The only hope I seem to have of keeping up with the new electronic titles is to check our renewal list and go through them one by one checking to make sure they are set up and working. If not, I call each publisher and get them our information and add the title to our Serials Solutions profile. I see it in the A to Z List within 24 hours and in our catalog with the next data upload from Serials Solutions. I use EBSCO as my journal vendor and have heard of the Registration Tracker, but no one bothered to explain how it works or what to do with it. How can it help me? Barbara Pope, MALS Reference/Periodicals Librarian Axe Library Pittsburg State University 1701 S. Broadway Pittsburg KS 66762 bpope@pittstate.edu 620-235-4884 Lila Ohler wrote: > Paivi, > > I have worked with Ebsco EJS Enhanced, but not with their A-Z list. > > But we had the same problem with titles appearing through EJS before we'd > had a chance to register with the publisher. > > We solved this by adjusting the Reader Site Options through the EJS > interface to only display green checks for titles that had a registration > status of Complete in the Registration Tracker. But this solution would > mean you have to use Registration Tracker as the tool to comb through the > Ebsco subscription titles. It sounds like you are already doing that > though. I wonder if this same solution would work for you? > > I would love to hear more about the process you are using for creating quick > bibs and holdings via your ERM and into your catalog. Would you mind if I > contact you off list about that to find out more? > > Angie > > > (Lila) Angie Ohler > Head of Acquisitions > McKeldin Library > University of Maryland > College Park, MD 20742 > 301 405-9308 (phone) > 301 314-1200 (fax) > lohler@umd.edu > > The world is so fast that there are days when the person who says it can't > be done is interrupted by the person who is doing it. -Anonymous > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum > [mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Rentz, Paivi H > Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2007 11:19 PM > To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU > Subject: Re: [SERIALST] Ebsco with Serials Solutions (was: Anyone using this > combination of vendor tools?) > > 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 > >
