Original posting on this topic is reproduced below; the responses follow it:
From: Elizabeth Lorbeer <ELorbeer_at_rushu.rush.edu>
My library is investigating an electronic journal tracking service, like
SerialSSolutions. Is anyone using this type of service to manage their
e-journals, and if so, which company? Any hint on cost and type of services
provided. Any information will be helpful.
Thank you,
Liz Lorbeer
Collection Development Librarian @ Library of Rush University
312-942-2282 (8:30 a.m.- 5:00 p.m. CT)
elorbeer_at_rushu.rush.edu <mailto:elorbeer_at_rushu.rush.edu>
===============================================================================
(1) From: "Canepi, Kitti" <KCanepi_at_fgcu.edu>
Florida Gulf Coast University has just started using the services of
Serials Solutions to track our e-journals. We receive both an HTML and
Excel file, and have just received the first. SS discovered we provide
access to over 17,000 journals through our various aggregators! We plan to
post the HTML list to our website while we work on generating a nicer
interface. The price was very reasonable for us (around $2000), especially
considering that we have few technical services and systems staff.
- Kitti
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(2) From: Martha Starck <starckm_at_milwaukee.tec.wi.us>
This topic was discussed in February on the COLLIB-L listserv. Following
are messages I had saved. There are actually two services I have heard
about, each with their own web site. I believe both have pricing
information on their web site.
Journal Webcite:
http://www.journalwebcite.com/
Serials Solutions:
http://www.serialssolutions.com/Home.asp
From: Julie Blake <BLAKEJ_at_CHOWAN.EDU>
Dear colleagues,
I have recently heard of a company called Serials Solutions
(www.serialssolutions.com) that provides consolidated lists of full- text
journals in whatever databases you choose, and will provide updates to
those lists every other month. They can provide these lists in a number of
formats - print, HTML, MARC-ready.
Is anyone using them, and do you have any comments or advice? It
sure does seem like it would be a wonderful service - is it really?
Please feel free to respond directly to me at blakej_at_chowan.edu - I
can summarize for the list if there is interest.
Thanks,
Julie
Julie C. Blake, Director of Library Services Whitaker Library, Chowan College
Murfreesboro, NC 27855
252-398-6439
Fax: 252-398-1301
blakej_at_chowan.edu
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 11:00:31 -0500
From: Julie Blake <BLAKEJ_at_CHOWAN.EDU>
Subject: Serials Solutions Summary/question (long) Sender: COLLIB-L
<COLLIB-L_at_acs.wooster.edu> To: COLLIB-L_at_acs.wooster.edu
Reply-to: blakej_at_CHOWAN.EDU
Organization: Chowan College
X-Mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Priority: normal
Hello, all,
Thanks to those who responded to my question about Serials
Solutions. If I understand correctly, here's what I've found out so far. It
doesn't seem to be very widespread yet; most of the people who answered me
are just starting out.
First, they are not the only company in the biz. A competing
company is Journal WebCite (www.journalwebcite.com). Here's some comparison.
Provides:
SS - provides the holdings data for full-text journals in databases that
you specify. Data is updated bimonthly.
JWC - provides the holdings data for full-text journals in databases that
you specify. Data is updated at least quarterly. For a higher price, they
will provide management tools such as search capabilities for their HTML
list and reports on what is being used.
Formats available:
SS - print, HTML list, MARC-ready (cut and paste links into OPAC 856's)
JWC - HTML list, MARC-ready (cut and paste links into OPAC 856's, although
they are trying to get you to avoid this extra work.)
Where the data is:
SS - data is provided to the customer.
JWC - data is housed on their server.
Pricing:
SS - based on the number of journals that they track.
JWC - based on FTE.
Customer satisfaction, from those I've heard from: SS - 1 is happy, 3 are
just starting.
JWC - 1 is just starting.
