I would agree with the previous responses to your questions. There are 2 parts to your question: content and management. To the previous list of packages (JSTOR, et al), I would add OVID for Nursing and Allied Health if you have those programs. And, nothing really covers all the content that your faculty may want or need. As for management, I agree that your subscription agent can provide a lot of support to help you “turn on” multiple titles at one time. I have found that besides not negotiating license terms, the agents also do not “manage” the lists. Someone needs to watch the lists and be responsible for troubleshooting, maintaining  (e.g. number of simultaneous users, titles that are supposed to be part of a collection that do not activate, watching that cut off dates are correct : access from 2000-present), and providing access in your catalog, website, etc (including proxy access and maintaining correct links). A Journals A-Z list product is very useful, but will be an additional annual cost.

 

Good luck. Our community college has begun to consistently add electronic journals to our collection. We are struggling more with cost and ROI right now than maintenance.

 

 

Judith Nagata

Electronic Resources Librarian

HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College

Library Central Services

One HACC Dr., Whittaker 226F

Harrisburg, PA 17110

 

Phone: (717) 780-2535

http://lib2.hacc.edu

 

 

 

 

Glenn (et al.),

We’re also small, but (from my former life as an EBSCO account services manager) I can suggest that the option with the least amount of work on part of your staff will be to get  a package of multi-disciplinary journals from one of the bigger aggregators (e.g. JSTOR, Project Muse, eDuke, etc.). Make sure whomever you choose will let you IP authenticate, allow remote access and just “turn on” all the titles you need. You will probably miss some things you need. You’ll need to decide whether what you’re missing is important enough to do the licensing and activation work. Sometimes libraries rely on databases, but publishers often have embargos on new content which can be 1-2 years. They can also pull that content and you don’t really own it. You also need to decide if you’re okay with essentially “renting” the content or if you need to retain access. What’s the back-up plan if you can’t renew the package? What’s core that you have to have?

 

If you’re using a subscription agent now, make sure you’re aware of all of the things they can do for you. Many will do some of the work for you, but they won’t be able to negotiate or execute a license for you in most cases. They can, however, get you pricing, make sure you’re not duplicating content and provide many other services that give you additional benefits.

 

I’d suggest seeing which package(s) most closely match(es) your current collection. You will probably need more than one to cover things.

 

MHO,

Leslie

 

 

 

Hi, Whom do you recommend for the purchase and management of eJournal packages across all subject areas?

 

We’re a small academic library looking to replace our current print journals with their electronic equivalents,
and have limited staff resources to register / configure access to individual titles.

 

Thanks in advanced for your suggestions

 

Glenn

 

Glenn Ferdman, MLS
Director of Library Services
Park University
8700 NW River Park Dr., Box 61
Parkville, MO 64152

P: (816) 584-6707

F: (816) 741-4911

gferdman@park.edu

http://www.park.edu/

 

 

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