Small publishers are in a tight situation.  They don't have enough money to put their publication online and manage the online publication process so they figure that going with an aggregator will take care of providing online access.  They get some money from the aggregator but they also continue to publish their print version and take the subscription income.  Then libraries either b/c of concern about shelving space or b/c of a financial crunch start cancelling the print subscriptions. The more this happens, the less income the publisher is getting, of course.   So the small publisher tries to recover some lost revenue by putting up an embargo via the aggregator, or trying to pull content from the aggregator, or going to the big commercial publishers, or maybe going to some university publishers.

It is a vicious cycle.  One thing librarians can do is to identify local publications produced on campus and talk to the editors to see if there is anything the library can do.   At the very least you can describe some issues about the scholarly communication process and make sure that there are no misunderstandings about what the aggregator does.  Editors see the subscription trends but may not know the reasons behind those trends. Also, we have seen confusion and mix-up about the role of about EBSCO subscription agency and EBSCO as an aggregator.

Andrea
********************************
Andrea Imre
Electronic Resources Librarian
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Morris Library - MC6632
605 Agriculture Dr
Carbondale, IL 62901
phone: 618-453-4339
fax:  618-453-3452
e-mail: aimre@lib.siu.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of Diane Westerfield
Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2013 10:48 AM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Re: [SERIALST] database access change

I would be very careful with print journal titles where your only online access is in one or more aggregator DBs. I would be loathe to cancel the print subscription and/or withdraw bound volumes. I'm nervous about putting bound volumes into storage if the titles are only covered in an aggregator. You would want to make absolutely sure that nobody is relying on that title anymore before jettisoning the print.

We currently have two big aggregators. It's too easy for publishers to yank stuff out of one otherwise reliable aggregator. The other aggregator is comparatively chaotic and somewhat hard to use, in addition to the vagaries of publisher whims.

Take a look at aggregator title update lists, if they are available -- some publishers are putting us and the aggregator in a bad position by pulling out their content completely, or instituting long embargo periods on new content. Large publishers are buying and transferring journals in a feeding frenzy, so what you had today in an aggregator, may be gone tomorrow or next year.

--

Diane Westerfield, Electronic Resources & Serials Librarian Tutt Library, Colorado College diane.westerfield@coloradocollege.edu
(719) 389-6661
(719) 389-6082 (fax)

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of Lynne Weaver
Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2013 7:34 AM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [SERIALST] database access change

According to this morning's e-mail from EBSCO,  "As of August 2013, some changes will be made to Harvard Business Review (HBR) article access for Business Source customers.... As you are likely aware, full-text licensing agreements with publishers are subject to change in all databases.... as of August 1, 2013, all databases containing HBR will experience a change for 500 of the articles.  These articles will become read-only, and will be clearly marked as such.

This is curious.  Why 500 and what 500?  Is this certain years of access or what other criterion?  And "read only" apparently means can't download or print.  Why the odd restriction?

This, of course, raises the larger issue of access changing for anything we think we "have."  I know it's the publisher, not the database provider, determining the change.  If we've based our print cancellations on electronic access, though, it becomes a game of chance.

Lynne Weaver
Serials Coordinator
Lipscomb Library
434 947-8396 Phone      434 947-8134 Fax
lweaver@randolphcollege.edu<mailto:lweaver@randolphcollege.edu>
Randolph College
Founded as Randolph-Macon Woman's College in 1891
2500 Rivermont Avenue
Lynchburg, VA 24503

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