Hi,

I agree that this whole area is a nightmare. I've sometimes regretted trying
to move so many of the journals I look after to online only or to include an
online component in the subscription. We've spent so much time this year
trying to get access to online content that we've paid for, and still
haven't got everything sorted out. We've also had problems maintaining our
access to content that had already been set up in previous years.

We are not always clear whether our IP address information is always passed
to the publisher by our agent, and even whether some publishers interpret
that information correctly. 

I recently found we couldn't access Hospital Medicine, a journal published
by the Mark Allen Group Ltd. The message I got when trying to download an
article was that we didn't have a subscription to this journal. Yet we
upgraded our print subscription to online only from 2005. I contacted the
publisher to be told they had set up our access via our IP addresses,
although we can't find any evidence that publisher informed us that our
access had been set up. Unfortunately they had only set up access to two IP
addresses, the beginning and end of the range not the whole range!! We are
still waiting for our access to be set up correctly! It will be interesting
to see whether we get our access to to another of their journals,
International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation, a mid-year renewal,
which we've asked to be upgraded to online only!!

Another problem we've faced is that even when our access does finally get
set up, we haven't always been set up with the access we should have e.g. we
may get access to only 2005 issues, when it is clear we should have had
access to the backfiles e.g. we finally got our access set up to the
American Sociological Review on IngentaConnect, except our access was only
to 2005 issues. I had to contact the publisher again and again until we
finally got access to the backfile. I've got loads of examples of this with
a whole load of publishers.

Then last week I found we had lost access to 2005 content for most of our
Royal Society of Chemistry online only subscriptions, subscriptions we've
had online access to for years. We got no warning that this had happened,
but had to find it out for ourselves. Although this was easily rectified
following a phone call to the publisher, I remain concerned about this lack
of stability of our access. 

The list of problems we've had this year is endless. I just wish I had time
to put them all in an email, but it would be a truly encyclopaedic work. 

I can't comment on T&F in 2005, as we are participating in an experiment
with them this year. But, we had terrible problems last year with getting
access to all our subscriptions. 

I better stop now, I feel my temperature rising.

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: 17 June 2005 11:54
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: activation of online access


Sandra

I completely agree.  What makes me really fume is when we don't get these
letters until May/June for subscriptions which should have been switched on
in January.  Half the year having gone before we benefit from what we are
entitled to.

Taylor and Francis have been a major problem for us.  I'd also mention MIT
who at least send out activation letters but why, when they know we have
subscribed for another year, can't they sort it out?

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 s morris
Sent: 17 June 2005 11:10
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: activation of online access


I know this has been raised before, but can someone remind me why we have to
activate our online access?

I've just received a letter from Multilingual Matters Ltd stating that their
records show that we may not have activated our online access. 

Why can they (and other organisations) not activate automatically each new
sub? They already have our IP addresses.

Later in the letter, the dreaded 'simply' word appears followed by 'few
minutes of your time' so you start off ever hopeful, then come to a dead
stop by the words 'subscription number' and '...carrier sheet sent with the
print journal'. 

Taylor and Francis/Metapress is another provider that I have activation
difficulties with. 

Sandra.


Sandra Morris
Electronic Information Development Officer
Subject Support & E-Library Team,
Information Services,
Hugh Owen Library,
University of Wales,
Aberystwyth,
Ceredigion,  SY23 3DZ
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Tîm Cynorthwywyr Pwnc ac E-Lyfrgell,
Gwasanaethau Gwybodaeth,
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