I have been noticing this happening with other publishers the last
couple of years, so I don't think your situation is unique.  If I were a
conspiracy theorist, I would think that these associations and smaller
publishers are using the same software to handle payments and someone
needs to fix the bug in it!!!  For 2004 I had a couple of titles do
this, and also some for 2005.  In my case, I now have a handful of
titles that now expire in January instead of December because of a
programming feature in a computer program.

Shirley Rais, Chair, Serials Dept.
Loma Linda University Libraries
11072 Anderson St.
Loma Linda, CA  92350-0001

Phone: (909) 558-4583
FAX: (909) 558-4919
Srais@llu.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
[mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Koveleskie, Judith
Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2005 1:28 PM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [SERIALST] American Economic Association

Our library recently subscribed to three journals from the above
association:  American Economic Review, Journal of Economic Literature,
and Journal of Economic Perspectives.  We ordered through EBSCO and
requested a 1-1-2005 start date.  EBSCO sent the order and payment on
10-31-2004.  However, instead of selecting the January date, the
association's computer is set up to send the next issue after the
payment is received.  For 2 of the journals this was the December 2004
issue and for the third it  is January 2005.

When I asked for an adjustment on this the publisher wouldn't budge.  I
was told that we should delay next year's payment, so that we skip the
December issues and then our new subscription will start in January.  We
can then purchase the December issues as backfiles, if they are
available.  Of course how one could be expected to perfectly time this
is beyond me, especially because this is a bundled subscription and
there is that one title that we don't want to skip.

I offered to pay for the 2 December issues that I received, if they
would put all the subscriptions on a calendar year basis.   Since I
would be paying for everything that they have sent, I thought this was
reasonable.  The answer was no.  EBSCO has done everything possible to
convince them to make the change and the answer was still no.  They
don't seem to realize that most people want complete volumes and that
libraries are especially concerned with this issue.

Has anyone else had problems with this association?  I don't think there
is anything that will happen to change this, but it feels good to get it
off my chest and warn others who may be ordering in the future.

Judith A. Koveleskie
Periodicals Librarian
Seton Hill University
Reeves Memorial Library
Greensburg, PA 15601
724-838-7828
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