- Ok, so now I have another question. Generally the people who
have answered me have been using (or planned to use) the HTML list of
journal titles (including links directly to the databases or titles within
databases). I had actually planned to put MARC records and holdings
information in our catalog. Yes, I know it's more work, but I also thought
our electronic journals would be more findable that way. Am I missing
something big here to be bucking the trends? Thanks for your input.
Julie
Julie C. Blake, Director of Library Services Whitaker Library, Chowan College
Murfreesboro, NC 27855
252-398-6439
Fax: 252-398-1301
blakej_at_chowan.edu
From: "Adams, Mignon" <adams_at_SHRSYS.HSLC.ORG>
Julie--I didn't respond before, because JournalWebCite is a product of my
son's company, and I've had a lot of input into its design.
Serials Solutions provides you with a print or html list for you to do
something with. If that's what you want, then it's a cost-effective way to
do that.
JournalWebCite creates and maintains a dynamic website for you. If you
don't want to cut and paste, then this might be a better product for you.
(It also provides some journal management tools, like how much each journal
from an aggregator costs.)
I am totally uninterested in adding electronic titles from aggregators into
our online catalog. They're here today and gone tomorrow. For example,
Lexis-Nexis dropped over 200 titles in January and added 150 more. And our
users typically prefer to use a journal holdings list rather than an online
catalog (come to think of it, so do I).
Mignon Adams
From: Peter McCracken <peter_at_SERIALSSOLUTIONS.COM> Subject: Serials Solutions
I recently joined this listserv when learning of Ms. Adams' comparison of
her son's product with Serials Solutions. As Coordinator of Reference in
the University of Washington's Undergraduate Library, I am well aware of
the challenges inherent in tracking electronic format journals. Over a year
ago I created a solution to this problem, and founded Serials Solutions. I
generally do not consider it appropriate to enter business-related matters
into listservs, but I do feel it important to clarify a few issues.
I was slightly disappointed by Ms. Adams' tone when she referred to Serials
Solutions. As she knows, Serials Solutions pioneered this field and was the
first to offer solutions customized for individual libraries. Her
institution, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, was one of our
first clients early last fall. Based on our many conversations with her
colleagues, we understand that the librarians and patrons at U.S.P.
continue to rely on and remain happy with their service from Serials
Solutions.
We certainly understand her lack of desire to cut and paste entries into
the OPAC with our MARC-ready product. We *always* make sure that those
considering this product understand the process fully, so that there is no
misunderstanding. In addition, we offer our data in a variety of formats
that do not require cutting and pasting, and we are currently developing a
technical solution that will avoid this step for this product. I was
surprised to learn in this thread that JWC offers the identical
cut-and-paste service.
Serials Solutions was founded by a librarian, for librarians. We are
honored to have well over two dozen partner libraries, of all sizes, who
are very pleased with our service. We are constantly updating and improving
our products, based on this continuous feedback from our partner libraries.
A partial list is included on our website. We encourage librarians
interested in this issue to look closely at all of their options and select
the solution that they believe will maintain the most accurate data,
provide the most responsive customer service, and deliver the most useful
product for their needs.
Peter McCracken, MLS
Principal and Co-Founder, Serials Solutions, LLC www.serialssolutions.com
peter_at_serialssolutions.com
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(3) From: "Linwood DeLong" <linwood.delong_at_uwinnipeg.ca>
We are currently comparing two services, the one offered by our serials
vendor (RoweCom) and the other by Catchword.
http://www.catchword.com/
The latter is a free service; our vendor charges a small fee for their
service. It's too soon to tell which way we will go. I have received very
positive comments about Catchword from other university librarians.
Linwood DeLong
University of Winnipeg
P.S. I hope that I have understood your question correctly.
Linwood DeLong
Collections Coordinator
University of Winnipeg Library
515 Portage Ave.
Winnipeg, MB
Canada R3B 2E9
Ph. (204) 786-9124
FAX (204) 786-1824
e-mail: linwood.delong_at_uwinnipeg.ca
Received on Tue May 29 2001 - 11:06:54 EDT