I agree that online access can be hassle to manage with lapses and platform issues here and there. But I want to point out that, generally, our online journal content is available to users 24/7 from wherever they have internet access.  Our print journal content is available to them only when the library is open, and they then still have to trek to the library and find the stuff they are looking for. 

We have converted our subs to electronic-only for most of the major STM publishers and larger university presses as well and most of the time, the sites work fine.  Sure there is a hang up here and there.  But generally speaking, the sites seem to run as one would expect. There are exceptions, of course.

And in terms of pricing, big deal bundles and online databases have enabled us to provide access to over 60,000 unique journals. We subscribe to about 1,500 titles in print. 

So for us, electronic has been very viable in terms of providing access to content at hugely efficient costs. But as Rick says, mileage will vary.

Buddy Pennington

Electronic Resources & Serials Librarian

University of Missouri - Kansas City

800 East 51st Street

Kansas City, MO  64110

Phone: 816-235-1548

Fax: 816-333-5584

Email: penningtonb@umkc.edu

UMKC University Libraries: Discovery. Knowledge. Empowerment.

From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of John Lucas
Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 11:16 AM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Re: [SERIALST] Cease claiming, checking in, binding

You WILL hear from your patrons about the articles in the issues you Did Not receive.  In STM titles, it is 'almost catastrophic' for your patron, that the particular issue was not received and you did nothing about it. On this point I agree with Fred although will stipulate only for those titles that are being kept in the collection.r mission.  (Time, Newsweek for us are not kept)

Yes, online subscriptions will help solve this problem of the missing print issues, however there are problems there as well.   

Most of the 'major publishers' have reliable connectivity, (although there are some where I am still concerned)

Until, 2009, I was not comfortable with Wiley, so we had all of our subscriptions in print. It seems that they took some of the best parts from Blackwell and I seen significant improvement & now feel more confident converting to Electronic Subscriptions.  For 2010, we moved almost half of those titles and for 2011 will most likely move the remainder to E only.

Some publishers continue to lose, then find, then lose again our current subscriptions and cut off access. I have a publisher in mind.  Recently they have split their STM titles to a separate platform and recently announced working with a known software company to revamp their platforms.  I will wait to see what happens.  Then there are many small  & society publishers with some still not having a full text electronic equivalent.

As for pricing, still every possibility is there.  For some, Print only or E only are the same price, for others E is lower than print, and for at least 1 publisher (Wolters Kluwer) E only is More than Print only.  With everyone scrambling for pennies, print only is the viable option (unless important people say otherwise to specific titles).

Just had to handle a long phone call and have lost my thoughtstring.  Best leave it here.

With Best Regards,

John Lucas

Serials Librarian
University of Mississippi Medical Center
2500 North State St
Jackson, MS 39216-4505

(PH) (601) 984-1277
(FAX)  (601) 815-4569
JLUCAS@ROWLAND.UMSMED.EDU

>>> Rick Anderson <rick.anderson@UTAH.EDU> 1/19/2010 3:19 PM >>>
> Of course, there is a corollary that we are all dancing around here.  If a
> particular print title is no longer of enough value that you care if it came
> in or not, why are you still subscribing?

Very good question -- and I think the answer is that it's possible for a
subscription to be worth the price of subscribing, but not worth the cost of
close manual control.  Remember that when you subscribe to a journal or
magazine, most of the issues are going to arrive without any problem most of
the time.

--
Rick Anderson
Assoc. Dir. for Scholarly Resources & Collections
Marriott Library
Univ. of Utah
rick.anderson@utah.edu
(801) 721-1687

Individuals who have received this information in error or are not authorized to receive it must promptly return or dispose of the information and notify the sender. Those individuals are hereby notified that they are strictly prohibited from reviewing, forwarding, printing, copying, distributing or using this information in any way.