In response to Bill Cohen, Haworth Press, asking what librarians think
of "electronic" sample copies:

I'm not speaking for all librarians, of course, but I and many of my
colleagues are not wild about receiving even more of what could be
considered junk or spam e-mail. Unsolicited "electronic" sample issues
would be as unwelcome as printed ones. We're getting increasing amounts
of electronic (email) advertisements for various publications, and while
I may forward one or two to certain subject specialists, I have found
over time that most advertisements have been mass-emailed, and so I
usually delete them. As for sample issues, it's increasingly common for
librarians and/or teaching faculty and students who are interested in a
journal to go out and "Google" the title (if they know it) or the
publisher's web site, and then get to the information they about a
journal need that way (and they do often forward information to us with
a request to order the journal). The most useful publisher's web sites
are the ones that have an A-Z browse by journal title in addition to a
list of journals by subject (especially large publishers with scores of
titles), and which contain information "about" the journal, the ISSN,
all available format and pricing options, whether a license (or "terms &
conditions of use") is required for online access (and then either cite
a link where the license/terms can be found or how a copy may be
obtained), and complete contact information (names, e-addresses and
phone numbers) in case more information is needed/wanted. The increasing
web presence of publishers' web sites which contain useful, complete,
**current** information about each journal they offer, is a boon for
anyone looking for information about journals. Offering to provide a
free "electronic" sample copy or a free printed sample copy only upon
request seems the enlighted way to operate.

E. Gaele Gillespie
Serials Librarian
Serials/Retrieval Services Dept.
University of Kansas Libraries
Watson Library
1425 Jayhawk Blvd Rm 210 S
Lawrence, KS  66045-7544
Ph:  785-864-3051
Fax: 785-864-3855 (to my attention)
E-mail:  ggillespie@ku.edu

-------------------------------
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
[mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Bill Cohen
Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2007 11:33 AM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Re: [SERIALST] Handling of Sample Issues

What do librarians think of "electronic" sample copies?

- Bill

Bill Cohen, /Publisher  /
The Haworth Press
[Taylor & Francis Group]
www.HaworthPress.com