Another consideration is claiming missing or damaged issues, which is
much easier to do through a service. 165 different publishers will
probably have 165 different policies and procedures re claims; they also
probably won't have services like (for instance) Ebsco's missing copy
bank.

We receive a few titles directly from the publisher (local newspapers)
but nearly everything that's sent through the mail is handled via Ebsco.
It makes life a lot easier in so many ways: the aforementioned claims,
plus renewals, invoicing.

Take care!

Max Shenk
Periodicals Assistant
Montgomery County Community College Library
Blue Bell, PA

>>> tbuck@HCLIB.ORG 05/24/04 05:13PM >>>
We receive in the neighborhood of 600 periodical titles, going to more
than 26 agencies (branches).  I can't imagine the headache of doing
this
with direct subscriptions, for our Acquisitions department alone, much
less what our financial office would think of issuing all of those
individual checks.  Weigh your time as well as theirs.

Weigh the other benefits a subscription agent can offer, such as
management reports (price history, online availability, subject
breakdown, for instance), as well as regular & convenient notification
of cessations, suspensions, and changes to title and frequency. They
can
provide you with a list of titles you receive, the number of copies,
the
subscription dates, ISSNs, publication schedule, and other handy info,
as well as a source of information for titles you're considering. (An
especially handy feature with our agent is seeing the difference in
cost
for various shipping options.) An agents' online claiming service is
likely to be much quicker than placing claims with individual
publishers.  Many agents provide a free/low-cost "missing copy bank".
We
also look to our agent for assistance managing e-journals.

Your 165 subscriptions is a significant number, especially given that
your staff (I assume) is commensurately smaller than a library
receiving
many more subscriptions.  My suggestion is to handle directly only the
titles that an agent can't; that will be time-consuming enough.  At
least have a few agents visit and give you their spiel -- even obtain
price quotes for your title list -- so that you know all the
possibilities.

Best of luck,
Tina

Tina Herman Buck
Collection and Bibliographic Services
Hennepin County Library
952-847-8548
fax: 952-847-8642
tbuck@hclib.org

-----Original Message-----
From: Laura Milliman [mailto:lmilliman@VW.VCCS.EDU]
Sent: Monday, May 24, 2004 1:41 PM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [SERIALST] Direct subscriptions

Hello,
I am new to this list. Would like to know about feasibility of direct
subscriptions. I have searched the archives, but without standard
subject
headings it is difficult to gather all the information in one place.
Are
there any published articles or chapters that deal with this issue?
I understand that direct subscriptions would not be practical for
larger
libraries. However, we only have 165 current subscriptions. Would
dealing
with this small amount of titles make a difference?  Are there types
of
titles, such as monographs or newspapers for which ordering direct
might
make a difference?
Thank you.

Laura Milliman
Brown Library
Virginia Western Community College
PO Box 40012
Roanoke, VA 24022-0012