I concur.  We have always had a great relationship with our Ebsco reps, as
they changed back and forth over the years.  We are not a big account, and
we are getting smaller each year.  This has NOT reduced our service.  They
treat us as well as when we were 3 times as big an account.

While I believe that you might get better deals in one way or the other from
different vendors at any one time, I believe that developing a good working
relationship with your rep over time is worth a lot of money.  Despite
mistakes and problems (we had several duplicates in our order this year)
these have always been resolved in the long run.

And as someone else said earlier, I would rather work with one subscription
vendor than a couple hundred publishers, particularly those who have
outsourced their subscription lists and don't ever care about if we get the
journal or not.

My two cents....

Karen

Karen M. Chobot, MLS
Director, Mildred Johnson Library
North Dakota State College of Science
800 6th St. N.
Wahpeton ND 58076
701-671-2385
-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
[mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Rose Marie Parsons
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2008 9:19 AM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Re: [SERIALST] Ebsco

Hello,

I offer my two cents as a satisfied Ebsco client. When our relationship
with our customer service rep deteriorated a few years ago, we worked
with our account services manager to request a change of CSR. We clearly
stated our concerns and expectations to our new CSR, and she has been
very responsive. She is a tenacious problem solver, and that is what we
want and need. We have also made an effort to better understand Ebsco's
vocabulary and processes. I am convinced the improved communication has
been beneficial to both Ebsco and us.    We are still uncovering
problems that trace back to Ebsco's taking over this library's Faxon
orders, and our CSR is working hard to resolve those. Ebsconet is very
user-friendly, and it is a great help when our CSR and I can look at the
same screens while we talk through a problem. Approximately 2/3 of our
agent-handled orders are through Ebsco, with Swets handling the rest. We
place most new orders with Swets because we are trying to move to a
better balance, not because we are dissatisfied with Ebsco. We are also
satisfied with Swets, but SwetsWise lacks some of my favorite Ebsconet
features.

Rose Marie Parsons
Albertsons Library
Boise State University
P.O Box 46
Boise, Idaho 83707-0046
208-426-4224
208-426-5424 (fax)
roseparsons@boisestate.edu