James,
It has nothing to do with the agent, all to do with the way the PO
processes mail that isn't 1st class. We had an interesting situation
with the Seattle Times (we are in WA, but on the other side of the
mountains). They used to offer delivery in our area, but could no longer
afford to do so. They would have given us a discount for a mail sub (I
imagine it would come a day late). But they also offer full-text content
back to 1990 (minus the ads and want ads and certain other features).
They do let you see the want ads for the current day. This policy is
very generous. Most papers let you see only the last 1 to 7 days online
unless you pay. We are monitoring the situation until next fiscal year,
when we will decided whether or not to take the print or not. I know
that most people prefer to hold the physical paper in their hands. This
has been since Mar.1, and we haven't had any complaints yet (knock on
wood).

We are quite fortunate in that our State library contracts with
Proquest for their online database. The contract includes the NY Times
full-text, including the current day and going back to 1995, and certain
newspapers from WA state (or whatever state you're in).  Maybe you could
negotiate something with Proquest.
Good luck and have a great day.
Carol Morse

********************************************

Address:
Walla Walla College Library
Periodicals Dept.
104 S. College Ave.
College Place, WA  99324-1159

Carol Morse
Serials Librarian morsca@wwc.edu
509) 527-2684; fax 509) 527-2001
*********************************************

>>> James.Borchert@SDSTATE.EDU 3/23/2005 6:44:54 AM >>>
Thank you to everyone who shared their experiences and offered their
suggestions.  I learned that we are most definitely not the only
library
that has these problems. Unfortunately, we have no news kiosks; our
campus bookstore doesn't carry the titles we need and the only Borders
we have is on the other side of the state. I contacted Barnes and
Noble
(only an hour away!), but they do not distribute newspapers either.

Perhaps there is more we can do in negotiating contracts with
subscription vendors because while the actual problem lies with them
or
the publishers, we [libraries] are blamed by the patron for not
providing the newspapers in a timely manner.  This is something we
definitely do not need as libraries are seemingly becoming less
popular
anyway and we are trying to make ourselves more attractive to increase
our gate counts.

Thanks again for all of your comments!

James

James Borchert
Serials Department
H.M. Briggs Library
Box 2115
South Dakota State University
Brookings, SD 57007-1098
James_Borchert@sdstate.edu