On Mon, 2 Dec 2002, Sandra Morris wrote:
> Can I ask what others do about including information about dates covered by
> their ejournals? Do you include dates/issues covered on your ejournal list
> web pages and/or in catalogue record? If so, how do you maintain them, as
> 'receipts'/loadings, including retrospective loading of back issues, are
> rarely notified to us?
An interesting question since we are also wondering how we can make it easy
for our users to tell which volumes/years are available online, especially
when we still have print issues in some cases or hold back volumes only in
print because we have switched to e-only subscriptions.
We used to include vague messages in our OPAC such as "Access recent issues
online" or "Archive of this title". This was ok when e-access was in
addition to print subscriptions but our e-holdings are now more complex
with
the acquisition of backfiles etc. and more specific information is needed.
Fortunately or unfortunately "free" access to/retrospective loading of
older volumes is no longer very common and we are beginnig to add holdings
statements in the format "v.15(1995) to present" to indicate the start
date of e-access.
Many of our users don't seem to take notice of holdings information in
the OPAC in any case and if they see a date (e.g. first volume published)
they tend to think our holdings start from that date. If there's an online
link they click it without checking coverage dates. For this reason we try
to provide links to e-journal pages where they can easily identify the
title (cover images help) and the range of volumes/years they are entitled
to access.
Regular notifications by vendors would be useful (if we have the resources
to keep this information up to date!) but I would like to see improvements
to the design of e-journal homepages so users can see immediately which
volumes/years are available to them. Some e-journal websites are better
than others in this respect.
I understand vendors like Serials Solutions can provide updated holdings
information (e.g. new titles added to a package or retrospective loading
of back issues). This is useful if you subscribe to whole e-journal
packages and is one of the reasons why we have decided to subscribe to
their service, but if your holdings are non-standard (e.g. backfiles
purchased) you obviously have to provide this information.
Mieko
-----
Mieko Yamaguchi [log in to unmask]
Technical Services Manager/System Coordinator +44 (0)1248 382970
Main Library, University of Wales Bangor, UK +44 (0)1248 382979 (Fax)
|