All I can attest to is that our switch to Swets was smoother than others. We provided them with our shelf list from our online system along with the expiry date and it plugged in with a minimum of fuss. There was some overlap in subscriptions for a few issues but we encounter that even with the same vendor sometimes during renewal, which I blame mostly on the publishers not the vendor. The old vendor subscriptions were simply allowed to expire as Swets renewed the titles.

I don't know if this is a problem anymore, but sometimes the smaller vendors couldn't get the titles we wanted, especially the international titles. I'm impressed with the Swets catalog in that if we want it and they don't have it, they will get it. There are always problems with any vendor. It may be claims, renewals, electronic access but I've found that the most crucial aspect is the account representative for you library. I've encountered some that only want to attend to the large accounts and let the smaller library accounts take the back burner. We have a comparatively tiny collection but are a part of a larger multi-campus university. Our account however is handled as if it is an individual unit.
I know that sometimes large vendors don't want to handle small accounts but that has not been my experience with Swets. If you are not comfortable in your interviews with your account representative for prospective vendors, then by all means, don't sign up with them.

My biggest headache is claims but I don't know of any serial librarian who doesn't have these headaches no matter what vendor they have.

Roger

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Pam Scott
Sent: Monday, January 30, 2012 5:33 PM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Re: [SERIALST] vendor question

Hi Roger,

Regarding your switch to Swets - what made the vendor switch smooth?
Do you think it's that the publishers are better prepared to handle
such changes or do you think it has more to do with the subscription
vendors?  We switched many years ago - just when the e-access was
starting to grow - and at that time it was extremely painful.  I think
our library's management of e-journals (using Serials Solutions, etc)
and by less reliance on access directly through our subscription
vendor might make a switch easier now.  I would appreciate any
feedback that you could give.  We are considering a switch from Swets
to Ebsco.  Although we dread the process, the service we're receiving
from Swets has been poor.

Regards,

Pam Scott
Librarian
Tripler Army Medical Library

On 1/23/12, DAVIS, ROGER <rdavis@kent.edu> wrote:
> I've had the "privilege" of changing serial vendors three times in the last
> 15 years. There are good points and bad for each vendor and it depends
> somewhat on the size of your collection if one will be better for you than
> another. I will say that our last switch to SWETS was the smoothest I've
> seen. It was seamless and we had very few problems with publishers.
>
> Roger
>
> From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
> [mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Coakley, Lynn
> Sent: Monday, January 23, 2012 2:47 PM
> To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
> Subject: [SERIALST] vendor question
>
> hi all:
>
> A colleague at a neighboring college asked me for information about
> periodicals vendors besides Ebsco of which they are a customer.  Apparently
> an audit turned up the fact that there are other vendors that are cheaper.
> Personally, I think the agony of getting titles transferred from one vendor
> to another is not worth the lesser cost, but that's my opinion.
>
> I told her I would ask this list for ideas of a different periodicals vendor
> that you love (or that you hate), I'd love to have that info.
>
> Thanks
>
> Lynn
>
> --
> Lynn Coakley
> Coordinator of Technical Services
> Library
> Springfield Technical Community College
> One Armory Sq.
> Springfield, MA  01102
> 413.755.4565
> fax 413.755.6315
>
>

--
Pam Scott, MLISc
Technical Information Specialist
Tripler Medical Library
1 Jarrett White Road
Tripler Army Medical Center, HI  96859-5000
Ph: 808.433.6391
Fx. 808.433.4892