Hi,
First of all I want to thank Ingenta for sorting out all the 2005 access
problems that we had identified on IngentaConnect and which I reported to
this list at the end of March 2005. I also wanted to thank those publishers
who also acted quickly to try and resolve these issues. It's just a pity
these problems happened in the first place.
If the publishers or whoever handles their subscriptions could send the
subscription data on a more timely basis, we and all the parties concerned
wouldn't have to suffer all these problems, which are time-consuming to
resolve. The whole idea of a gracing period was not so some publishers could
leave our payments unprocessed, but that it would provide a window for
sorting out any subscription problems. As it is gracing appears to be having
the opposite effect to what was intended, which is a real shame.
Maybe one way around this is that publishers, or who ever is responsible for
dealing with their subscription data and sending it to ingenta, use an
open-ended date range or volume range in the files they send to Ingenta.
This would give most of us problem-free access with our subscriptions, as
most of us renew the same subscriptions year on year. The role of the
publishers or their intermediaries would then be to send updates to ingenta,
once they had identified institutions which hadn't renewed their
subscriptions, which would then remove access. As it is at present many
subscribers are losing 2005 access to material that they have paid for,
which is a real scandal. Some publishers might be concerned that this would
then give access to institutions that hadn't renewed. But what is more
important, that subscribers get problem free access to their subscriptions
from year to year, or that a few institutions end up with access for a while
to material they haven't paid for. If publishers want to retain their
subscribers then I urge them to work more closely with Ingenta to resolve
these problems.
One example where the use of open-ended subscription data would have worked
concerns an MIT Press journal (I can't remember which one) where there was
2005 content on ingenta in 2004. Yet, because their subscription data just
gave us access to the Volumes published in 2004, we couldn't access the 2005
access.
Cheers
Lesley
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lesley Crawshaw, Faculty Information Consultant,
Learning and Information Services,
University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, AL10 9AB UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
phone: 01707 284662 fax: 01707 284666
web: http://www.herts.ac.uk/lis/subjects/natsci/ejournal/
list owner: [log in to unmask]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-----Original Message-----
From: An informal open list set up by the UK Serials Group
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Louise Cole
Sent: 22 April 2005 12:24
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: ingenta title/date subscriptions lists
Terry
Both brilliant ideas. We're left each year to manually check (or at least
spot check) which titles might have been switched off when they shouldn't
have been and the subscription list, as several have already pointed out, is
hopeless.
Amel - on point 2 - a message on the site explaining the situation might
help stop the high volume of emails hitting the helpdesk?
Best
Louise
Louise Cole
Electronic Resources Team Leader
Health Sciences Library
University of Leeds
Leeds
LS2 9JT
tel. 0113 34 35502
fax. 0113 34 34381
email. [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: An informal open list set up by the UK Serials Group
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Terry Bucknell
Sent: 22 April 2005 12:04
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: ingenta title/date subscriptions lists
Amel,
In the interests of a quiet life for us all:
1. Can you not get the agreement of publishers to allow you to temporarily
extend your grace period until the backlog is cleared? Is it really better
to annoy and inconvenience the majority who have renewed, than to give
unpaid for access to the minority who have cancelled?
2. Can emails to [log in to unmask] not generate an auto-reply
explaining the situation and warning that replies might not be any where
near as prompt as normal? We have sent a couple of messages about lack of
access to 2005 issues, and so have our agents. Until I read your email
below I was about to send yet another, asking why we had not even received
a reply to our previous emails, but I now appreciate the situation, and
that bombarding the helpdesk with follow-up emails will only make the
situation worse!
Thanks,
Terry Bucknell
Electronic Resources Manager
Harold Cohen Library
University of Liverpool
PO Box 123 Liverpool L69 3DA
Tel: +44 (0)151 794 5408 Fax: +44 (0)151 794 5417
Email: [log in to unmask]
--On 22 April 2005 11:28 +0100 Amel Abourachid
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Dear Sandra,
>
> We are currently experiencing a particularly high volume of emails to
> our customer service department. Most of the queries we are dealing
> with are related to access that has not renewed because the three
> month grace period has expired and we have not received complete
> subscription renewal information from several publishers. We are
> working with these publishers to expedite receipt of the correct
> information, and are also increasing the number of staff available to
> handle customer queries. We appreciate your patience during this busy
> time while we address our backlog and resume our normal levels of good
> quality, timely service.
>
> Duplicate entries in your subscription list are generally due to one
> of three things: a split subscription (2000 - 2001, 2004-2005), a
> change in subscription number from the publisher, or a change in the
> way the subscription range is sent to us (from date-based to
> volume/issue). In each of these instances our systems will create a
> new record rather than alter the existing record and risk incorrectly
> matching two records. This is reflected in the downloadable .csv
> file, but is invisible to your users who will be given seamless access
> to the sum of all records.
>
> Additionally, as you point out, we are often given subscription ranges
> that exceed the amount of content available. In these cases we enter
> the complete subscription range rather than shortening it to match
> available content, to allow for the addition of backfiles, etc.
> Again, this would not be visible to your users, but is reflected in
> the subscription list.
>
> As you are aware managing subscription data is often complicated and
> time consuming. We are continually working on ways to ease this
> process and make it clearer and simpler for all concerned.
>
> Regards,
> Amel
> _______________________________________________________
> AMEL ABOURACHID
> Library Business Manager
> Ingenta PLC
> Unit 1 Riverside Court, Bath, BA2 3DZ, UK
> T +44 1225 361113
> F +44 1225 361155
> E [log in to unmask]
> www.ingenta.com
> Ingenta: Technology + Services for the Publishing and Information
> Industries. _________________________________________________________
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: An informal open list set up by the UK Serials Group
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of s morris
> Sent: 22 April 2005 9:51 am
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: ingenta title/date subscriptions lists
>
>
> Can anyone give me any advice on how to obtain a list (excel file
> preferably) of full text titles that we are entitled to access on
> ingenta (i.e. our subscriptions), together with the years of full text
> that we are entitled to?
>
> The list available on ingenta is rather confusing (with three or four
> entries for the same title, with overlapping dates) and the dates
> shown are not the actual dates for our full text entitlements, but
> have various other meanings.
>
> We are not a Premium customer and do not appear to have had any
> response from [log in to unmask] after 10 days.
>
> Any suggestions please?
>
> Thanks very much
> Sandra
>
> Sandra Morris
> Electronic Information Development Officer
> Subject Support & E-Library Team,
> Information Services,
> Hugh Owen Library,
> University of Wales,
> Aberystwyth,
> Ceredigion, SY23 3DZ
> ====================================
> Email: [log in to unmask]
> Phone: 01970 621892
> FAX: (01970) 622404
>
> Tîm Cynorthwywyr Pwnc ac E-Lyfrgell,
> Gwasanaethau Gwybodaeth,
> Llyfrgell Hugh Owen,
> Prifysgol Cymru,
> Aberystwyth,
> Ceredigion, SY23 3DZ
> ====================================
> Ffon: 01970 621892
> ====================================
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