Dear All
I would just like to ask all Librarians in NW who they
use as their journal subscriptions supplier. We
currently use SWETS and have done for the last 14
years. Last year, when I tried to order my list of 76
journals via our Supplies Dept., the order was put out
to tender to 3 different companies and InfoCandy came
out as the cheapest. I was contacted by my Supplies
Dept. after 2 months of silence and asked if I would
sign a piece of paper that indicated that I was happy
to sign over the order to InfoCandy. As you can
imagine I was not impressed. I remember a
representative of this company came to give a
presentation  a few year's ago at one of the HCLU
feedback meetings. The indication was that the system
was cheaper than others because everything was online,
including customer care service.  This part in
particular worries me, as changing subscription
suppliers is enough of an upheaval but also if you are
unable to contact a human being directly if problems
arise is even more worrying. It is always nice to be
able to speak to a human being if journals are not
coming for whatever reason, rather than battle with
computer software should anything go wrong. Of course,
SWETS are not faultless by any stretch of the
imagination and I would consider another supplier,
such as EBSCO with a proven track record in the NHS
Library world. Last year, the journals did get ordered
via SWETS, as in the end it was too late to change
subscription agents but I feel that my Supplies Dept.
will try and do the same thing again.

What I want to know is whether there is any NHS
Librarian using InfoCandy and if so what are the
issues (both positive/negative) ? Has anyone else had
the same reaction from their Supplies Dept and how
have you coped with it?
Does anyone have any data in relation to which NHS
library in NW is using which provider, including
percentages etc.? Or perhaps you could all bombard me
with e-mails with regards to which one you are using
so that I could collate my own data.

David/Linda/Shan perhaps you could advise me what to
do? I have spoken to SWETS and they have phoned my
Supplies Dept. in order to sell themselves and explain
fully what they have to offer in the light of what
happened last year.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Samantha West
Librarian
Education and Training Centre Library
Postgraduate Medical Centre 
Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Liverpool Road
Chester
CH2 1UL
01244 364734


		
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