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Louise, Sad to say that the whole of your story is only too familiar to us here at Aston. We have had several instances of needing the subscription number from the label of the printed journal, which has been unpacked in the shipping room and therefore the packaging has been thrown away. Once we have managed to track down our subscription number (and I have to say that our Swets contact has been helpful in this department on several occasions) we have also had problems when trying to register the titles. As you say, either the number is invalid or we are told the journal has already been registered, yet we still have problems getting access. The titles we have particular problems with are Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins. I don't know if anyone else has had this but we seem to be stuck in an endless loop of registering the subscription for the same half dozen free with print titles for LWW. As we buy the titles via Swets we were expecting to be able to access the full text through Swetswise, but instead we get a box either asking us to register the subscription (which we have done) or asking us to put in a separate username and password. Even more frustrating, as some titles go to our science team and some are labelled as fast track there are separate usernames and passwords for each title as the delivery address is not exactly the same, even though we have confirmed it is the same physical location of the library. What this means is that instead of simply needing their athens password, our users are expected to have several additional passwords for these few titles. I would be interested to know if others have had similar problems and how they managed to resolve them. Regards, Emma At 11:59 14/04/2003 +0100, you wrote: >Dear all, > >Thought since it's a bright new week and nearly Easter I'd share with you a >couple of examples of how our lives are ruled by the mysterious subscription >number ... > >Many of us are pleased to see that our print subscriptions have associated >online versions that are 'free' as long as we keep subscribing to the print >copies. The journals themselves often advertise this fact, building up the >hopes of our customers. We would expect, given that we are receiving copies >through the post, that the publisher knows we are subscribing and entitled >to the online access. > >But no. We need to - activate the title. For which you need a subscription >number. Where is it? On the journal label. I don't know how many of us >work in close proximity to where the print journals arrive (at Leeds, five >different places), but suspect a number somewhat less than 1%? Or it is on >a letter, which has often arrived along with other bumph in the journal >itself, and has most likely been discarded by the check-in assistant who >didn't realise what it was. > >Suppose we ask our subscription agent for the number (and I can imagine it >is even harder for them to track it down than it is for us, even though they >are clearly paying for the title on our behalf, and if the publisher is >sending an invoice, surely they know there is a valid subscription ...?) and >get it. We type it in where requested on the website. > >It doesn't work. It is 'invalid', or more mysteriously, has 'already been >registered'. Really? Why can't I get in to the journal then? (Sometimes >it works. Not often and it is almost cause for celebration when it >happens.) > >The above tirade was sparked off by two incidents this morning: > >1 A journal required a licence to be accepted electronically. When I came >to type in the subscription number, it said it was already registered (I >wasn't trying to register, remember, I was only following instructions!). I >gave up. >2 We don't have access to a journal we are entitled to. I asked the >publisher why. They invited us to register our IP address on the site. For >this we need a sub number. Which they haven't given us. > >I know others have this problem. I'd love to know why publishers are >determined to make life as hard for us as possible. You'd think they didn't >want us to access their journals. (And to be honest, if it wasn't for the >fact these journals are needed, and that's why we want to access them ...). > >Any thoughts? >Louise > >Louise Cole >Electronic Resources Team Leader >Health Sciences Library >University of Leeds >Leeds LS2 9JT > >e-mail [log in to unmask] >tel 0113 343 5502 >fax 0113 343 4381 *************************************************************************** Emma Hurcombe Systems Specialist (LMS) Network Support Team Library & Information Services Aston University Aston Triangle Birmingham B4 7ET UK Email: [log in to unmask] Tel: 0121 359 3611 ext 5111 Fax: 0121 359 7358 LIS Homepage: http://www.aston.ac.uk/lis/