To jump on an even taller soapbox, NISO and UKSG have a joint initiative to address this issue by recommending a standard format for the exchange of holdings metadata between content providers, knowledge base vendors, and librarians.  More information on the initiative can be found on the KBART (Knowledge Bases And Related Tools) site at: http://www.uksg.org/kbart/endorsement  The recommended data fields can be found at: http://www.uksg.org/kbart/s5/guidelines/data_field_labels

During a recent NISO webinar, librarians were encouraged to [request? demand? require?] e-resource access and holdings information from content providers in a format consistent with these guidelines.  As Daniel suggested, KB vendors are often in the same position as librarians in that they receive incomplete, inaccurate, or non-machine-readable holdings information from content providers, necessitating labor- and time-intensive manipulation of the data to make it useful in systems like link resolvers.  The KBART guidelines are fairly straightforward, so while it may be a significant one-time investment on the part of content providers to change the process by which they report holdings information, I think it would save all three parties a lot of time and effort in the long run.

Of course, this all assumes that content providers can maintain accurate holdings information in the first place, and that they won't change their business models every few years...

-Sarah

Sarah Hartman-Caverly
Serials and E-Resources Specialist | Swarthmore College Libraries

shartma2@swarthmore.edu | 610-328-7815 | 610-328-7329 facsimile

500 College Avenue | Swarthmore, PA 19081
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeanette Skwor" <skworj@UWGB.EDU>
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Sent: Tuesday, November 2, 2010 12:17:54 PM
Subject: Re: [SERIALST] Confirming E-access dates

Daniel said:

Your best bet is to go into the interface for the journal and see what
you can get into.

 

I do this consistently.  In fact, it’s how the situation came up, in
that I regularly have different access than we think we have or should
have or SFX states we have.

 

So . . . you accept whatever is there until it changes, then accept
that?

 

And believe me, you don’t sound any more pessimistic than I feel!  15 or
so years of serials librarianship does strengthen the skeptical muscle. 
:-)

Thanks,

Jeanette Skwor

 

From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
[mailto:SERIALST@list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of Hoyte, Daniel
Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2010 10:55 AM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Re: [SERIALST] Confirming E-access dates

 

This is going to sound pessimistic…

Your best bet is to go into the interface for the journal and see what
you can get into.

 

 A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to select my institution’s
 new ERM/link resolver. Among our options was going open source, so I
had the opportunity to acquire and use title data from our vendors /
publishers. Let’s just say that while the majority of the data was good;
enough of the data was inaccurate to the point that I now have a healthy
distrust of publisher access data. (This was the situation nfor
subscribed e-journals as opposed to aggregated databases.)

 

Daniel Hoyte M.R.S.

Senior Library Systems Technician

Leatherby Libraries, Chapman University

714-532-7745

Skype: daniel.hoyte

 

// Dear maintainer:

// Once you are done trying to 'optimize' this routine,

// and have realized what a terrible mistake that was,

// please increment the following counter as a warning

// to the next guy:

// total_hours_wasted_here = 16

                              --Unknown coder       

 

From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
[mailto:SERIALST@list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of Skwor, Jeanette
Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2010 7:57 AM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [SERIALST] Confirming E-access dates

 

We are discussing how best to determine exactly what period of access we
are supposed to have for each of our electronic titles.  The thought has
been put forth to contact the publisher - that publishers would have a
set period for all of their titles and we could go by that information.

 

Skeptic that I am, I am a) not trusting publishers actually do have such
a policy at the ready, and b) that they do not change it at will.  I am
willing, and hoping, actually, to be wrong.

 

So - looking to the cumulated wisdom of Serialsters - any information,
thoughts, experience you are willing to share.  If you have set about
determining that sort of information, how have you done it, and how
successful have you been?  Time involved?  Other thoughts?

 

Thanks,

Jeanette L. Skwor
Serials Dept., Cofrin Library
University of WI-Green Bay
2420 Nicolet Drive
Green Bay, WI  54311-7001

"Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will
get you through times of no libraries."
                              Anne Herbert, The Whole Earth Catalog