Emily,

I think some of this depends on your institution and its own policies. I also agree with Shari Johnson that you can reduce your service fees percentage by adding large journal packages to be serviced by a subscription agent. However, I am less convinced that this saves staff time. For example, I've found that the data (title lists) sent to the subscription agent are often not complete or accurate as compared to those that we negotiated via the publisher or consortia. (Granted, this is most important if you are using title lists provided by subscription agents for verifying a subscription or activation on your Knowledgebase.) Unfortunately, adding either a consortia and/or a subscription agent into a journal package purchase or renewal often adds layers which takes a lot of time later to unravel if there are problems. Finally, double check that the consortia will bill a large journal package via a subscription agent. Some do not.

Currently, our college is doing a mix of every possible option. We adjust as needed. As mentioned before, this depends on your staffing, budget needs, your collection development priorities (current access, preservation, etc) and the type or complexity of packages that you have.

I hope that this is helpful.

Judith

Judith Nagata

Content Strategist

Dinand Library

College of the Holy Cross

Worcester, MA 01610

p: 508-793-2639

e: jnagata@holycross.edu

On Wed, Sep 26, 2018 at 1:55 PM Shari Johnson <sjohnson3@uwf.edu> wrote:

We transitioned all of our e-journal packages to our subscription agent quite a few years ago. The large increase in spend being directed though the agent got our service fee % lowered so dramatically that we ended up saving about $4K per year in service fees. Plus our holdings management have been much more seamless and less time consuming for staff.

Shari Johnson
Electronic Resources/Business Librarian
University of West Florida
(850) 474-2711

On Tue, Sep 25, 2018 at 2:23 PM Emily Paladino <paladino@rmu.edu> wrote:
Hello everyone,

We're in the midst of our fall serial renewal and cancellation processes and, as always, we're examining various costs in trying to determine the best use of our journal budget funds. Last year we transitioned some of our consortia-based, fairly standard e-journal packages to be billed through our subscription agent vs. direct via various consortia memberships. I'm wondering how many other libraries do this, and if they see any particular advantages to doing this or particular savings with not doing this?

The subscription agent surcharges do seem to add up. And It seems like the custom-built journal packages/ journal order lists with the major publishers would present more efficiency & savings being billed through a subscription agent vs. packages like "Sage Premier 2019," etc.

I'm just looking for a sense of best practices with the above, especially as it pertains to small to medium-sized academic libraries. I would welcome any responses.

Thank you for your time,
~Emily

Emily Paladino, M.L.S.
Electronic Resources Librarian/Library Web Services
Associate Professor of Learning Resources
Robert Morris University Library
6001 University Boulevard
Moon Township, PA 15108
paladino@rmu.edu
(412) 397-6880

Library Liaison for Engineering, English, Education, MBA Program, Center for Global Engagement

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