I just save those letters in bundles and do not bother about them.  It is useful to have them in case there is some misunderstanding over what the start date of a subscription is as they do have the publisher's understanding printed on them.  Regular review of your check-in cards and links will turn up any unplanned lapses.   We have had some trouble with electronic subscriptions blinking out in January (Blackwell was a particular problem for a couple of years) but we have found that these mailed appeals are seldom if ever indicative of an actual lapse in a subscription, merely a delay or deficit in the information flow amongst the publisher's various departments or between the publisher and whomever handles their promotion.  FOr some magazines (e.g 'Harpers', "The Washington Monthly"), we have in the past been sent appeals throughout the year, no matter what.

IW

I.  Woodward
Serials Office
Colgate University Libraries
Case Library and Geyer Center for Information Technology
13 Oak Drive
Hamilton, N.Y. 13346
Ph.:   315-228-7306
Fax:   315-228-7029

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Tian Zhang
Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008 1:24 PM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Re: [SERIALST] Ebsco

 We have been with Ebsco since 2003. We are satisfied with their services so far. Ebsco people come to visit us at least twice every year to discuss with us about our subscriptions and to give us updated information of the company, which I think is really helpful. Whenever there is problem, we always contact (most of the time by email) one person she replies to us usually on the same day. She is really very good.

The only problem for us is the payment to the publishers (which I do not know what is the payment schedule for Ebsco to individual publishers).
Because I always get letters from publishers to tell me that our subscription is expired soon, actually we renewed already through Ebsco.
In that case, we usually have to contact our CSR and give her the information. (Of course, sometimes the publisher made mistakes because they already got the payment).

Tian Zhang

Serials Librarian
St. John's University Library
8000 Utopia Parkway
Queens, NY 11439
Email: zhangt@stjohns.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Patricia Thompson
Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008 10:23 AM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Re: [SERIALST] Ebsco

We have great service from EBSCO.  I don't always like everything they do, but they do a LOT of things really well, and any time we have a problem or a complaint, our CSR and the Account Representative are very responsive.  Also, as someone else mentioned, they really have improved the interface to their online system and the ability to run reports to get information.

Our service is from the Birmingham office.

Pat Thompson

Patricia R. 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