? Setting up a special station? Any thoughts, advice, ideas or innovations are welcome. Thanks!
Cynthia Dieden
Collection Specialist Librarian/Periodicals Supervisor
Mount Prospect Public Library