Hi Jan,

We recently set-up the OCLC eSerials Holdings service here at Macalester.
We are using SFX, but I think that OCLC worked even more closely with
Serials Solutions when developing this service, so I imagine it might be an
even simpler process for Serials Solutions customers.

Overall I felt it was very easy to implement.  We are just doing the
holdings updating service, which is free of charge for OCLC member
libraries.  I believe OCLC recently added an option to have them deliver
MARC records to you for a charge (not sure what that charge is).

One thing to keep in mind is that if the e-serial does not have an ISSN, or
if the e-version of the record is not available in WorldCat's database, your
holdings symbol won't be added to the record.

For our collection (approx. 18,000 titles), about 1/3 of them are currently
not matching on an OCLC record--a significant number of which simply do not
have an ISSN.

We get monthly reports detailing which titles were added, merged, canceled,
or that are unresolved.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Katy

On Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 2:22 PM, Janice Ouellette <jouellette@fsc.edu>wrote:

> Hello all,
> We've just upgraded to Voyage-7; installed new clients, etc.  Now I have a
> question about OCLCs eSerials updating service.
> Setting up this automatic updating service seems straight forward. Is it
> really as simple as it reads? We use Serials Solutions and I know I need to
> activate such service with them also. Are there hidden costs I'm missing?
> Are there cautions anyone can share? Is this service 'worth the effort'?
>
> Thank you.
>
> Jan Ouellette
> Periodicals Librarian
> Fitchburg State College
>

--
Katy Gabrio
Electronic Resources & Serials Librarian
DeWitt Wallace Library
Macalester College
1600 Grand Ave
St. Paul, MN 55105
p 651.696.6703
f  651.696.6617
gabrio@macalester.edu