We don't have SerialsSolutions but we have Ebsco AtoZ LinkSource, EJS Enhanced and Innovative's ERM. Our AtoZ list is getting automatically updated with EJS adds and deletes. This is both good and bad... The good side is that many additions get into the AtoZ quickly but sometimes it means they get added before we have activated the new content with the publisher. Although we get email notifications about most changes (as part of EJS Enhanced), updates take place that we do not get notified about or we get notified after the fact. Even with some problems, I think the automatic updating of AtoZ is a good thing and saves us some work. As far as getting information from Ebsco to Serials Solutions, I think at this point of time you're limited to downloading from EJS, editing the file, and uploading it to SS. I agree with the assessments that the EJS coverage is not always accurate. Sometimes content is only available at the publisher site and Ebsco doesn't have coverage dates. Many times we have coverage further back at the publisher site than on EJS. Sometimes there are differences because we have a print subscription via Ebsco and the electronic through another provider such as Project Muse. In these cases we cannot expect Ebsco to know our true coverage. If the EJS coverage is misleading, we suppress the EJS listing using the Content Exclusion feature (not sure if this is part of Basic EJS). To catch the non-activated titles and to fix coverage, we have been reviewing our EJS titles about once a year. We are currently testing coverage loads into our ERM. We download the AtoZ spreadsheet, modify it slightly and upload the file into our ERM. The coverage load creates bibs and holdings records in our catalog. I would love to see more automation in this area but I don't think the vendors are quite there yet. Paivi Rentz Electronic Resource Librarian Texas State University - San Marcos -----Original Message----- From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Patricia Thompson Sent: Monday, August 06, 2007 11:55 AM To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU Subject: [SERIALST] Ebsco with Serials Solutions (was: Anyone using this combination of vendor tools?) Thank you Judith, for your reply on the list. This is a summary of the off-list responses I have gotten so far: 1. Unhappy with EJS in general; do not want to pay for enhanced; bypass EJS whenever possible and just go to publisher's site. 2. Says I should not pay extra for EJS Enhanced. Strongly suggests that I start insisting that Serial Solutions and Ebsco work together to implement one of the existing ONIX codes for the transmission of serial subscription data between them. "This will make your life a lot easier because it would mean that Ebsco should be able to push the information per your subscription entitled access to the Serial Solutions profile and automatically update your A-Z list and/or ERM system." 3. Says that even the Enhanced EJS product is labor-intensive, and that the coverage indicated by EJS is inaccurate and prefers to link to publisher site directly in Serials Solutions. 4. Almost never uses EJS for anything; tries to avoid using it because it is clunky and doesn't seem to have reliable usage statistics. "I feel like everything gets garbled when EBSCO is involved, but that may be because I haven't had any good experiences with them yet." 5. Uses EJS Enhanced, but finds that Registration Tracker is not reliably correct. Prefers to go with publisher's site for coverage rather than EJS interface. In addition, 5 people wrote saying that they want to know what I find out because they are in the same boat. ------------------ My comments: a. First of all, I am frustrated that people do not post to the list, because that's what the list is for: discussion. It's not just this list. It happens to me every time I post a question on any email-based discussion list. People write to me, and then I have to take the time to summarize, which doesn't usually happen, or pass on all the messages, which I don't feel entirely comfortable with. However: b. Probably the reason people did not post to the list on this particular topic is that we are discussing vendors by name, and people do not want to say bad things about anyone, and it isn't really fair, and perhaps not even legal! Please note: I DO NOT THINK THAT THESE ISSUES ARE LIMITED TO EBSCO, or that they are entirely EBSCO's "fault." Serials Solutions is not perfect either. Both of these companies rely on information from myriads of publishers, who are not always cooperative. But until companies like Ebsco allow users to share and communicate in a protected environment (such as ILS User Groups) then I think we should be allowed to compare notes and share experiences in a more public list. Our only other option is to complain to our reps, which I have done. (I usually get told that I am not using the products correctly and need more training.) c. Lots of people think that an ERM product is going to solve all of their problems. I thought so too, and so we purchased Serials Solutions ERM product a couple of years ago. However, it just sat there-- I never had time to put the information in it! And it has limitations in what you can do with it. I have felt very guilty about not using this product. But I spoke to a librarian who attended NASIG, who told me that at one session, people were asked to raise their hands if they had an ERM. Then out of those people, who was actually using it? The people with their hands still up was MUCH smaller. d. Something is drastically wrong with this whole picture. No one has time to check and recheck the dates of their online coverage for individual titles. I am not the only librarian who is floundering. All of these online advances (full-text explosions, link resolvers, etc.) just keep raising the bar. Small libraries can get access to thousands of online titles through publisher packages, aggregator packages, consortial deals with publishers, etc. But we don't have teams of people to manage them. My challenge for this summer was to come up with a workflow for managing e-resources that the staff in my serials group could participate in and gradually get caught up with all the registrations and changes and record-keeping that I have not been able to keep up with. I am not much further along in that goal. I've been a technical services/cataloging librarian for almost 20 years. I've always been good at working out the steps of a process and training people to do them. I am comfortable with technology and good at finding out how to do things. However, I've never been at such a loss about how to approach something as I am this e-resource stuff, and so frustrated at how little I accomplish when I work on it. And this is only PART of my job! I guess this was a big whining rant on my part. Maybe it helped to get it out of my system. I am certain that I am not the only person who feels this way. I do feel very fortunate to work in a library that can actually afford to buy as many resources and tools as we have. I also appreciate the work of the forward-thinkers who are working on standards and cooperation between libraries, publishers, and vendors. Pat Thompson Patricia Thompson Assistant University Librarian for Resource Management Services Jessie Ball duPont Library The University of the South Sewanee, TN 37383 Phone: 931-598-1657 Email: pthompso@sewanee.edu
