The question:
Does anyone have an up-to-date chart that will couple a given title�s print ISSN to its electronic ISSN?

Why I�m asking:
We use a subscription agent and over the course of a year we subscribe and cancel titles. We have an A-Z list provided by a separate vendor. We have yet another vendor that supplies a meaningful degree of archival access to many of these titles in addition to the access that the publishers supply to the same titles. And of course we have the publishers and/or their host sites.

With that many parties involved in providing access to thousands of titles it is easy to see how they can get out of sync with each other. It makes good sense to periodically check to make sure every thing that we pay for, in every form that we pay for it, is operational.

A way to check to see that everything is as it should be is to download a list from each relevant vendor/provider/publisher and compare them to each other. If I bought a title through subscription agent A from publisher B, I want to see it in vendor C�s list. If I compare the three lists from the 3 parties and all 3 say I have access that title, chances are good that I actually do have access. This is more efficient than going title by title through the OPAC even if that is the most reliable way to do it. But I�m open to a discussion of better ways of verifying access to a long list of titles.

The problem is that subscription agent A is likely to say I have access to �Journal of the Boss Hogg Society� and because it has an electronic element, they�ll use the e-ISSN. At the same time, publisher B sells print plus with emphasis on print so they use the print ISSN and they list the title as �*The* journal of the Boss Hogg society.� And in the meantime, vendor C is into shorthand titles so they list it as �Jnl Boss Hogg Society� and they occasionally use the print ISSN for some titles and the e-ISSN for other titles.

I can run electronic list comparisons but only if I have a consistent match point. The best way that we have come up with is a chart where the different format ISSNs are linked together along with a title. That way the title can vary enough to throw it off in a list but still be matchable. Any ideas? I'm always open to ideas on better ways of doing things.

Thanks to all,
Michael Lampley
Serials Librarian
Texas Christian University
TCU Box 2984000
2913 West Lowden St.
Fort Worth, TX 76129
817 257 6485 TEL
m.lampley@tcu.edu

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