Hi,
I wanted to thank Stephen Welch, for explaining to this list on the 5th
January 2005 (and in more detail to myself in a separate email) how the
University of Hertfordshire had lost access to CHEST because of variations
in our address sent by agencies from one year to the next. I believe this is
one of the first times that a publisher has been so open to this list about
how such problems can arise, which I personally found very refreshing. Yet,
having seen several larger publisher-generated lists of our subscriptions on
an annual basis, I know that this is a problem shared by all of us, whether
we are agents, publishers, intermediaries or subscribing organizations. Are
there other publishers out there who might like to "come out" and give their
perspectives on the problems that they face in matching subscriptions from
year to year and how this whole area can be improved?
Institutions are also implicated in these problems, because so many of us
are constantly undergoing reorganizations (including my own) which may lead
to changes in addresses which may lead to loss of access because
subscriptions aren't matched up.
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 Stephen Welch
Sent: 05 January 2005 18:05
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: CHEST Subscription Gracing
Hi, my name is Stephen Welch. Iım the Executive Editor for CHEST. My ears
are burning! I hope participating in this list will help me get some
additional appreciation for the types of problems you all experience with
e-journals.
Lesleyıs experience is unfortunate, and complicated by the fact that when
the agency sent us information for her 2005 subscription, the address was
different, including the city (2005 was Hatfield UK, 2004 was Hertfordshire
UK).
Because of the discrepancy we treated the 2005 info as a new account because
it did not match what was in our system from 2004. That is why Lesley's
organization received a new ID number for their 2005 account, which is why
our activation of the grace period didn't solve her access problem and then
she had to activate an entirely new account. We sure apologize for the
inconvenience sheıs experienced.
The good thing to come out of this is that we found out our subscription
gracing had not been activated and we have since corrected that problem. In
the immortal words of Homer J. Simpson, "D'oh!"
However, we're not sure how to circumvent account info that differs from one
year to the next. We will discuss with our agencies to see if there is a way
we can try to prevent this in the future.
If any others experience similar problems with CHEST, please don't hesitate
to contact me.
Best regards,
Steve
--
Stephen J. Welch
Vice President, Communications
Executive Editor, CHEST
American College of Chest Physicians
3300 Dundee Road
Northbrook IL 60062
T: 847-498-8305
F: 847-498-5460
E: [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 Lesley Crawshaw
Sent: 05 January 2005 15:31
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Publishers Cutting Off Our Access Even Though They've Been
Paid!! - Adopting a Gracing Period Could Have Avoided All the Pain
Hi,
Our problem with CHEST has now been sorted out. I've been contacted by the
excutive editor for CHEST saying that "CHEST normally does set 30-day grace
periods and for some reason there was an oversight this year. We will fix it
immediately."
However, whilst this would have sorted our initial access problems for the
grace period, we would still have had problems at the end of the grace
period as I've just found out that we have been given a new subscriber
number for CHEST and I've had to use this to reactivate our access to CHEST
through Highwire. Why we have acquired a new subscriber number I have no
idea, but it wouldn't be the first time that we've acquired multiple numbers
for the same journal from the same publisher, but that's another can of
worms. Like Louise's examples, how were we meant to know that this journal
(which we've had a subscription to since 1992) had acquired this new
subscriber number? Was anyone going to tell us or am I expected to sit in
the post room waiting for the magic number on the envelope containing the
journal to arrive?
The good news is that this journal is now sorted for 2005 at least, now to
the next problem wherever it may be!
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: 04 January 2005 17:44
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Publishers Cutting Off Our Access Even Though They've Been
Paid!! - Adopting a Gracing Period Could Have Avoided All the Pain
Hello
I'd like to echo this. We haven't lost either of these (yet) but I did find
four providers with problems this morning. One had the age-old excuse that
we hadn't reactivated with their new subscription number (no, because we
didn't know what it was!).
Very frustrating, especially those that happily expired between Christmas
and New Year.
Why do they still do it?
Louise
Louise Cole
Electronic Resources Team Leader
University of Leeds
-----Original Message-----
From: An informal open list set up by the UK Serials Group
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lesley Crawshaw
Sent: 04 January 2005 17:08
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Publishers Cutting Off Our Access Even Though They've Been Paid!! -
Adopting a Gracing Period Could Have Avoided All the Pain
Hi,
It's only my first day back at work and already we've found that we've lost
electronic access to a number of our subscriptions. At present we don't know
the scale of the problem. Whilst many publishers/learned societies have
adopted gracing periods to avoid customers losing access whilst renewals are
processed by publishers etc., many publishers/learned societies still don't
appear to have got the message about the need for gracing, especially in the
eonly world where loss of access can mean losing access to all available
online material (depending on the subscription model of the journal).
What makes it even more frustrating is that in the two cases I've just been
looking at - not only did our access get cut off on the 31st December 2004,
but the cheques from our agents to these publishers for our subscriptions
have already been cashed. So in these two cases payment has been made, but
we have still lost access. There is no justice in this.
For information here are the two journals concerned.
1. Chest - published by the American College of Chest Physicians 2.
Mycologia - published by the Mycological Society of America
Both of these publishers/societies could have avoided these problems (or at
least give time for these problems to get sorted out) by having a grace
period.
How do we get the message across to those publishers/societies who haven't
adopted gracing periods that this is something that is essential today?
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]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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