For exactly the reasons you mentioned, going with a subscription
vendor can be very helpful and ultimately save a lot of time.

The only good reason I can think of for going direct with print
subscriptions, and the reason why we maintain some direct
subscriptions here at Vanderbilt, is because vendors do charge an
extra fee for some titles when they don't get a discount. For the
most part, though, even with these titles the fee compensates the
time and effort necessary for making sure the subscription gets
renewed regularly.

As far as online-only subscriptions, though, my own experience is
that it's better to go direct. Vendors can add an extra layer of
confusion to online only journals, and mistakes (such as IP ranges
that are either incorrect or not included, or errors in the
subscription itself) can be harder to get resolved.

For annual titles, vendors seem generally to be the best way to go,
especially if the publisher requires prepayment. In a few cases,
though, such as Grey House publications, ordering direct can give
you some significant discounts.

--On Wednesday, August 27, 2003 4:24 PM -0400 Elyse Hayes
<ehayes@ICSEMINARY.EDU> wrote:

> Dear Colleagues:
>
> We were caught up in the divineFaxon debacle this year.  We will
> become EBSCO customers for 2004.
>
> What advice do you have for me as a newcomer, in terms of
> deciding which serials we should get through an agency, and
> which, if any, we should subscribe to directly?
>
> In the past our library  used divine for about half of our
> subscriptions. We have approximately 325 subscriptions, some of
> them coming from other countries, some from big publishers, but
> also many of them coming from very small publishers. After having
> spent many staff hours contacting publishers directly this year,
> I am curious why we would want to get any subscriptions directly,
> if it could be avoided.
>
> Elyse Hayes
> Director of Library & Information Services
> SEMINARY OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
> 440 West Neck Road
> Huntington, NY  11743
> phone (631)423-0483 ext. 140
> fax (631)4232346
> ehayes@icseminary.edu

Christopher Allen Waldrop
Serials Coordinator
Order Services Department
Vanderbilt University Library
Ph: 615-343-3831
Fax: 615-343-8834