My institution is not a Serials Solutions customer.  I've heard many
good things about them and am thankful for the tools they are creating
and maintaining to help some libraries.  I agree that they seem well
attuned to the needs of serialists.  However, I want to point out that
this kind of reporting tool, while nice, isn't unique to them.  This
kind of analysis can, at least in theory, be done using data from other
sources.

For example, we at Taylor University are part of a consortium that
purchased SFX last year.  The SFX Knowledge Base of source data can be
exported and manipulated in a variety of ways.  We use it to update our
locally developed periodical management system (I've mentioned this
before in an earlier posting to SERIALST but if anyone is interested in
this system, feel free to contact me off list).  One of the things that
it allows us to do is to manipulate that data in our own system to give
us exactly this kind of reporting mechanism.  If we wanted to do so, we
could also generate "what if" scenarios in this kind of setup.  We
could use not only the SFX Knowledge Base but also jake data, or a
combination thereof.  There are a lot of other customized reports we
are creating or could readily create using our locally developed
system.

I am of course most familiar with SFX but there are similar services
out there such as LinkFinderPlus from Endeavor and others from other
ILS vendors and elsewhere.  I have heard of some libraries who are
going with SFX rather than Serials Solutions because they don't see a
need to maintain similar services.  I know they aren't equivalent per
se in the sense of what each vendor is developing or selling, but my
understanding is that the heart of both is a regularly updated
knowledge base of ejournal information.

Again, I am not striving to find fault with Serials Solutions at all,
especially given the fact that I am uninformed about the
specifics/mechanics of their product(s).  I am simply trying to point
out that there are other ways of achieving similar services such as
this overlap analysis.  I've heard that one of Serials Solutions great
strengths is its work to integrate or provide MARC records.  In
comparison, SFX also is working on a service for distributing MARC
records for titles in its Knowledge Base, called MarcIt.  I am looking
forward to possibly working with it.  No doubt there are some on this
discussion list who know more about it than I do and may have hands on
experience with it.

Regards,

Steve

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Steve Oberg
Electronic Resources Librarian &
   Assistant Professor
Taylor University
www.taylor.edu

On May 3, 2004, at 11:58 AM, Marshall, Susan wrote:

> Colleagues,
>
> I expressed my excitement on another list about the
> new enhancement to the basic Serials Solutions subscription
> but I wanted to make sure everyone who works with serials
> knows about this new tool.
>
> It is called the Overlap Analysis Report and it allows you to
> compare your journal collection for duplicate subscriptions.
> You can compare your current collection against itself
> or key in a "what if" scenario if you are looking to add to your
> collection.
> It will compare 2 databases or up to 300 to show your
> overlap at the title level.  It does not yet analize at the holdings
> level, but they are working on that for the future.
>
> If you are considering a subscription to any of Serials Solutions'
> products, I strongly recommend this company.  I believe that
> they have their finger on the pulse of our ever-changing
> and challenging business. I have found them to be open in the
> exchange of new ideas and they respond with technology relatively
> quickly that empowers us to be the most effective in our profession.
>
> I view Serials Solutions as an integral partner to my library.
>
>
> Sue Marshall
> Electronic Resources Librarian
> Renne Library
> Montana State University
> P.O. Box 173320
> Bozeman, MT 59717-3320
> smarshall@montana.edu
> (406) 994-4313
> Fax (406) 994-2851