Dear Sandra, (if I may)
I'd like to offer an explanation (or perhaps a mitigation) on behalf of Multilingual Matters.
We've recently moved our subscriptions from Ingenta to a system hosted by Portland Customer Services, and which has our own branding of multilingual-matters.net.
For some of our subscribers we may not have had the IP address recorded, and we were not able to get this information from Ingenta when we moved. So in quite a short time we've had to collate this information for all our subscribers. In order to make this as easy as possible we announced that we would not place access controls in place until March 31st, allowing all our subscribers three months free access. This announcement was made on all relevant list-servs, including this one, and we widely mailed all current, past and potential subscribers several times, beginning in December/January.
The reason we now write to our customers to tell you that according to our records you haven't activated the online subscription is because it is a benefit that you have paid for and we want to be sure you are aware of it. I can understand that in some cases these letters will go to customers where it may be our fault that we haven't recorded the IP address properly, but hopefully these cases are few. However, in the most cases these are going to customers who haven't been aware, or haven't recorded the IP address with us since the change of platforms. I hope you understand that we are trying to do the decent thing in sending these letters, and it is an activity from which we will gain no immediate financial reward.
We also recognize that this is a huge effort for Libraries, and this is why we have always automatically renewed online access in the past and then only cancelled access for those libraries that have cancelled subscriptions in February, it is only because we switched platforms that this was not possible in this renewal cycle. Next year we fully intend to do as you suggest.
I'm truly sorry for any confusion and if you have any further problems with any of our journals or other publications please contact me immediately either via this list-serv or directly and we'll do our utmost to put it right.
Best wishes, Tommi.
Tommi Grover
Director, Sales and Distribution
Multilingual Matters/Channel View Publications
Clevedon, BS21 7HH England
Tel. +44 1275 876519
Fax. +44 1275 871673
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
www.multilingual-matters.com
Visit our website www.multilingual-matters.com to purchase books at 20% discount!
We are proud to have our online journals included in the ALPSP Learned Journals Collection: www.alpsp-collection.org
>-----Original Message-----
>From: An informal open list set up by the UK Serials Group [mailto:LIS-E-
>[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
>====================================
>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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