----- Original message ----------------------------------------

  From: "Ohler, Lila A." <lohler@OU.EDU>

  >But I think it depends on the library.  In my library's case, as in

  >yours, we continue to carry print.  And if we are to continue to devote

  >labor toward claiming print serials, with an assumption of "need" for

  >those issues on the part of the end user, then I cannot justify not

  >claiming electronic serials.

I think you're doing an "apples and oranges" comparison.  Yes, there can be problems with publishers messing up your subscription, changing URLs, and so forth.  However, you can have that type of problem with print titles, as well. With electronic what you don't have to worry about is the items getting lost in the mail, run over by a truck, shredded in some machine along the way, and so forth.  And, of course, in the long run you don't have to worry about missing issues when you're going to bind.

>From the experiences I've had, if a title is missing in whole or in part, it'll get reported very quickly by a user, and you can almost always have access restored very quickly, too, and certainly much quicker than a missing issue or volume can be mailed to you, assuming the publisher even has any to send.  Online missing issues or volumes are  different enough from the problems of claiming paper issues to make me seriously doubt whether it is worth the time.

dan

Lord, I never complain, never ask why, but please don't let my dream run dry

dan@riverofdata.com

Dan Lester, Boise, Idaho, USA