Hi,
Now that I've seen OUP's and Blackwell's response to this transfer fiasco I
would like to make the following comments.
First of all I am glad that the 2000-2006 content for the two titles in
question has now been reinstated on the Oxford Journals site, although why
can't the pre-1996 archive and the 1997-1999 backfiles also be reinstated?
This still leaves me wondering why interim arrangements had not
automatically been put in place for this transfer. These should have
included the content remaining on the Oxford Journals site for a reasonable
period to allow time not only for the file conversion that needs to take
place before the content can be loaded on Synergy, but also to allow time
for librarians to make the changes on their own systems. We now find
ourselves in the worst of all positions where there is still significant
content unavailable. Since Blackwell Publishing and Oxford Journals are well
aware of the problems that journal transfers cause and are both members of
the UKSG's Transfer Group shouldn't they have known better and made
arrangements to avoid the problems this is now causing? Should they not have
been leading the way in demonstrating good practice to the rest of the
publishing community? The whole episode has an air of sloppiness, lack of
planning and professionalism and a total lack of consideration for the
subscribers and end users of these resources. Surely the Western Economic
Association International (WEAI) should also have been aware of the need for
interim arrangement during this transfer?
Finally what about compensation for subscribers for the period that access
was not provided to paid for content?
Cheers
Lesley
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lesley Crawshaw, Faculty Information Consultant,
Learning and Information Services
University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, AL10 9AB
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: [log in to unmask]
phone: 01707 284662 fax: 01707 284666
list owner: [log in to unmask]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|