I've had varying responses from publishers.  Some are happy for us to use a
single username and password (such as Library or Defra) and give access to
anyone who wants it;  others are insistent that only one named person should
have access and that we cannot disseminate any information to others.  I
also have accounts with some publishers where we have effectively paid for x
number of people to have individual subscriptions, at a slight discount off
the usual price per person.  

None of this is anything like as annoying as the publishers of popular
magazines (like Farmers Weekly, say) which are published online only as
e-books, requiring specific readers to be installed on each customer's PC!

 Nickie Roome
 Collection Development Team Leader
 Defra Information Resource Centre
 Lower Ground Floor
 Ergon House
 c/o 17 Smith Square
 London
 SW1P 3JR
 
 020 7238 3325
 
 mailto:[log in to unmask]
 
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Walker,JM [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 13 July 2005 15:20
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: online journals with username and password


Hello Satu,

This is something that cropped up with us very recently actually and with a
few different sites. The "feedback" from the suppliers was that they don't
generally cater for institutional subscribers and generally sell to
individuals or small businesses. They therefore didn't feel it necessary to
consider the type of implications you've mentioned in your email. I too feel
very uneasy about effectively dishing out the administrator passwords. I've
been logging the details of people who have requested password access
although this doesn't provide an effective way of preventing anybody from
changing the passwords. Or, worse, transferring the subscription to
themselves and asking for a refund!

I suppose it could have its advantages. One supplier (remaining nameless)
gave us carte-blanche to do with the subscription as we pleased:

>>>Once you have access the document and download it, we leave it up to you
to
>>>use it as you wish e.g. email the file to others or give others the login
>>>address and password to use. 

So, at least they've not got as far as charging astronomical amounts for
specific institutional subscriptions yet.

I would be interested, along with Satu, to hear other people's opinions
and/or suggestions about this.
Cheers
Jo

-----Original Message-----
From: S Nieminen [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 13 July 2005 15:10
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: online journals with username and password


Hello Listers,

I am sure our site is not alone in this: we have just managed to register
for one of the many online journals we get "free" with our print
subscription. Our e-journals administrative assistant has registered our
site and put in her details (name, contact address, number etc.) And, hey
presto, her personal details are plastered all over the journal's page for
all our users to see. However, we are an institution and not an individual
subscriber. We thought we were being clever by altering the registration
details by putting in our Library name and university name in the First Name
and Last Name boxes. This does fix the problem of an individual's details
being displayed. But, the online journal site offers "Edit your details" to
all our users. This means any user will be able to alter the username and
password for our site. The publisher clearly has not even considered the
possibility of an institution wanting to register for free-with-print
access. Our example today is "Solicitors Journal".

If you have managed to circumvent this problem or, even better, managed to
get the publisher alter the way they offer access, could you share the
information? This journal is just one of many titles we have this problem
with.


Thanks

Satu

Ms Satu Nieminen
Electronic Resources Librarian
University of Bradford
JB Priestley Library
Richmond Road
Bradford
BD7 1DP
Tel 01274 233400
Fax 01274 233398
Email [log in to unmask] 
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