Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2003 10:41 AM
From: "Koveleskie, Judith" <kovelesk@setonhill.edu>
Subject: RE: Why EBSCO? -- Cynthia Hsieh

Although I was not involved in the decision to use EBSCO because it was
before I was hired, I have been extremely satisfied with their service.

I don't think price can be the only consideration because they do save you
time and that is worth something.  I do nearly all of my work with them
online.  Two monthly reports come online - one for claims in process and one
for serials changes.  The latter can be responded to online and the claims
report must be printed an faxed back.  They are working on making the claims
report completely online also.  I can initiate claims and place orders
online.  Most of my contacts with customer service are via e-mail.  This is
very important to me because I am sometimes at work outside of normal
business hours, so playing phone tag would be inefficient.  We have an
account rep who monitors our overall situation and the greatest customer
service rep in the world, Sheila Calabrese, who handles day to day problems.

EBSCO has also been in business a long time and seems to be a very stable
company.  That doesn't mean that nothing bad can ever happen, but right now I
think the odds are against it.  They are always looking for ways to improve
their service and are very responsive to suggestions from customers.  Also,
they don't wait for complaints but monitor the account to be sure that we are
happy.

In our library we have another person who handles EBSCOHost and all of the
online journals.  I deal online with print.  EBSCO seems to be able to handle
the fact that responsibility is divided.

They may not be the perfect company, but for our library they have been very
satisfactory.

Judith A. Koveleskie
Periodicals Librarian
Seton Hill University
Reeves Memorial Library
Greensburg, PA  15601

> -----Original Message-----
> Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2003 14:37:05 -0700
> From: "Cynthia Hsieh" <chsieh@uop.edu>
> Subject: Why EBSCO?
>
> Hi,
>
> I am new in serials and have seen quite a few former Faxon customers chose
> EBSCO as an alternative.  Just curious to find out if it is because EBSCO is
> an excellent subscription agent or because there just aren't that many
> choices out there?
>
> Can libraries using EBSCO share the reasons why they chose EBSCO as their
> agent?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Cynthia Hsieh
> Head of Technical Services/Assistant Professor
> University Library
> University of the Pacific
> 3601 Pacific Ave.
> Stockton, CA 95211
> Tel: 209-946-2571
> Fax: 209-946-2810